Captain James “Bucko” Platt has been fishing since diapers! Born and raised in the FL Keys, he is very familiar with these waters and what they have to offer. His father has also worked in the fishing industry for years and the apple didn’t fall far from the tree! He started off mating for other local captains, catching and selling live bait and tournament fishing as a junior angler. In 2009, No Slack Sportfishing Inc was born-operating the original 1991 25′ SeaVee and making a successful business for himself at 18 years old. Today the business has expanded significantly. Adding our 32′ SeaVee to the fleet, his cousin, Jared, as a second captain and his fiancé, Melissa, to manage the business. When Capt. Bucko is not charter fishing, you can probably find him running his 39′ lobster/stone crab boat, the “Melissa Keiko”, during the months of August-May. Having 3,500+ traps to fish, this definitely takes up a lot of his time. When he does get a free day, he will probably still be on the water! but with Melissa and their two beautiful kids.

If you’ve communicated with No Slack via email, text or over the phone, you’ve probably spoken with Melissa! In 2018, about a year after Bucko expanded his lobster/stone crab business, it was hard for him to keep up with the charter fishing side of things. With the two boats sitting at the dock, it only made sense for Melissa to quit her office job to keep No Slack Sportfishing up and running. Melissa handles all the bookings as well as social media accounts, bookkeeping, etc.

While Melissa doesn’t have the level of fishing experience the guys have, she has been Buckos (favorite) angler for the past 8 years. She can answer your fishing questions and help get you and your families on the water for a memorable experience!

Captain Jared Dieguez, also born and raised in the keys, has been fishing with Capt Bucko and other local captains since he was about 10 years old.

He has been an official part of the No Slack crew since 2018, running the boats as a Captain. His grandfather and father were both local commercial fishermen for decades. As a 3rd generation captain, fishing skills are in his blood.