Truth is truth

he is an awesome and possibly the best west coast trout feeder lakes angler in history

I feel like no matter the angler/scenario....these top tier guys will always get some sort of asterisk.

JJ uses livescope/A-Rig so that lessens the accomplishment to some.

Butch Brown fished Cali in its prime on lakes that stocked trout like was mentioned. ive even heard rumblings that he fished private waters for some of his DDs. The DDs in private waters does lessen the accomplishent to me, but if it was public water then thats all fair game.

Butch just like JJ....made the best of what they had and were dealing with. Having been to Ivie I can tell you people were trying to do exactly what JJ was doing and not doing it at near the rate JJ was doing. i bet its the exact same for BB. Dudes fished the exact same waters, fishing the same baits....but BB for some reason did it better than anyone else.

Those dudes are both head and shoulders above the crowd. I think we can all agree on that.

The weather is brutal out there too.

Some people love to “rationalize” the reason others succeed thus downplaying the others success. Somehow they think it makes their own shortcomings appear less dismal. Butch is a great fisherman with lots of “proof”!

Butch was very fortunate to be able to fish as much as he wanted, plus he caught the majority of those fish in a retention pond below castaic. It was literally full of giants in a coverless small area. Not discounting it, but it's apples and oranges to Jones catching the on multiple lakes. Check back in 30 years to compare them at that age

well heck, I thought this was gonna be about me.





I used to have a ponytail, long time back.

Absolutely. His dedication, passion, and excitement are evident on his videos.

Kali quit their trout stocking program a few years back.

You raise very valid points...can see lots of examples of that here.

Truly successful people celebrate the success of others.

Rock on Butch! Drywall taper and GOAT big bass angler.

This.

How many of Butch's fish were caught outside of California or on lakes not stocked with trout? Honestly I don't know the answer to that question.

He is one of the greatest at what his niche is, as are most of the people considered "Goats" in anything. If the measurable is numbers of big fish he is one of the top 2-3 ever. If it is from diverse bodies of water both large and small, he's doesn't have a lot of data away from his home lakes.

I would put a few of the very good locals against him in Texas on our lakes and lay you good odds for a lot of money he would struggle to beat them consistently.

In bass fishing, it's almost never apples to apples when you compare regional anglers.

I think this is why BB doesn’t do a lot of bragging and promoting. He understands he will be scrutinized for fishing a smaller home lake and the Cali trout stocking program. While, I don’t believe he should have asterisks beside his name for this, I did think what he has accomplished is very very difficult and he has earned the praise.

All the guys mentioned are great at catching big fish. And a “yeah but” could be attached to all of them as well. BB caught unimaginable numbers of DDs. Yeah, but he fished Cali. Hannon caught lots. Yeah but he used shiners. Jones catches them. Yeah but only because of FFS. Personally, I let their accomplishments stand as they are. Doesn’t really matter the circumstances as long as it was done legally. Will JJ ever approach Butch’s numbers? Maybe but doesn’t seem likely. Ivie will always produce, but eventually there will be a water problem there. It’s dropping pretty steady. Might not be the right thread for this, but I’m more impressed by what the Hill Country Hammers did this year than by JJ. I know it’s two or three guides, but their clients caught a tremendous amount of huge fish. I would have to believe if they were doing most of the fishing, their numbers would have been even better. Not saying they’re GOATs, but they were pretty awesome this year.

I'm not going to say we are close friends but I have talked/communicated with Butch several times in the last 30 years and anyone would be hard pressed to find someone as successful who is more willing to share information and help other fishermen.

It would be cool if someone could do some interviews with some of the guys mentioned. Not really for fishing info, but just to hear the way they think about what they've accomplished.