Is winning co-angler usually with winning boater?

[SC53]

What captain Phil said. But I will share one experience I had. 
 

March 18, 1986

I enter my first Redman tournament on the Kissimmee chain and who do I draw as a boater but Shaw Grigsby. To say I was excited was an understatement. The prior year Shaw had won the Redman All American Tournament on the Kissimmee chain and won $100,000. One of, if not the largest prize in bass fishing at the time. 

A major cold front moved through the night before and the morning of the tournament it was in the upper 30’s with 10-15 mph winds out of the north. Anyone that fishes Florida knows what happens to our bass, they go into lockdown. 

Shaw had a spot in lake Kissimmee we were going to so I knew we were in for a rough ride. When he put on a motorcycle helmet I KNEW we were. Toho was whitecaps that got worse as we went further south. At one point he asked me if I was ok and I said “ you just drive, I’m fine”. He got that big smile of his and he drove he did. 

We finally got to his spot on Kissimmee. I had fished Kissimmee a lot back then and there were big pad fields in certain locations. One of the better ones was on the east side of Sturm island. What Shaw had found was an opening on the back side of this field, about an acre in size, that wasn’t visible from the lake. Even the path into it wasn’t noticeable. 

With bluebird skies and cold temps we knew our only hope was flipping. We stayed in that spot for most of the day making multiple trips around it flipping the edges. I managed to catch 4 fish including one close to 5# while Shaw struggled. I would flip a lot of the same spots he did behind him and get bit. Because I was fishing out of the back of the boat, I think his flip got them interested and when I dropped in they finally decided to bite. 

With a little over 2 hours left in the tournament and about an hour run back to the ramp, Shaw says “ I think you have a shot at winning this thing, let’s go hit a few spots I have on our way see if we can make that happen”. As we got back to Toho he took me to a number of his spots to see if I could get my last fish or upgrade. It didn’t work out and I weighed in the 4 fish for an 11-8 bag. I took 7 place out of 256 guys and took home a $350 check. 17 lbs won it so he was right. 

What Shaw did that day speaks volumes of his character and obviously it’s ingrained in my memory as one of the greatest experiences I’ve had in bass fishing. 

I would see him at future events and he would still remember that day saying he’d never seen anyone flip an almost 5# fish into the boat in the hook set like I did that day. 

And now you know why I’m a fan of Shaw Grigsby and continue to root for one of the greatest pros in the sport. 

Thanks again Shaw. 

[mheichelbech]

On 4/2/2021 at 5:22 PM, SC53 said:

What captain Phil said. But I will share one experience I had. 
 

March 18, 1986

I enter my first Redman tournament on the Kissimmee chain and who do I draw as a boater but Shaw Grigsby. To say I was excited was an understatement. The prior year Shaw had won the Redman All American Tournament on the Kissimmee chain and won $100,000. One of, if not the largest prize in bass fishing at the time. 

A major cold front moved through the night before and the morning of the tournament it was in the upper 30’s with 10-15 mph winds out of the north. Anyone that fishes Florida knows what happens to our bass, they go into lockdown. 

Shaw had a spot in lake Kissimmee we were going to so I knew we were in for a rough ride. When he put on a motorcycle helmet I KNEW we were. Toho was whitecaps that got worse as we went further south. At one point he asked me if I was ok and I said “ you just drive, I’m fine”. He got that big smile of his and he drove he did. 

We finally got to his spot on Kissimmee. I had fished Kissimmee a lot back then and there were big pad fields in certain locations. One of the better ones was on the east side of Sturm island. What Shaw had found was an opening on the back side of this field, about an acre in size, that wasn’t visible from the lake. Even the path into it wasn’t noticeable. 

With bluebird skies and cold temps we knew our only hope was flipping. We stayed in that spot for most of the day making multiple trips around it flipping the edges. I managed to catch 4 fish including one close to 5# while Shaw struggled. I would flip a lot of the same spots he did behind him and get bit. Because I was fishing out of the back of the boat, I think his flip got them interested and when I dropped in they finally decided to bite. 

With a little over 2 hours left in the tournament and about an hour run back to the ramp, Shaw says “ I think you have a shot at winning this thing, let’s go hit a few spots I have on our way see if we can make that happen”. As we got back to Toho he took me to a number of his spots to see if I could get my last fish or upgrade. It didn’t work out and I weighed in the 4 fish for an 11-8 bag. I took 7 place out of 256 guys and took home a $350 check. 17 lbs won it so he was right. 

What Shaw did that day speaks volumes of his character and obviously it’s ingrained in my memory as one of the greatest experiences I’ve had in bass fishing. 

I would see him at future events and he would still remember that day saying he’d never seen anyone flip an almost 5# fish into the boat in the hook set like I did that day. 

And now you know why I’m a fan of Shaw Grigsby and continue to root for one of the greatest pros in the sport. 

Thanks again Shaw. 

He always struck me as a guy that’s pretty happy just to be alive and fishing.

[Bassattackr]

On 3/30/2021 at 11:33 AM, billmac said:

Related question:  How common is it for a non-boater to actually "win" the tournament?  By that I mean the non-boater actually out-fishing the field of boaters.  I know they probably can't "win" because they are separate categories, but I'm pretty sure I've seen it at least once on a BassResource report.

 

Extremely uncommon.   I've only seen it once or twice max in the close to 15 years I've fished with FLW.

[mheichelbech]

On 4/5/2021 at 12:12 PM, Bassattackr said:

 

Extremely uncommon.   I've only seen it once or twice max in the close to 15 years I've fished with FLW.

Interestingly, after I posted this, I fished a tournament as a non-boater.  Another non-boater caught 17 lbs which would have been good enough for I think 3rd on the boater side.  He won the non-boater side by a mile.  His partner caught no keepers.  Apparently the guy caught 1 7 pounder and they stayed in the same area all day where the non-boater caught the other 3 over the whole period of the day.  It was a tough day, very post cold front conditions with stained water.  I don't know how or what he caught them on...whether it was the same lure, depth, etc.

 

I have been in situations like this on both sides where they really aren't biting good enough to make a pattern but I've been lucky enough to land all my bites.  Usually flipping/pitching.