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keri: There are three parts to this question. What was your best moment on the water? Or
if you have a few, go ahead and do share.
Shaw Grigsby: I have a lot. Probably one of them was, there have been so many, to break
it down is hard, but probably the one I remember just happened a couple of years ago and I
was at Toho-Kissimmee chain, and the first day of the tournament. I had a PAA event down
there. I caught three little fish and I'm struggling, three little 1-pounders and I'm
struggling and I get hung up with throwing like a Rage Craw and a tungsten weight I get
hung up on a line that I didn't see. It's a braided line, like a shiner fisherman or
something that cut his line and I said my 20-pound mono is not going to beat 65-pound
braided line and I'm going to lose a $5 weight and I didn't want to lose an expensive Tungsten
weight.
I'm pretty cheap so I dialed the troll motor up real fast and I went up to get my weight
off and when I did that I went over this little hole in the grass and there was a big fish
sitting down there. I looked at it and I saw it move off and I said okay, it's about a
7-pounder. I said I could really use that, that was good. She hung long enough for me
to think I might be able to catch that; it wasn't like she just blistered off the bed.
So I wheeled around, got my bait off, re-tied, came back, set up, put the Power-Pole down
and my partner sitting in the boat said what are you doing? I said well I'm fixing to catch
a 7-pounder. He said great; he wanted to watch.
I throw it out there and like my second cast, the first I get bit, but he blows it out,
the second cast he bites it, pulls down and I set the hook and it's just a 3-1/2 pounder.
I said well that's the male and it's a good one and I needed him because that made four.
I pitched back out there again and I get hung. I pull and I pull and I'm going to break it
off. Now I know she's there and she's either going to run away or she'll bite, it's going
to be one of the two. So I pull hard enough and it breaks free from the grass and I get
it in and I re-tie it. So cast number four I get it in there and I'm working it nice
and slow.
So cast one, got a bite, missed it, cast two I caught the male, cast three I got hung,
cast four I get in there and something pops it and I said oh good and she didn't hold
onto it and blew it out and so I set the hook on nothing and I'm like this is cool. She's
still there, she's aggressive and I'm going to catch this 7-pounder. I pitch back in there
again and this time she just pulls it down, just tightens up, just feel a little tick
and then just tightens it up and goes. So I set the hook and when I set the hook, it's
pretty clear water in Toho and this mouth opens up as she's coming up to jump and a
7-pounder mouth is like that big.
keri: Oh yeah.
Shaw: Just bigger than a softball, a little bit bigger than a softball. This mouth opened
up and you could have put a basketball in it. I said oh my gosh, I said it's a giant,
it's a giant and I just freaked. My partner looks at and I got it on 20-pound mono and
I'm like, you are stupid. If I had any idea how big it is I have thrown 65-pound braid.
So anyway, she buries in the grass, wraps me up, pops free. I get her up close to the
boat, I keep fighting her and holding her up and she's digging around and we were able
to use nets in the PAA event, so I got a hold of the net.
I borrowed one from Terry Segraves and so I had a net in the boat. I grab it, get down
there and I'm holding the rod, holding the rod and she's huge and I keep trying to net
her and she won't go in the net. She fits all the way across the net, you can't get
her in and she falls out of the net, goes back in and dives down and wraps me up again.
And now I said what type of professional are you? Here he is letting it wrap up again next
to the boat after all the stress of the other ones. I'm like, this is terrible. I'm going
to lose a giant.
Well, I get her back up again and this time I've got this net that's not big enough. I
get her up to the net again and this time as she slides, just as she gets her head over
the net she's trying to dig back down, so I basically just dumped slack and she swam
in the bottom of the net and I dropped my rod and reel and landed this thing. It turned
out to be the biggest bass of my lifetime, 13.6.
keri: Oh, man.
Shaw: So it was a really good fish. One of my most memorable moments was to catch the
biggest bass of your life in a tournament.
keri: In a tournament, you bet. That's exciting though.
Shaw: Every tournament win that I've had, you can remember like at Lake Seminole I won
one. I was fishing a bedding fish and I knew I was winning it and getting close and I knew
what I needed to make sure I won it and I'm fishing one. There's one on bed that's probably
11 or 12 pounds and another one that's 6 or 7 pounds and the 11 or 12 wouldn't even consider
it. I mean she was a giant, but she wouldn't consider it. She was fresh coming in and wouldn't
even look at baits. I kept moving back to her and then I'd move up to 6 or 7 anyway.
I'm looking at my watch and I've got like 5 minutes of fishing time left. She finally
bites, I stick her, I drag her up to the boat, throw her in the boat and when I throw her
in the boat I looked and I've got like a minute to go and I've got to bounce out of this thing.
I threw rods, tackle, threw everything in and you knew you won. When it hit the deck
of the boat and you got it in the boat and you're like, if I can make it in on time I've
won this tournament, $100,000. You remember every one of those moments. I've got 8 BASS
wins. Every one of them I have a special fish in that to remember and keep as a lifetime
momento of a cool deal.
keri: That's really cool. So what's your funniest moment on the water?
Shaw: On the water. I've got a pretty funny one at a sports show.
keri: That'll work.
Shaw: Working the sports show, you're working booths and doing this and that and anyway
I'm racing to the restroom and getting ready to come back out and do some seminars, so
I took a pee and as I come out of the bathroom there's a guy standing there. You round the
corner and you make eye contact and he's looking at you and you're like okay he wants to say
something, but I just kind of look away because I was just trying to get on back and get ready
for the seminar and the place is packed.
This was in Timonium, Maryland so it's like there were thousands, shoulder-to-shoulder
walking the deal. I just keep walking like this and all of a sudden the guy is right
here and he was like, are you Shaw Grigsby and I went yeah, and he said, "Oh my God,
I was taking a *** next to Shaw Grigsby!!" I'm like oh no; I'm crying. He was yelling
it to this crowd with thousands of people, everybody is cracking up, I took a *** next
to Shaw Grigsby and I'm like okay, there were go, highlight of his life. I've got a few
of those that are just crazy.
keri: That's terrific.
Shaw: How embarrassing is that? Anything else you want to tell about?