MOUNTAIN HOME, Ark. – The team of Scott Jones and Dustin Cauthon won the two-day 2017 Arkansas Bass Team Trail championship on the Arkansas River on September 30 and October 1, and took home a new Bass Cat Caracal for their efforts, but making the win all that much sweeter is the fact that they fished the event out of Jones’s 2013 Bass Cat Pantera II, thereby qualifying them to “double up” with an additional $2,000 in Quest winnings.
The 29 year-old Jones comes from a Bass Cat family, as his father has owned Cats for nearly two decades, so when it came time to purchase a boat of his own the brand was a no-brainer. “First of all, it was a Bass Cat,” he explained.” But I liked the Pantera II because it’s plenty of boat at a good price, and still small enough to get into the shallow stuff. I call it their ‘sports car model.’”
“We know that everyone has a choice among brands, and we want to reward all groups of anglers who choose to run our product,” said Bass Cat President Rick Pierce. “Scott Jones is a polished young professional and a solid tournament angler, and we want to keep him in the ‘Bass Cat Family.’ The rewards of the Quest program are one way that we work to reward anglers’ loyalty, with the most generous and broad-based plan in the industry.”
While Jones and Cauthon were competing against many teams with larger or more high-powered boats, they were able to keep up with the pack and even pass some of the others as they headed down the river, enabling them to get onto their prime stretches before anyone else. That proved critical, because a buzzbait bite that Jones had identified in practice had disappeared by tournament day. Only on their second pass with soft plastics and a green pumpkin finesse jig did they recognize that the winning fish were still there and still biting. Every minute of fishing and every bite proved to be critical as their two day catch of 26.96 allowed them to beat the second place team by only 0.63 pounds.
“I think that if you compare the Quest program to just about any comparable brand’s incentives, we come out on top,” Pierce said. “The Bass Cat tradition extends through generations of families, with grandfathers and even a few great grandfathers watching their offspring enjoy a sport we all share and carrying on the tradition. If the Quest program can bolster that loyalty and continued participation in tournament fishing, then we feel it’s a smart investment on our part.”
For more information about the Quest program, go to https://www.basscat.com/info/literature/quest/
About Bass Cat: Bass Cat, owned by Correct Craft, manufactures the industry’s premier bass fishing boats from its headquarters in Mountain Home, Arkansas. Family operated since it’s founding in 1971, Bass Cat is the longest continuously operating tournament bass boat company in the United States. For more information visit www.basscat.com.
About Correct Craft: Celebrating 92 years of excellence in the marine industry, Correct Craft is a Florida-based company with global operations. The Correct Craft family includes Nautique, Centurion, Supreme, Bass Cat, Yar-Craft, SeaArk, and Bryant boat companies, Pleasurecraft Engine Group, and Aktion Parks. For more information please visit www.correctcraft.com.