# Mike Long-Giant Bass Guru is a Fraud



## TopRaider15 (Mar 10, 2015)

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

Pretty insane article, I can remember dreaming about going out to CA to throw swimbaits for these pigs. I can remember reading Mike Long articles.

Dang!


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## flyphisherman (Jul 7, 2009)

SNAGGER!!!


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## loweman165 (May 15, 2015)

What a creep. If it sounds too good to be true...it probably is.


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## bbsoup (Apr 3, 2008)

Yea, you gotta read the whole article, too. Just watching the video, it doesn't look that bad, but the article really lays it out. What a sociopathic creep. You wonder how a guy like that conducts the rest of his life. Someone capable of that stuff more than likely takes his criminal attitude everywhere.


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## bobk (Apr 30, 2004)

Wonder if his wife trust him now that the cats out. “Honey, I’m going out with the guys for a drink” Hmmmm, are you really going with the guys? People like that cheat on everything and everyone. Disgusting.


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## Panfisher1 (Mar 17, 2019)

I'm happy to say I'd never heard of him.
What a clown.


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## Seaturd (Apr 14, 2004)

what a total douche


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## scioto_alex (Dec 30, 2015)

Sometimes competition can suck the fun out of an activity. I've seen it with BBQ and chili, etc.


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## cincinnati (May 24, 2004)

Whenever there is money to be won, someone will try to cheat.


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## Flathead76 (May 2, 2010)

Very long read but worth it. My favorite part was where someone said that he was the worst fisherman that they have ever seen and that it took him 3 years to learn how to use a bait cast reel.


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## night vision (Apr 26, 2016)




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## fastwater (Apr 1, 2014)

Went from 'the big bass guru'...to...'the biggest bass fraud'!
What a douche!


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## MIGHTY (Sep 21, 2013)

I don’t even fish for largemouth but for some reason I read that entire article and watched the video. What a crazy read that was. The lengths so people will go to! Very informative post topraider


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## JamesF (May 20, 2016)

Never heard of him, until recently. My question is, why would someone film this guy for so Long, without turning him in?


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## mike oehme (Aug 17, 2014)

I cannot believe that this guy has not been fined or arrested for what he has done. This guy is very bad for sport fishing. He should be locked up and the key thrown away.


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## snagless-1 (Oct 26, 2014)

There was a man years ago who wanted to be a professional bow hunter ,like Chuck Adams.He shot a massive elk and posed with it in a picture.People recognized the elk from a national park,and he was exposed,he even filmed the hunt.Poaching is usually passed from parent to child,I think it is a sickness,so sad.


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## bowhunter1487 (Aug 13, 2014)

This guy is a touch weirder than I assume most tourney anglers to be.

Captivating article though. And first I've ever heard of the guy.


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## ducman491 (Oct 31, 2011)

Amazing that no one really contested all these records.


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## I Fish (Sep 24, 2008)

That was quite a read. Thanks for posting that. After watching the video in HD, there is no doubt in my mind. Those bass were hooked outside the mouth and on the side of their head. It's amazing someone had to go to those lengths to catch him in the act. It's a shame it's went on so long.


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## christopher sibert (May 12, 2018)

Well you can still catch huge fish on swimbaits. No reason to downgrade that dream. I dont think he really pioneered that fact. He just kind of used it as an alibi. 


TopRaider15 said:


> https://sdfish.com/general/dark-secret-americas-big-bass-guru-mike-long/
> 
> Pretty insane article, I can remember dreaming about going out to CA to throw swimbaits for these pigs. I can remember reading Mike Long articles.
> 
> Dang!


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## MIGHTY (Sep 21, 2013)

I Fish said:


> That was quite a read. Thanks for posting that. After watching the video in HD, there is no doubt in my mind. Those bass were hooked outside the mouth and on the side of their head. It's amazing someone had to go to those lengths to catch him in the act. It's a shame it's went on so long.


 Lol right. Heck I think it would almost be harder to snag a fish than to catch it normally. A largemouth anyways


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## Flathead76 (May 2, 2010)

On a serious note I would like to know what kind of polarized sunglasses he used. He obviously was seeing fish that others were not on these heavily pressured lakes.


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## ezbite (May 25, 2006)

damn, he even made sure to lay that snagged bass on the side without snag holes... he's good.. and a dirt bag.


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## Farmhand (Jul 11, 2011)

I always knew he was a fake. His accomplishments just weren’t realistic


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## Farmhand (Jul 11, 2011)

I Fish said:


> That was quite a read. Thanks for posting that. After watching the video in HD, there is no doubt in my mind. Those bass were hooked outside the mouth and on the side of their head. It's amazing someone had to go to those lengths to catch him in the act. It's a shame it's went on so long.


So “long” haha


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## Wow (May 17, 2010)

It went on for years. Many people had suspicions and didn't speak up. Scumbags get richer and more famous. Cheaters and liars depend on this. Honest folks get screwed, looking the other way. We see this everyday in the news.--Tim


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## Blue Pike (Apr 24, 2004)

^^
Wow is Dead Nuts on this. We see this kind of stuff everyday on the news.


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## TopRaider15 (Mar 10, 2015)

Very long read but I had to post because it's so damn interesting. 

First red flag should've been him winning tourney's solo and then contributing zero weight while fishing with a partner. As mentioned before, money ruins everything, especially fishing. 

My absolute favorite part is when his last partner described Long freaking out after legitimately hooking a 1.5lb fish lololololol.


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## MIGHTY (Sep 21, 2013)

I’m curious to know what kind of BS there is behind the scenes with his catfishing career since didn’t it say he fished for catfish before all of that started?


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## miked913 (Feb 29, 2008)

I was always amazed by the world record being caught a 2nd time.









Sent from my moto z3 using Tapatalk


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## jrose (Jul 16, 2012)

Reading the article from this post has brought back a lot of memories. I lived in San Diego during the "rein" of Mike Long. He was a local legend at the time. It wasn't the size of the bass that got him recognition, (San Diego reservoirs are loaded with big bass) it was the amount of big fish he brought to the scale.

I have fished most of the reservoirs mentioned in this article. They are fairly deep, clear and rocky. Mostly highland desert impoundments. I have personally seen a bass over 15 pounds weighed in at San Vicente reservoir. Very impressive and great story behind it. I was coming back to the ramp in my rental boat (Most of these lakes have rental boats and some lakes are rental only with electric motors) and a guy is waving at me to come over to him. He and his daughter were fishing from a designated "fishing pier". I head over to see what he wants and he ask for a ride over to the boathouse so he can weigh in a bass that he and his daughter had caught. (It would have been a pretty good walk and he was worried that the fish may die). I say sure, get in and he proceeds to pull this monster bass up out of the water that was on a little pink stringer that had two small trout on it also. I'm speechless at this point and now I see why he wants a ride. We start heading over and I ask him how he caught it. He says his daughter was reeling in one of the trout and he noticed the big bass following it and he watched go back down to the bottom and was sitting on a bed in about 15' of water under the pier. His daughter tired of fishing for the day and wanted to go and handed dad the fishing rod (A Strawberry shortcake type of deal...really!) He dropped the bait (Here it comes.... a pink Power bait pellet!!) down to the bass and to his disbelieve that bass inhaled it!! He said it fought like a wet dish towel and came right to the surface where he landed it no problem! We took it over and they weighed the fish, took some pics and released it. The fish was so fat it's eyes looked like they were going to explode out of its head.


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## Tim67 (Mar 21, 2013)

cincinnati said:


> Whenever there is money to be won, someone will try to cheat.


Cinci Ya hit nail on the head brother. It is a pretty sad state we are in when someone will do about anything to win. Speaking for myself and a few good friends, but how can anyone not have enough self respect that if you don't win fair. Then you didn't win!!


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## MuskyFan (Sep 21, 2016)

What I don’t get is how long it took to catch him. Back in the ‘80s when I was fishing BASS, Redman, MBA, etc tournaments in FL all boats were checked prior launching. Most would not let you fish alone. Why was he still able to get away with his style of bs well into the 2000’s?


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## cincinnati (May 24, 2004)

Tim67 said:


> Cinci Ya hit nail on the head brother. It is a pretty sad state we are in when someone will do about anything to win. Speaking for myself and a few good friends, but how can anyone not have enough self respect that if you don't win fair. Then you didn't win!!


Some years back, there was an annual fall musky tournament, in Eagle River, WI, that awarded a pick-up & boat to BOTH members of the winning team. One year, walleye fishermen discovered a musky anchored to a concrete block, the week before the tournament.


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## loweman165 (May 15, 2015)

^^ seem to remember bass in a basket of some sort found at Portage prior to a tournament about 8 years ago. This stuff is nothing new.


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## bountyhunter (Apr 28, 2004)

this even happens on our local lakes fish found in a wire box at mosquito years back.


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## fastwater (Apr 1, 2014)

Many years ago I fished a small, local, open invitation tournament held at Dillion Dam. It was put on by a small club located down that way. If I remember correctly, top prize money was only about $150. They had one tournament 'spotter' boat that caught a boat back in the section of Dillon you get to by going under the railroad tracks with another boat up to its side transferring bass into boat that was in the tournament. This was about 45mins before weigh in. By the time everyone got back to the dock, here this, now disqualified boat comes and the two guys in that boat took some very humiliating tongue lashings. 
All for the chance of winning a measly $150.
Had I been them, I would have at least waited until all tournament boats had left before coming in.


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## bulafisherman (Apr 11, 2004)

MuskyFan said:


> What I don’t get is how long it took to catch him. Back in the ‘80s when I was fishing BASS, Redman, MBA, etc tournaments in FL all boats were checked prior launching. Most would not let you fish alone. Why was he still able to get away with his style of bs well into the 2000’s?[/QUOTE. My thoughts to, he should have been banned from the get go. If I read the article right everyone knew what he was doing yet let him get away with it.


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## JamesF (May 20, 2016)

There are people like this every where. I'm just tired of hearing about this. There are better things to discuss than this. Unless this is recently breaking news, I'm not going to pay any attention to it. I believe he's loving all the attention! Now I want to catch some walleye.


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## Wow (May 17, 2010)

JamesF said:


> There are people like this every where. I'm just tired of hearing about this. There are better things to discuss than this. Unless this is recently breaking news, I'm not going to pay any attention to it. I believe he's loving all the attention! Now I want to catch some walleye.


I respect you JamesF, but you can't just look away. Dirtbags hope nobody cares enough, that's how they get away with it. Though he's been doing it for decades, the recent breaking news is that he's been exposed. I don't think he's loving that.--Tim


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## MuskyFan (Sep 21, 2016)

JamesF said:


> There are people like this every where. I'm just tired of hearing about this. There are better things to discuss than this. Unless this is recently breaking news, I'm not going to pay any attention to it. I believe he's loving all the attention! Now I want to catch some walleye.


A lot of people were duped by this a-hole including every Bassmaster subscription user. For years we heard about this guy and his "success". All the articles that were written about him were complete BS that he fabricated. His name and image need to be dragged thru the mud to show the extent some people will go to to be the "best".

They say any attention is good attention but I doubt he is enjoying it this time around. Now, they just need to pull his name for all the records...


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## bubbster (Jun 2, 2013)

Wow, one heck of a story. Bet there are some others who paid fees in those tourneys that would like to take some out of his hide!


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## mas5588 (Apr 15, 2012)

Really good interview with the author on Bass Talk Live last week. Solid podcast for those unfamiliar.


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## BuckeyeFishinNut (Feb 8, 2005)

This is why I quit fishing catfish tournaments and don't fish any tournaments of any kind. There were always rumors of caged fish, tied up fish, and stored fish. Although never substantiated, it was enough to run me off and a lot of other guys. Nobody likes having the deck stacked against them, whether true or perceived.

Some of the best people I have ever met were outdoorsmen, but also some of the worst people I have ever met were also "outdoorsmen". Money and fame makes some people do shady things.


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## scottishlefty (Jun 10, 2014)

Really makes you wonder how often this happens and never gets caught because the person is not well known or a tournament fisher. 
Wasn't there a guy in the 90s who caught a record musky that was denied due to snagging. It was in the Ashland or Mansfield papers so I thought either Charles Mill or Clear Fork.


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