Entry 174-2
Shaw Grigsby at Table Rock
Day 2: The Next Days of the Tournament
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.
On the third day of the competition, Bassmasters had set up a six-hole fishing course. Each angler would have an opportunity fish all six areas that day. So I spent a few minutes at the beginning of the day to run the course and see what it looked like. I saw a little section of holes 2, 3, 4 and 5. I had my boat up on plane, trying to take a quick look at each of the holes I would to have to fish.
On this particular part of the river, there wasn’t very much vegetation, so I assumed I’d be spending a lot of time with a crankbait because there just wasn’t much grass to fish. I also thought that I’d be fishing the Spit-N-King on top and using the Strike King Finesse Worm for drop shotting. But I found two pockets of vegetation in Hole number 5 where I would start the tournament that looked just like what I’d fished the two days before. So I got my flipping stick and the same baits I’d used on the two previous days and decided to flip.
During the first 10 minutes of the tournament, I caught a bass that weighed 3 pounds, 12 ounces. Then I caught a second and a third fish that weighed almost 2 pounds. I expanded the water that I was fishing in hole number 5, and then I had to go to my next hole. So I had 7 pounds of bass in the first hole that I fished. I rotated next to hole 6, found some pilings with river grass on them and started flipping that area. I snatched a 3-pounder out of the water, but that bass was holding onto the bait and never got the hook. That fish dropped off before I could get it to the boat. But I never had another keeper bite. I caught a lot of short fish in hole 6. Then I went to holes 1, 2, 3 and 4 without ever catching a keeper fish.
After I’d finished rotating through all the holes, the tournament was set up so that the competitors had what was known as a Happy Hour. Happy Hour meant you had an hour to fish on any of the spots that you wanted to fish during that 1-hour period. During Happy Hour, I ran back to the spot where I’d caught all my bass. I got set up and started flipping the grass again. I’d only gone a little ways before I got a bite, set the hook really hard and launched a small non-keeper bass from the water and sky-rocketed the fish over my head from the force of my hook set.
Forty yards from the spot where I’d jerked a little bass over my head, I got another bite and caught another bass (fish number four) that weighed almost 4 pounds. Then I caught two more non-keepers before the end of that contest that day. I lead the tournament by 4 pounds, and I’d caught all my fish flipping. But unfortunately, all the fish I’d caught had been taken in one of the six areas we had to fish and one small stretch of grass in the number 5 hole. So I had had a really good day. I was leading the tournament with a 4-pound lead, and I thought I was in a good a shape as I could be in this tournament. As tough as the bass fishing was, I felt if I could just catch one or two more bass the next day, I’d have a shot at winning.
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
