s
ometimes winning bass tourna-
ments is not so much about the
actual technique used to catch the
fish as it is just getting to the winning fish.
Such was the case with John Cox’s
2016 Forrest Wood Cup victory at
Wheeler Lake in early August. The Cup
trophy that now resides in his home is
the result of being able to reach the fish
and not necessarily the techniques he
used to catch them.
“Once they got to where I was fish-
ing, anybody else could have caught
them,” Cox says.
But the reason “anybody else” didn’t
catch them is because “anybody else” in
a conventional 21-foot glass boat with a
250-hp outboard couldn’t have reached
the area where Cox found his winning
fish as easily as the champion did.
Cox’s boat was smaller and lighter.
His 20-foot aluminum Crestliner with a
40
200-hp Mercury Verado allowed him to
hop over numerous logs as he jour-
neyed his way some six miles back into
skinny Cotaco Creek to uncover an
untapped population of resident bass.
Over the course of four days, Cox
plucked 54 pounds, 13 ounces of bass,
mostly from Cotaco Creek, to become the
first pro angler to win a national profes-
sional bass fishing championship from
an aluminum boat. In the process he
earned the nickname “Tin Man” within
the bass fishing world for his use of a
“tin” boat. The vitals to his victory were
his vessel, the area and then the lures.
running tin
An aluminum boat has been Cox’s
calling card on the Walmart FLW Tour
since he won a Red River Tour event
out of a tin boat in his rook ie season in
2011. He has owned full-sized glass
bass boats in the past, but he returned
to aluminums because they are more
efficient for his style of fishing: shallow-
water stump jumping.
Cox is the first to admit that there
are downsides to aluminums when
compared to glass. But for every nega-
tive, Cox counters with a positive.
Here, he breaks down some of the
key differences:
1. Speed – Aluminums are slower
than glass, but being passed by faster
boats, especially at takeoff, does not
bother Cox one bit.
“I’m simply not a speed freak,” Cox
laughs. “Even when I could go fast I did-
n’t. On the last glass boat I owned, I put
658 hours on the motor, and only like
four of those hours were over 5,700 RPM.
The rest were at 3,500 to 4,500 RPM.
“I’m not into boat racing,” he adds.
“In my opinion, if you’re having to race
fLwfIshINg.coM I octoBer-NoveMBer 2016