By Vance McCullough – AC Insider

John Cox has forged a brilliant bass tournament career from aluminum boats.

He can run any brand, any model he choses and he has chosen the Vexus AVX2100.

Why?

“I just fished a redfish tournament with (fellow bass pro and erstwhile redfish competitor) Keith Carson out of the new ACX2210 and I am completely in love with that boat. I have never been in a boat that rides that nice and still gets back in the shallows so well – everything you want to do. It rides the rough water, gets up nice in a chop. It’s a 22-foot boat and it floats in shin-dep water with a 250 on it. It’s the best of all worlds.

“Now I’m picking up my AVX2100. It’s the 2^nd one off the assembly line,” said Cox, driving from Arkansas enroute to South Carolina to get his new prize wrapped for the upcoming Bassmaster Elite season. He will also put the boat to the test on the NPFL tournament trail as well as some select Major League Fishing events.

“It’s a very similar hull to that ACX center console but this one’s a bass layout. I haven’t put this one in the water yet but that first prototype one that we ran, I mean it is incredible.

“Super fast.

“When you’re in the cockpit it has that ride and feel of a glass boat with all the benefits of aluminum. I mean I’m pulling it right now, 75 miles per hour, watching my gas gauge and it’s not moving.”

At first blush people often take a Vexus aluminum model for a fiberglass boat. Such is the case with Cox’s new ride.

“You have to go over and tap on it to see that it’s aluminum. It’s a great boat.”

The compartments stay dry. “Even after I pressure washed it my rods stayed dry in the lockers.”

“Keith Carson was like ‘wait ‘til you get to the trailer’ and was like ‘I can’t see a trailer making that big of deal’ but all the miles I’ve already driven it, man, I’m telling you it tracks so true. Each trailer is built custom for that boat. A lot of plants don’t do that. A lot of plants have certain trailers and they just throw the boat on there. At Vexus they’re making it exactly for that boat. You can really tell when you’re pulling it around. I’m pulling it with a regular 4-wheel drive Tundra and you forget it’s back there.”

Aside from manufacturing a superior boat and trailer here in the USA, Cox says the real magic at Vexus is the people behind the product.

“They’re very meticulous. The checked over everything again before I left with the boat. I really like the effort the group there puts in.

“So listen,” says Cox, “I got to the plant at 6:45 this morning. It was just getting light, and they were rolling wide open in there. Everybody was going. I was impressed.

“It was 9 degrees this morning!”

Cox says the team at Vexus is always brainstorming and discussing improvements. “A lot of places you go to, you don’t hear anybody arguing at all, don’t hear anybody debating anything. You go to that plant and people aren’t afraid to share their opinions. I think that’s what helps them dial-in the boat. Every build, they’re making it better. I love when we get in there and we all start talking about ‘we should change this’ or ‘we should do something like that’. It’s really neat, trying to piece together the puzzle of building the perfect boat.

“This boat, the 2100, I was in there 9 months ago and we were talking about it. I was looking at the 2210 then and I was like ‘I want that hull in a bass boat’. They built it, called me up and said ‘you want to go run one?’ I can’t wait to get it out there!

“This one’s got a nice V bottom up front that rides so good and more of a mod V as you get to the back. You stand on that front deck and it floats so shallow.”

Long known as the hardest fishing man in the bass tournament world, Cox has embraced redfish tournaments now too. He and Carson have already qualified for the National Redfish Tour Championship. The two pros are about to put the hurt on a bunch of bass – and competing anglers – across the country as well this season.

Form brackish backwaters to bass laden impoundments, Cox will make his money from a Vexus.