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RAY SCOTT OUTDOORS, Inc. NEWS RELEASE
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Remember Stan Sloan?
He's Back! Tennessee Angler
Wins Eagles of Angling PINTLALA, Alabama-Most folks can't wait to retire to go fishing. Stan Sloan, the champion of the Ray Scott's Eagles of Angling Senior Bass Tournament, came out of "retirement" to go fishing. Sloan, a Sparta, Tennessee fishing lure manufacturer, put 18 bass weighing 10.12 pounds on his stringer to out fish a field of 62-year and older anglers May 18th in the unique bass tournament to benefit a small crossroads country school in southwest Montgomery County. Sloan, who made bass fishing history in 1967 as the winner of Scott's first All-American Bass Tournament at Beaver Lake, Arkansas, earned a check for $5,000. But, the Pintlala Elementary School scored the big money. The anglers and sponsors weighed-in with $132,000 paycheck to benefit the teacher's classroom educational needs. "I haven't been seriously fishing in over eight years," admitted the 63-year old Sloan. "Honestly, I had to go out in the barn and find my spinning rods and reels. They'd been stored so long, the tape I used to wrap my reels or the rod handle had got real sticky and gummy." Rules of the tournament, besides the age limit of 62-years and older, restricted fishing with only the "official" 4-pound STREN® Clear/Blue fluorescent monofilament. All casting and catching had to be from the shoreline. The 55-acre lake was marked with numbered stakes and the anglers rotated to various fishing spots around the 1 ˝ mile shoreline. Sloan said, "I caught a bass on my first cast at marker 23 and another on my last cast at marker 93. That last hole was the best. I had 10 keepers there in the 50 minutes we had to fish and had four other bass over the 12-inch size limit and released them." The tournament rules permitted only bass 12 inches and under to be weighed in. All fish were put on rope stringers and donated to the Alabama Harvest's community service organization to feed the needy in central Alabama. Sloan's late-inning rally edged all-time B.A.S.S. weight titleholder, Blake Honeycutt of Hickory, North Carolina, who scored 23 bass and 9.40 pounds. Honeycutt's game will, most likely, live forever in the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society's record book. He established the record of 138 pounds, 6-ounces at Lake Eufaula, Alabama in July 10-12, 1969. Both the top finishers indicated they had no plans to come out of retirement and be active in the professional fishing circuits. "This was for a good cause and I really enjoyed competing," said the 71-year old Honeycutt. "But, don't look for me to be challenging any of these young lions fishing the pro trail." Sloan is still active in the fishing tackle industry, with his full-line of Zorro Baits, he started soon after Bobby Murray of Hot Springs, Arkansas won the first BASS Masters Classic world championship in 1971 on Sloan's Aggravator spinnerbait. "With the small 12-inch and under size limit, I didn't fish any big stuff," Sloan said. He used 1/8-oz. jig with plastic skirts. The Zorro Ninny Fly, a leadhead jig with a 28-degree hook eye and sharp wire hook, worked well with the four-pound test line restriction. "That's my smallmouth rig," said Sloan. "I'm used to fishing light-line for those brown fish in the deep, clear lakes in Tennessee." But here, Sloan had to swim his lure on the retrieve, while casting and reeling from the shoreline. "I had to keep the lure out of the moss. Swim it along and feel for the strike. You don't set the hook with 4-pound line, but sweep the rod and reel, making the hook penetrate. The small, wire hooks are best." With a wire weedguard, the plastic skirted Ninny Fly can also be rigged with Sloan's small plastic Ninny Craw, shaped like a crawfish in lime-green color with black flakes. Asked how this win differed from the one 34 years ago,
Sloan observed, "Back then I was fishing for the biggest fish in the
lake. Here I only wanted to catch the small ones." Scott, who founded the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society (B.A.S.S.) in 1968, and grew the organization to a worldwide membership of over 600,000 anglers, stepped out as the Society's leader in 1998. He sold B.A.S.S. to a group of investors in 1986. Asked about the future of the Eagles of Angling Senior Bass Tournament "Scott mused, "A lot of the oldtimers had been asking for some event like the PGA Senior Tour. I'm not-at the moment-planning to jump in and start a Senior Bass Tour, but we had a lot of fun and raised a lot of money for a very needed cause. I'm thrilled by the support of these fishermen and the contributions by the industry and my friends." The monies raised for the Pintlala School Fund will be administered by the Helping Hands Ministries, Inc., of Tallulah Falls, Georgia. The fund will use the interest from investors to help the Pintlala School teacher's with classroom educational needs. With the shortfall in educational budget cuts, every-day classroom supplies, like paper, art supplies and bathroom tissue are limited. "I would say most Pintlala teachers, often go to the Wal-Mart or Kmart and purchase instructional supplies with money out of their own pockets," said Principal Chuck Insinga. "We simply don't have enough money allocated to do it." The educational budget for Alabama public schools funds only $500 per year for supplies for each classroom teacher. Pintlala Elementary with 197 students, in grades K-6, has all fulltime classroom teachers. "Do the math. That's not much money," said the school principal. Alabama Governor Don Siegelman, who welcomed special senior guest, former President George Bush to the school weigh-in, praised Scott and the senior anglers for their efforts. "This is the kind of spirit that will lead to the rejuvenation of our schools," said Governor Siegelman, who is strongly behind a movement for citizens to "Adopt A School." For information on the Ray Scott's Eagles of Angling Senior Bass Tournament fund-raiser, contact: Ray Scott Outdoors, Inc., 238 Whitetail Trail, Pintlala, AL 36043 or Ph. (334) 281-3661. Contributions to the Pintlala School Fund are fully tax deductible, according to Scott. Stan Sloan's Zorro Baits has a 25-page catalog of bass-catching lures. For information, write: Stan Sloan, Zorro Baits, 765 Liberty Road, Sparta, TN 38583. The anglers contributed a $500 entry fee to the Eagles of Angling Senior Bass Tournament. Ray Scott, himself, contributed the $13,500 in prize money to the fishermen. Corporate sponsors and interested citizens contributed to the $132,000 final total. The Eagles of Angling Senior Bass Tournament official sponsors include: Triton Boats, Bass Pro Shops, Shimano, STREN® Fishing Lines, Mercury Outboards, Sporting Lives, Inc., SOSPENDERS inflatable life vests, Flowmaster, Club Car Performance Utility Vehicle, Buckmasters, Asphalt Contractors, Tom Harken Literacy Advocate, Business Council of Alabama, West Construction and Development Coastal Homes, Southern Comfort Conversions, ABET, Inc., Books-A-Million, Wells Printing of Montgomery, Alabama, Whitetail Institute of North America, Maestranzi Corp., East Alabama Paving Company, Inc., Sweeney Feeders, and the State of Alabama. Here are the top finishers in the Ray Scott's Eagles
of Angling Senior Bass Tournament, May 18, 2001, at Pintlala, Alabama: Angler, Hometown Age Bass Weight Winnings 1. Stan Sloan, Sparta TN, 63 18 10.12 lbs. $5,000 2. Blake Honeycutt, Hickory, NC, 71 23 9.40 lbs. $2,500 3. Philip Terry, Sr., Decatur, AL, 65 20 8.97 lbs. $1,500 4. Dick Hulcher, Jacksonville, FL, 64 20 8.69 lbs. $1,000 5. John Nichols, Lowndesboro, AL, 66 16 8.29 lbs. $500 6. Frank Potts, Montgomery, AL, 67 17 7.96 lbs. $500 7. Wallace Lea, Powersite, MO, 63 17 7.86 lbs. $500 8. John Barnett, Montgomery, AL, 63 16 7.63 lbs. $500 9. George Green, Birmingham, AL, 69 14 7.12 lbs. $500 10. Alderson Clark, Bowling Green, KY, 68 15 7.08 lbs. $500 11. Carl Dyess, Malcom,
AL,
62
16
7.05
lbs.
$500 TOTAL $13,500
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