In all fairness I truly doubt the marketing department at Dobyns had any idea the truth and severity of those rumors about cheating/ snagging. Concrete evidence like this wasn't around when he was on their promotional staff.

I grew up in San Diego and remember meeting Mike one time when I was a kid... I thought he was so cool and wished I was that good at fishing. All those lakes he fished were where I got my start. It's crazy to read all this, but the proof is overwhelming.

Long article, but I couldn't stop reading. I am at a loss for words to describe what I think of Mike Long. Disgusting! [size:26pt][/size]

Man what an article that dude is a piece of work WOW

There can be no defense here. The video shows him snagging fish plain as day. Even his fish handling is shameful for someone of his supposed experience. He�s a ruined man, and it only gets worse in the article. I�d make a comment about guarding your reputation, but it sounds like for those who knew him best, he never really had one.

The rest of us were just dazzled by the smoke and mirrors created by a big bass wizard doing most of his work from behind the curtain.

The writer should get the Pulitzer, lol. What a great read.

The worst part was the lug nuts and stalking,,,,

Sure seems easy to cheat in California. Why weren't
tournament directors making sure he took a polygraph? and why wasn't state law enforcement involved? Seems to me to be theft of $150,000, not just shady tournament winnings!
What a sleeze, I read all of it and never heard of this guy before.

PS- I have a state record in one of my uncle's farm ponds

Lucky he didn�t get his [censored] kicked or worse walking into someone�s house unannounced and creeping around outside shining lights in a kids window.

Super similar to a local guy in behavior during his reign of domination, and watching the video is sickening as much in his deliberate methodical way of going about it as his horrible treatment of the fish.

Clearly a sociopath and probably like our guy could out maneuver an old school poly given he som3 how passed a subsequent test after the fail.

Read all 9 pages this morning over a pot of coffee. Not sure whats more dumbfounding, the fact that he got away with it for so long or the fact that the people around him let him get away with it.

Stunning revelations. What a dirt bag. Threatening a teenager, loosening lug nuts...the cheating in bass tournaments is despicable, but nothing compared to those two things.

That article doesn�t paint everyone - including his tournament partners - in a great light, either. I understand hesitating without any concrete proof, but the guy couldn�t catch a fish in a tournament unless he was fishing by himself. He caught fish with out a fight or a fish jumping. His tournament partners knew and stopped fishing with him, but didn�t do enough, in my opinion. On one hand, I get it. On the other, someone should have done the right thing.

I am not following you Jeff are you talking about something specific?other than the MLF vs BASS debates there�s not that much bickering ....

He won 55% of the tournaments he fished by himself. He won 25% of the tournaments he fished with a partner. (His partner for most of those being John Kerr one of the best sticks in the area).

It blows my mind how brazen he was. He literally claimed a lake record with a picture of a fish another man caught from a different lake!

It sounds like his mode of operation in the spring was to snag big fish from clear lakes during closed periods, then haul the bass in coolers to lakes he had never even set foot on. He'd pretend to fish for an hour or two then magically produce a new lake record. He'd leave the lake the record holder and never return. Rinse and repeat.

crazzzzzy stuff. All I knew about the guy was what I saw in the magazines which is exactly what he wanted I guess. What a complete disgrace to fishing

Airrus...just dropped him!

Read their FB page, they have a picture w/ a rod pierced by a treble hook.

=68.ARBnviDzB7t28LYe-gBMhs_CMqJ6Bze...d2oF1i_ECeCHT2Xg]Airrus Rod Announcement

Good read... Sad day for bass fishing... Dan