Stan Sloan will forever hold the distinction of being the first angler to win a Ray Scott event – winning the first All-American held on Beaver Lake in 1967. Sloan also claims another first, that being the man who designed and built the bait that won the first Bass Masters Classic in 1971 at Lake Mead, NV. If you don’t remember, it was Stan Sloan who owned the Zorro Bait Company and manufactured the Aggravator spinnerbait.
Over the course of his bass fishing career, Sloan never fished a full year on the Bassmaster Trail. The closest he came to that was the 1973 season where he fished five events. Most years he only fished two or three events, due to his job as a police officer, yet he made the Classic the first five years in a row.
Sloan’s Zorro Aggravator spinnerbaits were some of the most-used spinnerbaits of the time – winning numerous events in the early years. After Murray won the Classic, he retired from the force and went full time making baits.
By the time 1976 rolled around, Sloan knew he had to expand the business and offer something other than the Aggravator. He needed to come out with a couple new lures to fill gaps in his line of products.
In 1975, when Dee Thomas introduced the Flippin’ technique to the Bassmaster Trail, he may have chalked Thomas’ win up to a fluke. But Dave Gliebe changed all that in 1977 with a number of wins using the technique – thus marking Sloan’s foray into producing a flippin’ jig.
The jig was unique in that the head had a post to which you could attach a plastic worm or grub trailer and rig it weedless – a first of its time. The jig also came with or without a skirt allowing the angler to choose between a bulky bait or not.
The second bait he introduced that year was also out of a need to follow the industry – and some recent tournament wins. This time it was the buzzbait. Rick Clunn had nearly won the Tennessee Invitational on Cordell Hull Reservoir with a Harkin’s Lunker Lure in 1976 but the bait wasn’t really talked about all too much. Then Clunn went on to win the 1977 Bass Champs event held on Percy Priest, again on the Lunker Lure.
The attention of the new-style lure must have gotten the attention of Sloan as by the middle of 1977, he too had come out with what we’d call today – the traditional buzz bait.
But again, Sloan took the original design and tweaked it. This time he added noise by configuring the wire to allow the blade to contact the head of the bait and make a ticking noise. The interesting thing about this is Lindy is generally credited with this concept from their Clacker buzzbait that was introduced in the early 80s. It looks as if Sloan and his FUZZ-N-BUZZ buzzbait was the first.
Sloan was ahead of his time in a number of ways – and bait making and design was certainly at the forefront. It’s no wonder his business continued until the day he passed, and continues today under new ownership.
Zorro was definitely ahead of their time, especially with the Flippin Jig. If you look at the design, what you essentially have is a heavy duty shakey head, years before they became so prevalent. My dad and I used the modest sized 1/4 oz. frequently with 7” Jelly worms to great effect. I still have quite a few of these stashed away!
Mike, I thought the same exact thing about the head. Nothing is new in bass fishing…..
A Massachusetts angler named Paul(?) Devine was making jig heads with a spur to rig plastics weedless as early as 1974.
At the ’77 Bass Chapter Championship on Kentucky Lake, I tried to visit every local tackle shop. One had the largest selection of spinnerbaits and buzzbaits I’d ever seen. The guy behind the counter said I should try the new Zorro buzzer that had just arrived. According to him, they’d just unpacked them, and I’d be the first to throw it on Kentucky Lake. Yeah, I bought one. Didn’t catch a fish on it in the tourney, but back home, it became my go-to buzzbait for at least 3 years, until I lost it to a northern pike.
Thanks Rich. It’s always a sticky situation trying to determine who was “first” at developing something. So many small guys developed things in their garage that never made it nationally or in the ads.
Zorro is still producing a version of this buzzbait, just called the “headknocker” now……….
It’s great to find articles about my late Father, Stan Sloan. He died in my arms July 10th, 2008. Let me tell you about my Father being ahead of his time….when he and my Mother divorced in 1974, my brother and oldest sister were 18. My sister and I were 13 and 9. (I am his namesake and youngest) He fought for custody of us. A single Father to two daughters in 1974. Yes, he was far ahead of his time! He ran his business full time since 1971, fished when he could and raised two daughters. Cooked dinner, did laundry, packed lunches and loved us enough to be a Father with purpose. He was tough, yes. He taught us to be strong, to be independent and “use our brain” as was a favorite saying. He kept us safe, and we always knew he’d give great advice – even if we didn’t like it! He made me the woman I am.
He is also credited with designing the first bass boats, inventing ‘black lights’ used for night fishing, multi lures and products. It is my Father who moved trolling motors to the front of the boat. Ray Scott told a famed 1967 story on that – my Father’s logic in moving it to the front of a boat because it’s “easier to pull a chain than to push it.” His mind was engineering brilliance!
I miss my Father every day. Thank you to those who valued his place in bass fishing history! Though his business has to date been sold twice (I legally fought for it to die with him and not be sold but sadly “others” love $$$ ) it will never, ever be the same ……without my Father!
Dear Ms. Sloan. Thank you for your comment and for a little more history about your father. He was one of the pioneers of contemporary bass fishing and an angler to be reckoned with any day he was on the water. It sounds as though he was as solid as a father as he was an angler and that just adds to his greatness. If you have anything you’d ever like to share here about your dad, images or anything, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We’d love to help his legacy live on forever. Sincerely, Terry