Inside Elite Boats: Hank Cherry

Welcome to another edition of Inside Elite Boats. Let’s explore the fully loaded rig of 2025 Elite Series angler and back-to-back Bassmaster Classic champion Hank Cherry.

Cherry ran his 2025 Bass Cat Puma STS for the duration of the 2025 Elite Series season.

The bow is home to the Garmin Force trolling motor.

Mounted to the trolling motor is his Garmin LiveScope transducer.

Cherry has a low-profile mounting setup for his graphs.

His graphs of choice include a Garmin 8616 for LiveScope and a Garmin 12-inch Ultra for mapping.

Cherry is an angler who stays gloved up when tournament fishing. He relies on his BassMooch gloves for hand protection on the water.

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A look at the layout of his Bass Cat.

His center compartment holds most of his tackle. He likes to keep his tackle selection specific and organized.

Cherry keeps a variety of rods and reels in his rod locker, with baitcasters being the popular setup of choice.

The two center compartments are home to his boxes of tackle. The split compartment setup allows him to be organized and his boxes to stay secure.

The passenger side compartment holds his life jackets, raingear and various other items.

The small compartment his home to the tackle and soft plastics he will need in a hurry while on the water.

The Bass Cat has slots for easy access tools such as scissors, pliers and clippers.

The cooler stays full of snacks and drinks while on the water.

Cherry is well known for his success on a jerkbait. His boat stays fully stocked with his favorite BassMooch jerkbaits at all times.

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One of Cherry’s tried-and-true jerkbait setups.

A look at the driver’s console.

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Cherry likes to keep it simple, with only one Garmin mounted into the console of his Bass Cat. He uses this graph for mapping, down-imaging and side-imaging.

The Puma STS comes equipped with a JL Audio sound system.

The right side of the steering wheel houses the control panel for the boat.

Cherry keeps a mount for his phone below the control panel, along with his Power-Pole controller.

The compartment between the seats holds a variety of items …

… including a couple of his favorite good luck charms.

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On to the livewells.

The compartment behind the driver’s seat stores more of his BassMooch soft plastics.

The compartment behind the passenger’s seat holds even more extra tackle.

Cherry Powers his boat with four 12v 135 AH Dakota Lithium batteries.

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Question: ‘What is the most essential item in your boat?’ Cherry pulled out the bug spray. He explained how fishing can turn not so fun in a heartbeat if you’re getting eatin’ up.