Chasin Tail with the largest single Gulf pay day in 2017
Capt. Devin Potts, Gulf COTY 2016. Sea Mixer
Team Aries cashes in at the MGCBC in 2017
Capt. Robbie Dogget, Gulf COTY 2015. Relentless Pursuit.
Capt. Jason Buck, Gulf COTY 2014. Done Deal.
Capt. Ronnie Woodruff. COTY 2006. A Work of Art.
Iona Louise Wins big in Pensacola

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Captain of the Year Home

Capt. Jeff Shoults, Mollie, 1600 Points

MBGFC Memorial Day Tournament, 1st Place, 500 Pts.
MBGFC Memorial Day Tournament, Heaviest Marlin 613.8 lbs, 500 Pts.
Emerald Coast Blue Marlin Classic, Heaviest Marlin 660.4 lbs, 500 Pts.
Emerald Coast Blue Marlin Classic, 3rd Place, 100 Pts.

Capt. Myles Colley, Born 2 Run, 1000 Points

Orange Beach Billfish Classic, 1st Place, 500 Pts.
Mississippi Gulf Coast Billfish Classic, 1st Place, 500 Pts.

Capt. Jimmy Crochet, Restless, 600 Points

Orange Beach Billfish Classic, 3rd Place, 100 Pts.
Cajun Canyons Billfish Classic, 1st Place, 500 Pts.

Capt. Marlin Brown, Second Wind, 600 Points

Orange Beach Billfish Classic, 2nd Place, 300 Pts.
Cajun Canyon Billfish Classic, 2nd Place, 300 Pts.

Capt. Shawn Clemons, Jr., Pearl, 500 Points

Orange Beach Billfish Classic, Heaviest Marlin, 603.2 lbs. 500 Pts.

Capt. Eric Chandler, Crawgator, 500 Points

Cajun Canyon Billfish Classic, Heaviest Marlin, 505.7 lbs., 500 Pts.

Capt. Chris Hood, It Just Takes Time, 500 Points

Mississippi Gulf Coast Billfish Classic, Heaviest Marlin, 570.2 lbs, 500 Pts.

Capt. Scooter Porto, Fleur de Lis, 500 Points

Emerald Coast Blue Marlin Classic, 1st Place, 500 Pts.

Capt. Matt Dearing, Fabricator, 500 Points

Pensacola International Billfish Tournament, 1st Place, 500 Pts.

Capt. Nick Knoepflein, Quick Time, 300 Points

MBGFC Memorial Day Tournament, 2nd Place, 300 Pts.

Capt. Chase Lake, Reel Fire, 300 Points

Mississippi Gulf Coast Billfish Classic, 2nd Place, 300 Pts.

Capt. Matt Coppoletta, Mon Cheri, 300 Points

Emerald Coast Blue Marlin Classic, 2nd Place, 300 Pts.

Capt. Travis Gill, Panhandler, 300 Points

Pensacola International Billfish Tournament, 2nd Place, 300 Pts.

Capt. Blake Bridges, All in Fishing, 100 Points

Cajun Canyon Billfish Classic, 3rd Place, 100 Pts.

Capt. Parker Huddle, Unbelievable, 100 Points

MBGFC Memorial Day Tournament, 3rd Place, 100 Pts.

Capt. Patrick Ivie, Breathe Easy, 100 Points

Mississippi Gulf Coast Billfish Classic, 3rd Place, 100 Pts.

Capt. Daniel Filardi, Double Down, 100 Points

Pensacola International Billfish Tournament, 3rd Place, 100 Pts.

2019 Furuno Gulf Coast Division Captain of the Year

Capt. Jason Buck, Done Deal, 2100 Total Points

Cajun Canyons Billfish Classic, 2nd Place, 300 Pts.
Emerald Coast Blue Marlin Classic, 2nd Place, 300 Pts.
Texas Billfish Classic, 1st Place, 500 Pts.
Lone Star Shootout, 1st Place, 500 Pts.
New Orleans Invitational, 1st Place, 500 Pts.
*This represents Buck’s 4th win in the Furuno Gulf Coast Captain of the Year: 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019.

Well, if you’ve spent anytime fishing tournaments in the Gulf of Mexico for the last six years or so, the names Jason Buck and Done Deal have probably been permanently etched into your brain—and your wallet. Buck and his team are a veritable winning machine; this is Buck’s fourth Captain of the Year award since 2014, and he’s won the last three years in a row.

“We’ve definitely been a roll,” says Buck. “Some of it was lucking into good fishing, but a lot of our success comes down to doing your homework and scouting. That was especially true for the Texas Billfish Classic this year. We fished a tournament on the way over there and we caught six blues and white on the way over. We stuck to that to that discipline of scouting, and the last place we ended up we got crushed by a great blue marlin bite and I said, ‘All right, I know where I’m going back to!’”

“We started fishing in tighter as well. I felt we were passing up a lot of fish by fishing way out wide just so that we could be all by ourselves. I threw that strategy out the window and said that if we think it looks good right out front, then that’s what we are going to fish. We ran 70 miles offshore, which in the Texas is really close, found good water and caught our fish.”

Buck grew up on the Gulf Coast, fishing with his Dad and his friends on a company-owned 46-Hatteras. He often dreamed about those trips and by the time he was teenager, he managed to work a couple of summers on the docks of Orange Beach, Alabama, making the 45-mile trek from his hometown of Fairhope, Alabama to work for free.

“One of the guys I was working for free for was a very professional guy. I could tell he had it together, and I was really impressed with him, so I asked him how I should go about making fishing a career. He said that he’d gone into the Coast Guard and then worked on charter boats during his days off. So that’s what I did. I joined the Coast Guard, and my second duty station was Venice, Louisiana. I got a job running a charter boat catching tunas on my days off and that was that! You get to see a lot of cool stuff happening offshore in Venice!”

Buck’s first captain’s job was on the 65-foot Placebo, which took him to the Turks and Caicos, Costa Rica, and the Panama. While he was in Panama, he started talking to his present owner, Jon Gonsoulin. After a year of talking, Buck jumped ship and came to work for him. Eleven years later and the team is still together.

“After a brief Central American tour, for the past six years we mostly stayed at home and fished the Gulf tournaments,” says Buck. “It’s been working out good pretty for us! I think Jon might have been ready to quit in 2017…he was at least thinking about it. But we won the World Cup and a number of others that year, winning something like $1.5 million or so. So, he was like, maybe we should keep doing this! It’s hard work fishing these Gulf tournaments back to back to back…I’m just glad my guys are ate up with blue marlin fishing and the competition!”

Buck attributes a lot of his success to his world-class team of anglers and mates. “Katy Gonsoulin is our main angler. She’s also a crew member. A lot of this operation revolves around her. She’s caught a 535 after a five-hour fight, and the year before she fought a fish for that was tail wrapped for eight hours. She can catch them plenty quick too, she caught a 740-pounder in an hour and 15 minutes. It’s really great to see a cute, 100-pound girl standing next to a giant blue marlin. She’s a big inspiration to the little girls around here…she’s like the Katy Perry of sportfishing on the Gulf Coast,” says Buck.

“Wilkes Hammock is another one of our great anglers who fills in sometimes, and I’d also like to thank my mates Scott Sullivan, Vick Lott and especially Nick Bovell. I can’t say enough good things about Nick. We had a good operation before Nick, but his experience, attitude and work ethic just took us to whole new level. There’s never any drama with that guy,” says Buck.