Swindle Joins Phoenix Boats
Category: article
Nov 17th, 2019 by Keith Worrall
Modified Nov 17th, 2019 at 11:21 AM
GERALD SWINDLE SIGNS WITH PHOENIX BOATS
Longtime BASS and MLF angler and fan favorite Gerald Swindle has entered into an agreement with Phoenix Boats to run their bass boats in competitions in 2020 and beyond.
Making big changes, like what boat you run, in a professional angling career can be the toughest of decisions, certainly in the ever-changing environment of professional tournament bass fishing. So anglers like Gerald Swindle certainly don’t take making a change like this lightly.
“I won’t say this was an easy decision for me, but I will say that everything just felt right,” Swindle said. “I’ve said for the last several years, the only other boat I would ever consider running was a Phoenix. So many of my friends run them, and I’ve been racing them up and down lakes all over the country competing. So I’ve had an up close look at what these boats can do.”
Swindle also pointed to the quality of the products Gary Clouse and the team at Phoenix Boats have been producing for many years now. And the opportunity to have some input on such a quality product excited him. But for Swindle, it was more than just how good the boats are; it was as much about the family he would be joining at Phoenix Boats. “The family side of how Phoenix does business made me feel like this was right. Shaking hands and hugging necks in our meetings, everything just felt like home. This is a great partnership, but the way I have been treated reassured me that this is where I was supposed to be.”
Swindle also wanted it to be clear that he still held Triton and the people there in very high regard.
“I still love all the people at Triton. I have been in a Triton since 1997, and I couldn’t be more thankful for the many years I’ve spent in service to Triton and them to me. I spent most of the day yesterday reaching out to everyone I knew there because it’s important to me that we can continue to be friends, and I can still call and go fishing with my buddies there.
“Things are changing rapidly in fishing, and I felt like the timing was right to follow my heart and head in this and start a new chapter.”
“I love that the Phoenix Boats plant is an hour and a half from my house, and I can hop in the truck and sit down with Gary and talk fishing,” Swindle said. “I love that one of the top Phoenix dealers in the country is a mile and a half from my house with Freedom Marine. Gary Clouse and Teresa Johnson, both owners of the company, have such a genuine love for the sport of bass fishing, and it shows with what they build and how they treat people in this industry. I wanted to be part of that.”
“We think the world of Gerald Swindle,” said Gary Clouse, President of Phoenix Boats as well as full-time Elite Series angler. “Adding Gerald to the Phoenix family was a no- brainer for us. I have known him for several years now and we have fished in many of the same tournaments. He is a class act on and off the water, a gifted angler and great ambassador for the sport of bass fishing. He is also very knowledgeable about bass boats, the engineering behind them and he can offer some valuable insight that keeps us improving. We look forward to adding his knowledge and promotion to our ever- expanding business.”
Swindle plans to run the brand new Phoenix 921 Elite with a Mercury 250hp ProXS 4- stroke in 2020.