Bass Fishing Forum - Westernbass.com

who in your opinion is the best swimbait fisherman down in your neck of the woods

see ya on the river
chris ball

Mike Long...hands down.

Probably, an anonymous fellow that looks like weird Al Yankovic with his hair greased back, with a mole on his upper lip, who is a manager at Mickey D's and an IQ of 150, who contemplates the perfection of his swimbait designs while the fries sizzle in the baskets amongst the smell of filet o fish sandwiches, no one knows his craft..

jk..lol, prolly Mike Long, BUtch Brown

Those BALD twins are pretty hot!

Wow you guys are way off.

Hands down Bill Siemantel. Anybody that tells you any different is lost in space.

You can learn more about swimbaits from him reading his book or getting the new video by SPRO. No offense to the other guys I just think he was one of the main guys to put swimbaits on the map.

The Bailey's are right there with him.

The twins can work powerbait like no other. I don't want to hear about anyone else. These guys are hot right now!

Todd

The first ones that come to mind when I think of swimbaiting is So Cal are:

Matt Newman
Sean James
Bill Siemantel
and of course
The Bailey Bros

didnt ask who put it on the map. asked whos the best. which = mike long. any of you who dont think that just dont know.

Man Chris you opened up a can of worms with this questions.

Mike Long is probably the best fisherman in So-Cal - Probably all of California --- maybe even the entire U.S,! But, how do you really support that claim? If I had to pick one angler in the world to go out and get me a 10 lb fish on any lake - I wouldn't hesitate a second --- it'd be Mike Long!

When it comes to catching HUGE FISH - Mike Long leads the pack and it's really not even close! He may be the best bass fisherman ever ---- but, its all open for arguments!

As for strictly swimbaits he again leads the pack but, there are certainly a few guys that stand out from the rest of the pack. I hope no names slip my mind but here goes my quicklist

Butch Brown, Matt Newman, Shaun Bailey, Bill Siemantel, Sean James and Mike Brakebill.

Everyone of these guys can slay them with the big baits...

Mike Long ! That guys the man !

Shaun Bailey

I would have to say Tom is dead on.
Bailey you ain't bad on the river either.
I will be down at Havasu the day after the Federation open tournament. Maybe I will see you. I am staying at a friends house.
Mike Lander will be there also. Maybe hook up for a beer 1 night.

If Mike Long put in the time like Bill S. he would have already stuck the W/Record. Untouchable in this category and his partner Mr. Kerr is no slouch either. All you Casitas/ Castaic folks be glad he stays out of your sandbox. Butch Brown is the Hudd. master and Jerry Rago can stick-em also. Rick G.

Good call.. I missed Mr. Rago and Mr. Kerr.. they should be on my list as well..

...Butch Brown.

You seldom hear about him because he is not a tournament angler, nor is he a glory seeker, but Butch has caught more fish over 15 pounds on swimbaits than anyone, past or present.

Some of the other great swimbait fishermen in So. Cal are Mike Long, the Bailey Bros, Matt Newman, Bill Siemantel, Sean James, the Uribes (Sr. and Jr.), Dana Rosen, Jerry Rago, Rod & Todd Thigpin, Ken Huddleston (although he now lives in Nevada), and several others.

Lest we forget about the guy who "invented" swimbait fishing - Alan Cole, although I believe that he also no longer lives in So. Cal, but I could be wrong about that.

my dad can beat up your dad

Wow...Great question

Mike Long, Bill Siemantel, the Baileys, Butch Brown....they are all great.

Fact is this, they ALL paid their dues and all deserve there place on any list

but the main man to me (I know this was about swimbaits) there is only one....Bill Murphy

I do dig Butch and that pirate ship of his

Butch Brown,Mike Long, Bill Siemantel, and The Bailey Bros are all names that come to mind immediatly...However....Rod & Todd Thigpin.....Hands Down!....Those guys have Casitas dialed! And Casitas aint the kind of lake where you can just "show up and blow up"...If you know what I mean... They have caught so many fish in the teens its sickening....

I can't believe one name that I don't see,,,,that should be on, and deserves to be on everyones list: TODD HOLDER !
Dennis Taylor

Dennis, You are right on one point . Todd does deserve some credit . I like Todd a lot , good guy but I have to put him in the catagory as a Zip code guy along with Matt N. and the Bailys . Casitas is their lake hands down . Butch is a hell of a stick but again his lake is the Lagoon . Same with some of these other guys mentioned . No disrespect to any intended. Lets keep it to "who is the any lake best " I dont know much about all these guys but I do know some well and some I know are home lake guys . All around with no home lake favorite and could probably figure a lake out the fastest with the big stuff I would have to vote Bill S. They all deserve credit for their accomplishments .

Just a tip of the hat to some of the guys who laid the groundwork...

Bill Murphy
Gary Harrison
Mike Arrujo
Dana Rosen
Warren Tahachi
&
Harry "the hat" Jioras

They each helped push swimbaits to where they are today.

#1. All the old school guys that don't go to the lake no more because they say its not like the 80's...size of the fish

#2. Da "Bailey's" and Todd Holder at Casitas...no one else can touch them...

#3. Butch Brown - flat out a sick swimbait guy...if I only could ride in the back of the boat for a couple of hours...

#4. SPRO Bill, Bill is Bill but I have seen pictures of some of the stuff he use to catch walking the bank back in the 80's at Castiac...

#5. Sean James...one hell of teacher...

#6. SuperMatt...have to a give some respect to the northern guys...

Disclaimer: Insert Mike Long anywhere you would like...

D.

My vote goes for Long...he seems to be the "best" at puting his fish on paper. Now had the guys of yester year had the baits of today would it really be a contest? Hudds and Rago's are like modern steroids except legal

with all the swimbait hype I am sure we'll see some of these guys go toe to toe in a 2 or 3 day swimbait open on ESPN in the future....let's just hope they go to both Norcal and Socal.

I would like to see a tounament between those guys like this:

One week to fish
Lake of there choosing
Best Five Fish over five days
winner takes all!!!!!!!!!


ex..
long at Dixon
bailey's Casitas
and so on

But in the same week like Aug. 20-31

That would be intresting...........

Its just to hard to compare whos the best! Mike in san diego hands down, Baileys and newman at Casitas. they all have favorite best lake, why not see what could happen!!!


just my .02

Zach

How about the 1st guy I ever saw throw big worm kings, and worm king dinosaurs- Jim Mason of Oak View. All the guys mentioned are truly inspired.

Never got to meet Jim Mason....but I have heard he was and is the best...he is from the "Old School guys"... #1

D.

I agree with many of the above posts... Mike Long for sure.

Hey Chris:
I think this is the first time I've seen you cross the Central California border. I'm glad I ran into you at ICAST. I'm looking to head North to spend some time on your water here soon. Maybe I'll see you then.
jb


Mike Long
Shaun Bailey
plus a host of others already mentioned

My wife was asking why I was laughing while reading this thread and she said 'YOU', and I laughed even louder!!! "Cute" I told her it, "but it asked who was the best, not the handsomest!"

PS, if it's not ML I'll eat my swimbaits.

Start chewing , Lets see it at Casitas . October before trout plants start and make things easy . four day match , Off limits for two weeks prior , Baits must be no smaller than 7 inches . All the guys mentoined . Trolling alowed , no umbrella rigs . Lets see who is the best with no spawn and no trout frenzy . Not the biggest fish or sack becouse anybody can get lucky but most fish cought on big baits in the four days .

casitas has trout in it all year, just cause they arent planting trout doesnt mean there isnt a ton in the joint !!!! Just mentioning it...
im in anytime of year, I think it would be fun ... just tell me when to be there...

Shaun Bailey

Ataboy Shaun , we got one , any more ? your right about the trout all year but you know as well as I its a little different without the " ice cream truck "

Thats funny, if you make emough rules sombody could beat Mike. Maybe he could only use spinnerbaits and fish one handed at casitas then it might be close.
How about all the bass fisherman in the world weigh in thier top 5 of 2008 and see who wins. Mike could spot the rest of the guys 5lbs and still beat them by 5lbs. All those other guys are great but there is only 1 best M.L.

" Emough " rules ? No umbrella rigs maybe ? The rest is just keeping it to big baits and away from the plants . What would you like to see , peak of the spawn , one big fish , practice up until the day , troll as many baits as you can put on a spreader bar ? Ect . Now its anybodys game .

It does sound like fun , but 4 days off from the fire department in the peek of the fire season in Oct. would be hard.

I am game for a two day, like Oct. 5th and 6th ( Fri & Sat ) and make it an open box tournament ( ANY LURE 8" or above, a true big bait tourney )

You would need someone like Ron C to run it, to keep it on the up and up.

sign me up!

Bill Siemantel

Keep it in the BBZ

Its kinda like saying "who shakes their worm better"? Not sure you can judge something like that. But ide be down for it at any lake. If we could get some sponsors and the TV crew their, i think it would work. Ron C...... Where you at bud? Bring it, Im in !!!!!!!!!!!

Hell up here in No. Cal we were lead to believe that Mike Long could walk on water!!!!!

My vote would have to be for Long. I still want to be his agent!!!!

I saw the video that Baileys, Matt Newman and the boys put together. If those guys aren't the best I will be suprised and on a public lake to boot!!!!

Wonder when Chris will ask who the best frog fisherman in the North is???

Good topic guys!
kb

I'd just like to see all over the above mentioned gentlemen in any kind of swimbait tournament...On TV or not....it would be truly awesome. On any given day, any of them could get a Hog/Pig/Toad...All of those guys are all great!

J.Younce

Stick them all on Silverwood where there is a good big fish population and nobody has an advantage [unless you invite Greg Silks]. That would be fun to watch. Rick G.

Rick G wrote:Stick them all on Silverwood where there is a good big fish population and nobody has an advantage [unless you invite Greg Silks]. That would be fun to watch. Rick G.

Good Idea Rick!

Here's another suggestion...make it one or two days a piece on four different lakes. Take the So. Cal (anywhere in the Southern Half of the state) lakes names throw them it a hat pull out a name and send them off to fish. Do it again a couple weeks later at a different lake...etc... Score them all like regular tourneys. Let the Participants choose the limitations or rules on the size of Swimbaits they get to use since they are the Gurus (if they even want any limitations). The guy with the most points at the end gets the title!


Hell this could even be a new trail

i dont really think you can judge all these guys talents off of one tourney.. these guys have been putting in work for years and all of them are very accomplished anglers.

some guy wrote:i dont really think you can judge all these guys talents off of one tourney.. these guys have been putting in work for years and all of them are very accomplished anglers.

That is why I suggested a random, multi-lake format

Therefore no one has the home lake advantage for the event. No one knows where they are fishing until the day before either

someone make the call to ESPN this has sponsorship written all over it. Then again you'll have guys puting more pressure on your Socal water. Better split it up and make it Socal and Norcal water. Titles like the Ultimate Big Fish show(UBF) or The Hunt for Bertha would suit me fine. There's certainly someone that would turn this into a commercial burner.

I’m not trying to take away from any of the names that have been mentioned but I have to give props to Robert Flaata. He is relatively new to the big bait game but he has caught more bass over ten pounds in the last four years on big (8" plus) baits than a lot of guys (except for Butch of course) Rob doesn't have a boat, but if he ever gets a boat be sure to watch his name really start to rise to the top. If any of you have had a chance to fish with him you know what I'm talking about.

-Shane

who?

I don't know if you're being sarcastic or not but if you really want to know ask any of the following guys and they will tell you who he is. Ron T., Butch Brown, Stan Vanderburg, Ken Huddleston, Shawn James, Gregg Silks....

Not everyone is an attention whore. There are a handful of guys that keep things on the DL and don't post what they do all over the web. I'm not talking about lure makers or the guys with sponsors either. Those guys are making a living by fishing so they need to be in the public's eye.

-Shane

I forgot to mention that Rob holds the Castaic lake record for Striped bass and Channel catfish both on a Hudd. I know it doesn't mean much to a bass man but hey, they are still records. I think the Striper was 43 pounds and the cat was somewhere around 49 pounds.

-Shane

Not sure if anyone can beat Mr. Long's record of 60plus fish OVER 15lbs. I would be cool with just 1. Rick G.

I agree with you Rick. For fish over 15 pounds Long has it on lock for sure.


-Shane

For trolling...Jerry Rago...I have never tried it but I've seen him on Casitas...

D.