(Editor's note: This is the final part of a 2-part article on Bill McElroy's burgeoning Scales & Tales cartoon empire.)
In 1987, Bill "Mac" McElroy developed the Scales & Tales cartoon. By 1993 it was running in a national bass-fishing publication -- BASS Times -- where it garnered a loyal following, but it didn't go farther than that until this year. That's when NASCAR-collectibles company Action Performance Companies Inc. decided to get into bass fishing, "discovered" McElroy, and decided to make him and his characters household names.
That's a big step from one panel a month in BASS Times, a few promotional appearances, and occasionally doing custom-painted rod handles for people like Bass Pro Shops founder Johnny Morris and President Bush.
So how does it feel? BassFan sat down with McElroy and asked about that, and a few other things.
BassFan: How did this deal with Action Performance happen?
McElroy: I was at the Beaver Lake FLW tournament in April of this year. I was fishing with Chuck Economou, and Lonnie (Boutte) and Fred (Miller, both of Action Performance) were fishing with Wesley Strader about 20 yards from Chuck and I. We were just fishing for fun, and they were whacking these white bass about every cast. They were sitting right on top of them, and we were just laughing and dogging them, saying, 'Save some for us.' Later at the Fun Zone, my friend John (who had been in another boat close by) recognized Lonnie as the guy in (Strader's) boat, brought him over and introduced me. We were making small talk and stuff, and he saw the Scales & Tales logo on my shirt sleeve. He said, 'What's this?' I told him it was a cartoon strip running monthly in BASS Times, and he said, 'Tell me about it.' So I gave him a little background about it. He went back to his room that night and looked at my web site, then went back to Phoenix (where Action Performance is based), talked to his people and said there was potential there for product development and a new business opportunity.
He called me about 2 weeks later and asked me if I was interested in a licensing deal. I couldn't believe it. It floored me. It was like hitting the lottery. We did the usual negotiations back and forth, and on May 1 I signed a licensing agreement with Action Performance. It was definitely a classic case of it's who you know (laughs).
How did you come up with Scales & Tales? Did other cartoons come first?
McElroy: I actually always wanted to be a cartoonist, ever since I was little kid. I always dabbled with it -- doodles in high school on notebooks and stuff. My parents told me to do my homework and quit doodling, but now, 20-30 years later, they're thinking maybe I should've done more doodling (laughs). So I always wanted to be a cartoonist, but I wasn't sure how to start the process. After college and marriage, I had some discretionary income and took some adult cartooning classes, and learned a lot there. One of the elements the guy told us right from the get-go was that you had to be intimately familiar with the subject matter.
At the same time I was starting to get involved in tournament bass fishing. But my first cartoon strip was about four college guys because at the time I was right out of school. Even though I never thought it was possible, the instructor said I had the talent to take it somewhere if I wanted to. But after 3 months I used up 5 years' worth of all the funniest things that happened at school. Every strip was great, but after a while I felt like I burned myself out with that. I wanted to move on.
That was in 1985. By then I'd joined a bass club, and 1987 is when I developed Scales & Tales. I was sitting at work one day. I was going to go fishing with my buddy that night, and was waiting for 3:00 to roll around. I was doodling, drawing little fish and stuff, and a lightbulb popped on: Maybe I could do a fishing cartoon. But I wanted to do something different. I didn't want to do two guys in a boat like you see all the time. I thought I would make fun of us fishermen from the point of view of the fish, and Scales & Tales was born.
I worked on it on my own for a couple of years, developing it and refining the characters, and after that I started submitting it to the Michigan BASS Federation newsletter. That's where it first appeared, and from there it went to the Ohio, Oklahoma, New Mexico (and other) Federation publications. Dennis Becker, president of the Ohio Federation, was the first guy who got ahold of me, and he was the one who got me motivated enough to send it to BASS Times. At the time, that's where I wanted it to be.
(Eventually) Don Corkran, who was the (BASS) Federation director at that time, was in Lansing (for a Michigan Federation function), and I put together sample pack of stuff for him and asked him to give it to Matt (Vincent, BASS Times editor) when he got back to Alabama. Evidently Don went back to his hotel room that night, looked it over and faxed it to Matt. Matt called me the next day, and said, 'I need a dozen of these,' so that was the start. That was in 1993.
When did it stop running in BASS Times, and why?
McElroy: I think the last one was in June of this year. It stopped running there after I signed a licensing agreement with Action Performance. BASS felt like they couldn't run it (anymore) because they had no direct control over the distribution, and just felt that wasn't in line with their objectives at the time.
Has Scales & Tales run anywhere else?
McElroy: Just a few Federation newsletters. I wanted it to be in Bassmaster Magazine, but they didn't want to do it because of an agreement (between the editors of Bassmaster and BASS Times) that they wouldn't steal each other's talent. But BASS Times was fine. It was all the hardcore tournament guys, and that's who I was interested in focusing on anyway. But now with tall the opportunities out there, it's really unlimited viewership now. You don't have to be a member of anything to see it.
Can you say yet where will be running in the future?
McElroy: I can't say yet, but for sure it will be in outdoor magazines.
Your characters have names now. Did they have names before?
McElroy: No, not really. Action Performance wanted me to do it. The whole time it was running in BASS Times, it was really more modeled after The Far Side. It was a snapshot in time vs. a running character-development thing. When I signed with Action Performance, they saw tremendous potential (in Scales & Tales), and part of (realizing that potential) was to develop names and personalities for the characters. I'd been drawing them for a long time, so I already had personalities for them, but I never really got serious about names.
Do you like having names for them?
McElroy: Yeah. I think it's kind of neat.
How do you feel about what's happening with Scales & Tales?
McElroy: I'm ecstatic about it. It's something I've always wanted to do. It's literally a dream come true for me. A lot of cartoonists can spend their whole lives (trying) and not get a licensing deal. It opens up a whole new realm of opportunities as far as exposure and product development. And I really want to focus on the kids now. So much of the talk these days about bass fishing is about the competitive side. I wanted to focus more on the humorous side of it and get kids involved at an early age so they can see all the good things involved with it, like building confidence and being aware of all the creatures in nature. There's so much more involved in fishing than just tournaments.
Notable
> A few names of characters BASS Times readers have seen over the years include Lucky and Rosie (largemouths), Topo the smallmouth, Gumbo and the Rockshellers (crawfish), Isaac the frog, Snorkel the worm, Ol' Spinecrusher (musky), Boo and Gill, and Clay the clam. Check out their "bios" on the Scales & Tales web site.
> McElroy's full-time gig is as an illustrator for General Motors. "Eventually if the opportunity to go into cartooning full-time comes up, I'll consider it," he said. "But right now I have 20 years with GM, and it would be hard to give that up."
> He fishes tournaments. "I fish some Federation stuff and a lot of local and regional stuff, and I've fished a few FLWs as a co-angler. But I've been so busy working on this licensing deal I haven't been able to tournament-fish much this year. Hopefully I'll do a lot more next year."
> He is sponsored by Bass Pro Shops, Ranger Boats, Mustad hooks, MotorGuide, Mercury Marine, and Scales & Tales.
- End of part 2 (of 2) -
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Topo is McElroy's lone smallmouth character, and like all smallmouths, he's mean.
