Five anglers, all of whom have made significant contributions to the sport of recreational fishing, will be inducted as the 11th class into the International Game Fish Association Fishing Hall of Fame this fall. The class of 2009 includes Carlos Barrantes, Sr, Jack Erskine, Dr. Guy Harvey, Harlan Major and Stephen Sloan.
The annual star-studded enshrinement ceremony and dinner will be held Tuesday, October 27, 2009 at 6 p.m. at the IGFA Fishing Hall of Fame in Dania Beach, Fla. The public is invited.

Carlos Barrantes, Sr. - A proactive angler and conservationist Barrantes opened up Costa Rica and Central America to sportfishing and served as the IGFA's Costa Rican Representative. He founded and was also president of Costa Rica's National Fishing Federation.  In 1982, Barrantes was presented the Sportsman's Honor Medal by the president of Costa Rica. Carlos was also a writer and in 1987 he was elected Lifetime Honorary Member of the Costa Rica Journalist's Society.  From 1987 - 1990 he was president of the Conservation Association of Sportfishing in Costa Rica.  Barrantes also developed hatchery programs for freshwater game fish in Costa Rica and established the first fishing store in the country, Gilca Ltd.; established the first fishing lodge on the Atlantic side - the Parismina Tarpon Rancho, and was the first angler to be inducted into the Costa Rica Hall of Fame in 2003. Barrantes died in 2004.  His son, Carlos Jr. is now the IGFA's Representative in Costa Rica.

Jack Erskine - For more than 30 years, Jack's name has been synonymous with cutting edge tackle innovations, light-tackle fishing records and many important contributions not only in his home fishing waters of Cairns, Australia, but globally as well.  Widely known by his clients and anglers as "Erko," Erskine has been a longtime technical consultant for AFTCO, Penn Tackle, Fin-Nor and Bass Pro Shops.  He is particularly noted for his expertise in drag systems, especially for the giant black marlin that roamed the northeastern waters of the continent. Erko's skills as a consummate light tackle angler and his Cairns captures of marlin on super light lines -- i.e. eight black marlin on 2 kg line in a single day setting four consecutive world records -- is legendary. He's been a long time advocate of saltwater spinning tackle for billfish and other gamefish. He and his wife run a small, personal but highly technical reel-tuning business plus assorted, specialty equipment in Cairns, far north Queensland. He was inducted into the Cairns Fishing Hall of Fame in 2008.

Dr. Guy Harvey - Renowned marine wildlife artist, Guy became entranced by Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea while at boarding school.  With no formal art training but with a scientist's eye for detail, he began sketching fish.  Praise for the 119 illustrations in Guy's 1983 doctoral thesis convinced him to put on a one-man show of his work, and within three years Harvey had become a full-time artist.  Guy is a vocal proponent of catch-and-release and generously donates artwork, time and funds for numerous institutions and conservation groups, including the Guy Harvey Research Institute established at Nova Southeastern University in 1999. He shares his knowledge and art in books, TV shows, and DVDs.  Harvey became an IGFA Representative in 1986 and has been a member of the IGFA Board of Trustees since 1993. In 2008 Dr. Harvey created the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation. He and his family live in Grand Cayman.

Harlan Major - One of saltwater angling's first historians, Major was an early outdoor writer and a superb tackle technician. Always experimenting with new ideas and techniques, Major, who was from Detroit, Mich., was known for bringing West Coast angling ideas to the East. His Salt Water Fishing Tackle (1939) remains a classic reference.  Major was the first American outdoor writer to go to Chile to investigate reports of giant swordfish being caught (1935), pioneering the way for the Lerners, Farringtons and Marrons.  He saw saltwater angling as the sport of everyman, and in 1933 persuaded railway execs to run special fishermen's trains from Penn Station to Montauk Point in New York City.  Major convinced Pan Am that a big-game sport fishery could be developed in the Pacific islands, which would attract affluent anglers/travelers to their new "clipper ship" service.  During World War II, Major set up a tackle clearing house in New York City and enlisted scores of volunteers who sifted through discarded line, lures and hooks to make up 200,000 usable angling kits to send to servicemen. Major died in 1968.

Stephen Sloan - Sloan has a history to be envied in several phases of recreational angling, fresh and saltwater. He held 44 IGFA world records; authored three books, Fly Fishing is Spoken Here, Thanatopfish and Ocean Bankruptcy; produced and hosted syndicated radio show, "The Fishing Zone" which discussed the problems and challenges that our ocean and fishing resources face; was a former adjunct professor at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science; Chairman of the Fisheries Defense Fund, Trustee of the IGFA; former director of the National Coalition for Marine Conservation and Trustee Emeritus of the American Museum of Fly Fishing. Sloan died in April of 2005 after battling cancer.

There are currently 75 men and women enshrined in the Hall of Fame including Zane Grey, Ernest Hemingway, Curt Gowdy, Ted Williams, Lee Wulff, Michael and Helen Lerner, Philip Wylie, Bill Dance, Roland Martin, Johnny Morris, Don Tyson and Stu Apte.

Tickets are $200 and include the cocktail reception beginning at 6 p.m., silent auction, dinner and the induction ceremony beginning at 7:30 p.m. Special sponsorships and sponsor tables are available.  For reservation information please call Lesley Arico at 954-924-4222 or email: larico@igfa.org