Entry 78-1
Shaw Grigsby, Jr.
Three Maggoteers
Editor's Note: Shaw Grigsby, Jr., a 47-year-old professional angler from Gainesville, Florida, has joined the One Million Dollar Club of professional fishermen on the BASS Circuit, after earning more than $1 million in tournament winnings. He has finished in the top 10 in 43 tournaments and ranks fourth in career winnings on the BASS circuit. He has a TV show and is always listed among the best of the best tournament bass fishermen.
Question: Shaw, what did you do for a living before you became a professional bass fisherman?
Grigsby: You really don't want to know. I was one of the Three Maggoteers. My family had a biological-pest-control business. We mainly exterminated houseflies by raising parasites that would kill them. Dairy, chicken and horse farms all have problems with houseflies. If the flies aren't controlled, the health department considers them a risk. To kill the flies, we had to raise a host parasite and other houseflies to carry the host so that our flies could infect the other flies, and then all the flies would die. I raised 75 to 80 pounds of maggots (housefly larvae) a day. We had to keep the maggots alive 365 days a year, so I had to work with maggots every day. I had two other helpers, which is how we came up with the title the Three Maggoteers. I took a salary of about $12,000 a year out of the business.
Contents:
- Part 1: Three Maggoteers
- Part 2: From Maggots to Bass Fishing
- Part 3: Fishing With a Family
- Part 4: The Next Level
- Part 5: The $1 Million Mark
