17 Local Fishing Captains Honored in Angler’s Choice Award

Seventeen fishing captains in Flagler and Volusia counties were honored with the International Angler’s Choice Award, a distinction given to 672 total individuals by the charter broker FishingBooker. Florida as a whole had a high number of captains honored, largely due to the prevalence of the charter fishing industry in the state. A total of 104 Volusia fishing captains are registered with FishingBooker plus 179 in Flagler County, and so over a tenth of the area’s guides can now boast being considered ‘world-class captains’, per FishingBooker’s own wording. Eligibility was determined by those who achieve a 4.8+ star review score from more than ten verified reviews, a 98% score or higher in reliability or response, and full business verification. “We’ve been awarding the Angler’s Choice Award since 2015,” said FishingBooker CEO Vukan Simic. “With this award, we wanted to honor our most committed captains and make it easier for anglers to identify the very best guides on our platform. We couldn’t be more excited to highlight their hard work and dedication.” The winners were as follows: Justin Brunk (Everett’s Adventure, New Smyrna Beach) James Burke (Finomenal Adventure Charters, DeBary) Chris Davy (Southern Fried Charters, Palm Coast) Austin & Cole Ferguson (Ferg’s Guide Service, Port Orange) Mark Gibson (Nauti Diver Charters, Port Orange) Kevin Gill (Coastline Charters, Port Orange) Big Al Graham (Big Al’s Inshore Charter Service, New Smyrna Beach) Aaron Highers (Top Notch Adventures, Port Orange) Scott Housel (Sudden Strike Offshore Adventures, Daytona Beach) Jeshua Kavanaugh (Lucky Spot Charters, Daytona Beach) Cody Kendrath (Vulcan Charters, Ponce Inlet) John McIntyre (MacDaddy Offshore Charters, Palm Coast) Evan Sanders (Sol Fishing, Edgewater) Nick Siciliano (Beast Coast Fishing Charters, Port Orange) Dustin Smith & crew (NSB Shark Hunters, New Smyrna Beach) Clarence Spencer & crew (Whataday Charters, Daytona Beach) Jeff Stone (Have Faith Fishing Charters, Port Orange) FishingBooker was founded in 2013 in Serbia, and has been described as a service to pair fisherman with charter captains in a similar business model to vacation rentals such as Airbnb.