There are some boats that follow them around but the real sponsor money comes with the TV coverage. I saw Fox Sports and I think the was an ESPN camera boat. One of the pics shows theFOX boat with camera. I was on the beach throwing sticks for the dog at around 4:00 and one of the last flight boats stoped in front looking for a keeper before racing back to the check in at 4:30. I placed some structure out about 30 yadrs off the dock and he found it. I watched him land a3 1/2pound smallie that he spotted on a bed. He must have a pretty good bag because he culled one to make room for the fish and it was close to the same size. I had to laugh because boats were coming all day and fishing the area in front and there is a 4 pounder living under my dock. I didn't see anyone try to skip a lure under it. I like to keep some around so the 3 year old grand daughter has some to catch when she comes.

FLW = Forrest L Wood = Ranger Boats.

Ranger Boats are rigged with Yamaha's unless you order it differently.

So yeah.................... on big happy family.....

Drew.

Ranger is certainly present on the tour but there are many other boats out there. I didn't count but based on my observations most of the pros actually had the Evenrude ETEC engine pushing them. 2 Years ago when the last FLW event was here there appeared to be more Merc Optimax than everything else. "Rude" must have made some improvements in the last year or so. Today is pretty rough and the launch was at 6:30. Lots of them were heading north with the wind and were pretty close to shore. We were watching them from the house blasting through the waves. Some were coming right out of the water....ahhh what a sight. Dion Hibdon had the largest catch on day 1 with 20 pounds 13 oz. Over 97 % of the anglers turned in a limit yesterday. Today with the wind will be tougher. In my last post I mentioned a boat who came late and nailed a decent keeper that he used for a cull then raced back to thecheck in. It was Chad Grigsby (Goodrich Boat). He was just 30 yds from my dock and I congratulated him on the catch and watched him go through the livewell for the cull fish. I asked him if he wasn't running out of time and he said it would be close but he had to rush. Here is the release:

Was there a banana in that boat? … Chad Grigsby is currently listed on today’s standings sheet as being in 51st place with 16 pounds. However, he would have been in 10th place with 18 pounds if it hadn’t been for his 4-ounce upgrade that made him two minutes late. It seems that Grigsby stopped to catch a fish that would increase his total weight by 4 ounces. But stopping to land that fish cost Grigsby two minutes at check-in time, and those two minutes cost him a 2-pound penalty. So Grigsby’s 4-ounce upgrade wound up actually costing him 1 pound, 12 ounces and 41 spots on the leaderboard. Ouch.
Taken from FLW Outdoors

I would love to have one of them boats. I would put on E-BAY and make some money![8D]

Nice pics Islander,
Thanks for posting.

drew, ranger boats is owned by genmar holdings, yamaha bought out skeeter boats several years ago, ranger boats can and arestill rigged with several motor options

from rangers web site