Entry 147-3

Shaw Grigsby on Freshwater Fishing

Wacky the Zero

Shaw GrigsbyEditor’s Note: Shaw Grigsby of Gainesville, Florida, is one of Strike King’s most-visible pros with his TV show, his participation in Bassmasters tournaments and the promotions he does at boat shows, fishing events and anywhere sportsmen gather. This week, Grigsby will tell you some of the ways that Strike King lures have helped him to catch fish.

Another day while fishing a tournament, I was fishing an area that had a lot of weed growth. Every now and then I could see a bass in the grass. Once again, I was going to depend on the Strike King Zero, but I learned if I Texas-rigged the Zero and cast past the bass and pulled the Zero up to the bass, it would come past the fish really quick. So I got a wide gap short hook and hooked the Zero wacky style.

One of the advantages to Strike King’s 3X material is that the material doesn’t tear-up like soft plastic does. With many other plastic baits, when you hook them in the middle and start pulling the bait in the middle, the force of the water will rip the hook out of the bait. However, when you fish with the Strike King Zero, and you hook the Zero wacky style in the middle, the material is so tough that it won’t cause a break in the middle. The other thing I’ve learned about the Zero is the more bass you catch on this lure, the more flexible it becomes and the more action it has.

Shaw GrigsbyWhat I learned about rigging the Zero wacky style was that I could cast it into a hole in the grass where the bass were sitting. Then, when I twitched the worm with my rod tip, instead of moving forward, the Zero would just wiggle and entice the bass, while staying in the same place. When you put force on the middle of the worm by twitching it, the tails of the worm bend back. When you release the pressure on the center of the Zero, the tails of the Zero come forward, pulling the worm back to its near-original position.

So when you rig the Zero wacky style is, you can throw it into a hole in the grass and twitch the bait. Then the center of the bait will move forward. The ends of the bait will move back. But just as quick as you stop twitching the bait, the ends of the Zero pop back forward, pulling the Zero back to its original position, and the worm continues to wiggle. This motion allows you to attract bass without moving out of the bass’s strike zone. Some of the bass that I was fishing for were on the bed, and others were protecting fry. But the bass didn’t want to move quickly away from their nests to attack a bait. However, because a Zero rigged wacky style stayed in their strike zone, and they didn’t have to chase it, they gobbled it up like free popcorn at a kid’s movie.

Shaw GrigsbySo I used the Zero in two different ways at the tournament. In the preliminary rounds, I cut it in half and used it as a shaky head worm. But in the finals, I rigged it wacky-style, fished it full length and caught bass both ways. I really believe that the Zero is one of the most-versatile lures that Strike King makes. My favorite colors of Zero are green-pumpkin, watermelon and watermelon-red in clear water.




 

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