A FLORIDA KEYS KID WHO BECAME THE BAY BOAT KING
He started with boats nobody wanted. Today, he’s a top Contender dealer dominating the bay boat world.
Gus Solis grew up in the Florida Keys. He spent ten years learning the business at what he calls the best marina dealership in the eastern United States—then in 2009, when the economy was crashing and boats were being repossessed faster than dealers could move them, Gus saw opportunity where everyone else saw a problem. Bank connections, wholesale trades, the inventory everyone else was trying to offload. That was Gus Toy Box.
By 2011, he had locked down his spot at mile marker 104 on the Overseas Highway in Key Largo—the first dealership coming into the Keys. Every boat owner driving north or south had to pass right by. Then he met Joe Neber, founder of Contender Boats, through a mutual friend. They started spearfishing, fishing, and riding motorcycles together. Joe pushed Gus to become a Contender dealer—and Gus had already proven he could build something from nothing. Contender gave him something worth building with.
YOUR DEALER IS YOUR NEIGHBOR
The Florida Keys is a small community. Whether they’re full-time residents or weekenders from Miami and Fort Lauderdale, the connection always runs through the Keys. And in a place this small, the way you do business follows you to the sandbar, to the marina, to dinner.
“I really want to do business with people that I know we’re going to become friends with,” Gus says. “Business should be good for both sides.”
On any given Sunday, Gus runs into 15 to 20 of his customers at the local sandbar. Every transaction carries weight beyond the paperwork, because you’re going to see that person again on the water, probably that same weekend.
GTB has built a culture around that reality. For over a decade, they’ve hosted the GTB Rendezvous—annual trips that bring the community together around the thing they love most: being on the water.
Seventy percent of GTB’s business is repeat customers. In the Keys, people know the difference between someone who means it and someone who’s just selling.
WITH SAILFISH ON THE LOGO, YOU BETTER KNOW HOW TO SET UP A BOAT
One of Gus’s first Contender sales was to a local family that wanted to get into hardcore tournament sailfishing. That sale turned into something else entirely—a team, a ten-year run on the tournament circuit, and an education that no spec sheet could have given him.
“Without being part of a team and fishing that hardcore tournament circuit that is so competitive, I wouldn’t have known the simplest things,” Gus says. “Livewells, rod placement, rocket launcher, electric reels—down to a cup holder. Down to the smallest little detail that you wouldn’t know that you needed until you were in that certain scenario in the middle of a tournament, especially when there’s big money on the line.”
Speaker locations. Electric reel placement. The exact position of a swivel rod holder so a kite reel can run off the midship and leave the back of the boat open. GTB has been in that pressure long enough to have answers before a customer thinks to ask the question—and clients who walk onto a GTB-spec’d boat for the first time consistently say the same thing: they hadn’t thought of half of it. And on a boat that is completely custom built to the owner’s specifications, the expertise matters.
“It’s like racing cars,” Gus says. “You get a team that’s been on the track for ten years—they know how to set up the car for every single track. And you’re coming in there blindsided with a new race car. You’re not going to know what to do.”
Being able to fish hard on Friday and Saturday and take the whole family out on Sunday—that’s what a properly built Contender makes possible. GTB knows how to build both versions of that boat, because they’ve lived both versions of that day.
THE KEYS DON’T ASK YOU TO PICK A TYPE OF FISHING. THEY HAND YOU ALL OF IT.
You can be five miles to the east and you’re offshore—sailfish, wahoo, mahi, deep dropping for mutton snapper and yelloweye. Five miles the other way and you’re catching redfish, snook, trout, tarpon, bonefish. There is nowhere else in the United States like it.
Joe Neber saw the demand for a bay boat that could actually keep up with these waters, and Contender built it.
“Contender built the best product out there,” Gus says. “They superseded all your typical other bay boat brands. They outperform them, out-fish them, get into shallower water, and offer a softer ride. Contender took that offshore performance, efficiency, and ride—added fishability to that—and converted it into the backcountry. And they succeeded.”
Bay boats lead GTB’s sales. The 39s and 44s follow for tournament fishing and Bahamas crossings. The 32ST holds its own as the boat that does everything in a twin-engine package. Most serious Keys anglers figure out quickly that they want a technical skiff, a bay boat, and something bigger for the crossing when the time is right.
“Any big house on the water is going to have at least two, sometimes three or four boats,” Gus says, “to cover all the fishing that we have down here.”
GTB is there to help build out that entire tool chest—and after 15 years on these waters, they know exactly what belongs in it.
SPECING OUT YOUR CONTENDER IS NO DIFFERENT FROM DESIGNING YOUR DREAM HOME.
Every Contender is custom-built, and GTB has spent 15 years learning how to ask the right questions before a single option gets checked. What boat do you have now—what do you love about it, what drives you crazy? Where do you see yourself fishing in six months, a year, five years? What’s your dock situation, your lift size, your bridge clearance? Gus grew up in these neighborhoods. Give him an address and he’ll tell you what fits behind your house and what doesn’t.
Someone new to the Keys gets consistent advice: start with a bay boat, learn the backyard, then come back and tighten up the tool chest. For the angler who walks in knowing exactly what they want, it moves fast—and the build takes shape around how they actually fish.
“Nobody wants two red Ferraris in the same neighborhood,” Gus says. That’s why GTB watches color combinations and resale value before the customer does, and why GTB Edition builds are reserved for inventory and boat shows. No two builds look alike, and that one-of-a-kind edge is the whole point.
The goal every time is to put the right angler on the right boat. Do that well enough and seventy percent of them come back for the next one.
DOMINATING A DECADE LATER
Eleven years at the top of the Contender dealer rankings. And the thing Gus respects most about the brand has nothing to do with volume—it’s that Contender still puts the retail customer first.
“They put the retail customer first. Above me, the dealer,” Gus says. “When I put an order in and it has a name, they put that order first. If that doesn’t tell you something about the brand, I don’t know what does.”
The boats back it up decade after decade. Guys are taking 30-year-old Contenders, completely refurbishing them, and showing them off with pride.
“To own a Contender is to be proud of what you’re rolling around in,” Gus says. “It stands for something.”
Image credits: Contender 39 Fisharound Review | Sport Fishing Mag
FIRST IN THE WATER ON EVERY NEW MODEL
Since Joe first asked Gus to become a dealer, there’s been one constant: when Contender introduces something new, Gus wants hull number one. He wants to fish it hard, learn it inside out, and bring real information back—and Contender actively seeks that feedback from their dealers on the water.
When the 39 Fisharound launched, Marlin Magazine wanted to showcase the new model—but they also wanted to get on fish. Gus took his tournament team out on hull number one. Within an hour they had double and triple sailfish hooked up, the whole thing on camera—walking the deck from stern to bow mid-fight, showing the world what a cabin boat built by Contender is actually capable of. They zipped out, caught five or six sailfish, and came back in at 67 miles per hour. The feature followed. The author’s jaw dropped.
Contender builds great boats. Dealers like GTB make sure the right people find them.
IT RUNS IN THE FAMILY
While other manufacturers have struggled in recent years, GTB hasn’t skipped a beat—and neither has Contender. New product at the last five or six boat shows in a row. New consoles, new models, constant research and development. The South Florida market is holding strong and GTB is busier than ever.
GTB’s building on the Overseas Highway—standing since 1958—is getting a full renovation in the fourth quarter. New sign. New roof. A fresh look for a dealership that has been anything but stale.
But what has Gus most fired up goes beyond any of that.
His 73-year-old father came out of retirement to help with parts and service. His 13-year-old son is already going to local boat shows. And GTB is fielding calls from 15-year-olds who want to talk through how they want to spec out their 35s.
“I’m excited for the next generation,” Gus says. “These kids are becoming hardcore backcountry fishermen.”
The Keys have a way of doing that to people. And Gus Toy Box has a way of making sure they’re in the right boat when they’re ready.
FIND GUS TOY BOX
Gus Toy Box 104001 Overseas Hwy, Key Largo, FL 33037 305-394-1374 | gustoybox.com
Ready to fish the Keys in a Contender? Visit Gus Toy Box and find out why anglers across South Florida trust them to build the right boat for the way they fish.
