“Your trolling motor? That’s not boat
trouble. There’s a big difference between
boat trouble and trolling motor trouble,”
Nina retorted, letting the angler know that
guarding the Ranger reputation for depend-
ability was a priority for her.
When they ran their boat company
back in the ’70s and ’80s, and for a num-
ber of year s afterward, Forrest and Nina
Wood flew thousands of miles around
the country to visit tournament weigh-
ins, present awards and sign auto-
graphs, and figuratively stamp an event
with the Ranger imprimatur. Such
attention won the company fans among
boat dealers, fishermen and sponsors,
and as the Ranger reputation grew, their
presence made an event more special.
Forrest always claimed that the
Ranger name was inspired by his fond-
ness for the Army Rangers and the
Rangers associated with law enforce-
ment. Over time, the name also conjured
an image of a lanky country gentleman
wearing a cream-colored Stetson who let
hard work, determination and exacti-
tude for quality in whatever he and Nina
did do the talking for Ranger Boats.
Whenever he speaks in public or
reminisces with friends, Forrest always
gives credit for the success of Ranger to
the hard work of the “unknown heroes
in the background,” the ordinary peo-
ple who helped the company achieve
extraordinary results. Many of these
were employed by the company for
more than 30 years – some still are.
It was always the family business,
mainly the big family of Wood and
Kirkland kin by blood or marriage. In
1989, after serving an apprenticeship of
sorts as artist, designer, mold maker,
gel-coater and marketing guru, Wood
son-in-law Randy Hopper became
Ranger president and helped boost the
company into its glory years of the ’90s
and beyond.
“The work ethic in this part of the
country is second to none. The one
thing that we got right from the start
was having good people on our team.
All can take credit for the part we
played in helping to grow fishing,”
says Forrest. “We sponsored as many
tournaments and fishermen as we
could. We gave boats away as prizes
and backed every tournament organi-
zation there was – including Operation
Bass, which became FLW. It helped our
business, but it helped a lot of folks in a
lot of other ways, too.”
Bass boats and fields and the
White River Valley – just as water
coursed along the most important
places of their lives, Forrest and Nina
Wood have coursed through the histo-
ry of bass fishing. Somewhere along
the way they also became a symbol,
not so much a symbol of what the rest
of us are, but of what we might aspire
to be.