Shaw Grigsby and the Post Spawn

Strike King Pro Shaw Grigsby is revered to be one of the best sight fisherman in the world. His vision is that of an eagle. He can see things that 95% of the fishermen do not see when it comes to bed fishing. But when the fish are done spawning and the beds are empty where does Shaw go to catch fish and what is he targeting? We hear a lot about post spawn fishing but what does that actually mean. The males will guard the newly hatched fry for up to several weeks, but the big females will go to their post spawn hideouts to recover. Let’s talk about the “fry guarders” first. “Most of the time fishermen will catch the males guarding fry and don’t even realize that the fish is doing that.” Explains Grigsby. A male will protect the fry for only so long until they are of age until the male decides to disperse them. Shaw generally does not target this pattern in a tournament but says males can be caught on a variety of topwaters. His two favorite baits include a Spit’n King and a Wild Shiner jerkbait. And when he sees a fry ball he throws into them. This will cause the male to get angry and strike his bait with a vengeance. There are times when he can actually see the male guarding the fry but does not throw at the bass. He throws at what the fish is protecting. Repeated casts into the fry will usually trigger a strike. Other good baits to throw are weedless frogs such as the Rage Toad. He works this bait around weeds early in the morning hoping to trigger a strike. What Shaw likes to key on are the females that are moved out to their post spawn areas. “The pre spawn areas are the same as the post spawn areas.” Shaw explains. “The females move to a brush pile, a point, or a nearby drop off out in front of the spawning area just like they did when they were moving up to spawn”. Shaw says. The females will begin to feed heavily again and can group up together on these spots. “Not all bass spawn at the same time.” Shaw says. “ Sometimes you are catching both pre spawn and post spawn fish at the same time off of one spot.’ He explains. “You might catch several skinny post spawn females and then all of a sudden catch a big fat pre spawn fish.” He says. These bass can be targeted using lures such as crankbaits, jigs, and Carolina rigs. “The females stop to rest and feed up before they move on to their summer homes.” Shaw says. This is when you can catch a big bag of bass off of one spot. Like Shaw said, the pre spawn and post spawn areas are the same, so the fish you were catching in the spring, go back to it again after they are done spawning and you will catch them again. Here in the heartland we normally have two spawns. One is around the new moon and the other is on the full moon. That means these post spawn areas can be loaded with fish if you are lucky enough to find one. The time is now to look for these areas. Once you locate the bass make sure to use a variety of lures because once they stop biting a certain bait, you can get them fired back up with another. There just might be the mother load sitting out there waiting for you to catch them.