Where did the name Bass Cat come from…

We had the question come up a couple of times lately and it is archived from an original post around the late 1990’s. Here is the post duplicated again for those wondering where the name Bass Cat came from.

BCB

Bass Cat origin as a brand name:

The Bass Cat name came about from a tackle store conversation in the original days for BCB. The first boat name was Challenger and it was Incorporated, though Buster Dobbs fired up about that time and started building Challenger boats in TN and North AL.

Since Buster was on the ground in a similar time period, Ron opted to rename the boats.

The name came from Ron’s old fishing partner, departed some 8 to 10 or so years back. Paul & Ruth Lingle owned Midway Wholesale Tackle, and founded MarMar Resort in Bull Shoals. He also turned the first shovel of dirt on the town of Bull Shoals many years ago.

Paul & Ruth’s tackle store started in an old quansit hut about 1.5 miles from BCB, and moved to town in the late 60’s. The strip mall he was in was owned by EG Gregory, whose son Ed is one of the founders of K & G Baits, Which is now a portion of Jewel Baits. That strip mall has since been torn down with modernization and road expansion.

One night in that tackle store with Paul, Bud Marma and Ron Pierce, while trying to decide what to decide what to name the company, the houyse cat came strolling through. Paul blurted out, “why don’t you just call it Bass Cat”, and went through a dissertation as to why. Bass and Cat’s are agile and like fish and etc. So there you have it.

The first boats were called Deluxe Tournament models and at first had no real name. They were all customized from drawings. You took the components you wanted from a black & white brochure. Cut them out and assembled them like a paper doll. Then you had your floor plan tailored from base parts to your wishes. You could add a little tray here, or a box could be removed there. Otherwise they were all some form of their own, or they were a base model that was standard. Which eventually led to the Deluxe Tournament series which was a base floor plan most preferred by anglers.

Many of the anglers we all know from history started their angling careers in those Deluxe Tournament hulls, as the hull was between 6 and 8″ wider than other popular models at the time. Giving it more stability, and a different foot print while running also. The stringers were closer than others and the hulls were exceptionally strong.

After the Deluxe Tournament series came different standard deviations which offered varied floor plans for crappie, bass or open hulls, and some even ordered one of those very few original dual console models. And there were very few of these built then.

Following those was the 16′ 4″ XL series in 1974-75 model year, and a newer version of that in late 1975-76, with seat beside the livewell, marketed as the XLII series.

From there the 1500 Vee, and 1600 Vee, which started in the Vee hulls that were rampantly reproduced and copied, with the front bow sponsons being cut off the bow of the hull. Some were marketed by competitors as the “winged vee” and there were many variations.

The 1600 Vee n’ Ski came along in the 1977-78 years and then the 1800 Vee 150 rated series in early 1980’s.

From there we began the Pantera Series in 1984 model year. That started the use of Cat names, and at the time the Drummer for Black Oak Arkansas (Jim Dandy was Lead Singer) had owned and refurbished a silver Pantera locally with the hot little 351 engine. The group floated around Mountain Home and eventually resided in Oakland, Arkansas, purchasing the Black Oak Resort. Ruby Starr and Grey Ghost purchased the resort across the street, from which Oakland, and Bull Shoals Lake were lit up with unexpected guest of a popular nature. That car was a cherished item locally for many reasons. Rock stars in the 70’s were somewhat popular in the tail end of the hippie and flower power generations, and to have one in the record store locally was common. Stopping for ice cream, or just to say hey!

It was either Puma which was a popular shoe company then, and is becoming so again. Or Jaguar which was obviously a popular British car company, Or the Pantera which had the description of the family of large cats as mentioned was decided upon, because of the boat size at the time. Pantera was decided upon for it’s reference to the large family of cats.

The Pantera name led to the thought process of naming boats after cat names. Hence the Pantera was at the time the first real 19′ 200 hp rated production boat with any success. Most preferred to got to 20′ passed from 18′ to 20′ with the 80 some inch beams. The Pantera Pro Series had a 19′ hull length with a 92″ beam. Whereas one major competitors models were all 17’10” long and 84″ in beam. Which was quite a difference from those 84″ to 86″ C., H. R. and S. boats at the time. It was the first wider beamed boat.

This spawned the evolution of cat names from the next Caracal, Phelix, Margay, Pantera II, Sabre, Calico, Eyra and etc… On through today and the eventual use of the Jaguar in 1996 and Puma names more recently. And there are more we could use as well.

So there you have it! A brief dissertation on the history.

BCB