Original Caption and Title: "Get a 'Stick' and Kill It! – Although he couldn't catch lunkers like these at Beaver Lake during the All-American fishing championships, Nashville's Stan Sloan built enough points to win the championship handily. He totaled 1,861 points in the competition which ended at 5 p.m. yesterday. Stan also used the Stick to catch this whopping string of Kentucky Lake bass (pictured) last spring. The Bomber Spinstick was the lure that produced most of his fish in the Arkansas championship." June 1967, The Tennessean, Nashville, TN, no photo credit.

Today for the Friday Finale, we’re going back to the first All-American put on by Ray Scott at Beaver Lake, Arkansas. In particular, we have a cool little piece of history regarding the winner of the event, Stan Sloan.

While many will likely associate Sloan with his own line of baits, the Stan Sloan’s Zorro Bait Company, in the 1960s and early 70s, he was frequently featured across local outdoor columns with large catches of bass, primarily on the same bait he used to win the All-American – the Bomber Spin Stick. Introduced in 1954, this floating twin-prop stickbait, very similar in nature to the Devil’s Horse, appears to have been a favorite of Stan’s.

Bomber's Spinstick in Coachdog released for Bassmasters 30th Anniversary. The same bait Stan Sloan used to win the first All-American on Beaver lake, Arkansas in 1967.

Bomber released a collector’s edition of the bait for B.A.S.S., and in the little paper write-up sheet that accompanied the bait were the following introductory words:

“’One of the greatest topwater baits of all time!’ That’s how Stan Sloan – winner of Ray Scott’s first bass tournament – describes the Bomber Spinstick, the lure selected to help commemorate the 30th Anniversary of the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society.”