Anyone care to guess where Randy Hopper and crew will re-surface? I suspect they signed no compete contracts, but generally there are time limits on them.

Your probably right Cat.

I wonder if they only had a required contract time to stay with the company after the acquisition? I've seen that before as well.

Who knows!

Have you read this?



In a letter to its dealer network, Bass Pro Shops Founder, Johnny Morris, reassured dealers that the company's future is �unchanged� after three senior staff members resigned.

In late November, Fishing Holdings' management team, consisting of President, Randy Hopper; Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Keith Daffron; and CFO, Mendel Hughes; has resigned from the company. Fishing Holdings, owned by Bass Pro Shops since late 2014, is the maker of Ranger, Stratos and Triton boats.

The letter contained the following:
This was a very sad day for me personally and I know it has to be deeply concerning for many of you as well. There can be no doubt that each of these very fine and most capable men will be sorely missed � we sincerely wish for them the very best.

This development has no doubt caused many of you to have questions and concerns. While we have not fully developed a detailed go forward plan, there are several key points I feel it is important for us to share with you.

� Our deep commitment to the company's future is unchanged.
� There remains in place a fantastic team of committed associates in Flippin, Arkansas that have our full support.
� Recruiting the most talented leaders possible to fill these vacated positions is a top priority.
� We plan to align significant additional resources to further strengthen product offerings and dealer and customer support.
� We will maintain separate new product development teams to ensure unique, differentiated product offerings.
� Maintaining the extraordinarily high-quality product standards of the legendary Ranger brand, developed by Forrest Wood, is considered an absolute top priority.
� We are contemplating moving the production of Triton and Stratos boats from Flippin to increase capacity and enable us to better serve Triton and Stratos dealers and their customers. We believe this action will also free up space for increased production of Ranger brand fresh and saltwater boats and accessories in Flippin. We want to get you and your customers boats, parts and accessories in a timely and efficient manner.
� A strong independent dealer network is vitally important for the success of the Ranger brand. Supporting your efforts to meet and exceed the high expectations customers have come to expect from Ranger remains our primary focus. With that goal in mind, we plan to appoint and convene a dealer council in the very near future.
� To be clear, when we invested in Fishing Holdings one of our primary motivations was investing in the opportunity to work alongside you, the absolute best fishing boat dealers in the world. We remain steadfast in this commitment.
� At this time, we are pursuing renaming Tracker Marine Group and Fishing Holdings to a new, more united �White River Marine Group.� In this regard, we are eager to share and to make available as appropriate many of the significant resources available from Bass Pro Shops and Tracker to help strengthen the Ranger brand and your business. At the same time we respect the need to maintain independence and brand integrity, and in that regard, we have no plans to sell Fishing Holdings brands through Bass Pro Shops stores.

We are excited to share a bright future together and are most grateful for your support.

As Morris mentioned, the production of Triton and Stratos boats could possibly be leaving Flippin, Arkansas plant. This now begs the question of where it would be moved to and what impact it would have on the employs involved in the construction of those lines.

I read the article, but it really doesn't say much. So they move the Triton and Stratos Operation to Springfield and Ranger stays in Flippin. My guess is the key execs either show up with a different company, or a new bass boat company is in the works.

I bet there are a bunch of experienced fiber glass guys in Tennessee that have some suggestions on where to move Triton.

That's my guess.

Very interesting stuff and just hope those who may loose or not be able to move to keep their jobs are able to find something comparable. Morris seems to understand it is not just the product that makes a great business it is the people. I doubt the ranger dealers have much to worry about. Plus ranger owners are not going to Nitros not sure about triton but Stratos definitely is competition, in my opinion. I suppose moving the production of everything but ranger out of flippin was a big part of the departure of the leaders at ranger. But they have no choice but find efficiencies and more profit in the other two brands in flippin. Plus a recession is coming which will make a lot of decisions for Morris. What happen in the last recession. only people with significant wealth were buying boats and were only buying the top of the line boats from the top selling brands. If the public debt bubble bursts well the Federal Reserve may not survive meaning no more credit because the big banks will be done as well. Hopefully I am wrong.

I hear ya. I'm not sure this is the best time in the world to do something like that, and I'm sure they have to be very careful if they do. I'm just not sure that a start up would be able to get the financing necessary to ride out the lean years. That means establishing a whole new dealer network. If they were to do that, but do it on a non competitive scale, it might work....Interesting thought though. I would certainly be willing to work with them on the Quality Side...After all I'm gonna be retiring soon and will be available for some consulting work....

I cant think of a better time to secure long term debt and private equity. Interest rates are very low and there are so many PE firms that need to place major dollars.
The oil & gas money has been shut down and the real-estate margins are getting thin.
If these guys left without severance pay, then they would most likely not have a non-compete
I am guessing they will pop up with a new company, or acquire a smaller existing one and double the size

After 40 years at Ranger I would think one would retire and enjoy life.

executives (loose term) are like sports coaches, they'll resurface somewhere..

2 of the 3 guys are related either by blood or marriage to Forest so my guess is they will be showing their faces sooner rather than later by either starting a new boat company or buying an existing one.

The world needs another bassboat manufacturer as much as it needs another tournament trail.

I agree, but wouldn't doubt if they try to bring champion back from the dead.