BASS Founder Heading To Iraq

Since the war began, BASS has received numerous letters and emails from military men serving in Iraq. Later this month, BASS founder Ray Scott pays a Thanksgiving visit to the troops.

“We’re going to be going over yonder and try to entertain and make those boys smile,” he said. “I’m so proud of those kids. I’m just thrilled to be going.”

Through his friendship with retired Command Sgt. Maj. Rick Cayton, a Triton Boats dealer in Fort Hood, Texas, Scott arranged to visit with the troops. He will be leaving Nov. 23rd for the 10-day trip sponsored by Armed Forces Entertainment.

After brief stops in Germany and Kuwait, Scott will fly to Baghdad. From there, the Ray Scott Thanksgiving Tour will travel by Blackhawk helicopter to make two or three stops per day throughout Iraq.

“It’s the most exciting thing I’ve ever done,” said Scott, an Army veteran himself. “I feel so good. I’m at the age (71) and stage where I’d love to do something for my country, but old people don’t get a chance very often – not that I consider myself old. I still think I'm about 20.

“I’m not doing this to be heroic or anything like that. I just feel that when a man has a chance to do something for his country, he needs to do it. When I get in front of those kids I’ll have a ball, and they’ll be smiling when we leave. That’s my thrill.”


It’s been quite a fall for Scott, known by millions around the globe as Mr. Bass.

Last month, he was inducted into the prestigious International Game Fish Association Hall of Fame in Dania, Fla. Just two weeks ago, he returned from a trip to South Africa.

Scott went to Zimbabwe to celebrate the catch of an 18-pound, 4-ounce bass in Lake Darwinsdale in late July. Scott believes that this bass – one of the largest ever documented outside the United States – is the result of an international effort on the part of BASS to stock 2,500 Florida strain fingerlings in Zimbabwe in 1981.

“It’s an incredible story,” he said. “I got to meet a lot of great people, including the man who caught that big bass, and I brought him a replica of that fish made by (renowned taxidermist) Archie Phillips of Fairfield, Ala., who was a charter member of BASS.

“Plus, I signed up 250 new BASS members. We doubled out membership there.”

From BASS