Boot State Specks: Why I Wrote This Book + More

I'm pleased to announce that I've finally published my first book, Boot State Specks. It's nearly 500 pages long and details the process I use to catch speckled trout and redfish across Louisiana's coast. It is here in this blog post I'd like to share more information about it, detail what's inside the book and — just as important — why I wrote it.

Why did I write Boot State Specks?

Writing and publishing a book is a lot of work. You could say that I wrote the initial rough draft for Boot State Specks in 2016, when I began producing the very first iteration of Inshore Fishing 101.

Now, Inshore Fishing 101 (IF101) is an online video course, but my initial idea was to publish a book. After some thinking I figured the video course was a better idea and more in-line with how people consume media today. I was right! IF101 is now my flagship course and enjoyed by thousands of inshore anglers willing to learn how I do it.

I eventually revamped that course and today it's much more complete and thorough than it was before. It's beefy, with over 12 hours of video spread across 50+ lessons.

Now here's what makes Boot State Specks so great...

I discovered that the best way to compile that course was to sit down and write it out. That's right, I wrote it from scratch using feedback and lessons-learned from running Inshore Fishing 101 for four years. The reason this is important to do is because to write is to think, and the best way to really flesh out ideas on inshore fishing and ensure they all mesh together is to sit down and write them out all in one spot, then review them.

This really puts my know-how ahead of others because I am taking time to perfect my ideas, tactics and more used to catch fish. Many anglers never climb this mountain and subsequently miss out on this refining process.

This process takes awhile. So when I re-wrote IF101 it took me about six months, but understand that was six months of hitting it hard every day. After that, it took me about another five months to film and produce it. If that doesn't seem very long, consider that Louisiana Fishing Blog is my full time job (some folks mistakenly assume this is a hobby). I was hitting it hard for twelve hour days with minimal distraction using Cal Newport's Deep Work.

Once the dust cleared, what remained was a solid draft for a book. It just needed to be re-formatted for print, and I began working on that in September 2024. In April 2025 the book was finally published!

So you can see that this process is not equivalent to making a fishing video for YouTube or short-form content like what you see on TikTok (even though I don't make that content anymore, as I deleted all my social media).

Today what we are left with is, in my opinion, the most thought-out and complete approach to understanding how to find and catch speckled trout and redfish on Louisiana's coast using minimal tackle. But why did I write this book?

The reason why I wrote Boot State Specks may shock you...

One day I will die.

When I do, I don't want everything built here to disappear forever. Unfortunately, it's not reasonable to believe that this website, Louisiana Fishing Blog, can continue without me. It's day-to-day operation and maintenance requires wearing a lot of hats that — very obviously — no one else in Louisiana or the Gulf Coast knows how to do. If so, then where are the other Louisiana Fishing Blogs being run by a single guy? Yeah, you can't find them because they don't exist.

So, hopefully I die of old age many years from now, but in the event I get hit by a bus there will be a solid copy of my work available to inshore anglers. I feel this is important because arming people with practical knowledge is the key to ushering them down the path to become a mature angler who fights for conservation. It's a journey. I'm just here to help people along the way.

Do you remember RodnReel?

Yeah, I really don't want Louisiana Fishing Blog to go out like RodnReel did.

For those of you who don't know, RodnReel was the first online fishing report forum (started in 1995) and it is/was a treasure trove of fishing reports. If you've kept up with my work over the years, you've seen me reference RodnReel's amazing fishing reports, like what you see below.

Do you see the date for that report? Yeah, 2005. Did you see the number of specks caught? Yeah, 150!

That report is relevant because it helps us maintain a frame of reference for how good the current fishing is (or not), which is important to keeping a grasp on conservation efforts like tagging speckled trout and Release Over 20.

We lost a lot of fish in the wake of The Freshening and Blizzard of 2025. Older fishing reports help us keep a measure of how much better the fishing used to be compared to now. That and tactics that worked then well...they work today!

Getting back on track: while RodnReel was a first-mover in that space, it lost ground when it failed to adapt as people moved to mobile devices and social media. The owner, Mike Lane, was a good guy (who, sadly, is no longer with us...rest in peace, bud) but he dropped the ball on maintaining relevancy. What followed was a long and slow demise of a Louisiana icon. It was hard to watch and I do not wish that for Louisiana Fishing Blog. So, my long-term strategy is to eventually "Seinfeld" this website, as well as LAFB Elite.

By "Seinfeld" I mean "end it on a good note", like what happened to the popular 90's sitcom. Not anytime soon, but in the next ten years or so. It will take time. So, if you want to capitalize on the courses inside LAFB Elite, then you had better get to it. Don't take them for granted!

But there are other reasons why I published this book:

I feel that publishing a book like Boot State Specks is the high water mark of an angler's career, and shows that I'm serious. This is a level of dedication and longevity that goes beyond producing short-form content for fleeting attention spans, like what's so popular on today's social media. Even the most viral short eventually gets buried by the sludge pipe of brain-stem content. Popularity ≠ Legitimacy

Simply put: no one will remember you if you don't make something that stands the test of time.

Books > Courses?

After that, I feel that a book like Boot State Specks is something everyone can understand. I've always told folks that I'd be better off selling lemonade than selling online courses because everyone knows what lemonade is, when to have it, how good it should be and how much it should cost.

But that is not the case for online courses. While I really put my heart and soul into LAFB Elite's courses to make a badass product with the testimonials to prove it, the notion of online courses is still relatively new and — unfortunately — people tend to be skeptical due to that novelty. Do these things really work? Well, mine do. But there have been so many grifters schilling poorly produced courses that people's skepticism is reinforced rather than overcome.

Fighting this is equivalent to skating uphill and I feel that a book makes sense to more people: it's cheaper and a one-time payment. There are no servers, video hosting, maintenance and upkeep to produce ongoing costs. Plus a book like Boot State Specks makes a great Christmas gift! It's physical, it's yours forever, you can feel the heftiness of its 486 pages!

So what's inside Boot State Specks?

In a nutshell, what you'll find inside my book is the tried-and-true process to catching speckled trout and redfish from scratch. The book is organized into nine chapters:

In Chapter One you learn how Louisiana’s marsh was formed, the nature of its tidal forces, structure versus cover, Highway Theory and more.

Chapter Two picks up with a similar note, focusing on the biology of the two target species in this book: speckled trout and redfish. You must know your quarry if you intend to master catching them year-round.

Chapter Three details an important 21st century tool to mapping Louisiana’s marsh and discerning its secrets: Google Earth Desktop.

Chapter Four builds upon what’s taught inside Chapter Three, moving on to reveal the various kinds of fishing spots you can ferret out, both natural and man made.

Chapter Five is best described as “advanced inshore navigation”, showing you how to identify and negotiate the various challenges, obstacles and hazards you will inevitably encounter when boating across Louisiana’s coast.

Chapter Six gets into the various fishing tackle, techniques and equipment you will want to have in order to made good purchase decisions, avoid bad ones and have the best means for catching speckled trout and redfish.

Chapter Seven is the most important one: fishing trip planning. This is what most anglers get wrong: planning a fishing trip based upon the past, present and predicted conditions. Things are constantly changing in the marsh and making a good fishing trip happen can be likened to shooting a moving target. This chapter will show you how to get it right.

Chapter Eight continues from fishing trip planning to actually executing it, the big day you launch your boat to apply what you’ve learned in this book. It gives real-world advice on what to do at each fishing spot, when to leave (or stay), what to do when you find the fish and steps to take if you do not.

Finally, Chapter Nine takes a look at something very few, if any, talk about or put energy into: Long Term Success. Patterns repeat themselves and old efforts will be made again. You can reinvent the wheel and learn it all the hard way, or you can make the most of the time, money and energy you spend on your journey in inshore fishing. Long Term Success will help you get there.

Does the knowledge inside Boot State Specks work?

Yes! You can see the proof in several places:

First, there's the videos I post to Louisiana Fishing Blog's YouTube channel. You'll see that I have posted videos of fishing trips ranging from Slidell to Venice to Dularge, catching limits of fish. Watch and you'll see me use the exact same equipment, tackle and techniques taught inside Boot State Specks.

Second, consider that those YouTube videos are only a fraction of my fishing trips. Many more are reported in my newsletter, so if you're subscribed then you'll get those when I send them out. (NOTE: if you see an ad for LAFB Elite below, then that means you are already subscribed to my newsletter. If you are certain that you are not, then you'll find a sign up form at the very bottom of this page).

Third, I post detailed fishing reports inside LAFB Elite's Community. Now, those are only available to members, but you can also find my public reports inside LAFB Inshore on Facebook. Yes, they are old, but they are the proof in the pudding and demonstrate that I have consistently caught fish in all conditions across many locations throughout the years using my process. Not many anglers can say that!

Last, but not least, there are member's fishing reports inside LAFB Elite. Again, that forum is private, but we have found it best to keep it that way and only permit like-minded anglers to participate. That forum punches way above its weight!

How can you get the most out of Boot State Specks?

The best way is to follow along on Google Earth Desktop as you read the subject matter, especially for Chapters Four, Five and Seven. Understand that a lot of the knowledge will make sense and be retained more easily as you use it on the water, see the conditions play out before your eyes and catch fish.

Yes, this is work and it is a process! But it is much easier and shorter learning curve than learning it the hard way like I did. Just avoiding a mishap like this one in Venice will more than pay for the cost of the book and the time you put in applying its knowledge.

This way you can get straight to the good stuff a lot faster: enjoying epic fishing trips catching a boatload of fish. And when you have my book you will have it forever. No recurring annual membership. It doesn't need a battery and the knowledge in it worked twenty years ago and will work twenty years from now. Boot State Specks is timeless.

Where can I buy Captain Devin's book?

You can find two formats available on Amazon. There's a physical print edition and an e-book for Kindle. If you're rockin' Amazon Prime (and who doesn't these days?) then you will enjoy the Kindle version for free.

How can I get a signed copy?

At the time of this writing in April 2025 I am working on this. I don't have an online store to facilitate this, but if there's enough demand I'll make one. So comment below!

I do plan on providing copies to local tackle stores, starting with Gus's Tackle in Slidell. If there's enough demand, I'll supply more to additional local stores.

If you get a physical copy, be sure to carry it with you in case I run into you at the marina. I'll be more than happy to sign it on the spot.

After that, ensure you get my newsletter so you know if I do an event like Sportsman Show or elsewhere. Forgive me if I seem kind of scatter-brained here, as this is my first book and I didn't anticipate signed copies being a thing.

Where can I get additional support for Captain Devin's book?

There are extra things I've published that make the Boot State Specks experience that much better. These include, but are not limited to: additional resources, the Boot State Specks .kml file for use on Google Earth Desktop and GPS devices, as well as notes added in the future for clarification or updates.

Find it all here at this link.

How You Can Support Boot State Specks

The best way you can do that is by sharing a review on Amazon. I cannot emphasize that enough.

Next, please comment below. Tell me what you love and what you hate about the book. I'll make it better if/when provided with enough feedback. You guys are my compass!

Finally, tell a friend. Whether that's through social media or in-person, spreading the word helps.

Thank you so much. I really appreciate your support. I'm in love with Louisiana and Boot State Specks is just another way of expressing that love and giving back to a wonderful place that has provided so much for me and the rest of its inshore anglers.

Tight lines, and thanks for visiting my website!

    - Captain Devin