Week 1 - "Pine Island Tarpon"

The springtime migration of big tarpon along the Gulf coast of Florida draws eager anglers from around the world, but smaller tarpon hide out in the same waters year round and offer exciting sport that goes overlooked. In search of these junior high-jumpers, Shaw explores the seldom-visited mangrove creeks of Pine Island, with local guide Randall Marsh.

Week 2 - "Adventure Lake Crankbaits"

Too many bass anglers believe that fishing a crankbait means nothing more than casting it out and dragging it back – hence the common name “idiot bait.” But catching big bass with this lure takes a subtle touch and a willingness to hang up in brush and other heavy cover on the bottom. Shaw shows how it’s done on a lake loaded with big largemouths in Mississippi.

Week 3 - "Suwannee 2009"

As a boy growing up in north Florida, conveniently forgetting homework, Shaw would grab a bucket of bait and a spin-casting outfit and light out for the banks of the Suwannee River. Today he’s back with more capable tackle on the same famed waterway, and the nearby Gulf. With Capt. Grey Drummond he revisits the oyster bars for reds and monster black drum.

Week 4 - "Indiana Bass"

Now here’s a place that’s hardly ever seen an angler. At the Victoria International Golf Club near Evansville, Indiana, a series of fertile bass-choked ponds fits between the fairways like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, green and blue-green and fringed with bright flowers. Only now is the club opening these waters to fishing, and Shaw gives viewers a first envious look.

Week 5 - "Flint River Bass"

What could be better than a brand-new species of bass? Something different to go after, but still a bass – America’s most popular family of game fish. The shoal bass of Georgia’s Flint River was first described by science only a few years ago, and in many ways it remains a mystery. What exactly is the best way to catch it? Shaw investigates with guide Jim Murray.

Week 6 - "Captiva snook"

In the wake of an off-and-on hurricane named Fay, which made landfall in Florida four times, Shaw does the only sensible thing, for him, and heads out in howling winds for snook. All the tourists have gone back home, so Shaw and Capt. Randall Marsh have the waters off Captiva Island to themselves. Randall knows where to get in the lee – and so do the snook.

Week 7 - "Orange Lake bass"

A few years back Orange Lake wasn’t a lake at all, but a ten-mile mud flat where a boat was useless and most of the bass went belly up. A sinkhole had opened in the lake bed and the famed Florida fishing spot gurgled like a bathtub gone dry. But rains and hurricanes came to the rescue and the bass are back. Shaw floats his boat for those reborn Orange Lake lunkers.

Week 8 - "Jocassee bass"

The best-kept bass-angling secret in the South just might be Lake Jocassee in upcountry South Carolina. Rocky and clear, it looks more like a trout lake than largemouth bass water. But wait – make that largemouth and smallmouth and spotted bass, and even the little-known shoal bass.(Truth is, trout are here too.) Shaw battles ‘em all with a big ol’ plastic lizard.

Week 9 - "Space Coast Reds"

What wouldn’t you give to go fishing for big reds in near-virgin waters? Shaw does just that, and does it in sight of the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center. Security is tight and so are the nether parts of your anatomy when you tie into reds that have grown old and fat without ever seeing a lure cast their way. It’s a wilder ride by far than anything over at Disney.

 

(March) Week 10 - "Adventure Lake spinnerbaits"

Shaw teaches a complete lab course on fishing techniques for spinnerbaits. The F-1 hybrid bass in Adventure Lake, Mississippi, run large – but their moods, changing by the minute, are much like bass behavior anywhere else. Shaw shows you how to adapt by selecting different baits and varying your retrieve as conditions require, going deep or shallow, fast or slow.

(March) Week 11 - Lake Eufaula bass

On a fall day far too cold and windy to consider fishing, Shaw and lure designer Troy Gibson vote against wasting hours watching television weather reports, and head out anyway. In crashing waves they drag the bottom with one of Troy’s own creations, the coffee tube, a soft-plastic crawfish imitation impregnated with good old java. And the bass slurp it up.

(March) Week 12 - "Mississippi offshore"

Shaw tries his hand at night fishing for swordfish in the waters off Biloxi, Mississippi, but the swords don’t want to duel and he drags a shark from the dark seas instead. Things look up on a return trip to the same waters in daytime. Now the quarry is tuna, and Shaw slugs it out for hours with the biggest yellowfin he’s ever hooked, and the toughest fish of any kind – period.

(March) Week 13 - "Okeechobee bass"

On Florida’s largest lake – and nowadays nearly the shallowest – Shaw casts for bass with jointed swim baits. These big shad imitations work through thin water with ease, no hangups, and although designed to attract trophy fish they still take plenty of bass of all sizes. Shaw fishes with Okeechobee guide Steve Daniel, who shows just how good his waters can be.

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