Mike Long - Exposed Snagger

https://sdfish.com/general/mike-long-big-bass-snagger-exposed-on-video/

This is going to get interesting! So how many of the big fish did he actually catch and not snag?

Apparently you got the email from SD Fish too?

Wow. I had not heard this before

The other article posted is even crazier. It's very long, but worth the read.

https://sdfish.com/general/dark-secret-americas-big-bass-guru-mike-long/

there is some pretty strong evidence in that video and the much longer article has a lot of information over the years put together pretty well.

Hope he knows he is not welcome in Texas after he gets the boot from Cali!!!

Seems we get some fishing rejects from there time to time.

Extremely disappointing. I know guys in the S.D. area have been saying it for years but this is first time I have seen any "proof". That video is pretty darn incriminating.

He certainly wouldn't be the first questionable dude to migrate from California to Texas.

I just got done reading that article, it’s sad because Mike Long was considered one of the best...

Being from San Diego myself as well as many other guys on here, I learned through time, asking questions and lots of effort.

Like who?

Trash

that article..... wow

So many people clicking on the link that the website crashed it looks like.

Yep. I got done with page 1 then tried to go to page 2 and it didn't work.

The deeper you go into that article the more information is shared. Its crazy, he took a picture with a fish his friend caught and then used that picture twice saying he caught lake records on other lakes.

Well, us for two Mike...

Karma always wins eventually

I’ve spent all this money on big swim baits and all
I needed was two white grubs on a big treble hook.

Yea but we are the exception aren’t we? Everyone loves us

Maybe hes married to Robby Rose's sister???

The article is wayyy crazier then the video.

Dang somebody had an ax to grind with him, but he was getting fame and I guess profiting off off big fish he claimed to be caught fair chase so its wrong but I don't see it as bad as a big game poacher. I didn't read the article, was he proven cheating in any tournaments, that would be equal or even worse with money involved to the big game poaching to me.

How I am able to read the long article. I too was having difficulty getting to page 2. After reading page 1, you would click next and it gave me the error. What I did next was it "F5" (Re-fresh). I have done this for both page 2 and 3 because it gave me the same error but, after hitting F5, it gave me the page. Hope this helps

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8U4xXcpUjQ0

Consistent with the mindset and actions of California

There were plenty of inconsistencies and a failed lie detector test... the he retook and later passed. Proven he lied about lake records using a picture of a fish he didnt even catch, etc... So much more in the article

Are those baits available at Tackle warehouse

I met him at ICAST. To put it politely, he had a healthy ego.

This worked for me, thanks!

Dude...I only was able to watch 10 min of the video and read 5 pages of the article and this is crazy. And the fact the guy has been working on putting this story together for 10+ years is just as crazy.

I've only been bass fishing for about 10 years, but have always been amazed at how much cheating actually takes place and that's the stuff we know about. I know 99% of bass fisherman are most likely honest but those other 1% just amaze me at time.

Hoping to finish the article later today.

West coast Robby Rose

Wow! That’s disgusting. No words. Disgusting

Wow! What a read...speechless.

Mike you're ok in my book except for that dang spark looking thing on your jacket.....

Just finished the article. What a dirt bag.

It's common JP , most discovered cheaters do.

Every article you read is that most are generally tool bags person to person.

Heard the rumors before and gave him the benefit of doubt
Fool me once, shame on you
Fool me twice, shame on me

The link will not load.

That story is one crazy read. Just hard to believe that people would stoop to that level.

Hit F5, has worked for me on every page after it did not load.

WOW and speechless, what a crook man....

And Mike Long's name goes off of Dobyns Rods in 3....2....1......

https://youtu.be/8U4xXcpUjQ0

That was my thoughts totally... well unless Dobyns makes a snaggers special

Never heard of the guy. Maybe the article will explain who he is.

Mike Hart already has that title...Google "U.S. Open bass cheater"

There is a thread on the Western Bass forum dating back to 2014

What a piece of [censored].

Mike hasn't been affiliated with Dobyns in at least 3-4 years.

You may want to tell tackleware house cause they have brand new Mike Long Rods for sale and I bet they aren't 3 years old lol

Y'all should head over to FB page and read some of the comments on his posts. It's getting ugly fast.

Website crashed, article tid bits floating around, militia throwing stones at him already, won't be long before he's officially "retiring"

Will Dobyns Rods exchange my 784 and 795 that have Mike Long's signature on it, for a few without? Or, at least have John Kerr sign them instead? Dobyns is a TX company now right?

If this is all true, what a messy situation.

I've obviously never caught any fish close to 20 pound mark, but I have caught some nice fish, and I am proud to say they were all caught offshore in the winter, but I caught them all on Mike Long's signature jig rod!

Can someone chime in on what Mike Long's relationship with Dobyn's rods has been like?

what a loser

I'm sure there are still some out there and maybe even some still in the shop inventory but Mike has not been on staff in a long time.

Looks like it has been a “Long time coming” for him (pun intended). Wonder if he’ll make an appearance at iCast next month? But seriously, the list goes on. From snagging bass, cheating in tournaments and even going to the measure of loosening peoples lug nuts who exploit him. That could have been serious or even fatal. He finally let out enough rope to hang himself. Some people are their own worst enemies.

I'm dying

3XHeavy/reallyreallyfast.

quite a read!

I just hope all of this is true, I don’t know what mike long would look like with a mask on...

Infuriating to say the least. I read many of his articles and watched him from afar....Even visited Lake Dixon when I handled San Diego and saw the "Dottie" replica. Even when I was there a few years ago was hoping to run into him.....Now I'd spit in his face, freakin looser.

Mike Long and Robbie Rose should open a "cheating school"

So pisssssed at this, makes me sick to my stomach.

WOW

How did he ever get a rod named after him by Dobyns if he was suspected for cheating by so many? Is he still around the fishing world?

Been trying all day to access that page but no dice. Seems it crashed from all the traffic.

I asked him what treble hook company sponsors his arse. Now he blocked me.

Scumbag

Looks like he took his Facebook page down

Wow!!! I wonder why those records haven’t been revoked ? And I bet this is far from over legally for him.

Lol

Inlightening.

I bet his family is proud.

His Instagram page, which was private, is gone too.

Man I hate reading but that is some pretty serious stuff

For all of us that are catching this today, none of the links are working. Did anyone screen shot the write ups?

I just read the article. The link works. Slowly.

From what I read on his FB page (before he took it down) he is now (or was, by now who knows?) repping Airrus Rods, apparently for some time

Works now for me at least.

I thought I read years ago that he somehow had gotten special access to public waters that others couldn't get (not sure if I remember that correctly or not...edit...got to that point in the article after posting), so I've always out an asterisks next to his accomplishments in my mind. That said if this is all true then he is the Lance Armstrong of Bass Fishing....

The page is real slow to load and if it does t just hit refresh. It should work with in three try’s, to me page 7 was the best read about his tournament cheating.

Yes the article addresses this. On one lake he had full access, then used bass he caught there on live illegal bait in a tournament on a different lake.

Is anyone surprised? This is not breaking news.

Hes been a known cheat, snagger, tommy topper, live trout user, and fraud by everyone in So. Cal. for 20 years.

I feel like I'm pretty plugged into bass fishing and I've never heard anything like this. How has he been banned from tournaments for 10 years and that news never hit this forum?

this is Texas, we like to leave all the California BS out west

they also are ok with people sh**ing in the streets there

I’m amazed after reading the article it took this long to expose the guy.

Got one question why did not one fishing partner turn him in to TD.?
J D

I can't get it through my head why dobyns was even having someone's name on one of their rods knowing all the stuff he has done in the past lol

Who had the time, desire and obvious hatred to spend the hours of “investigative reporting” to do all this videoing and what is their motive? Regardless though they uncovered a lier, cheat and a thief because that’s what someone is who deceives for “artificial fame” and whatever personal profit came from selling your name for rods, lures...

My guess being the moderator of said blog past supporter of his and fan he want clear his name and disassociate himself. I sure he felt betrayed. He actually did what reporters/writers should do investigate for the truth

Maybe the most interesting article I’ve read this year. Great reading

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

Nobody is following him.

Wow. What a dirtbag. He likely has deceived many in other areas of his life. This probably only scratches the surface.

What comes around goes around.

Wow.. just wow... very thorough well written 9 page article. And the video evidence with high resolution footage is great. So crazy to think he had such a long "reign" and Stole all that $$ from others and took this long to nail him. Integrity "is and has to be" the One thing that holds us anglers accountable as a reputable group. I remember as a teenager reading those BASS magazines and drooling over those huge fish he "caught" SNAGGED. And to think he was threatening 13 yr olds and also damaging vehicles with intent to cause physical harm.

I just read the full article. I knew he was a cheat, most guys in So. Cal. did but DAMN dude was more brazen than I thought! Bass in a tank in his garage right next to his livewells lol. Dude was not even shy about it.

I got blocked on his Instagram years ago for asking him if he preferred to nose hook his trout or hook em behind the dorsal. Bill Murphy had him pegged and I grew up a disciple of Bills. Bill called him a snagger 25ish years ago? Took someone this long to prove what everyone knew. Scum bag.

I am guessing this kind of behavior goes on more than we know in the tournament world. No way on the level of this nut job but I am guessing it happens. People get stupid when there is money and fame on the line!

Any one remember the Tony Christian story ? another worthwhile read same kinda deal ....total domination was caught by divers I think.

Does anyone have any idea who the actual author is? I'm guessing maybe that is a hidden thing based on the past history of potential violence from Long.

Kellen Ellis

Lol glad I wasn't sipping coffee when I read that

Long read, but good. Can't believe all this.

Gotcha. Knew he was the editor/owner of the site but wasn't sure if he was the guy who did the report itself.

The think that got me if that he just kept going no matter who he was fishing with.. Snow bass never put up a fight.....Also stalking a 13 year old kid??? Here in Texas he might have gotten shot... I bet he does not have any friends in the fishing world now.. Most left a long time ago..

I'm willing to bet he doesn't have any friends at all.

Well after reading the article looks like he did cheat, a lot, unfortunately it never got proved. Page 7 of that article is a DOOZY.



Good comparison there. I still have that bassmaster magazine with his face on it, does this make it worth more or less now

Good comparison there. I still have that bassmaster magazine with his face on it, does this make it worth more or less now



Heck yeah, they'll be worth a fortune! Better snag em all up if you can!

thats like saying there aren't a bunch of guys that cheat on their wives. Promise you theres a ton of cheating that never gets caught especially in team tournaments, the draw style is more immune to cheating, I noticed Mr. Long never entered a boater/co-angler draw style.

Wow, I wonder why this took so LONG to come out?(No pun intended) I mean that's a ton of evidence. Crazy article! must read!

Obviously someone that had their lug nuts loosened on the their boat trailer and truck No doubt this guy is a grade A sociopath.

My guess is once the author had the video evidence of "snagging" fish it was time to go public.

Ya, if you read the whole article, he just finally got the video evidence this spring.

It looks like tons of evidence, but would have been very difficult to prove any single case in court. All circumstantial. Not until you look at the entire picture does it become pretty clear.

The video is really the only real physical evidence.

I bet a lot of people were concerned that they would look like a jealous sore loser if they came forward with no definitive proof.

Props to this guys commitment to expose his arse, spent 2 springs trying to get him on film. SMDH

It's funny that all these anglers that are "SUSPECTED" of cheating by fellow anglers and others. Normally comes out that they do cheat or they do get busted.

Mike Long is great example. Robby Rose is a great example. The guy with the hair piece that fished Media Fork years ago with all of us is another great example.

All 3 of these are guys I know that people suspected of cheating for years. And all 3 got busted doing it.

I mean, is winning a tournament or catching a fish that dang important to basically ruin your name in the industry or around the world? Stupid if you ask me!

The article states near the end that he is not even a great angler. He claims 75 over 15!!

I wonder how many 15 lb. bass he legitimately caught?

So is my Dobyns DX 784 ML still a jigging rod ? The closest I've ever came to snagging with it is using a flutter spoon.

Zero.

Mike Long Signature Rig:

First thing that I noticed on the video is him looking around a lot to see if anyone is watching him, that seems very suspect right out of the gate. Someone made the comment about people that get locked onto fish and sky would have to fall for them to break concentration...did not see this desire in Mr. Long. He should never be able own a rod or fish again in his life. There is a similar thread on the hunting boards about the " Prince of Poachers" same thing to me, white trash scumbags that deserve to be in jail, especially since they were so cavalier about their exploits.

Add Tim Griffin to that list at Falcon and Amistad. Always weighed in one big fish at Amistad that obviously looked like a Falcon fish. Finally got busted at Champs weighing in a 13 he caught on practice day. SOB stole a lot of money from us competitors

Nope not if ALL someone ended up with in their pocket was 150k like mike longs supposed career take... thats spare change for that many years of hassling

That is his winnings from tournaments... what about endorsements/free gear/ etc? you have to think about that stuff too, it was made possible because of his cheating ways

Why do your comments always have no relevance to what you comment on? Are you high all the time?

[/quote] Add Tim Griffin to that list at Falcon and Amistad. Always weighed in one big fish at Amistad that obviously looked like a Falcon fish. Finally got busted at Champs weighing in a 13 he caught on practice day. SOB stole a lot of money from us competitors
[/quote]


Never heard about that one. How did he get caught?

Never heard about that one. How did he get caught?[/quote]


I forgot about "Fat Tim"

...and don't forget Ryan Lovelace and his long record, he made the news again just recently for helping the Gainsville high school team cheat.

Never heard about that one. How did he get caught?[/quote] He caught a 13 in front of many competitors on a community hole at basschamps championship on practice day. Lo and Behold he weighs in a 13 the next day. Word was out and they polyed the hell out of him and he cracked. He would sign up with his dad but fish by himself.


I forgot about "Fat Tim" [/quote]

Not sure why it quoted that post, I hit reply to this one.

"I mean, is winning a tournament or catching a fish that dang important to basically ruin your name in the industry or around the world? Stupid if you ask me!"

I dont think that was his tourney winnings, that guy who wrote it listed out the winnings for many many tourneys and they were all low money tourneys that 150k must include the 3-4 years he won that bass bounty deal.

Could be wrong I was just reading the same story as everyone else. The only real $ I saw listed was the bass bounty deals.

If you are serious fisherman you need to read this. Half way thru and it's pure madness

He needs to be strung up. Also I’m convinced these guys he was fishing with are either lying to save face or they are total
Idiots. How in the hell does your partner retrieve two fish from compartments, string them out then start fighting them in before you know what’s going on.

I have to agree with you

All circumstantial and hearsay until the video footage came out.

Looks like he was most recently with Airrus rods. They posted on their FB that they donated all his signature series rod to a charity for kids fishing or something like that. The Dobyns 806 is still a great swimbait rod.

I take away 2 things from this mess....
1 I knew those big swim baits didn't catch fish.
2 At least he didn't break their jaws

I’m thinking this article would make a crazy good movie.

Agree have only caught one on swim bait. All hype!!!! Lol. Sad thing is this exemplifies the majority of our society today and the complacency that allows it to thrive. He should be stripped of all records, no telling how many of the fish he actually did catch or snag were full of lead weights not to mention recycling his “friend’s” pic for fame. Has to make you wonder how many more are out there actively doing the same or similar. Properly produced this story would make a heck of a movie. Article was very nicely written........ seems like old Kerr deserves all the fishing ability accolades.........

Fat Tim I remember that tournament where he got caught cheating.. didn’t he get second in the LBJ Bass Champs Championship that year as well? I remember him talking on stage about how he fished by himself and blah blah blah sure seemed like a douche bag

Try the book Double Whammy by Carl Haisson, it’s hilarious.

One thing that baffles me is how Kerr could still be associated with him after he threatened his son and showed up in his house and shining a flash light in his sons room. I don’t care how big a man or Legend Long might have been , as a father I would have beat his [censored] or damn sure tried

Leaked photo of Mike Long's new swimbait to be released at iCast 2019. Rumors have it the ROF is 1400fps

My thoughts exactly. This article doesn't exactly shed his ex-tournament partners in a great light either. They all seem to admit they thought something "fishy" was going on (no pun intended) but allowed it to continue even when he snagged fish or caught dead ones.

I guess things work differently in CA than they do for most of the US.

Wonder if he’s in treble by California Fish & Game yet?

I see what you did there

Cheating is in all facets of life, not surprised here!

As the song says, "it's all about the bass, bout the bass...NO TREBLE!

Yup. And Robby Rose's comment was always he saw the flickering shad!

The guy caught catching fish out a submersed tote was doing it with DRAW partners on the back of his boat and won tournaments..

He was putting 4-5 fish in a big tote with a lid and slit in the lid and fishing in it until one bit or was snagged....

The grub needs to be a twin tail and hooks bigger....

His life is over. Might as well hang it up

I always wondered why he didn't come East and fish BASS or FLW or something. I guess we know now

And good gosh- he was hard on those big, fragile fish. I wonder how many big fish he killed unnecessarily

Remember the guy who tied a bass between two stumps with something like mono, then came back during the tournament with his draw partner in the boat, threw a rattletrap or crankbait rigged on braid between the stumps and ran it down the mono line until it got to the fish, set the hook, broke the mono, and reeled the bass into the boat? He was caught because someone saw the fish tied up the day before, alerted tournament officials, and they somehow marked the fish to see who brought it to the weigh-in.

The Mike Long story is incredible. What an absolute fraud and thief.

Here's the statement from the Airrus Rods website:

"Airrus Rods believed in Mike Long's legendary big bass catching ability, to the extent of creating a Signature Series of rods for him. We are utterly disappointed by Long's behavior, as showed on the SDFish.com video and article. We decided to cut ties with him and to donate all the remaining stock of his signature series rods to Samantha Gay's Fishers of Kids Anglers Academy, in her hands these rods will be used for the proper purposes"

They have already started stripping his lake records as of today per another site I’ve read

I remember hearing about that.

I hope they strip every record/mention of this chump from every thing ever affiliated with fishing ever.

Gonna be tricky with the lake records though. Is the lake now not going to have a record or are they going to have to remember back to that one time Bubba caught a biggin back in 96? Call him up....hey Bubba....member that biggin you caught back in 96?

You know to keep this kind of [censored] from happening again all us fisherman should donate to a fund to sue this scumbag for all the competitors he stole money from in each one of those tournaments. All the fisherman across the US could easily form a fund that would have this guy hiding under a rock.

Most Epic FB Post Ever

I commend your response and action and respect that. I will be more than willing to pay to donate a rod to said cause

Here's a blast from the past here in TX. Casey Allison asked me to take pictures at a JC Outdoors weigh in at Ray Hubbard. He was the TD that day. This is from March 2009. Here is the winning team. Robby Rose fished with his brother that day I believe. One and only time I set eyes on him in person. Sorry it's a little blurry. My camera was [censored].

You're welcome. Lol

That’s funny right there, I don’t care who you are!!!

Among the amazing parts of this story is that Mike Long built his enormous reputation as a bass fishing guru despite the fact that he fished tournaments with numerous partners and all of them can attest that he hardly ever caught any of the fish his team weighed...his partners put almost all of the fish in the boat.

I remember watching an episode of Bass Champs that was filmed on Falcon. They had a cameraman in the boat with legendary Robby Rose. Of course they did, because by that time he had won something like three Bass Champs events. While the cameraman was with him Robby only caught one little swimmer, but lo and behold after the camera left to get in another boat he caught a 10 pounder! Funny how it worked that way.

The entire Mike Long legacy and story really shows how gullible human beings are and how easily entire populations of people can be duped into believing someone is something they are not. And in turn give power to those who are undeserving. And it's like Mike Long wasn't even clever or that sly about it. I mean, using a pic of another mans fish and recording it as a record?! It was brazen and obvious if people would have just paid attention or those that were around him would have come out with it.

Imagine all of the other fakes we've (human beings) given power to in this world...

I agree Willy but there are liars......and then there are real sociopaths or psychopaths. People with a true actual mental disorder. This guy like Robby is one of those, just not right in the head.....sometimes dangerous beyond just theft and pathological deception.

I think there were a decent amount of people who saw past all the BS (many of whom were mentioned and/or quoted in the article) but back when they would try to call him out they were labeled as haters and tossed into the quiet jealous minority by the masses.

Maybe BASS will publish this article in Bassmaster magazine. I would not be surprised if some more guys come public with their stories about him.

Ps. He could make the cover again....

I agree, that's one point I was making too. How the masses can believe something even if it's in plain sight that it's not true, and shun or quiet those that know the truth.

Man I didn't even really follow Mike Long and it feels amazing that this piece of [censored] got exposed to the world.... I can't even imagine how those So-Cal guys must feel knowing that he was a fraud and having to put up with him still having fame all of those years, and to now finally have the satisfaction.

Absolutely agree

Hate him or not he did create a swimbait craze that changed the industry. Here's an interesting read on it.

http://www.insideline.net/peteweighsin/2019/6/25/to-catch-a-cheat

I can share his perspective, maybe something positive will come out of it.
One thing that doesn’t get enough publicity is how people will throw their integrity and do just about anything to get more views and likes on social media these days.

I don’t know. He cheated people out of thousands of dollars, stalked a kid, and possibly risked injury to others by loosening lug nuts. Hard to rationalize any possible good that came from his actions.

Good point.

I was raised that there is a shred of decency in every human no matter how pathetic they may seem. This guy makes me question the roots of my raising. Forget all the diatribe attached to this story, if the part about stalking the kid is true and it were my son there is no amount of walls or bars that would keep him from me.

I believe that happened on Lake Tyler (when it had grass)

Happened on Red River also years ago during a big event

Yes the Red River event was a BASS open http://bassfan.com/trails_article.asp?id=651#.XRWO0f5Ombw

100% right. I used to give him the business on his Instagram account and got attacked by his "fans" who of course said just that, you are jealous and a hater. I got a few good digs in on him before he blocked me. Ironically in some ways I was busting his brass about fishing live trout and thats one thing the article did not accuse him of doing. Probably because he could not catch a stocker trout to fish with...those things are wiley

My thoughts exactly.

There is another aspect of it that hasn't been brought up yet. The article stated that the number of teams competing in the tournaments diminished over the years, specifically the ABA series. If I am the tournament director, it's my responsibility to fix what is causing the downward spiral of my trail. If that means polygraphing the accused every tournament, putting a observer in their boat, sending a trail boat to follow them, doing a complete and thorough check of their boat prior to launch or whatever it takes, I am going to do it. I'm amazed at the number of people that stood back and let it play out.

I'm in touch with the real world enough to realize that teams get on a roll and win multiple tournaments in a short period of time, but when someone wins tournaments like this PLUS has the rumors circulating about his lake records...that's just too much smoke. There is fire somewhere.

The article makes me sick. It also brings me to a realization of why I don't even like to bed fish.

On one of my trips to Mexico an old man told me of a story years ago at Amistad of two brothers who would go around pre-fishing before one of the big tournaments, they would find these big bass on beds, then they would use paint ball guns and mark rocks on the bank and stumps so they could come back and line themselves up so that they would know exactly where to cast so that they didn't have to encroach on the fish and spook them. He also said one year they roped off a cove that they found with big fish in it with a buoy line, someone would come up to it think it was off limits and turn around. They would just lift it up drive under and go wack em. He said he never beat those brothers, but he was close a few times. The marking with paint balls is ok, but the rope/buoy thing is BS.

One day many years ago I was sight fishing on Houston County Lake. Saw two guys giving it heck on a bed fish for quite some time and they finally left. I saw them swinging for the fences many times. Later I cruised over the same area and spotted her and caught her after a little coaxing(ya I know, potlicking but they had long left). 9lbs 14ozs. Really nice bass photographed, weighed & returned immediately. Later that afternoon the other guys were sitting in the Crocket Family Resort cafe next to us talking about this big bass they were trying to snag with a Little George lead weighted tailspinner. Wasn't going to say anything about catching their fish later but after hearing that I took pride in telling them. Told em to go fish for paddle fish if that’s how you like to fish. Ya, I do better these days at “being the bigger man” than I used to!

Completely agree with this but wasn't the timing of this (the downward spiral of entries) around the 2008-2009 (ish) years? If so, I know the economy wasn't in the best place during those years too. I'm sure that doesn't account for the entire downtrend but I'm sure it played a part in it.

With that being said, completely agree with the tactics you're talking about...it's just sad, some people have little to no integrity.

Bump

Found this today.

Mike Long is a burning wart on the ball sack of fishing that is finally being excised.

That is still a heck of a fish, looks like a typical trout fed bass from SD... But 2001 was a long time ago. This had been coming for a long while no pun intended...

Mike Long,”Hey dude! That’s a great looking fish you caught!...mind if I TAKE A PICTURE HOLDING IT!???”

I don’t think that POS could catch a cold.

lol this is still going strong... go look on all the pictures on facebook and instagram every company that has posted a picture of him with their products are getting blasted with some pretty crazy comments... even on of mike longs friends is asking people to pray for him.... pretty crazy how that video hasn't been used as evidence against him.

He’s more famous now than before all this came out.

Don't think much can be done unless there is video of him cheating in a tournament. The rest is just a guy snagging bass. Video is pretty recent too. No evidence of the last 20 years on video. He's just gonna have to fade away like Robby rose

To the people he fished with that didnt have the moral courage to say anything this is on them as much as anyone.
Protecting the field goes beyond being someones partner. As of now he hasnt been DQ’d for cheating as Jarrett said, he is just a snagger of bass.

I agree. The article was as much an indictment of the sources as it was Mike Long. It appears that most of them fished with him again even after they knew he'd cheated. And John Kerr has zero credibility. Scared for his son's safety yet moved in with Long when their house was in danger of burning. To boot, his son pulls a weasel move and goes after ML again while they're staying with him. ML sounds like a bad guy who probably deserves everything that's coming to him, but any of his accusers who cashed a check are every bit as guilty and have no business trashing him.

Funniest thing to me about this cover is the title underneath the ML one- "Fishing with Snakes"... SO APPROPIATE!!!!!!!!!!!

I agree. The people who should have known, or did know, don’t look good in all of this either. Absurd from many angles.

snagger might be moving to Texas lol

That article on SDFish is wild... unfortunately by describing the methods that Mike used, I'm afraid it's gonna give other cheaters more ideas

Makes me wonder about another big bass legend from California who fishes "big swimbaits" in the clear lakes of San Diego County. By himself. And posts videos of himself releasing 65# stringers. Hmmm.

I was thinking those lakes are going to get hammered... I already know of one texan who travels there to fish a few of those lakes every year... now he wont be alone!

except he's got cast to catch on 95% of his videos....

This is a bad deal all around. The only winners are the current tournament fishermen. I had a total flashback to the Robbie Rose escapades. Long was very fortunate that polygraphs were hardly used. My big problem is with his partners that let him get away with the fish he caught on the rear of the boat. How on Gods green earth do you not catch what he was doing.

Let's do one thing here though. We do not have proof of others doing this.so lets leave any others out. There are some truly great fisherman that will never be looked at the same because of this. Let's take the high road and dont make accusations without proof

I listened to Bass Talk Live podcast the other day, Ken Duke was a guest. He was saying that in California, if you catch a big fish, the cheater mantra comes out instantly. He said those guys a cut throat brutal to each other.

Pretty good show if none of you guys have ever listened to it.

Hey Fouz,
Who’s that referring to? I know a lot of those guys, I’m just curious

Gotta be Butch Brown

I didn't name names for a reason, Mike.

Well, I can't even catch a DD snagging.

I get that totally all good... I will be out there the end of this month, I can only imagine the uproar this has caused out there.

Mike was the only one that didn't have cast to catch vids. That alone is very suspicious in this new YouTube world where content is everything.

It was a big swimbait. It just happened to be nose hooked and swim on its own.

Far as I can tell Butch Brown is legit. Have seen many cast to catch videos of mega slonk donkeys he has brought to the boat. Would love to get his take on this situation even though I can already guess what it is.

Butch Brown is the real deal when it come to catching giants. He has tons of cast to catch videos on his FB page and YouTube. In one of his videos from a few years ago, he makes a comment about Mike Long bed fishing with a white jig.

I'm sure Butch just laughed and laughed as he read that article. Probably was onto Mike years ago.

That video of the 65lb stringer was in Castaic Lagoon. It does seem a bit dubious but i'll give him the benefit of the doubt because he has A LOT of cast to catch videos with big baits. He was tossing them at a very high level before everyone else was, in some of the best bass lakes in the world [at the time]. Here is a video of Brown catching possibly the biggest lure caught bass recorded on camera (also looks to be castaic lagoon):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSu2Y4L_aQ4

Gah Fouz. Not everyone has to drop 4 grand to catch big fish at the Bell. People do catch giants else where.

Bell fish dont count anyway, high fence

There are old 65lb stringers: There are more recent 65lb stringers:
And there are 65lb “stringers of one”(its a bass):

I was just learning to throw swimbaits in CA in the late 90's when I first heard about Mike Long. The publicity that surrounded his catches was impressive and it never occurred to me he was snagging those fish but he reminded me WAY too much of Shaw Grigsby for me to take him seriously. He never EVER quit trying to sell something...anything that might make him a buck. Never really knew how he was catching those trophy bass and there were plenty of guys calling BS on many of his claims. Even back in the early 2000's legit swimbait guys in his own back yard were questioning his authenticity. There were some really good sticks all up and down the state that had a tremendous positive impact on the early years of swimbaiting. I understand that he received a enormous amount of publicity but I'm thinking guys in other parts of the country are giving him way too much credit for developing that area of bass fishing. It's amazing that he was able to perpetuate this scam for so long.

I'm not familiar with tournament fishing and what the challenges are like but the lakes mentioned in the article seem to be really small (compared to Texas "lakes" at least). I can't imagine 40 teams on a lake half the size of Walter E Long.

Top pic looks like 140 lb stringer.
Kinda wish i was born 120years ago...kinda.

I read though most of link on his cheating but skimmed through some, had to get ready for work. I got the snagging part.

The part I didn't get was was how could he have a hidden compartment in a bass boat and none of his partners saw him pull one out. I think I recall something about a hidden compartment. The other part of it, I couldn't figure out, since the guy couldn't catch a fish other than snagging, were did the big fish come from. Maybe I missed something.

i recall something about a guy with a submerged box he would pitch a jig or worm into and hook a fish and pull it though spring loaded door or something to that effect. Was this the same guy.

The part about him being pissed at the 13 year old kid was scary. Not telling what this guy is capable of doing.

It was so much of a hidden compartment. It was a fish in a Frabill bag full of oxygenated water. Like those used to transport tropical fish when sold. It was simply in an empty dry box. Those fish where the ones he used when he fished “solo”. The live wells passed the morning check. The team fish were tied to trees before the tourney and he would “get hung up” on the said tree...when the partner running the tm positioned the boat so he could lay on the rear deck and unhang his prized spinner bait, a fish would magically have bit it while it was hung on the tree.

Dumb. Dumber was the ones that didn’t see this earlier.

I mean we’re talking about Californians here, they’re obviously not very bright.

Well I’m glad I’ve been here from San Diego since 1986... some people say I’ve lost my Californianess....

Worst part of this deal is some twisted folks all over the country are buying the biggest treble they can find. I’m guessing we will see some snaggers next spring.

Disagree. Snagging a bedding bass is not something that people did not think about until Mike Long did it lol. People have been snagging fish for years...bass off beds and every other kind of fish that can be snagged.

Is it like a strip club?

Someone made the front page..
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.co...iego-records-snagging-sdfish-airrus-rods

Biggest bass I have ever seen up close in Texas was snagged by a family of people out of the Comal River back in the 90s. Fish probably went 13lbs. Would see lunkers in there all the time that would just laugh at any lure offered to them.

+1

https://www.basszone.com/the-live-b...4_tZtSrRokLqzpvI3JCLfdYM4UxLbbCk1_73-DZU

Kellen Ellis was on BTL this morning...did you happen to snag the feed?

Nothing really any different than what we already read. I was expecting something from Long, maybe some threats to Kellen’s life or something...

Mr Ellis did say that has held back some potential ammo if needed. He didn't really say why he put forth the effort to unmask the snagger with exception to him saying, someone had to do it. There is more to the story there I feel, which is fine, everyone has their reasons.

I think it was to restore credibility for himself and his magazine. It appears that he featured Long several times in his publications

Crickets from ML...

I was born in Los Angeles, but at age 24 I moved here in 1972 and been here since. So, now I'm almost 72 and two states claim me... Texas claims I'm from California, and California claims I'm from Texas.