Mike Long

[BigSkyBasser]

1 hour ago, Janderson45 said:

Saw this news earlier this morning.  Just sad to be honest.  I don’t feel bad for Mike, seems like he got what was coming to him, especially after threatening a kid like that.  Just a sad reveal for the sport in general, not sure what positive spin can really be put on it...

 

It’s too bad that money, fame and sponsorships get thrown into the equation and completely warp an individuals morality and sense of what it means to be a sportsman. 

 

Hind sight is 20/20, but you have to wonder why Mike Long never had any legitimate cast to catch footage of a true lunker. The age of the go-pro should have called a lot of his dubious efforts into the lime light but somehow he evaded even that.  If Matt Allen can produce numerous videos of cast to catch on 10+lb bass why couldn’t mike long?  Really makes you wonder.

 

Anyways - I won’t be giving my Dobyns 784 mike long jig rod back any time soon.  One of the absolute best in my arsenal. The guy may be a fraud but I assure you this rod is the furthest thing from it. 

 

 

 

 

 

Matt Allen is an amazing example (north cali or not) that trophy fisherman exist and can prove it legitimately. He will soon completely replace and eclipse Mike Long in the fishing industry. His and Tim's channel has already enlightened and inspired thousands!

[Glaucus]

20 minutes ago, BigSkyBasser said:

 

Matt Allen is an amazing example (north cali or not) that trophy fisherman exist and can prove it legitimately. He will soon completely replace and eclipse Mike Long in the fishing industry. His and Tim's channel has already enlightened and inspired thousands!

They're so awesome and genuine. Their only fault is they "Stan" for Shimano and won't admit it, but that's really no problem at all. I enjoy watching and learning from them.

[Bass Junke]

15 hours ago, Drew03cmc said:

His is THE world record to me. I'm sorry, the Perry fish is bulls. There is no info or anything. Thr "picture" can't be verified and it wouldn't even get laughed at before tossed in the trash today. Dottie passes all of the tests, but because of California's rule about being hooked outside the mouth, it was disallowed. I believe in that 25-01 more than 22-04. 

Did you guys see the links below the article? One is a list of the top 25 bass of all time caught. That list has a few asterisks in it. Seems to me there should be a few more. 

[frogflogger]

Bed fishing those clear California lakes is an invitation to bad behavior - to protect those rare giants they should have a closed season - I know that is not a popular opinion but when guys line up waiting for a turn at a giant spawning the sport has left the building.

[MrPeanut]

This whole story is crazy.  Kudos again to the journalism in the article, that was one of the better written articles I've read in a long time with everything laid out clearly with back up evidence.

 

Reading stories of the dark side of people with fame and fortune always sucks.  It puts such a bad taste in people's mouths about the sport in general.

 

On that note, it really does make you appreciate even more the true good people out there who have a celebrity like status and use it for good. 

[Porter Hall]

Mikes claim of catching 75 bass over 15 pounds has been a huge red flag for me.

That claim unrealistically exceeds the totals reported by proven big bass experts.

[contium]

4 hours ago, frogflogger said:

Bed fishing those clear California lakes is an invitation to bad behavior - to protect those rare giants they should have a closed season - I know that is not a popular opinion but when guys line up waiting for a turn at a giant spawning the sport has left the building.

While I agree completely, the San Diego Lakes want big fish caught. That why Mike Long was given special permissions to fish closed lakes or fish after hours. Drums up business for the lakes.

[WRB]

The angler that started video big bass catches was Butch Brown and he is beyond reproach, the gold standard of the video age.

Regarding bed fishing California's small clear water trophy bass lakes requires those local city lakes to establish off limits sanctuary zones and most of these lakes have those. San Diego city lakes are usually open 3 days a week, 1 mid week day and weekends and most public lakes are closed to night fishing.

Tom

[BassThumb]

Amazing story. That article is so damning, it's unbelievable. I can't believe any reputable company would allow this guy to hitch his wagon to them.

 

Winning more than 50% of tournaments fishing solo and less than 25% with a skilled partner...???????????

 

Kinda wondering if those Dobyns Mike Long Jig Rods are going to be on sale soon. Namesake aside, those are sweet rods.

[Team9nine]

1 hour ago, Porter Hall said:

Mikes claim of catching 75 bass over 15 pounds has been a huge red flag for me.

That claim unrealistically exceeds the totals reported by proven big bass experts.

Welcome to the forums, Porter! Glad you joined the conversation.

 

You’ve “been there, done that” so to speak. Hung around the great ones, Mike included, I believe.

 

What say you? Guilty as charged/accused based on the evidence presented? Seems some are still defending him, or at least questioning the accusations in the piece.  

 

Heard from any of the other greats on the matter? Seems like this would be a black eye on all the record chasers to some degree. Hope we get to hear them all weigh in on the matter in time.

 

 

[Porter Hall]

18 minutes ago, Team9nine said:

Welcome to the forums, Porter! Glad you joined the conversation.

 

You’ve “been there, done that” so to speak. Hung around the great ones, Mike included, I believe.

 

What say you? Guilty as charged/accused based on the evidence presented? Seems some are still defending him, or at least questioning the accusations in the piece.  

 

Heard from any of the other greats on the matter? Seems like this would be a black eye on all the record chasers to some degree. Hope we get to hear them all weigh in on the matter in time.

 

 

 

19 minutes ago, Team9nine said:

Welcome to the forums, Porter! Glad you joined the conversation.

 

You’ve “been there, done that” so to speak. Hung around the great ones, Mike included, I believe.

 

What say you? Guilty as charged/accused based on the evidence presented? Seems some are still defending him, or at least questioning the accusations in the piece.  

 

Heard from any of the other greats on the matter? Seems like this would be a black eye on all the record chasers to some degree. Hope we get to hear them all weigh in on the matter in time.

 

 

 

[TnRiver46]

If only the DNR and tournament directors cared as much as the guy that wrote the article......

[Porter Hall]

The accusations are so wide ranging so I wouldn’t want to accept or reject as a whole. I really haven’t tournament fished so my understanding of how one would hide fish in the boat or tie them off is not something that I can grasp, though it seems that several people were willing to go on the record with observations that sound very suspicious.

i lived out there during much of the 90’s and had the pleasure of getting to know some top trophy anglers. I communicated fairly regularly with Bob Crupi, Dan Kadota, Harry Jioris and Allan Cole. I was hearing about Butch Brown’s and Tom Young’s great catches as well... I never heard any make claims of catching dozens of bass over 15 pounds so when I heard that claims that Mike had caught 75 or more of that size it just wasn’t credible.... much of what I am reading just reinforces my belief that there are major credibility problems.

[Team9nine]

12 minutes ago, Porter Hall said:

The accusations are so wide ranging so I wouldn’t want to accept or reject as a whole. I really haven’t tournament fished so my understanding of how one would hide fish in the boat or tie them off is not something that I can grasp, though it seems that several people were willing to go on the record with observations that sound very suspicious.

i lived out there during much of the 90’s and had the pleasure of getting to know some top trophy anglers. I communicated fairly regularly with Bob Crupi, Dan Kadota, Harry Jioris and Allan Cole. I was hearing about Butch Brown’s and Tom Young’s great catches as well... I never heard any make claims of catching dozens of bass over 15 pounds so when I heard that claims that Mike had caught 75 or more of that size it just wasn’t credible.... much of what I am reading just reinforces my belief that there are major credibility problems.

Thanks for your insight ? Glad you dropped in, and hopefully we hear from a few more guys as this moves forward.

 

Take Care

[blckshirt98]

Can't do much about his earnings from tournaments and sponsors, but one thing I would like to see is having all of his big bass records removed from the books.

[The Maestro]

On 6/25/2019 at 12:21 AM, soflabasser said:

Cycling has many cheaters but not as many as bodybuilding (not a sport but they still abuse steroids), powerlifting, and weight lifting. I would say bodybuilding attracts the biggest cheaters I have met in my life. A man that has to take illegal performance enhancing drugs to compare or beat a natural athlete has no honor just like most bass fishermen agree illegally snagging a big bass deserves no recognition.

LOL!

 

Lol at thinking any man standing on a bodybuilding stage is natural. They're practically competitions in who's willing to push drug use the furthest.

[geo g]

The whole thing is unnatural.  Small lake compounds, stocked with Florida strain bass, spoon feed trout for years with no natural fear of bass as predators.  Catch and release only, with limited restrictions on the lakes.  Nothing about it natural as compared to other big bass bodies of water around the country.  Just like the body builders on a stage pumped full of steroids.  It's a shame any of these records stand as natural, they should all have asterisks next to them.  Just like the Soviet Union in the Olympics during the cold war.

[superkamikazee]

I think the BBRC handing out insane cash prizes for the largest bass caught probably started Mike Long's addiction to cheating. Once you throw that much money into the mix, this type of behavior has to be expected, but Mike Long pushed it to the limit. I'm glad he has been exposed, and in a way that's undisputable. 

 

He was going to get caught regardless, or at least have the asterisks next to all his records. In today's age where most anglers have a GoPro taping cast to catches, and Mike Long literally has no video showing that, it's pretty clear he's no angler lol. 

 

I drift my car at the track, and it's the same thing, it's easy to separate the good drivers from the bad drivers. The bad drivers only post photos of them driving, good drivers post in-car video of themselves driving. Lol

[bhoff]

Just read the whole article, and wow. I'm a bit newer to the bass fishing scene so I never really knew much about him as a person but this is just lame. For those of you comparing him to Lance Armstrong, there is no comparison. Lance cheated during a time that it was the norm, it was either you did or you didn't race. The Armstrong organization has also raised millions for cancer survivors around the world. Mike Long wasn't even good at bass fishing to begin with.

[zam]

I never heard of the guy until yesterday when someone posted the video on facebook, I don't think that video showed much, it almost looked like he was using one of those old Helicopter lures, I guess it could of been a treble hook but its hard to tell 

[OCdockskipper]

1 hour ago, geo g said:

The whole thing is unnatural.  Small lake compounds, stocked with Florida strain bass, spoon feed trout for years with no natural fear of bass as predators.  Catch and release only, with limited restrictions on the lakes.  Nothing about it natural as compared to other big bass bodies of water around the country...

I kind of agree with the part about stocked trout, but the other items you mentioned are often part of the management programs on lakes throughout the South.  Texas, Tennessee and other states have introduced Florida strain, many places have slot limits, so all have altered the landscape for big bass.

 

The main reason the biggest bass show up in Southern California is the climate.  We are warm without the extremes of Texas & the South.  A more temperate environment lends itself to lower stress and longer lives for the fish, whose metabolism is always eating without getting burned up by 90 degree water temps or stopped in its tracks by snow.

 

As for the trout, we really don't have much other forage for big bass here other than bluegill and crayfish.  Southern bass feast on shad, both threadfin & gizzards, most So Cal fisheries don't have those baitfish.  I'd say trout for shad is a fair trade, although you get more 5 to 10 lb fish with shad and more 15 lb plus with trout.

[soflabasser]

2 hours ago, The Maestro said:

Lol at thinking any man standing on a bodybuilding stage is natural. They're practically competitions in who's willing to push drug use the furthest.

There are many lifetime natural bodybuilders but they are overshadowed by the steroid abusers. A FFMI of 22-25 is achievable naturally by someone with good genetics that knows how to workout and puts in the time needed. Even those with bad muscle building genetics can achieve a respectable physique if they are willing to put in the time for +10 years. Sadly steroid abuse is extremely common these days since most people want instant results and will gladly cheat. 

1 hour ago, superkamikazee said:

I drift my car at the track, and it's the same thing, it's easy to separate the good drivers from the bad drivers. The bad drivers only post photos of them driving, good drivers post in-car video of themselves driving. Lol

Reminds me of the instaposers who post pics of themselves but not pics of them lifting heavy weights. All show but no real strength for such big muscles. 

[The Maestro]

1 minute ago, soflabasser said:

There are many lifetime natural bodybuilders but they are overshadowed by the steroid abusers. A FFMI of 22-25 is achievable naturally by someone with good genetics that knows who to workout. Even those with bad muscle building genetics can achieve a respectable physique if they are willing to put in the time for +10 years. Sadly steroid abuse is extremely common these days since most people want instant results and will gladly cheat.

We might be talking about 2 different things here. Lifetime natural bodybuilder is one thing. Most of those guys don't bother competing or if they do it's in tested shows and even those are suspect. If you're talking about pro bodybuilding (IFBB) then there are exactly ZERO natural IFBB pros, men or women.

[soflabasser]

A lot of places do not allow bed fishing and it is easy to see why. Bass are much easier to catch off a bed compared to non spawning bass.

[Bankbeater]

I just finished the article.  It seems like one of the factors that kept this going was that even though there were signs that something was going on no one wanted, or cared, to believe it for a long time.