THE PROS' TACTICS TO TAKING FLOOD WATER BASS
Shaw Grigsby
 EDITOR'S
NOTE: Some people think that the only time to have a
good day of bass fishing is when the lake is down and
clear. Well, this is just not true for the bass fishing
pros with whom I’ve talked. This week they’ll
tell us why they love to fish in flood waters from Florida
all the way to Texas. Here are some new tricks to find
the big bass.
 "I
enjoy finding and catching bass in flood waters around
swing sets, out from under picnic tables and through
the chimneys of barbecue grills," Shaw Grigsby
of Gainesville, Florida, one of the nation's top tournament
bass fishermen, says. "However, I usually have
a hard time finding enough swing sets, picnic tables
and barbecue grills to put together a pattern that will
produce bass all day. Angling flood waters is my favorite
kind of fishing because I get to fish around new and
different structures in fresh water where people never
may have caught bass before." When flood waters
hit a lake, most anglers roll up their lines and head
for home, but not Grigsby and other bass-fishing pros.
They move into these flooded regions and catch bass.
"When a river or a lake floods, it creates new
water for the bass with more forage, more places to
hide and additional territory to roam," Grigsby
explains. "As the water rises, the bass move into
that new water and often feed actively."
 Grigsby
continues to move his boat toward that shallow water
and the bass holding in it when the lake comes up. "I
push, pull and pole my boat into that fresh water to
get to those unfished places close to shore where the
bass are moving and feeding,” Grigsby emphasizes.
Grigsby's lures of choice are a 3/8-ounce spinner bait
with a clear sparkle skirt, gold willow-leaf blades
and a chartreuse ringer trailer or a pig and jig. "I
prefer fishing a willow-leaf spinner bait because it
will give off plenty of vibrations for the bass to home
in on," Grigsby mentions. "I like a clear
sparkle skirt which reflects light and makes the bait
easier for the bass to see. The chartreuse trailer is
bright and attracts bass in shallow water. I like to
run the bait a foot to three feet under the surface
-- usually at a steady pace and often stopping the bait
to let it fall."
 When
Grigsby's flipping or pitching a pig and jig, he throws
it into newly-inundated bushes, trees and especially
vines. "I want to flip the jig into the heaviest
new cover I can find," Grigsby says. Grigsby prefers
to cast a black 3/8-ounce jig with a blue Uncle Josh's
pork frog trailer. "I like a 707 Zebco Pitching
Stick Tour Edition with a Pro 3C Zebco reel," Grigsby
mentions. According to Grigsby, probably more weekend
fishermen don't fish floodwaters because bass tend to
scatter out more since the water's rising. "The
size of the lake or the river often will increase by
a third to a half during flood conditions. The bass
won't be where they usually are, and the fishermen won't
be accustomed to these conditions. But I consider hunting
new water for bass an adventure."
TOMMORROW: GARY KLEIN ON FLOOD-WATER
BASS
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