2016 Week Descriptions
Week 7 - Lipless in Kissimmee
Airs February 8th, 9th, 11th, 13th and 14th
Florida’s Lake Kissimmee is one of the most consistently productive bass waters in a state that’s full of them. But it’s fished hard all year round, so the largemouths can be a challenge even to highly skilled anglers. Though Kissimmee is one of Shaw’s favorites, there’s always something new he can learn from local experts -- in this case, Florida tournament angler Robbie Crosnoe. With his knowledge of the waters, and Shaw’s knack of fishing with lipless crankbaits, plenty of fish come aboard, including a trophy catch. Go along with these two pros, and learn how to fish lipless crankbaits outside the weed edges.
Week 8 - Grosse Savanne Toads
Airs February 15th, 16th, 18th, 20th and 21st
At Grosse Savanne Lodge in Lousiana, bass in the surrounding marshy waters are so plentiful, and so eager to inhale a toad worked enticingly along the surface, that Shaw and his guest Dennis Tietje can experiment with different techniques, particularly with the delayed hooksets so necessary for successful fishing with toad lures. It’s like batting practice for tournament anglers -- and Grosse Savanne’s weedy, bass-filled bayous are the pitching machine.
Week 9 - Florida Flippin'
Airs February 22nd, 23rd, 25th, 27th and 28th
Amid the dense weed mats that clog so many of our lakes nowadays -- none more so than those in central Florida -- expert anglers turn to flippin’ for lunker largemouths. Not only is the technique deadly on these shade-loving fish, but it’s also one of the most exciting ways of all to make contact with bass. You work within a few feet of your quarry, often less than a rod length, instead of remotely at the end of a long cast. You handle the line in your hand -- in common with fly fishing -- so you have a close feel and connection with the fish and its habitat not possible when you’re merely cranking line with a reel. On a huge hydrilla-thatched lake in Florida, Shaw gives a master class in flippin’.
Week 10 - Dead in the Water
Airs February 29th, March 1st, 3rd, 5th and 6th
Sometimes when summer stretches long into fall, when it’s hot but the fishing’s not, that’s when you may need to slow way down to get the bass to take a look at your lure. So slow is the retrieve, so minimal the lure’s movement, that anglers expert in this nearly do-nothing game have a name for it: dead-stickin’. On a lake fringed with cypress and tinged with tannin, warm as bath water, Shaw and his guest Darrell Pons show how it’s done -- or not done.
Week 11 - Redfish Lodge
Airs March 7th, 8th, 10th, 12th and 13th
In any dockside debate about the best lures for redfish, crank baits would hardly draw a few horseflies. And that’s where anglers are mistaken. A big crank bait called the 8.0, half the size of a toilet float, clobbers trophy reds on Shaw’s trip with Mike Frenette, a veteran charter captain who guides on the Gulf out of Venice, Louisiana. As soon as they leave port a cold front sweeps in, pushing heavy seas, but Mike always has an ace up his sleeve. Even in these conditions he finds the fish, and Shaw gets crankin’.
Week 12 - Okeechobee Buzzin
Airs March 14th, 15th, 17th, 19th and 20th
Shaw travels to Florida’s Lake Okeechobee, one of the hottest waters anywhere for topwater bass angling. There he joins forces with guide Steve Daniel, his rooming buddy on the tournament trail way back when. Okeechobee is the ideal testing ground, shallow, weedy, and loaded with fish, for a new buzz bait he brings along. The two anglers pool their knowledge of topwater techniques, with textbook results – bass piling aboard the new bait like they’d never seen one before. Which, in fact, they hadn’t, until now.
Week 13 - Groupers To Go
Airs March 21, 22, 24, 26, 27
Groupers feature more often on restaurant menus than on anybody’s list of great game fish. Yet, when hooked, they put up a powerful battle. It can’t be called epic, since the fish surrenders after a minute or so of intense struggle; but as long as it lasts, you feel as if you’ve lassoed a tractor. Shaw shares a little-known, highly productive technique: casting around rock piles with jumbo crankbaits. Short of tuna fishing, it’s the toughest minute on the sea.
Week 14 - Live Oak Largemouths
Airs March 28, 29, 31; April 2, 3
Jerk baits are famous for triggering vicious strikes from largemouth and smallmouth bass alike. There’s nothing tentative or half-hearted about the hit. Imitating a baitfish, especially a shiner, jerk baits light up fat, lazy bass like a mouse squirting past a cat. Shaw and his guest Maria Orlando-Krick fish these fast-action baits on the scenic ponds of Live Oak Plantation, in southern Georgia.
Week 15 - Up the Creek
Airs April 4, 5, 7, 9 and 10
The tidal creeks that penetrate the wild backcountry near Steinhatchee, Florida, are loaded with redfish and, at their lower ends, also hold plenty of sea trout. Threading a boat through these shallow waters is tricky, but the fishing is varied, as Shaw demonstrates with jigs, topwaters, and jerk baits. He hooks a mystery critter, an unseen monster, then battles it back to the boat – almost.
Week 16 - One More Cast with Bryce Grigsby
Airs April 11, 12, 14, 16 and 17
To Shaw’s longtime fans, his eager-angler grandson Bryce needs no introduction, having appeared on the show several times before. Bryce just gets better with age – he’s now eight – and on a trip to Louisiana he wings lures with bait-casting tackle like a pro. Bass swing aboard, his numbers mounting, and soon enough he’s putting out feelers about taking over from Grampy as host.
Week 17 - Hook, Line & Snook
Airs April 18, 19, 21, 23 and 24
Along Florida’s Gulf coast in the fall, great saltwater gamefish like snook and redfish, wanting to stay warm, move into shallow creeks – waters that look like habitat for largemouth bass and are easy to fish from a bass boat, with ordinary bass tackle. As Shaw demonstrates beyond a doubt, it’s close-quarters angling for salty species that grow bigger and fight harder than any bass. All it takes is a bit of searching off the beaten paths.
Week 18 - Crappie or Bust
Airs April 25, 26, 28, 30; May 1
Elite Series bass pro Terry Scroggins joins Shaw on famed Rodman Reservoir in north Florida, one of the nation’s premier bass lakes – but on this trip they’re looking for something different. Terry knows crappies as well as bass, and both men are hankering for a big fish fry. The lake’s drawn down, but Terry has a handle on the crappie holes on the bends of the old river channel. Crappie jigs on four-pound test make for sporty angling – and for the payoff, a big feed, Shaw and Terry share their favorite recipes.
Episode 13 - Venice Adventure
Airs May 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 7th and 8th
Traditionally, and sensibly, anglers try to keep their favorite fishing spots a secret; but when it comes to redfish, and practically any other species under the Southern sun, Shaw can’t keep his happy angling grounds under his hat. The Gulf waters off Venice, Louisiana, get his vote. Never has a trip to the Redfish Lodge at Venice – and he’s made dozens of trips there – not produced plenty of bragging reds. His guide is the young and enthusiastic Michael Frenette, expert beyond his years. Even when winds howl and tear the Gulf to shreds, Capt. Michael puts Shaw on the fish.
