Shaw Grigsby was in 41st place at the midway point of last week's Okeechobee Bassmaster Elite Series in Florida and made the Top-50 cut by less than a pound. A day later he was in the Top 5, and he remained there to log a 4th-place finish.
That big move on day 3 made the veteran Floridian the Sunline Strong Performer for the second consecutive week.
After scaling just 11 1/2 pounds on day 1, he knew he'd need at least 14 on the second day to earn a paycheck. It didn't look like the area he'd flipped the first day would surrender even that mediocre weight, so he bolted for other places and began employing other tactics.
"I'd developed a little pattern in practice of pitching to outside reed heads," he said. "Occasionally I'd get a good bite, but most of them were little guys.
"I ran to one area and as soon as I pulled in, it was beautiful. It had been pretty stained in practice, but now it had a lot of good, clean water. The first fish I caught was like a (6-pounder) and after that, it was, 'Here we go.'''
He stayed there throughout day 3 and compiled a 30 1/2-pound bag to make his big jump in the standings.
"I had it all to myself until about noon, then another boat pulled in and that guy caught them, too," he said. "The area was loaded, and sharing it with only one other boat was pretty nice.
"I was mainly focused on these clumps of reeds that were out and away from everything, casting a (Strike King) jig or a Rodent or a Hack Attack swimjig. They'd just pick it up and take off and it'd either be a little one or a real big one. It was just crazy."
The Sunline Strong Performer, which focuses on the angler who makes the most significant single-day move in the standings at each tour-level event, is brought to you by the great people at Sunline.
