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Wilks: When it all comes together

Wilks: When it all comes together

(Editor's note: "Catching Bass with Dustin Wilks" airs five times per week on Sportsman Channel – 2 p.m. ET Sunday, 4:30 a.m. Monday, 6 a.m. Tuesday, 11:30 a.m. Wednesday and 5:30 a.m. Saturday. The six-time Bassmaster Classic qualifier provides BassFans with additional insight about each episode in these submissions.)

We all know about last-minute trips. My outing to film with Earl Bentz, the founder of Caymas Boats, may be the ultimate in that department.

If you watched the show, everything looks great – brand new Caymas with brand new Yamaha SHO and Earl and I smiling about catching bass. In fact, my editor had 56 fish to choose from for the show. What a great day spent with Earl. I learned a lot about him, boats and life in general, but getting there was a challenge.

Before the trip, I was at home and my boat was waiting on the new Yamaha. Finally the email came from Yamaha saying they'd had a breakthrough and the motor was on the way! A few emails later confirming Caymas had delivery and I was off, heading to Nashville with my cameraman Micheal Powell along for the ride.

I walked into the factory after a brief visit in the office with Barry Vaughn, who handles all the orders from dealers at Caymas. I was a bit nervous about the color combination because I’d actually never seen a dark blue Caymas. My nervousness instantly vanished at first sight! Best looking boat I’d ever seen.

I’ve never in my life had so many comments about a boat as this new Caymas. It’s dark blue and silver, matching the SHO, and the lines and the fit and finish are a sight to see in combination with the new styling on the SHO. Every trip anywhere and people are drooling over it to this day. The official names of the colors are sapphire blue and tungsten with silver pins in case you want to order one for yourself.

The batteries from ImpactBattery.com arrived just in time after the motor was installed and the guys at the factory had them installed in 10 minutes flat, and I was off to the river to get some run shots with Earl Bentz himself. It was surreal, and in fact there was a Thursday night tournament blasting off just as we arrived at the ramp. Everyone there knew Earl and had some small talk before they departed. I stayed on the bank and my cameraman went out with Earl and got some shots of him running the boat for the Caymas commercial you will see in each episode.

After the run shots, we rushed to our lodging for the night at our fishing destination and had a chance to talk all things fishing and hunting with Earl.

The things Earl has done and places he has been are like something out of an adventure book. What a full life he has lived – and is living. If I had told my buddies these stories, they would have laughed and said I was making things up, but Michael and I were hanging on to every word. These stories were crazy, like the one about a lion scratching on his tent in the middle of the night in Africa or his son-in-law slaying an alligator with a knife. Some of the coolest stores I’ve ever heard, and not just one or two – it was many. All I had to offer was a story about shooting flies with my Bug-A-Salt gun, and Earl grinned and said, "pump action."

The next morning we were eating breakfast before fishing and I see Garth Brooks on the news, the reporter saying he was having a concert soon. I love Garth’s music and I told Earl I didn’t know he was still doing concerts anymore, and Earl said, “Oh yeah, he does. Just talked to him yesterday, great guy." Earl knows a lot of people and treats everyone the same from what I saw, but I was still a little star-struck by that.

It was a hot day to be fishing, about 96 degrees with 100% humidity, but I enjoyed every minute of it. We never got that monster we were looking for, but at least for me, I gained a lot of knowledge and insight into how the boat business works from the master himself. There is a lot of experimentation and tweaking that goes into every new hull until its perfect.

The time, determination, and amount of money it takes to start a company like Caymas is astronomical. But along with those, I think the key to Earl’s success is he goes out of his way to talk to customers and treats everyone with respect, as everyone should. He is available and accessible, and those have to be some of the keys to his success, along with knowing who to hire and having such a dedicated group of employees.

I have to say, I’ve never seen employees so happy to be working as the men and women at Caymas. All of that and he really stands behind his product. Ask anyone who owns a Caymas and they will tell you there are rarely issues, but if there are, the company will go to any length to make it right.

Thank you, Earl, for everything you have done for the boating industry, thousands of happy customers, and all the anglers who owe a large part of their ability to pursue their dreams to you.

I hope you all enjoy the show and have a chance to check out a new Caymas soon!

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