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Posts: 239
| I believe I owned the 1st Esox Magnum sold out of the Tuffy factory. It was an outstanding fishing boat for any Wisconsin lake, and serviceable on Lake of the Woods at The Northwest Angle.
I am trying to remember the man who was Tuffy's manager back in the early 1990s. His first name was Darryl, and his last name began with the letter W. He always provided great service. When he left Tuffy, I went to Ranger boats. I never saw much difference between those brands. Darryl and Tuffy were better at customer service and there were fewer issues with the boats. |
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Posts: 32967
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Abu7000 - 1/1/2026 3:22 PM
I believe I owned the 1st Esox Magnum sold out of the Tuffy factory. It was an outstanding fishing boat for any Wisconsin lake, and serviceable on Lake of the Woods at The Northwest Angle.
I am trying to remember the man who was Tuffy's manager back in the early 1990s. His first name was Darryl, and his last name began with the letter W. He always provided great service. When he left Tuffy, I went to Ranger boats. I never saw much difference between those brands. Darryl and Tuffy were better at customer service and there were fewer issues with the boats.
Weihert. Great guy. |
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Posts: 32967
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | kap - 1/1/2026 8:32 AM
i would agree the 2100 was a pretty good hull. in my experience with the friends i know that ran the smaller boats were sure glad they went to Rangers and Skeeters and noticed a huge difference on Leech lake and Mille Lacs where we fish.
The 1700 and 2100 had very similar models to a couple from Skeeter. I worked for Skeeter for a couple of years. Parsons and Kavajecz were as responsible for the Skeeter V models as anyone. |
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| Saw a FB post from Recon with regard to the new Esox magnum. Comment was that it was not yet on their website. Steve, sounds like they could use some help. |
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| For those wanting to take a look at the new Esox Magnum, saw on FB that Recon will have one at the Muskie show in Watersmeet, MI and then later at the Wausau show. They said they could not exhibit at the Milwaukee show, because they had not gone to the Chicago show. In addition to the Esox Mag, they will have a 2085 Tiller on display.
I am thinking about going to the Watersmeet show, just as close as the Wausau show for me. Not in the market for new boat but plan on checking out that big tiller. |
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Location: Des Moines IA | Interesting .......... |
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Posts: 598
Location: deephaven mn | Parsons and Kavajez were with Tracker and then went to Nitro never seen them in Skeeters |
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Posts: 32967
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Kap:
However, the relationship would end when the company wouldn’t sponsor Kavajecz, which Dallman later admitted was the biggest mistake he ever made. Skeeter would then replace Yar-Craft as the boat of choice for Parsons. “It’s ironic that Jack helped me personally with the Mercury sponsorship, and ultimately Mercury helped both Keith and I with our introduction to Skeeter Boats. Mercury has been our longest lasting sponsor, and biggest supporter through good years and bad years, and for that I’m truly grateful. It also taught me a lesson in how a sponsorship works, both the angler has to work hard to help the sponsor with product design and sales, and the company has to acknowledge that hard work of the angler. It’s a two way street and the ultimate task is to find sponsorships that work like that.”
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They ran Skeeters for sure, starting with a 17' deep V from the Yar Craft hull, and influenced them to hire me as the upper Midwest sales rep when Tuffy went out of business. By the way, the new Tuffy V models were influenced by Fisher Boats (1890) and Skeeter (1700 and 1990, then 2100)
Also, I was on the ground in front of the stage before any other photographers/
reporters, (eventually, Walleye Central had Juls out there for a lot of events)and took dozens of images and videos of them in the boats and on the stage. I also worked with them and Toyota running the Toyota Trucks Walleye Anglers Rewards, prize money for tournament anglers for 3rd to 1st place finishes in major walleye events. My original Tundra, provided for us as part of our compensation package, is parked out in the back lot; my grandson bought it from me, and it still runs like a top. As far as my repping job, I worked for Tuffy, Patriot, Skeeter, and the precursor to Recon Boats. Oddly, I was working with Recon when they bought Tuffy Boats, so right back where I started. |
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| Interesting about Mercury. When I lived in Fond du Lac, the Chief of Staff for Mercury spoke to my Kiwanis group a couple times. Right before he retired about 15 years ago, he mentioned how they actually lost money on their high horsepower tiller motors, because of low demand. But, he said their fishing partners liked them and those partners were very important and that as long as they wanted the big tillers, they would make them. |
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