Entry 240-3
Who Will Win the 2008 Classic with Shaw Grigsby
Editor’s Note: Shaw Grigsby of Gainesville, Florida, the host of “One More Cast” TV show on the Versus Channel, has won over $2 million in tournament bass fishing, been a professional bass fisherman for 25 years, fished 10 Bassmaster Classics and been the color commentator for the Classic for many years. Grigsby’s one of the most well-respected tournament anglers on the BASS circuit. We’ve asked Grigsby to handicap the 2008 Classic and tell us who will win. Here are Grigsby’s picks of the anglers he believes will do well or win the Classic this year. He’ll also tell us how he’d fish the Classic, if he were competing this year.
Part 3: Mike Wurm
Question: Shaw, the third competitor on Strike King’s team in the Classic is Mike Wurm of Hot Springs, Arkansas. What do you believe of Wurm’s chances are to win?
Grigsby: Well, let’s start with the fact that Wurm is a solid angler. He’s fishing his 10th Classic this year. He’s real quiet and somewhat shy, but he won’t get rattled by all the hoopla of the Classic. Wurm also won’t have a bunch of boats chasing him like VanDam and Hackney will. Wurm is so unassuming that he’ll get lost in the public eye when the tournament begins, which will give him a tremendous advantage. I expect on the first day Wurm will have very-little spectator pressure, which will help him tremendously.
Too, I give Wurm a solid chance to win because the one lure Wurm prefers to fish more so than any other lure, which is kind of his signature lure, is the Strike King Bitsy Bug. 
The Bitsy Bug is a small jig you can fish on really-light line in either deep or shallow water. Wurm is the master of fishing this small jig. The Bitsy Bug in the deep, clear water at Lake Hartwell can be just the medicine the winning bag of bass are willing to take. Remember that there are numbers of spotted bass in this lake. Two-weeks ago, a spotted bass weighing more than 7 pounds was caught at Lake Hartwell.
So, if Wurm finds a honey hole with either big spots or largemouths, he can wear them out with the little Bitsy Bug jig. The big jig is a big bass bait. But many people often forget that a little jig like the Bitsy Bug can be an extremely-powerful bait in deep, clear water, especially if a bad, cold front moves through the area.
When you add cold weather, clear water and a little bait together with light spectator pressure, Mike Wurm will be the angler everyone forgets about until he’s standing on the stage with the winner’s check. He sits back in the corner of the room quietly with a big stick. If all the stars line-up, Wurm can whack the competition in the Classic. Wurm has caught some of the best stringers of bass in a tournament on the Bitsy Bug. So, Wurm can be a sleeping giant who wakes up at this tournament and scares everyone to death. 
He’s kind of a blue-collar fisherman. He comes in every day and goes to work, fishes well in tournaments, doesn’t get caught up in the hoopla of the Classic, isn’t a fisherman the writers will jump on top of for interviews and will take a workman-like attitude to get his tackle ready to fish every day.
Every time I’m around Wurm, he’s calm, cool and collected, and takes the attitude that, “Okay, we’ll get our work done.” Many times the edge required to win the Classic may be doing your job all day, every day, regardless of the weather and the water conditions, the boat traffic on the water, the hype and the press. Mike Wurm is a gentleman who can get it done at the Classic.
Contents:
- Part 1: Kevin VanDam
- Part 2: Greg Hackney
- Part 3: Mike Wurm
- Part 4: The Lures that May Win the 2008 Bassmasters Classic
- Part 5: Two More Lures for Winning the 2008 Classic
