Rick Pierce

Rick Pierce was born into the bass boat business, the son of Bass Cat founders Ron and Jan Pierce. He began working for the company over 50 years ago, at the age of 13, and officially began his career with the company upon graduation from high school, taking over day to day management of the company shortly thereafter. Starting in 1995, he functioned as the company’s president until its transfer to Correct Craft in 2023, after which he served as a mentor and advisor on the Executive Team and as the Executive Ambassador.

His name has become synonymous with Bass Cat, and he built a 90-plus percent customer loyalty rate. However, he has done far more than just design, refine and manufacture tournament-ready boats. His efforts have served not just his own company, but also the industry as a whole. He has competed in Bassmaster events, served as a mentor to anglers and members of the industry, and set a standard for customer service that remains unmatched.

He has partnered with brands including Mercury Marine, Yamaha, Lowrance, Humminbird, and Minn Kota to improve consumer offerings, collaborating on products like Mercury’s 250 Pro XS and Minn Kota’s Spot Lock technology, both of which in turn changed the bass boat industry for the better.

Starting in the 1980s, his designs drove the bass boat market to offer the caliber of tournament-ready boats available today. Notable innovations taken for granted today include: larger fuel tanks, interior storage lighting, digital dashes, the pivot tongue and perhaps most notably the recessed trolling motor pedal. Starting with the 2000 model year, Bass Cat integrated full fiberglass construction. This meant that the floor, transom, stringers, hull, deck and storage compartments were all built to handle the stresses of tournament fishing. He anticipated and built consoles to handle increasingly larger graphs.

Pierce and BCB have won numerous awards from NMMA, JD Power and others for their innovations. He also navigated the purchase of Yar-Craft for a multi-species lineup and revised that lineup, bringing innovations from the bass boat world to walleye fishing. He has also consistently innovated how he presents his products at outdoor shows. That included elevating a 20-foot bass boat on a rotating circular pedestal and then raising the full boat vertically.

Bass Cat was the first bass boat brand to have an owners tournament, running continuously since 1987 with average participation of over 500 boats. Subsequently, the company added regional events. Pierce has launched all but two days of the tournaments.

Pierce has mentored hundreds of anglers, helping to start the careers of even anglers associated with other brands, including Gerald Swindle, Tommy Martin and Hall of Famer Mark Davis. This continues today with the likes of Mike Iaconelli, Hank Cherry, Ben Milliken, John Crews and Trey McKinney.

Pierce also fished over 100 Bassmaster tournaments.