The Dark Secret of America’s Big Bass Guru’: How One Angler Lied, Cheated, Bribed and Snagged His Way to the Top

What this episode covers

In a career spanning 2 decades, California angler Mike Long built a reputation as America’s Big Bass King. Fellow tournament angler and SDFish founder Kellen Ellis was competing against Mike in the early days and they even considered going into business together before Kellen begain to realize the web of lies surrounding Mike’s career. (Kellen and I in the studio with a replica of “Dottie”, the 21.75 lb Lake Dixon lunker Mike caught (possibly snagged) back in the early 2000s) After years of research and some incredible investigative reporting, Kellen published his article “The Dark Secret of America’s Big Bass Guru” in June. After filming Mike snagging bass on beds and then posting them on his social media career, Kellen finally put an end to one of the biggest frauds bass fishing has ever seen. We discuss the dubious tournament wins, falsified lake records and other red flags concerning Mike’s antics over the past 20 or so years. (Mike pictured below setting a lake record with a fish he never even caught, yet somehow there he is in the April 2005 issue of BassMaster Magazine). Kellen shows us an example of Mike’s favorite bait. A treble hook with a white soft plastic used to snag giant bass off their beds.

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