The bass-fishing world continues to lose key individuals who helped birth then nurse the sport through its infancy. On Friday, Feb. 11, the fishing world mourned the passing of Tom Mann, who died from complications that followed his second open-heart surgery.

His name remains one of the most recognizable in the sport. He was an early BASS competitor who won

two events and fished seven Bassmaster Classics. But before that, he revolutionized the bass-bait industry with his flavored and colored Jelly Worms.

He was also instrumental in developing and popularizing the original Humminbird units, and later founded Southern Plastics – a massive private-label plastics company.

The Mann Timeline

To better grasp the career of Tom Mann, and his tremendous influence on bass fishing, here's a brief timeline of significant fishing-related events in his lifetime.

> 1932: Born near Penton, Ala.
> 1958: Formed Mann's Bait Co.
> 1960–65: Became Alabama conservation officer, invented Little George tailspinner, began development of the Jelly Worm
> 1966–70: Moved to Lake Eufaula (Ala.), competed in first BASS event on Beaver Lake (Ark.), founded and operated Allied Sports Co. (which manufactured Humminbird depthfinders)
> 1970–75: Founded Southern Plastics Co., won first BASS event, competed in first Bassmaster Classic, opened Tom Mann's Fishing World
> 1979: Sold Mann's Bait Co.
> 1984: Retired from professional bass fishing
> 1986: Selected to National Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame
> 2003: Inducted into Professional Bass Fishing Hall of Fame
> 2005: Died in Eufaula (Ala.) from complications following heart surgery

Industry Giant

Mann's contributions to bass fishing are immeasurable, and they began with the Jelly Worm. Nick Creme had marketed a plastic worm before Mann's creation, but what the Jelly Worm offered was a combination of scent and color never seen before.

Ron Lindner was there. He remembers. "Tom Mann is one of the midwives of modern bass fishing," he said. "Prior to Jelly Worms, one other guy, Nick Creme, was making worms at the time. They looked like nightcrawlers.

"And another guy made Flip Tail worms in Bainbridge, Ga. They were plastic worms that didn't look like worms – they were joined round BBs, but thicker, with a flat tail on the back. The Flip Tail worms were very soft – they used to be soaked in some kind of oil. They were translucent in color, and he started all these weird colors.

"Then came Tom Mann with Jelly worms and he added a little scent. There was grape in purple worms, cherry in red worms, and so on. They were very, very instrumental in bringing worm fishing to the forefront, particularly on the early bass trails."

The Mann styles and scents were new to fishing and became the industry standard. Jelly Worms are still sold today, and their influence can be noted in the simple fact that anglers, when referring to any purple worm, call it "grape."

BASS founder Ray Scott noted Mann's knack for innovation. "He literally made his own baits," he said. "He hand-carved them, and he was highly innovative. That's one thing I always thought was neat. And when he made the Jelly Worm, he influenced everything because now we had plastics with color and flavor.

"There was watermelon, strawberry, blueberry – they all had favors. There was oil on the lures with scent that produced the flavor. You could smell it when you opened the package. It was an innovative deal and it got attention."

Big Stick

Despite his strong influence on bait design, Mann should also be remembered as one of the best sticks of the early years. His two BASS wins and seven Classic appearances are testament to his skill. And those who fished with him remember his unorthodox tackle.

Bill Dance said, "He was a dear friend, Tom Mann. To kind of sum it up in some respects, he was truly a legend to all of us. I was personally blessed to be able to work with him, travel with him, fish with him, play with him, and simply love him, and I still do. He'll always occupy a special place in the heart and boat of Bill Dance.

"When I first met him, I saw this big, old, gentle giant come walking down bank to the marina. He had two spinning rods. I asked him if he was going crappie fishing. But after I watched him fish, I never made fun of a guy with an open-face reel again.

"Back then, if you weren't fishing a baitcaster, it was a step down. But after I watched the big strings of fish he caught, I got me a big spinning rod too."

Dance noted that during a time when anglers tended to focus on one particular style or technique, Mann could do it all. "He was three-dimensional. When I say that, I mean he could fish shallow water and deep water, and many fishermen can't do that, still even today. But that third element was moving water. He could fish moving water. There's not a lot of people who can do all that. I can name a few today that are as versatile – who I would classify as three-dimensional."

And Dance said he watched Mann closely – even studied him. "Tom was versatile – he could adapt. And I watched this real closely. When you fish for a living, you can see things. In other words, if you're a racecar driver, you can see key things in other people because that's your field. Since I make my living fishing, I can talk to somebody and within 5 minutes tell if they know anything or not about this particular sport.

"Let me tell you, Tom did. He was extremely versatile, he could adapt – summer to fall to winter to spring, hot water to cold to muddy to clear, a lowland reservoir in south Alabama to a canyon lake in Arizona, lowland, midland highland, plateau, little rivers, big rivers. He was much more successful than guys who couldn't do that."

Dance remembered one time the two were paired together in a tournament. "I had fish suspended in about 15 feet of water on timbered bluffs. I'd ease up and make a cast and let my bait freefall beside the cedars.

"Well, I went in there with Tom and I started up a bluff bank. I'd make a cast at a cedar with my baitcaster, but he'd throw twice the distance I could fish. He'd catch a fish before I could ever reach it. He'd rake the whole bank.

"I said, quit fishing all the tops. He said, 'Gotta get 'em while you can get 'em.' He just cherry-picked me to death. He could throw that spinning rod a county mile."

Scott added: "Tom was a fishing whiz kid before he was a lure manufacturer. To be frank, I think his earliest lures were to accommodate his needs, rather than the market. But I knew him since about 1962 – 7 or 8 years before BASS. He was one of the few guys I ever knew who was innovative on his own. He had a magical savvy with fish.

"He used a 7 1/2-foot Wright McGill yellow spinning rod, and used it to the day he died. When I first knew him, I was throwing spinning stuff, then I went to a baitcaster. He never changed. It shows he had his own view of the circumstances he wanted to live with, and open-face was his game."

Electronics Development

There seems to be no consensus on the exact role Mann played in the development of Humminbird fish finders through the Allied Sports Co., which later became Techsonic. He is said to have a patent on the Humminbird unit. But what's certainly clear is that he was instrumental in the growth and development of their use for recreational fishing.

"To the dying day, he was trying to make it better for all of us," Scott said. "He was a sharp bird – a good man, a good family man and also highly influential in the concept and development of Humminbird."

Lindner said the Humminbird unit was named for its "humming" sound. "All the early ones said Tom Mann's Humminbird. These were the old-time flashers. We had them as an early sponsor on TV. When we had the early units, we took Humminbird up north and made the punch against Lowrance. Somewhere along the line (Mann and the company) got in a dispute and he lost."

He eventually sold the electronics business to Techsonic, which later bought Mann's, but nasty legal battles over the businesses became both personally and financially costly for him. Mann's was later sold by Techsonic to its present owners, Frank Oelerich and Bob Burgrabb.

Mann's contributions to fishing are certainly immense. He never gained the television notoriety of say a Roland Martin, Jimmy Houston, Bill Dance or Al and Ron Lindner – despite many television ventures – but Mann's Bait Co. and his plastics designs, as well as the Humminbird unit, maintain an irrevocable place within the bass-fishing pantheon.

And more important than that, there remains the memory of the angler who was Tom Mann. A man who, in the words of Bill Dance, "helped promote this sport and will always be remembered and have a special place in our circle."

Notable

> Mann's two BASS victories were at Georgia's Lake Seminole (1971) and Florida's Lake Kissimmee (1972).

> His Little George tailspinner was named after then Alabama governor George Wallace.

> He was the second contestant to send Ray Scott $100 to enter the first-ever BASS tournament on Beaver Lake.

> He hosted many television shows, including shows on ESPN, TNN, Sports South, The Sunshine Network and The Outdoor Channel. His most recent show, Tom and Tina Outdoors, was broadcast on the Sportsman Network.