Entry 286-5
Shaw Grigsby – How I Prepare for a Tournament
Editor’s Note: Whether you’re fishing a national tournament like Shaw Grigsby, a local tournament, a club tournament or just going fishing, you want to catch as many bass as you can for the amount of time you have to spend on the water. This week Grigsby, who’s fishing the 2009 Bassmaster Classic on Shreveport, Louisiana’s Red River, will tell us how he prepares for a tournament. You’ll be able to see from his tournament preparation ways you can improve your bass fishing and catch more bass each time you go to the lake or the river.
Part 5: To Let Live or Die
Question: Shaw, what do you put in your boat before each tournament to make sure you keep your fish alive once you have them in your live well?
Grigsby: That’s a great question. I’ve seen contestants win tournaments and then lose the tournament because one of their fish was dead when they got to the weigh-in. So keeping your fish alive is critical to winning a tournament. I have a quality live-well system that’s built in to my Triton boat. This live-well system pumps water in and out and re-circulates the water. I think it’s the best system you can have. In many tournaments, you don’t want to bring fresh water into a live-well system, if you’re fishing on a hot summer Part.
The water you pick-up from the surface will be very hot and not hold as much oxygen as the water you already have in your live well. 
So, I fill my live well up in the morning when the weather and the water are cool. If I decide to put more water in my live well or change the water in my live well, I try and get water from a grass bed or a shady area on the lake where the water will be cooler and more oxygenated.
The next key components to keeping your fish alive are products known as Catch-and-Release and Please Release Me, which I keep in my boat at all times. These products have been created by chemists, who not only understand the chemicals that bass need to stay alive but also understand that the product has to keep bass alive without harming the environment when it’s re-introduced to the environment. 
Catch-and-Release is the only live-well system chemical that’s permitted in the State of California, which is noted for its tough environmental laws. You know this stuff has to be really good.
I’ve actually caught bass that were gut hooked and I have thought to myself, “This bass is going to die, and there’s nothing I can do to save it.” But I’ll go ahead and put it in the live well with a good bit of Catch-and-Release and turn the live well on to circulate the Catch-and-Release chemical. Nine times out of 10, or probably even a higher percentage than this, the bass will recover and be fine to release later. So I’m convinced that Catch-and-Release gives me the best opportunity to release my bass alive. I’m also convinced that Strike King lures give me the best opportunity to catch that bass and put it in the live well.
Contents:
- Part 1: Pack Right
- Part 2: Take It All
- Part 3: To Spool or Not to Spool
- Part 4: Know When to Hold Them and Know When to Fold Them
- Part 5: To Let Live or Die
