Entry 174-1
Shaw Grigsby at Table Rock
Day 1: The Tournament Begins
Editor’s Note: When fishing gets tough, the tough get fishing. They don’t panic, and they don’t get in a frenzy. They know the techniques that should catch bass, and they also realize that you can have a perfect day of fishing and strike out. Shaw Grigsby of Gainesville, Florida, just completed the B.A.S.S. Legends Tournament in August 2006 in Little Rock, Arkansas. Out of a field of 50 of the best bass fishermen in the nation, he came in fourth and won $23,000. But the story of what he did, and why he did it has lessons to teach us all. And this week, we’ll let Grigsby explain what to do when fishing gets tough.
The last day of the tournament was to be held on Pool 6 and the first two days of the tournament, we could fish Pools 4 and 5 and Pools 7 and 8 on the Arkansas River near Little Rock. I found a small creek in the upper pool and started flipping the creek with a Shaw’s Baby Beav, which was created for Dick’s Sporting Goods and produced by Strike King. I was also flipping Strike King’s Wild Thang Jr. I used a 1-ounce Penetrator tungsten slip sinker, No. 4/0 hook and 65-pound-test braided line. I was flipping into alligator weed, hyacinths and other types of vegetation. I found my fish in the deeper vegetation. The two colors that proved to be best were black and blue and watermelon flake.
On the first day, the bass were really aggressive. I’d flip the Baby Beav or the Wild Thang Jr. onto the vegetation and then shake the lure to try and get the weight to punch through the vegetation. I could see the bass trying to get to my bait before it got through the vegetation because the bass would be bumping the mat before the lure broke free. As soon as either one of these soft plastics would break through the vegetation, the bass would eat the lure and take off. The first bass I caught was a 2-pound 10-ounce fish.
I chose the Baby Beav and the Wild Thang Jr. because they were both compact lures. You just couldn’t get big lures through this vegetation. The vegetation was so thick you could almost walk across it. Both these lures were real small, compact baits that could penetrate the cover effectively. There was very-little light penetration under a grass mat, so I knew the bass would be able to see the black and blue better under that mat than they would the light colors. And the same was true of the watermelon flake color. I used the Baby Beav in the watermelon flake color to fish the edge of the grass, and I fished the black and blue Wild Thang Jr. more to punch holes in the mat and fish down through it.
At the end of the first day, I was in 12th place and feeling pretty good about my fishing. On the second day, I went back and followed the same pattern I’d fished on the first day and held onto the 12th position. The fishing was tough up there, however, I realized that any day I went out during the tournament, I had a really good chance to not catch any bass. That’s how tough the fishing was. On the second day, I fished from daylight until 10:40 a.m. before I got my first strike. I only caught two keepers on the second day, but I was still able to hold onto 12th place. I had 4 pounds and a few ounces on the second day, and I had 7 pounds and a few ounces on the first day.
Contents:
- Part 1: The Tournament Begins
- Part 2: The Next Days of the Tournament
- Part 3: The Last Day of the Tournament
- Part 4: Did I Win or Lose?
- Part 5: Mentally Preparing for the Next Tournament
