Over the past year and a half I've been dealing with a plagarism problem with one Steve Von Brandt of S&K Guide Service and delawaretackle.com. I've dealt with the problem offline in the past but I'm to the point where I'm sick and damn tired of it so we're going to air out the laundry online this time.

The first time this happened, Mr. Von Brandt and his associates were taking my 'Throwing the Big Wood" article and re-writing portions of it, then publishing the article online with pretty much any site that would accept the article. Their plagarized version of my article (complete with plagarized pictures) was posted on no fewer than six fishing websites from around the country. After a lengthy argument with Steve and his associate Pat Sheridan, Pat finally sent me this email admitting that they had stolen my content:

Mr. vonBrandt is in the hospital, but I removed it from wherever it was in every location I could find. It is actually my fault, because after checking, I discovered that I had actually posted it myself in error. Mr. vonBrandt wrote a swimbait article, but lost the photos and the names of a couple baits, and when he asked me to redo it, I posted the other article of yours with the changes I made and I was going to use some of the photos when I saw your article. So actually it was not his fault, as he had given me his article, and yours, and I was supposed to just use the photos and use a few names of the baits and while I was altering his article, and had yours as well at the same time as reference, I got it all mixed up, so it is actually my fault. He wasn't aware of it, because he has been in the hospital, and then came home for a week and saw all this about the article and sent some emails, and had to go back to the hospital again, and is there now. Sorry, and I will make amends anyway I can as it is really my fault. Pat Sheridan
The article is removed from everywhere that I was contacted by and anywhere I could find it. Thanks and have a nice day. Pat Sheridan secretary S&K

The last part about the article being removed from everywhere it could be found was not true, but regardless I figured the issue could be dropped at that point.

Well this week another friend emails me to point out that this guy is ripping me off again. You can see for yourself at:

http://www.outdoorscentral.com/artman/publish/article_144.shtml

The last paragraph reads:

While it is certainly true that swimbaits are just plain fishy lures, whether or not they will work at other lakes and under other conditions is probably for the most part dependant on whether there is some type of forage in the body of water that is of the approximate size and shape of the swimbait. I think they are effective bluegill imitators, and I know that they represent a golden shiner to a tee, but if you’re throwing a 5 inch bait to a fish that’s keyed in on 2 inch threadfin shad they probably aren’t going to be very interested. But if you’ve got some shiners, small bluegill, or perhaps even some perch in your home lake, it might be time to give Delaware tackle a call at 856-269-0188 or just stop by the online store and stock up now at www.delawaretackle.com

Sound familiar? If it does, it's because you read my original article written in July of 2000:

http://www.calfishing.com/freshwater/saltwater_swimbaits/Introduction.html

While it is certainly true that swimbaits are just plain fishy lures, whether or not they will work at other lakes and under other conditions is probably for the most part dependant on whether there is some type of forage in the body of water that is of the approximate size and shape of the swimbait. I think they are effective bluegill imitators, and I know that they represent a golden shiner to a tee, but if you're throwing a 5 inch bait to a fish that's keyed in on 2 inch threadfin shad they probably aren't going to be very interested. But if you've got some shiners, small bluegill, or perhaps even some perch in your home lake, it might be time to call out to California, hop on the Internet, or somehow get your hands on some of these unassuming fish catchers!

This guy's motivations are very clear, to sell tackle through his website and to promote his guide business, and apparently he has no qualms about blatantly plagarizing my content to do so. My message to anyone that reads this is to please not support this guy and his BS business practices.

-Rob