Grigsby: Lake Champlain is a great area for smallmouth, but there also are two parts of the lake that have abundant populations of largemouth. Up north you have the Missisquoi Bay area where Denny Brauer won this tournament last year. The lower section of the lake is the Ticonderoga area where I fished during this tournament on the first day of competition last year. I realized too late that I was fishing too fast, and that I didn’t spend enough time to catch the bass that were in the area. The second day of that tournament, I fished more slowly, and I caught 16 pounds of bass, barely missing winning the tournament. Before I arrived at the tournament this year, I decided I wasn’t going to make the same mistake for two consecutive years. I planned to fish hard in the Ticonderoga area. So, the first day we could pre-fish, I went down to the Ticonderoga region.
Question: What tactic were you using, Shaw?
Grigsby: I was flipping-and-pitching in the grass beds, and I found plenty of 3, 4 and 5-1/2- pound bass. I’d had some really-good days of practice, and I decided this area was the section of the lake I was going to fish, and the technique I’d use to win the tournament.
Question: In practice, what did you decide to do to get those bass to bite?
Grigsby: I was locating particular regions with concentrations of bass that would bite. I would pitch into a hole, catch a bass and generally follow-up and catch a few more bass out of that same spot.
Question: How many places did you have where you’d found schools of bass?
Grigsby: I had four or five places where I’d found really-good groups of bass in practice. I could get six to eight bites in each of these areas without even moving the boat, and I could move around in the boat and get five or six bites from a variety of directions.
Question: Had anyone else found these hot spots during practice?
Grigsby: I’m sure they had. One of the sites I was fishing was a well-known community hole that everyone knew. Another of the areas I was fishing had no one else fishing it during the entire tournament. It was a good spot, especially once I realized I had it to myself. In the third region, I’d located a large number of bass during practice, and no one else was fishing it. It was nice to know I had at least two of these locations that contained large concentrations of bass to myself.
Question: Why do you think no one had discovered these places? What was unique about these areas?
Grigsby: I don’t know. These regions were just places nobody fished. When I fished the tournament last year, I was amazed that apparently no one knew about some of these areas. Of course, I knew more about the lake this year. Often, people fish down a grass line, don’t get any bites, and give up when, if they’d only fished another 50 yards, they’d have run into a good school of bass. Also, people sometimes fish too fast or fish the wrong bait; causing the bass to not bite.
Question: What was your game plan the night before the tournament began?
Grigsby: The night before the tournament started, I decided that, regardless of the weather conditions, I’d make the 55-mile run to Missisquoi Bay to fish. Regardless of rain, wind or adverse water conditions, this place was where I felt my chances were best for winning the tournament. I decided to flip and pitch Strike King’s new Brush Beast that’s not available yet. And, because Lake Champlain is such a big lake that can get rough in a hurry, I also decided to leave my fishing spot early each day. Then I knew I could return to the launch site without being late, no matter what happened as far as weather went. As part of that plan, I decided to fish for smallmouth near the launch site if I returned with enough time to fish before time to check-in. I was able to return every day before time to check-in with enough time left to smallmouth fish.
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