Ish and Scott Martin now with Skeeter!

Skeeter picked up 2 solid anglers going into 2021! Congrats to them!
Welcome to the bug boats boys!

Johnny has either p***ed a lot of people off or something is up with the Ranger brand. Lot of defections this year it seems.

Scott is awesome, like Ish too.

Go back and delete your comment from a month ago where you were trashing Scott’s tournament performance. Lol!

Lol. Nope, not going to do it. All I said was they needed to concentrate more on fishing and not the videos so much!

I read Ranger has stated they are going more towards sponsoring lower tier pro's and I SUSPECT the YouTube people. Don't know how true but by lord it sure appears true.

Plus yeah I think Johnny just really making people mad. I know I'll never buy a boat he owns. I think what he is doing should be illegal. Dang monopoly he creating.

The days of "Pros" pushing boats, tackle, etc by big names will start to deplete. Way too much more exposure on those who are on social media and streaming platforms.

The average Jo can now push more product than a pro can via social media via likes, hashtags, and small video snips on varying sites.

What am I missing? How is JM making people mad? Why won't you ever buy a boat he owns? Educate the rest of us fishermen please.

+1

I used to think this way as well. But it seems like allot of the legit guys who fish are getting real tired of the "youtubers" (unprofessional fishermen). Maybe they have allot of pull with the scrubs, but don't seem to be pulling any weight with the guys who are more seasoned or who are more serious. But I could be in the minority.

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What am I missing? How is JM making people mad? Why won't you ever buy a boat he owns? Educate the rest of us fishermen please.[/quote]

Well first, I've heard horror stories from people including one of my best friends that own rangers less than 2 years old that have issues ranger won't even touch. They just keep getting the run around with their warranties. And as for me not buying a boat he owns, well thats personal preference. Nothing to educate about. I dont like how he is he doing the industry to make a buck. Him and Duckett both. Look at all the guys who left ranger or got dropped. And word on the street is quite a few have willingly left.

It's kinda of what Rather Outdoors is doing with Strike King and Lews. They told the prostaff you rep both companies or your gone. Not either or. To me that's bull but hey their company their rules.

But it all boils down to my opinion. Plain and simple.

Thats pretty rough lol sadly they probably rep both just so they can get a paycheck also if they don't even like the product but I guess if someone paid me to use zebco 33 I would lol

Ish was a Skeeter guy in the past.

Pretty clear that Ranger is not what it once was in build quality or finish. This really shouldn't come as a great surprise to anyone. White River Marine has literally done this with every single boat brand they have ever purchased. Buy the top end boat brands, lower the build quality, sell them for more money for a few years, then kill the brand and transition as many people as possible to one of the long term Bass Pro brands like Nitro, Mako, Tracker, etc. Brands like Kenner, Stratos, Legend, Seacraft are a few examples of brands they have done this with. I suspect Ranger will be around for a long time, but brands like Triton are probably on the way out. Just the way things work in the boating world. I won't pretend to understand the economics of it. Seems to me every time White River Marine/ Bass Pro buys and destroys one brand, three more pop up to replace it.

ranger may or may not be the boat it was in the past wmg has figured out with the net growth they dont have to furnish as many folks free rides pay expenses an entry fees oh i forgot they dont have to pay entree fees ranger has been around with many owners the only thing that is constant with the brand is they have been the benchmark of bass boats for a very long time.

The big numbers buying new stuff follow youtube, insta, etc. Sometimes we get caught up in the "tournament" world but in reality it's a very small part of the product being moved as a whole. It's the young kids "Googan" generation

Just funnin. If your a Ranger or Johnny minion no reason get up tight. Ranger has had a mass defection. I don’t know the reason but I don’t see you losing the anglers that have moved on unless something is up. (Christie, Monroe, Cody Meyer, Martin), those are some stout long running names to leave your brand.

Them young “googan” types in Jr high ain’t buying $75k+ boats.

But their parents are.

Yup, plenty of kids around here rocking $200k wakeboard boats on their parents dime.

Ranger initiated most of the angler dumping. This includes touring professionals and regional guys.
There are some exceptions, with an example being Jason C.

Yeah a 100K (outfitted) bass boat is just chump change to some of them!

When I first moved to Plano in the 90's, working at EDS I was shocked driving around an seeing the High School Parking Lots that looked like new car dealers. It has only expanded beyond that to the other suburbs and various 'toys'.

DKB

I think this has a good bit to do with it. I think people like Cody Myer who was Tackle Warehouse, Daiwa, Strike King, Ranger were told they need to be Bass Pro/Cabelas, Lew's, Strike King, Ranger going forward. He's now in a Blazer boat and has mention the Jack Hammer and not the Thunder Cricket in a couple of posts.

Ish Monroe as Bass Pro, Daiwa, Ranger. Now he's Fisherman's Warehouse, Daiwa, Skeeter.

Also saw that Mark Zona is now with Lew's, who was previously a few seasons with Daiwa. So now he's under the "same two umbrella" with Bass Pro, Nitro, Lew's, Strike King.

This is all speculations and just what I've pieced together watching social media & pod casts so take it all with a grain of salt.

I think this is the main reason. Young people influence their parents and it's an untapped market that the YouTube crowd has really tapped in to. That and with so much coverage it doesnt take as many pros to reach that part of the market. YouTube is also very transparent in what reach a person has where a pro isnt so I think it's easier for a sponsor to track analytics from website clicks and stuff from that person's media and see just how many people are watching their videos. Overall, it's mainly just that there is so much coverage and media that I dont think a pros impact is as needed as it once was. Now, maybe that's just what it appears to be and the trend could reverse back to pro sponsorships

The Zona move is not surprising. He is a Strike King guy first so the move to Lews just follows suit with the rest of SK anglers that switched to Lews.

Some people build businesses with the sole purpose of becoming an acquisition target. No sure why everyone gets mad at the person buying the business and not the guy who sold the business. I mean the seller is the one who ruined the brand chasing the almighty dollar. They knew who they were selling to yet took the money and ran.

I'm still trying to figure out what "Googan" is? Guess I'm to old to understand.

Just buy your baits from here and be quiet:

As a younger dude who has fished THSBA(Texas High School Bass Association) tournaments, I can say that this is all partially true.

The YouTubers have gotten a lot of people into fishing, but with most of them just remaining bank/pond fishermen. There are a lot of kids who get their parents to buy a bass boat. With that said I don't think the YouTubers advertise their boat sponsors or have much influence on what brand of boat their parents buy. Of course this may change with a switch in marketing tactics. (I am not 100% sure on all of this but this is what I think as a younger dude).

It seems that many of these newer YouTubers do not actually go in depth and their primary goal is just entertainment, so I don't think they actually help someone who wants to do good in tournaments. With that said they are still getting many younger people into fishing (As previously stated).

I myself do not watch the Googans or many of the other YouTubers. I just watch tacticalbassin and Scott Martin's tournament videos(yes, he does entertainment too but I take more stock into what he says because he is an actual professional).

Couple more good guys and sticks added. Looks like Todd and Jason from Rayburn went Skeeter as well.

Reading post above.....I dont know what went on with Ranger. Lots of my buddies that run them said the quality went down hill even before Morris bought it. Not sure, I didn't own one. Even though I'm a Skeeter guy, I've always liked Rangers which is a shame if its true. They will still always be a legend in the boat business no matter what.

For some reason, I thought you jumped into a phoenix.

I went back to a Skeeter.

Smart!!!

I was sold on the quality of Ranger early on and bought into the koolaid. My 2019 has it's fair share of issues...seems they built my boat on a Friday just before beer thirty.

Even though it has issues, I really like my boat and it has more Pros than Cons.

That being said, if I were asked if I would buy another I would strongly look at others before saying yes. Phoenix, Skeeter, and dare I say Nitro are catching my eye more and more. My first bass boat was a Nitro and I can easily say it was not a turd nor had a ton of issues either. It was old 1997 and looked practically new when I sold it.

Heard today that Skeeter, like many others, is having issues with getting supplies to build their boats.

I bet it will get a lot worse in the coming weeks / months.

Nothing more than the gravy train stopped

I bought a used 2016 Ranger Comanche Z520 this year that was in perfect condition minus the internal panels had some some sun damage. I called Ranger to get the replacements in for a cheap easy fix.

When they were delivered, they weren’t made of the same composite/rubber material out of the factory. They were some kind of thin, cheap hard plastic that cracked instantly when I tried to screw them into the frame. I called Ranger back and they stated they are now outsourcing products from another company. This plastic was cheap sh!t you would expect from China.

I can definitely tell you Ranger is cutting costs in future boats by outsourcing to China. Sad reality but if they keep that up, they’re going to lose customers.

I’ve heard that JM was late by several payments to the banks... sounded to me like he bit off more than he could chew!

Done lost them.

I stopped liking Ranger when they started putting cheap looking fake metal vent things on the rear transom areas. And the cheap looking accent pieces in the sides of the consoles. Looks dumb, like a useless afterthought.

You must not like Vexus then....

I've seen some cheap looking c-rap on several brands of boats!

I agree that JM has made some bad decisions with the boat companies that he owns but I can say for sure that he is not missing any payments on loans. Just go to the Top of Rock that he owns and try to rent a cabin or a boat. You better call way ahead of time. Also try to get a T time on one of his golf courses....again you better call way ahead of time. The boy is banking right now. Time will tell on his ownership skills with the boat companies. I think he would be better off selling Ranger to someone who cared about quality and customer service and just keep his Nitro/Tracker line of boats. Vexus has a great opportunity to take those Ranger customers but they have got to get reasonable on their pricing and make a few cosmetic changes to the hull profile.

Whatever

Wasn't Martin really PO'd when Evinrude announced they were getting out of the outboard business?

Yes he seemed to be as were many others!

you would be mad too if you had bought all those shirts an then they go out of business on you.

he isn't buying anything lol they were all free

Lots of pressure from sponsors with a bunch of place to put sponsorship. Ranger decided to shed the number of pros they sponsored. Plenty had no choice but to find a new ride.