Inside Shaw Grigsby's Triton

This is Shaw Grigsby’s Triton 21TRX that he ran during the 2014 Bassmaster Elite Series season. It’s powered by a 250-horse Mercury OptiMax ProXS and also sports dual 8-foot Power-Poles in the rear. Let’s take a look inside, shall we?

Up front resides a MotorGuide Tour Edition 109-pound thrust trolling motor. Although trolling motors come hard-wired from the factory, Grigsby ups the reliability of his motor with a plug from Battery Tender.

“This plug has silver connectors so it doesn’t arc, won’t heat up and it definitely doesn’t melt, which means you have one less thing to worry about on the water,” he said.

“But, if something happens to the motor itself and it breaks down, rather than rewire the new one, I just unplug the bad one, throw it in the floor and plug the new one in, saving lots of time. It takes me three to five minutes to change it. The longest aspect of that is pulling all the stuff out of the rod box that cover the new trolling motor up.”

This Lowrance HDS12 Touch gets most of Grigsby’s attention when he’s fishing offshore. It resides in a RAM Mount. “The good thing about RAM Mounts is that I can turn it so I can see it regardless of what the sun is doing, so I don’t get any reflection,” he says.

This is how Grigsby runs his HDS12 most often. At top left is StructureScan, top right is DownScan, below that is 2-D sonar and at lower left is mapping. “This was I always have the reference of the old 2-D, which I grew up using. If I run across a blob, I just look at the DownScan and can immediately tell if it’s a rock, brush or whatever. That view shows everything,” he says.

This is a Tackle Webs that hangs on Grigsby’s butt seat. “I keep cutters, spare baits and other things handy so I’m not looking for stuff. Any time that you can keep yourself fishing and not hunting for baits or pliers is a good thing,” he says.

“This is my main rod box, and I usually have about 30 rods and reels in here at a time,” he says. “The first thing I do when I get my boat is take the rod tubes out, the ones that hold them in place. If they’re in, that limits you to about 12 or 15 rods. Of course I put them back in when I go to sell the boat.”

Here he draws one of his Quantum combos from the box. Also in the boxes are Bluewater LED lights. “When it’s dark and you need something in a hurry, just flip those lights on and you can see everything,” he says. Every one of his combos wears a sock, too. “I originally did that for filming to keep my rods and reels nice, but they’re just so handy that if I need to get a rod from the bottom of the locker, I can reach down and get it without any hassle or tangles.”

This is the Triton’s center box. Grigsby keeps nine or ten Flambeau boxes in there. Looking towards the bow of the boat, and from the left-hand side are topwaters, then jerkbaits then small crankbaits then lipless crankbaits, then Strike King 1.5s and 2.5s. “I just drop my way down, from shallow to deeper. Sometimes I’ll change some things out depending on if I know I’ll be using something different a lot. In from of that are soft plastics. Rage Craws are some of my favorite as are Rodents, then I’ve got Ziplocs with the Menace and Rage Bugs and other soft plastics.”

Grigsby keeps his culling system and culling ropes in the main box as well. He uses a color-coordinated Cul-M-Rite system.

He keeps a spare in case the batteries on one go out.

Grigsby keeps leader line in this soft-sided cooler.

In this Flambeau box are Strike King 1.5s.

These Strike King squarebills have won Grigsby and scores of other Elite Series pros hundreds of thousands of dollars all across the country.

Grigsby trusts Flambeau’s Tuff Tainers to keep his Strike King plugs safe.

Here are some Strike King deep divers.

On the bottom of his center storage box is another gear keeper. Here he’s got his Buff.

Grigsby’s reading glasses help him tie knots.

Here’s his drop shot box. The plastics are Strike King Dream Shot worms, and there are plenty of Strike King Tour Grade Tungsten weights in here as well as Trokar hooks.

The bag marked “Shaw G” is full of Strike King Menace grub baits. It’s a good trailer or standalone swimbait on a jighead. Also, have you ever seen so many Rodents of Rage Craws in one place?

When you’re Shaw Grigsby, you need to have several caps at your disposal.

Spare hats are kept in good shape thanks to a Tupperware container. These ride in the starboard rod box as well.

This is Grigsby’s Stiffy push pole. It’s roughly 13 feet long and stands up to everything Grigsby has thrown at it. “There are a lot of times when I need to get across a flat that’s too shallow for my trolling motor, and this is just the thing to help me do it,” he said.

Extra Quantum reels ride in a sliding storage box in the starboard rod locker.

This is the starboard side rod box. In it are hats, PFDs, a spare trolling motor and extra brand new rods. He keeps the rods in there because they don’t fit in the bed of his truck.

In the cooler are drinks, food and other things he needs throughout the day.

In this little glove box in front of the passenger seat are pliers, clippers, cutters, Boomerang snips.

This is a Bait Button. It’s used to keep trailer hooks on and can also keep worms on the hook, like this. You rig like normal, then slide the Bait Button on to secure the plastic.

At the console, Grigsby runs Mercury’s SmartCraft gauges. His HDS12 is on a RAM Mount back here, as well.

Here’s a better look at the 12-inch touchscreen unit on the RAM Mount.

His HDS7 is used mostly for mapping so he can have fishfinder functions on the big screen.

This Smartcraft gauge tells Grigsby a multitude of things about his OptiMax, including how much fuel he’s used.

Grigsby’s marker buoys reside in a net holster behind the passenger seat. If you’re familiar with these, then you’ve been fishing for at least 30 years. “These are old Roger’s Products buoy markers and they were made back in the ’80s,” he said.

Unlike most markers made today, the Rogers have handles that allow you to wind in the line very quickly.

This is a cooler that resides between the seat on Grigsby’s Triton. “A lot of guys do use this as a cooler, but I keep all my important stuff in there like paperwork,” he said. “You can be fishing in a monsoon downpour and that thing will stay dry.”

Here’s said paperwork, dry as it ought to be.

Back behind the driver’s seat reside Grigsby’s food, rain suit, a spare prop, a Save Phace face mask, first aid kit and giveaways for his Marshal, namely the Trokar hooks.

Shaw Grigsby is a happy man when these Triton livewells are full.

Behind the passenger seat are tools, some tackle and guides and tips to repair rods. He also keeps his flipping jigs, football jigs and shaky heads in there. He keeps the heaviest things in the back of the boat to get the most performance out of his 21TRX as possible. The jigs are back here because he flat doesn’t use them as much as other baits.

The rod tip and guide repair box.

If you don’t already, your ought to have these same tools in your rig. Shaw Grigsby knows what you might need on the water.

“I also keep the most important thing in the boat back here: duct tape,” he laughed.

Here is Grigsby’s selection of Strike King football jigs.

Grigsby’s flipping jigs cover the gamut of bass forage from shad to bream to crawfish.

This is the aptly named Money Pole. Why is it called that? It’s a lure retriever and has saved Grigsby thousands of dollars worth of crankbaits.

In the battery box is a small tray where Grigsby keep two spare trolling motor props, zip ties and other necessities.

Here’s an anchor and anchor rope. The mesh bag is in case he ever breaks down and has to hitch a ride with another angler. He can simply put his fish in the bag and toss them into his rescuer’s livewell.

Thanks for the tour, Shaw!

Inside Shaw Grigsby’s Triton

Related

Christie’s springtime tacklebox

Top lures at St. Johns River 2024

Top lures at Harris Chain 2024

Kyle Welcher’s AOY tacklebox