Inside Elite Boats: John Cox

Welcome back to another edition of Inside Elite Boats. This time let’s take a lap around this fully loaded aluminum rig John Cox is taking on the road during the 2026 Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series.

John’s boat of choice has always been an aluminum boat, and this Vexus AVX 2100 fits him just perfectly.

At the box rests his Minn Kota Ultrex Quest. The last time we did an Inside Elite Boat tour with John Cox he still hadn’t made the move from the Minn Kota Fortrex to the Ultrex. Finally six years later, he’s made the swap over.

As you can tell, no extra accessories added to John’s trolling motor. Just the trolling motor only.

At the front he keeps his Humminbird Apex 16 for mapping, 2D, Side Imaging and Down Imaging.

“No need for the extra stuff up front. Usually where I fish I can touch the bottom with my rod tip,” Cox said.

The front deck of the Vexus AVX 2100 is massive — so massive John can lay sideways and take a nap if he wanted.

Here is the layout up front of the Vexus AVX 2100.

In the center compartment John keeps all the rods and reels he needs on tour.

“I never really take this many rods with me, but we are on Lake Murray this week. I have no clue how many I’ll end up needing. Right now I would guess there is somewhere between 25 to 30 rods in here.”

In the port-side box John also keeps some other rods along with variations of soft plastics, spinnerbaits, crankbaits and weights.

“There’s really no organization to this boat right now. I just kind of know where everything is, and I just grab it when I need it.”

A look inside his Plano Edge spinnerbait box.

“I keep a ton of Max Scent Flatnose Minnows or Flashnose Jerk Shad to trailer my spinnerbaits. These are probably better than a trailer hook.”

Of course selfishly I wanted to have a look inside his Frittside Box, and it didn’t disappoint. A Plano Edge 3700 is chock-full of them.

“This is probably the best crankbait ever made. The amount of money I’ve won on this bait is wild.”

Next up is the Plano Edge Frog Box which John has taken the dividers out and stuffed full of Berkley Swamp Lords.

“I just have so many Swamp Lords, that I couldn’t really use the dividers so I just took them out and put as many frogs as I could in there.”

He wanted to show off a few of his favorite frogs he uses throughout the season.

A beaten and battered Swamp Lord Jr.

Oh no! Flying frogs!

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Aftermath…

“The nice thing about having that empty box is, if I do spill it I can just pick them up by the handfuls and load them back in it.”

Next up, the other locker is also a mix of hard baits, terminal tackle and more soft plastics.

A look at a topwater Cox would be throwing during the Lake Murray Elite.

In this Plano StowAll Waterproof bag, Cox keeps his jig trailers he’ll need for the entire year.

“If you’re not using the Berkley Max Scent Meaty Chunk on your jig, you’re missing out.”

How about a smell test?

“OHHHHH…”

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A quick look inside his terminal tacklebox — home to his hooks and weights.

Also inside the starboard box is the all-new Berkley Lab Series that recently came out.

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“The scent release on this new stuff has to be the coolest thing Berkley has done. I bet it would look insane if I can get it to peel off the bait onto my finger,” said John.

And so we shot it!

All of those little strings are the scent dispersion that releases when it makes contact with water.

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“Going to need some Dude Wipes to clean up after that.”

Up next on the starboard side is an ice chest where John keeps all his drinks and snacks that will be needed throughout the day.

“These are so good.”

Down into the bottom of the boat where John drives, you can find a plethora of dead Max Scent Stank Bug soldiers.

“The last tournament I fished, I caught every single one of them on the Max Scent Stank Bug either Texas-rigged or on the back of a swim jig.”

Stank Bugs are in literally every crease and crevice.

Also down in the floor is this nice little compartment where he keeps a used bait pile as well as stores his Superstick Push Pole.

The step compartment to the front deck is used as a trash can or a catch-all for everything he uses throughout the day.

In the middle compartment between the seats he keeps a variety of what-nots he’ll need during a tournament day.

Including lots of Dude Wipes for when nature calls…

A T-H Marine GForce Cull Beam and a Berkley Digital Scale.

Tons of Celsius single packs to mix in his water.

And of course his Leupold Desoto sunglasses for those sight-fishing days.

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Also in the bottom of the boat are his trusty WSB split-ring pliers he uses everyday.

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Next up is the dash.

His Bassmaster Classic sticker number is still stuck on the windshield. John has consecutively qualified for the last seven Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classics.

Before we get a shot of the Humminbird Apex at the dash, we might as well get it cleaned up.

“I use this T-H Marine Wave Away every single day,” said Cox.

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At the dash he keeps a single Humminbird Apex 13.

Included in the Vexus AVX 2100 is a rocker panel with toggle switches to operate all of the accessories on the boat.

Now the back of the boat.

First up is the livewell. There’s a spacious livewell inside the AVX 2100, but he used it as a trash can during practice for the Lake Murray Elite Series event.

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Lots of Coca-Cola and water…

“Ah, still a little bit of Celsius left.”

In the starboard rear compartment he keeps his Simms Challenger Rainsuit.

Also in the rear compartment is the air pump for the Vexus AirWave pedestal seats.

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“I knew this thing needed to be pumped up, I was sitting in the bottom of the floor it seemed like for most of practice.”

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A few quick pumps of air and he’s back all good to rip again.

In the port side rear compartment are extra props, prop wrenches, spare life jackets and a host of other things.

“I always keep this drill with me just in case. Never know what you’re going to have to work on during a day on the water.”

Also in the rear compartment is a spare Pro-Guide PGC 3615 Lithium Charger in case the one mounted in the rear of the boat goes out.

A look at the spare five-blade prop he keeps.

An extra Minn Kota trolling motor prop.

The rear is home to his entire Pro-Guide Lithium battery setup.

He runs two Pro-Guide 36VM75 for his trolling motor batteries. He’s running them on a switch in case one goes dead he can quickly switch over to the other one.