Entry 200-2
What Makes Him Good – Shaw Grigsby
Part 2: How to See and Catch Bass
Editor’s Note: Fifty-one year old Shaw Grigsby, a longtime member of the Strike King team, has won over $2 million in tournament bass fishing. He’s fished professionally since 1984 and he has traveled with and fished against the Strike King pros his entire professional career. He’s also the host of the “One More Cast” TV show on the Versus Channel. If you interview, as I have, a large number of tournament fishermen and ask them, “What makes Shaw Grigsby so good?” they’ll say that Grigsby is one of the best sight fishermen in the nation. Grigsby does have the eye of an eagle. He can spot bass from long distances, swoop in close and deliver the lure that puts the fish in his boat. Grigsby also sees and understands what makes other fishermen great and has learned from them. Although, on his TV show he teaches anglers to find and catch bass, on the tournament trail he’s a consummate student, learning new techniques, trying new baits, and helping to invent new lures for Strike King.
Question: Shaw, when you see a bass, how do you determine how you’ll fish for it, what lure to use, where to cast and what type of retrieve to use?
Grigsby: The first secret to sight-fishing is that you’ve got to be able to see the bass before it spots you. You’ve got to have good eyesight. If you don’t, you need to wear glasses. If you do, you still need to wear sunglasses. I wear the Strike King sunglasses that are yellow. When you look at me, you’re seeing greenish-yellow glass, but what I’m seeing is yellow. That yellow in those sunglasses allows me to see far more detail than I can with other sunglasses. The second key to being successful at sight-fishing is to be able to react quickly enough to the bass you’ve spotted to get a lure in front of the bass before it sees you or your boat. If you can get the bait in front of the bass so that it’s close to him and easy to eat, he’ll usually take it.
Question: What’s your five-favorite baits for sight-casting?
Grigsby: The Strike King Tube is my No. 1 bait. The Strike King tube, depending on the color, can look like a shad, a crawfish or a bluegill. The tube bait is also very-soft, lands on the water lightly, doesn’t make much of a splash and is easy for the bass to see, to catch and to eat.
Question: What tube do you like the best?
Grigsby: I like the Strike King Denny Brauer tube for sight fishing. This tube is a little-bit bigger than other tubes at 4- to 4 ½ inches, and I like the bleeding bait in the green-pumpkin color with the bleeding bait tentacles, depending on the size of line I’m using. Most of the time, I’ll be fishing that tube on 8- or 10- pound-test line with a no. 3/0 high-performance hook with a quick clip-weight that attaches to the hook. Sometimes, I put a little rattle inside the tube.
I try and cast the tube so it lands 3 to 6 feet in front of the bass and put it in front of the bass so the bass can see the tube when it hits the water and starts to fall. Bass have phenomenal eyesight. When that jig hits the surface of the water, he’ll react to it just like you will if a stranger walks through your kitchen. Most of the time, the bass will take the bait on the fall, but if it doesn’t, it will often put its nose on the bait or an inch or 2 away. With the bass looking at the tube, I shake my rod and try not to move the tube more than an inch. All I want that bass to think is that that tube is alive. If the bass doesn’t take the bait on the fall, most of the time, the bass will take it when I shake the tube right in front of it. Eighty percent of my strikes occur the first time I move the bait when the bass is looking at it, if the fish doesn’t take the bait on the fall.
Question: What do you do when you see the bass take the bait?
Grigsby: I slam that hook home as hard as possible. I try and hammer the fish. Often these fish will weigh from 8- to 10- pounds each. Remember, I’m only fishing with 8- or 10- pound test-line, so I have to make sure I get control of the fish in a hurry and that the fish doesn’t take control or me, or I’ve lost him.
