Looking for some quality family time?
Head outdoors. That’s Shaw Grigsby’s advice.
He grew up in a family that spent time fishing, camping, and hunting. Now he is promoting that lifestyle for others.
We’ll talk about his passion for the outdoors, plus check in on a Texas reservoir that is producing some giant bass.
– Brent
Shaw Grigsby enjoys teaching others, especially youngsters, to fish. (Photo by Major League Fishing)
Promoting A Family Sport
Shaw Grigsby grew up in an outdoors family.
He has good memories of the many trips he experienced with his mom, dad and sister.
“My dad loved to fish and hunt,” Grigsby said. “He didn’t specialize in anything; he did it all. He fished for redfish, crappies, anything.
“He had a little 5-horse motor and we would rent a boat somewhere, hook our little motor on and go fishing.”
The family also loved to camp, Grigsby said.
“We didn’t go on vacations to big resorts or Disneyland,” he said. “We went camping. We had a little popup camper and we were always out somewhere.
“I remember one year when we took one long camping trip from Gainesville to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone.”
That’s one of the reasons Grigsby loves teaching youngsters about the outdoors.
His television show, “One More Cast with Shaw Grigsby,” often featured getting kids outdoors.
“My kids are grown now, but they still talk about the good times we had,” he said.
The best way to hook a youngster on fishing? Make the trip about them.
“You have to make it special for them,” Grigsby said. “The focus has to be on them.”
Tyler Anderson posed with the 14.48-pound bass he caught Jan. 5 at O.H. Ivie Lake in Texas. (Photo courtesy of Tyler Anderson)
Catch of the Week
Before Tyler Anderson made the trip to O.H. Ivie Lake in early January, his personal-best bass weighed 9.86 pounds.
That’s quite a fish–but nothing like the one he landed at the Texas reservoir.
Using an Alabama rig and LiveScope sonar that shows real-time movement of fish, he landed a monster of a largemouth that weighed 14.48 pounds.
He donated the bass to the Toyota ShareLunker program, where Texas Wildlife and Parks hatcheries spawn exceptional bass in a laboratory setting, then stocks the offspring back into Texas waters.
Anderson caught the bass on the second day of his trip. At the end of the first day, he spotted a big mark following his Alabama rig so he decided to return there to start there the next day.
Once he got there, he saw a school of eight big fish in the same spot. He intended to cast beyond the school and drag the rig over the top of the fish. But his cast came up short and Anderson was sure he had missed his chance.
Not so. As the rig fluttered down, he watched one of the fish rise and engulf one of the plastic swimbaits on his rig.
“I caught that bass on a hump near a river channel,” Anderson told Anglers.com. “The whole area is surrounded by bushes, but this school was in open water, 28 feet down.
“I doubt many people had fished in the middle of the water column in January like that before. But that’s what LiveScope will do–it will help you find fish where you didn’t expect to find them.”
This was a tech trip for Anderson. He went to Ivie with the expressed purpose of fishing with LiveScope.
“I had my trolling motor on 100 and I didn’t make a cast until I saw something,” he said.
Anderson has been making videos of his fishing adventures for almost 10 years and he posts them on his YouTube Channel, Tyler’s Reel Fishing. He plans to post footage of his adventures with his latest fish, including its transport to the Texas fish hatchery.
The Hottest Bass Lake in America
Looking for a shot at a double-digit bass? Head to O.H. Ivie Lake in central Texas.
What this 19,149-acre reservoir has produced in the last two years is truly amazing.
Ivie already has produced two monstrous bass this year–a 14.92-pound largemouth taken by guide Wendell Ramsey on Jan. 8 and the 14.48-pound bass caught by Anderson.
But that was no fluke. Last year the reservoir produced 12 of the 23 Toyota ShareLunker Legacy fish, which must weigh 13 pounds or more.
So what’s up with this Texas reservoir that was impounded in 1990? First, it has plenty of good habitat, a mix of timber, rock and vegetation. And it has a good forage base and a long growing season.
Located off the Colorado and Conche rivers, Ivie is somewhat secluded from major population centers. But you can bet it will get more fishing pressure now that word of its lunker bass is out.
That’s it for now. Be sure to follow us next week when we talk to Mike McClelland about winter bass fishing.
