W2F Blog

Touring a custom boat building shop

Passionate people make products other people can be passionate about. At least the successful ones do in our experience. To make a good product in a niche space, you have to love what the product does as much as the customers do. Successful original restaurants are run by people that love good food and good service in a good atmosphere. Original apparel companies love the feel of a high quality material that makes you feel better about yourself.

Boat companies that want to sell lots of original high quality boats, have to appreciate the comfort, ammenities, ride and stability that a guy expects for his hard earned dollars when spending many days on the water in less than always ideal conditions. We've been fortunate to go behind the scenes with jig manufacturers, plastics manufacturers, crankbait manufacturers, rod builders and boat builders. It gives you a new appreciation for what goes into the products that we save and scrape pennies together to afford. It makes us more personally connected to the toys we buy to enjoy our pasttime.

Last month we visited Legend Boats in Northern Arkansas. If you didn't already know, Northern Arkansas is a hotbed of fishing industry manufacturers. Ranger, Basscat, Jewel, Denali and more are all close by in one small area. Lot of creative juices flowing in that part of the country.

Legend like many manufacturers masks its high end production in an unassuming building. But once inside, an avid angler is suffering from sensory overload. Sounds of compressed air, sanding, painting, washing, spraying fiberglass and more fills the air. The plant has 30 employees all focused on quality control and the production is incredibily streamlined.

As we toured the factory floor with Randy Qualls, President of Legend Boats, we felt like we were getting a royal treatment while at the same time getting that down to earth feel, like we were talking to one of our fishing buddies. Qualls lives in Texas but is frequently at the plant in Arkansas. He's the main dealer in Texas also so he's involved in all phases of the company from planning, production, sales and even customer support. In fact, one of the boats that was about to leave the factory, was having protective coating put on it, because Qualls was personally delivering the boat to a customer in Texas.

Qualls owns the company along with Dean Smith, CEO of Legend Boats LTD. They built their first Legend boat in 2002. So for all practical purposes, the company is the new kid on the block, but they both display an uncanny attention to detail that carries through in their boats and in their service.

At the first station a boat laid upside down in a mold and a gentleman was sanding on what looked like the underside of the top cap.


"We sand the undersides too, so that any compartment or area you reach your hand up under won't get fiberglass cuts," Qualls said. "Paying attention to every detail no matter how mundane, seperates us from the others. Every detail is considered."

Attention to the littlest details is really where Legend Boats is making a name for itself.

"Our fit and finish won't be surpassed by anyone," Qualls said. "We finish these boats completely inside and out. From hiding wiring, to smoothing compartments, to armor guarding the trailers, to adding gel to our seats. We go that extra mile that maybe the bigger shops just can't stop to do. But we can because we're still a small custom boat builder."

As we went to the next station they were laying fiberglass frames into the hull of the boat and securing the fiberglass transom. There is no wood in the boat. Rather they use a vacuum table to bond multiple layers of glass and resin together to make an incredibly strong piece of fiberglass material that is way more dense and waterproof than wood.

After the hull frame is smoothed and reinforced in key areas, a high grade flotation foam is injected throughout, filling every part of the lower cavity with floatation. Then the excess was allowed to dry and scraped and sanded smooth. Legend uses an extreme amount of floatation to make a smooth, quiet, comfortable and safe ride.


At the next station, a team of guys were working on preparing the top fiberglass cap. Expensive rope LED lighting was being ran throughout the underside of every compartment. The result is some of the best lighting we've ever seen standard in a boat. Additional vacuum sealed fiberglass reinforcement was added where the trolling motor mounted and the compartment undersides were all smoothed and finished.

A team worked together to seal the two caps and the boat began to take shape. There were several boats in multiple stages of finishing as we toured, and it was apparent that a ton of detail and attention is paid to every single boat. You just don't get a "cookie cutter" feel in this custom shop. Every boat seemed unique from the next.



We finally got to inspect a completely decked out boat that was heading to a lucky customer the next morning. We were intrigued by the unique hull corners under the seats and continuing back to the back of the boat. These splash guards force water away from the boat in rough conditions. The trailer had great step up fenders, all chrome with a lighted Legend cutout with awesome custom wheels. The tongue and scissor jack were extra heavy duty with a big heavy duty wheel. The dash was sleek especially with red lighting in the dark.

The day box up near the trolling motor is a neat little add on. It's a narrow box perfect for a coke can, or maybe some dipping die, few packs of hooks and plastics you're using that day or as you cut baits off throw them in there so they are out of sight and out of mind. Similarly we liked the unique rod storage on the back of the boat. The ramp next to the passenger seat looked normal enough. Then Qualls flipped it up and you can put all the rods into the channel and then close the  ramp back. The rods are tucked neatly away and won't get stepped on our stick out to get hung on docks and branches when fishing in tight quarters.


The boat just felt like it was built like a tank. No loose or squeaky parts anywhere on the boat. You could grab a hold of anything and jerk on it hard and it was snug and solid. We like that.

We've done some research on their customer service since touring the plant. There are just tons of positive posts on different fishing boards about how appreciated each customer felt.

Qualls and Smith are both avid and very accomplished bass anglers. And it shows in their products that a bass boat is a meaningful investment for a person. These boats cater to a very serious investor. They are not an average cookie cutter boat. They use premium materials and ideas and are to be considered a premium choice for the most serious anglers.

Here are a few more photos from our visit:



Legend Boats reinforces the trolling motor mount with additional fiberglass

They add LED light tube to all the compartments. No more head lamps.

Using a vacuum table, they bond many layers of resin and glass to make super strong transoms in their boats

We found the co-angler rod rail in the Alpha 211 to be a very cool feature

They spend a lot of time on intricate detailing with carpet and trim.

We liked the step plate and heavy duty jack on the trailer.

Very cool red lighted livewells and regular white LEDs in compartments

They check and inspect every component to make sure it's ready to fish

From this ...

to this ...

To Finally this!

The day box is a great feature we thought.

The face of a proud papa!

There's been a lot of industry news this week and we've been doing a lot of planning for the 2011 season. Lots of good things going forward for everyone who is Wired2Fish.

It looks like a weapon a knight would choose for medieval battle. Maybe an old-fashioned farming utensil like a scythe. Whatever it was made to mimic, it does a better job suggesting a variety of forage profiles. We’re talking about the tail. The tail of a new worm from Get Five Lures called the Dinero.

The worm has a unique, tail and action, and we like that it was made from scratch so that it wasn’t a copy or improvement on an existing bait. Back to the forage profiles. This bait can mimic a baitfish, a crawfish and even something like a leech. While it doesn’t look exactly like any one species, it gives the appearance of many different living creatures.

When we first got the bait we were immediately thinking shaky head. It’s a dynamite size for a shaky head, and the tail really has some whip appeal when hopped or shook around cover. It’s also a great profile on a Carolina rig and Texas Rig. So now you have a curl tail, a straight tail, a ribbon tail and a Dinero claw tail to offer the fish.

The worm is 6 ½ inches long but we here rumors that a larger version for ledge fishing is coming that we’re chomping at the bit to try. The other great thing we found is that Get Five has some staple colors that every good plastic shape needs, but they are also trying to be very original in colors. We shot the owner, Andrew Oliver, a note about a color we’d like to see, so be on the lookout for our new concoction soon.

We’re back with our final installment of our Wired2Fish Gift Guides for the 2010 Holiday Season. We’ve covered Rods, Reels, Line, Baits and now we’ll cover Accessories. We cover everything from hooks to rainsuits, from sunscreen to stereo systems for your boat. These are some products that we like, are testing and are asking for on our own Christmas Wish List this season.

We’ve been through some of our favorites this holiday season for rods, reels, and fishing line. Now we’re getting to the meat of fishing, the lures. And it’s funny to us that more people don’t give lures for Christmas. Funny because it’s one of the least expensive gifts you can give.

We realize that if you’re not really eaten up with bass fishing, it can be hard to know what baits are good and what a person will like. So this gift guide will help. And for those of you looking for how to spend those gift certificates to Tackle Warehouse, Bass Pro, Cabela’s, Gander Mountain and Academy Sports, maybe this will give you a few ideas.

Strike King Silent HC Square Bill 1.5 and 2.5 Crankbaits



We have a review up on these crankbaits now. They are fun to throw. Got a wicked wide wobble that is good around downed timber. The silent nature allows the bait to ease into a bass’s strike zone undetected and trigger more of a reaction strike.  The crankbaits are $5.29.

Rapala Crankin Rap



The new Crankin Rap adds a full bodied plastic crankbait with rattle and more translucent colors to Rapala’s powerful DT crankbait and Shad Rap crankbait lines. Now you have balsa, finesse and now wide bodied plastic cranks to cover all the bases. The crankbaits come in 3, 5, 8, 10, and 14 foot diving depths and sizes and retail for $5.79. They cast well and fish well with a medium wobble.  You’ll definitely want to add these to your mid-depth arsenal.

Koppers live Target HollowBody Frog



The new frog on the market looks and acts a lot like the real thing. We picked up a couple of the new ones at TackleWarehouse.com and have been pleasantly surprised with how they walk, how they look, how soft they are and how well they collapse exposing the custom hooks.  They retail for $9.99.

Jewel Swim It Jig

This is a swim jig with a lot of detail. From the super sharp and strong hook with the perfect angle to the tin head that allows the bait to ride up better. To the J-Lock keeper that keeps any trailer locked on the jig in heavy cover and rapid retrieves. They even thinned the skirt to make it more breathable and really come alive on a fast swim. We went to the Jewel factory and saw the precision these jigs are made with. Every single one is perfectly symmetrical and swims perfect out of the package. The jigs retail for $3.99.

Big Bite Baits Flying Squirrel

At Wired2Fish we affectionately call someone who is eat up with fishing like us, a "fish head." It's a loving term given to someone who just has fishing on the brain, whether they are at work punching holes in sheet metal or at the grocery store trying to remember what they are out of in their refrigerator. Fishing is a distraction, a passion, an obsession and a blessing.

Most lure designs are basically small modifications of existing designs. On our last order from Tackle Warehouse, we picked up the new Talon Custom Lures Shibui Yana. It's billed as a swimjig but's actually built more like a spinnerbait. However it doesn't resist and pull as hard. Not really like either of the aforementioned baits. It does have us intrigued.

Instead of cupped round blades or a hexagonal chatter blade, it has a rotating prop on the front like an oversized version of what an angler would find on the back of a topwater prop bait. Basically the bait has a minnow head and then a unique angler on a wire that has four beads and the prop and of course the line tie.

We fished the bait on a Mojo Bass rod that was medium heavy but had a slow tip so the rod would load nicely on a cast but have enough backbone to set a hook. What's unique is the bait has a prop in the front but doesn't create a lot of drag on the retrieve. So you could probably fish it all day.

It seemed to come through standing grass fairly well and through cover decent. All though we did hang it in a brush pile once. But it's unique in that it could also double as a night time spinnerbait, something we want to experiment a little more with.

But for the most part, we like how it looks in the water. The blade appears to oscilate although we feel that's just the shape that creates an illusion of that. We dressed ours with a twin tail and the keeper holds plastics really well.

The bait retails for $9.99. It comes in about 16 colors near as we can tell. Tackle Warehouse carries 8 colors and the Talonlures.com website has another 8 colors not on there.

It's definitely a different looking bait, it looks like it could be fished on the bottom and on top with success. We're anxious to see how it performs next spring when the bass go to chasing in shallow cover and also in some of our night tournaments. We'll keep you updated as we fish it more.

My son Jett has been fishing with me since he was four, so he's pretty adept with a rod and reel at the age of seven. However he still uses push putton spincast reels or spinning reels and two hands. One of the reasons I taught him to fish with a spinning rod and reel, is because the spincast combos were not very capable tackle for a kid and you'd have as many problems as success.

I let him test the new Wright & McGill Skeet Reese Jr. Champion Kids Combo over the Thanksgiving break. The combo comes with a hat, casting plug, CD of instructions and of course a rod and reel. The rod is a two-piece, split-grip, 5-foot, 2-inch fiberglass casting rod, and the reel is a spincast push button reel, already spooled with line.

I tied on a few different baits and let him practicing throwing it around. The lighter baits cast okay but when I tied on a 1/4 ounce chatterbait, he really started slinging casts out there.

About an hour into our afternoon, he started grunting and his rod was doubled over. He had hooked a nice bass on the mini chatterbait. He fought the fish easily on the rod and reel. I tightened his drag down and we landed the fish without much fuss. The bass was more than 3 pounds, a significant test for the new rod.

It played the fish well, the drag worked well enough and we landed a nice bass on the rod. He was one proud kid and I think part of that is that he felt like he was using one of dad's rods and not some "kiddie" pole.

The combo pack retails for $39.99. To read more about it, check it out at wright-mcgill.com.