(Editor's note: This is part 2 of a 2-part story on the bass fishing Silly Season, focusing on tour pros and the major boat and outboard companies.)
Among the major engine manufacturers, most of the off-season changes involved Yamaha. Several anglers who've been with the company for a while will run Yamaha boat wraps for the first time this year and no less than 14 others have joined the factory fishing team.
Meanwhile, Mercury added Greg Hackney to its lineup and Evinrude picked up veterans George Cochran and David Fritts. Hackney, who was formerly with Yamaha, changed engine companies when he switched his boat sponsor from Ranger to Triton, and Cochran and Fritts left Mercury to better align with FLW Outdoors sponsorship. Both will be FLW-only pros this year.
Yamaha Forges Ahead
Dean Rojas, Dustin Wilks and John Crews are among those whose boats will feature a new Yamaha wrap in 2006. The substantial list of signees to the pro staff includes Randy Blaukat, J.T. Kenney, Chad Grigsby and Mike Hawkes.
"Our industry has been so dynamic and dramatic recently that some changes were imminent," said Yamaha freshwater promotions supervisor David Simmons. "During all of this, Yamaha has not taken an aggressive or impulsive approach, but rather tried to offer a consistent, sound and strategic approach.
"We did not shop the anglers out there and honestly did not solicit any anglers. We won't even discuss sponsorship with an angler until they have demonstrated their interest and (proven) that they are free and clear of any competitive obligations.
"What did happen is we were almost overwhelmed with inquiries for membership on our factory fishing team," he added. "We were simply not able or interested in increasing our team by those numbers. What we look for in anglers is that they treat this as an occupation and not a hobby. Yamaha dealer relationship is not only required but is key – to be able to speak the marketing language and be professional in correspondence with us and the press, as well as have good stage presence and high levels of integrity."
Blaukat, the 21-year veteran and eight-time Bassmaster Classic qualifier, is another former two-tour pro who'll stick exclusively with FLW this year.
"Yamaha has an unmatched record of dependability and performance on the pro tours, and it gets stronger each year," he said. "This was really important to me. I make a lot of very long runs and I'm harder on a motor than most pros – not because I'm careless, but that's my style of fishing. So this type of bullet-proof performance that Yamaha motors have is not only huge for me, it's a necessity in my career."
Wilks (Triton to Skeeter) and Kotaro Kiriyama (Skeeter to Bass Cat) will remain with Yamaha despite changes in boat sponsors.
Greg Hackney, the top-ranked angler in the State Farm World Rankings, will no longer be seen in his familiar Yamaha hat.
Hack Running a Merc
Mercury's huge pro staff – which already included luminaries such as Kevin VanDam, Rick Clunn, Shaw Grigsby, Tim Horton, Jimmy Houston, Skeet Reese, Marty Stone and Gerald Swindle – added just one name in 2005. But it was another big one.
Hackney, the 2005 FLW Angler of the Year (AOY) will be a Bassmaster-only pro this year. He made the corresponding switch to Mercury after changing his boat sponsorship to Triton.
"I'd talked to him quite a bit at tournaments in the past and I'm looking forward to working with him," said Kevin Luebke, the company's manager of freshwater endorsements. "He's just a super-nice guy."
Luebke acknowledged that Mercury has lost more pro staffers than it's gained in recent years due to tour/sponsor alignment, but it's been able to retain a few strong Ranger anglers. John Murray is a prime example. "Hopefully we can continue that," he said.
He expects the company to get great exposure in the new Bassmaster Elite Series. "We should have a very good year there," he said. "We're on a very large percentage of the transoms."
He said that percentage is in the neighborhood of 60.
Evinrude Adds Two
The core group of Evinrude's pro staff – which includes Denny and Chad Brauer, Larry Nixon, Guido and Dion Hibdon and Davy Hite – has been together for more than 4 years. They'll be joined this year by former Bassmaster Classic winners Cochran and Fritts.
"Those guys ran Mercs for a long time, and it's nice to get guys with their experience," said Krista Heidgerken, field staff coordinator for Bombardier Recreational Products (the parent company of Johnson/Evinrude). "Overall, we've got a great group of guys, and there hasn't been any changes to our core group since we purchased the brand in 2001."
– End of part 2 (of 2) –
