Entry 166-1

Shaw Grigsby

Part 1: Me and My Mini 3

Editor’s Note: When you make $1 million traveling all over the country catching little green fish, you must have learned plenty about bass fishing. Shaw Grigsby of Gainesville, Florida, the host of “One More Cast with Shaw Grigsby” TV show, has learned more than just a little bit about bass fishing. One of the nation’s leading pro-fishermen who’s made nine Bassmaster Classic appearances, has had 47, top-10 finishes on the BASS circuit and has won eight tournaments, Grigsby’s proven he’s one of the best bass fishermen in the nation. Strike King has its pros fish with the company’s new products to provide feedback for the company on how to make its products better and to learn more about how to fish them. This week Grigsby will tell you how to fish the new products that Strike King has introduced and how they can improve your fishing.

Question: Shaw, what do you like about the Mini 3 crankbait?

Grigsby: I love the Mini 3 crankbait. One of the unusual characteristics about this small Strike King crankbait is that it tracks true even when you’re burying it. Most small crankbaits will roll over on their sides and run off to the left or to the right if you really retrieve them fast. But the Mini 3 runs straight as an arrow. The Mini 3 has a real tight wobble.

I got one of those lures last May at a sales meeting before they were even put into production. I took it to the Louisville Lake tournament in Texas, and I wore the bass out. One of the reasons I believe this bait is so effective is that in the past little crankbaits rarely have run more than 2-feet deep, but the Mini 3 actually will get down to about 5-feet deep. I don’t know how deep it’ll go on really-light line. I’ve cast it on 20-pound test before and been bumping the bottom in 4 feet of water. It may go as much as 6- or even 7-feet deep on 4- to 8-pound-test line.

Another unusual characteristic of the Mini 3 is that you can fish it with bait-casting tackle. You have to fish most little crankbaits on spinning tackle because they’re so light. But the Mini 3 is heavy enough that you can cast it accurately on bait-casting tackle. I’ve fished it on line sizes as small as 6-pound test to as heavy as 20-pound test. And, I’ve worked that little bait through underwater trees and brush and really turned on some large bass.

Another advantage to the Mini 3 is that the lure is a multipurpose bait. You can catch largemouth, smallmouth, spotted bass, crappie and almost any other fish that swims with this little lure. Most fishermen will really appreciate the Mini 3 when the fishing conditions are tough, the bass don’t want to bite, and you’ve got to downsize your lure.

The Mini 3 will catch bass at any time of the year, but my two favorite times to fish it is in the early spring and in the fall. In the early spring when the water’s cold, the bass are lethargic, and the shad are small. Since the bass haven’t seen a bait like this before, I think the Mini 3 will be deadly at that time of the year. During the fall when bass herd shad up in the back of a cove or a pocket, many times you can’t catch the bass. However, when you present them with a small bait like the Mini 3, they just have to eat it. I’ve caught bass using this technique before, but we’ve never really used a good true-tracking, deep-diving small crankbait like the Mini 3 in this particular type of fishing situation. Most small crankbaits are shallow running, which means you can’t get the bait down to the fish. But the Mini 3 can get down to the level where the bass are feeding. When times are tough, put on a Mini 3.

Shaw Grigsby

Part 1: Me and My Mini 3

Next: Me and My King Kong

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