Glenn: Hi, I'm Glenn May with Shaw Grigsby. Shaw, great to have you aboard today.
Shaw Grigsby: It's good to be here, absolutely.
Glenn: Shaw, how long have you been fishing now? It's been quite a long time.
Shaw: I fished my first BASS tournament in 1977, so that dates me way back there, but I went professional in '84, and I've been out there ever since.
Glenn: And in all those years of fishing, what would you say would be your most memorable bass you've ever caught?
Shaw: Wow. One that comes to mind really quickly is just January of last year, I was fishing a PAA event, a professional Anglers event in Tahoe, and I caught the biggest bass of my life in the tournament. It turned out to be 13 pounds 6 ounces, just a little bit over my biggest, which was 13-5 at the time, so that's pretty special when you catch the biggest bass of your life in a tournament.
Glenn: That's awesome. Speaking of big bass, what would you consider to be one of your more unusual tactics for catching large bass?
Shaw: I don't know if I have an unusual tactic. There are a lot of things I like to do, and there are some things that are pretty neat that you can catch them on that you don't even talk about. You kind of keep things close to the vest. But, probably my favorite way to catch them is sight fishing, which, here at Birmingham, I won't be doing any sight fishing. Not in the mud! But, it'll still be a fun, fun event here, and I'm looking forward to getting out there.
Glenn: So, I was wondering, if you could fish with anybody of your choice, past or present, who might that be?
Glenn: If you're thinking of another angler, there's a gentleman that I've always wanted to fish with since I was young, and I competed against him forever, and I've always heard he's one of the best gentleman to ever be in the boat with, and I feel fortunate to fish with the guys I fish with. I mean, I got paired with Gary Klein a number of times, Rick Clunn a number of times, Guido Hibdon, I mean you name some of the biggest names in sports, and I've been in the boat with them, competing against them in the old days, when we would get in the boat together. But the guy that I never got to fish with that I've always heard is just tremendous is Larry Nixon, and I never ever got to fish with the guy, and he fishes the FLW tour, and so it'll probably never happen. But he's a good, good man.
Glenn: Well, I was wondering, from a pro's perspective, what do you think is the most common mistake that most anglers make?
Shaw: Now, you want me to talk about a normal angler or another professional angler?
Glenn: What a normal angler would make.
Shaw: Normal anglers, I think a lot of times, they may get flustered quickly if they're not getting a bite. They may change lures. I see a lot of guys changing lures quickly. You know, like when we had pro-ams and the guy would be in the back of the boat, and he's like, "Ah, I can't catch them on this." Then he'd change, he'd change, so they have a little bit of lack of confidence in what they're doing. And sometimes, it's spot placement, where to make that cast. So, if I said two things, it would be choose a lure and have confidence in that lure, and then fish things thoroughly and try to cover it a little bit better. So, basically, if you take that in a nutshell, it'd be kind of, like, slow down a little bit. When you get in competition, things seem to amp up, seem to ramp up, and you tend to just start going a little bit on auto drive and going a little too quick, and a lot of times you miss things doing that. Now, that works for Kevin, going on auto drive, wide open, but you know, on most guys, it's not really the best technique. You know, until you master everything, then you can go into that wide open mode like Kevin does.
Glenn: So, more just kind of focus and stay concentrated on what you're doing?
Shaw: Exactly.
Glenn: Now, what other things do you like to do besides bass fishing?
Shaw: I'm a hunter. I love it. In fact, wait, wait! Right there! My big Matthew Solocam. I am a die-hard bow hunter. What's really cool is I've got my iPhone, I've got a picture of my back yard. I've got 30 wild hogs. I've got four different groups of wild hogs that roam my property. I live on 70 acres in Gainsville, Florida, and I've got wild hogs, wild turkeys, deer. And I don't hunt the deer in my yard, but the turkeys and hogs, especially the hogs, they get picked on all the time, and they are so good barbecued. It's a great renewable food source right there. You whack them on the barbie and have fun, you know. But, yeah, I'm a big bow hunter. So, in the off season, I deer hunt and I love it all. If I can shoot it with my bow, I'm happy. Including targets. I just like shooting a bow, so I mean, I target shoot now, too.
Glenn: That sounds like fun, actually.
Shaw: Yeah, it is.
Glenn: Try skeet shooting with a bow.
Shaw: That would be cool! They have a TV show that's on called Arrow Affliction, and this guy's just absolutely nuts. He's from Illinois, but he's done pheasant hunts, dove, it doesn't matter. He did one with bullfrogs one time. I was just like, "Oh my gosh!" He took them home and ate them, you know, but it's cool. He does everything with a bow.
Glenn: Awesome. Shaw, what would be your dream vacation?
Shaw: Very honestly, I would love to go, I mean, I have a couple trips that I want to do. One of them is to South America and do the fly fishing for sail fish. I've always wanted to do that and never had an opportunity, so some day I'll get to do that. I've been to Brazil and been peacock fishing, and that's one of my favorite places to go. But I think if I were saying something that I want to do, that's kind of on your bucket list, it would be going to Belize, going and having a great time. Belize would be a good one, because you can catch permit and tarpin and all the rest, but just to be able to do some of that. I love fly fishing, and just being able to do some of that fly fishing for sails and maybe some permit mixed in, that would be good.
Glenn: Oh, that would be a kick. Oh, man. See a sail jumping!
Shaw: And it's nice and warm, too.
Glenn: Yeah.
Shaw: Wouldn't have to wear my hoodie all the time.
Glenn: Exactly, yeah. So, is there one thing out there that perhaps the fans out there don't know about you that you can share with us?
Shaw: I'm pretty much an open book. I don't know that there is much I haven't shared of who I am and what I do.
Glenn: So, what's your favorite ice cream?
Shaw: I don't really eat ice cream much. I really don't. I'm kind of a vanilla guy. If I do eat ice cream, it's vanilla.
Glenn: What do you like to snack on in the boat?
Shaw: I usually carry cereal. I'm a heart patient, so I eat low fat everything. Everything I try to do is low fat, with the exception of my barbecued piggy, but I trim all the fat. See, I get to process that myself, so I get to trim all the fat off of that. Anyway, so we make it all as low fat as possible. So pretty much, I'm a low fat guy. I'll take cereal in the boat. Sometimes it's Quaker or sometimes is Kashi. It's whatever and it's just good, lowfat, and it's easy to munch, and it's good for you.
Glenn: Fantastic. All right.
Shaw: I'm kind of a healthy guy. I try to be anyway.
Glenn: Well, thanks for the tips. Shaw, thanks a lot for being with us today.
Shaw: Absolutely.
Glenn: I do appreciate it, and we're looking forward to seeing you out on the water.
Shaw: Okay. Thanks, man.
Glenn: All right. Thank you.
