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Angler Profile
Lance Williams
There are many “reality” shows being produced for
television and one of the most popular ones is a series called “Dirty Jobs”. The subject matter of each show depicts some of the most repulsive, dirty, and unwanted jobs in the world. Lance Williams may have found the exact opposite of that series with his job description of Senior Engineer for Tracker Marine Group. However; as in all jobs there are challenges to be met.
Lance Williams was born in northern Minnesota and literally had scores of lakes within walking distance of his home. These early childhood fishing excursions brought about the life long participation in fishing and even contributed to his decision to attend college with the thought of getting an engineering degree so he could build fishing rods.
Lance graduated from nearby North Dakota College with a mechanical engineering/polymer coating degree in 1993. As with all graduates, he placed his resume with as many companies as he could, one of his interviews was with Champion Boats in northern Arkansas and he accepted a position there shortly after graduation.
While Lance worked with Champion Boats he also competed in various regional tournament circuits in the Midwest. Lance also competed in the B.A.S.S. Opens Central division through 2002. Lance currently fishes Heartland Trails and other regional bass circuits as work allows and is very
successful in these competitions. When Champion Boats closed there doors in 2000, Lance took a position with Tracker Marine Group as a contract worker in 2001 and was promoted to Senior Engineer in 2003. Tracker Marine Group is probably known to bass anglers for their production of Nitro and ProCraft bass boats, however, they produce many styles of watercraft including Tracker, SunTracker, Tahoe, Kenner, Mako, SeaCraft and Myacht.
Lance lives in Billings, Missouri with his wife Sherry and two sons, Hunter 5 and Hayden 3. Lance gives a lot of credit to his wife Sherry, who worked hard to help Lance throughout his career. One might think that designing and constructing boats, in particular; bass boats as the ultimate dream occupation, and if one
had an unlimited budget and anglers an unlimited bank account it would be. But, just like the theme of the show, reality checks in and guidelines have to be met.
Lance William’s philosophy:
“Fishing involvement creates a good atmosphere for product development. I truly believe that anything that you did yesterday you can improve on it today; whatever you did today you can make it better tomorrow. I am never satisfied and always looking for ways to improve as an engineer, as a person, and definitely with my bass fishing."
"If you ask 10 people's opinion, more than likely you will get 10 different answers especially with bass fisherman and bass boats. The never ending challenge to find the answer that will exceed customer’s expectations while providing a value. That why it is so important to listen to the pleasant conversations and unpleasant conversations from customers/dealers with an understanding of what they really are asking for and try and teach that to the shop floor in a positive way to instill pride in the product that is built. I have been very fortunate to be a part of this industry, and look forward to the challenge of engineering the best product out there.”
It is very beneficial to future bass boat buyers that the person responsible for designing their boats actually uses those designs in real time situations. The goal of creating the “perfect” bass boat may never be achieved, but it isn’t because Lance Williams and Tracker Marine Group are not trying.
The creation of the top of line Z 9 series in 2007 was a bold statement to the bass boat industry that Tracker Marine Group was not going to be second best to anyone. The Z9’s eye catching design coupled with all the bells and whistles used by today’s competitive anglers have made it very popular, however; the really neat feature is in the ride and handling. Williams and Tracker Marine Group staff have created a hull design that bridges the gap between sacrificing speed for comfort. The smooth, dry ride is next to none and compliments the Mercury Marine outboards that power them.
So one might think that Lance Williams and Tracker Marine Group might be satisfied with the Z9’s huge success, but that is not their way of thinking at all. A new creation of Williams and Tracker Marine Group features the same great hull design as the Z9, but in a slightly shorter version. Namely, a 20’1” fishing machine designated the Z8. The Z8 features a slightly smaller front deck and is basically the same boat from the console to the back transom. It also has a slightly smaller fuel tank, 55 gallons compared to 65. It doesn’t take most bass anglers long to figure out that these small reductions in weight have a big impact on top end speed and the Z8 is no exception. In preliminary tests low 70’s were obtained with a Mercury 225 Pro XS, but of course these test speeds were conducted with minimal gear aboard and results will vary with drivers and amount of gear onboard.
Lance Williams would love to build the “perfect” bass boat, but since anglers have individually unique desires and needs he knows that is impossible. However; Lance and Tracker Marine Group are definitely headed in the right direction with the Z series of Nitro bass boats, the delicate juggling act of performance, features, safety, production costs and ultimately affordable buyer cost is being achieved.
Please check all the fine Tracker Marine Group products out at your local Bass Pro Shops Tracker Marine Boat Center or online at www.nitro.com or www.trackermarine.com.
