James Niggemeyer – August

It’s the middle of August and it seems like the last month has just flown by.
I went to ICAST – lots of exciting things at the show!

Worked with Strike King and Ardent Reels; Ardent introduced the new Edge Reel which is going to be just an incredible, revolutionary reel with a Drag Tracking Technology on it. Strike King came up with a lot of really neat new baits; along with a lot of great new colors on existing products there; a lot of really neat new stuff there as well.

The whole industry is just thriving and everybody’s really excited about 2012. It was great to see a lot of people that I don’t get a chance to see because I’m on the road a lot every year.

We were able to celebrate my daughter’s birthday with my Mom and my Sister. We had a neat time there at my Mom’s house in Southern California and my Abigail just ate it up – she just loved it; birthday cake and everything!

After that we headed home and I kinda hit the ground running. We went over to Bass Pro Shops and I spoke to the Denton County Bass Club. They have their meeting once a month there at the Bass Pro Shop at Grapevine in Dallas.

I have a great time talking with guys bass clubs; it’s always wonderful to get around those guys, they are just so passionate about the sport and so excited to get out there and go bass fishing. They share that same thing – being around like-minded people that just love the sport and fishing tournaments.

They’ve got twelve events a year, so they fish in tournaments more than I do. They are a club that gets out there and fishes HARD. I met a great bunch of guys and had a super time there.

Along with business appearances, I’ve been guiding on Lake Fork. Last week while I was guiding, we came in for lunch; which I typically do on a guide trip, and was able to speak at a Boy’s Camp that they have, it is out of Lake Fork and they had kids from all over – all the way from Colorado – it’s a kids fishing camp for ages 11 to 17. Some of them are state or regional champions, guys that have done really well at that level for their division or age level.

This is a camp that is really growing; getting bigger and bigger. There were 28 of them; their parents were in attendance. Yesterday was the final day and there were a bunch of guides that took kids out every day and it just looked like a wonderful thing; I was glad that I could play a little part in it.

I spoke to them about the sport and just staying out there and about never giving up; that there will be ups and downs: these are kids that want a professional career in bass fishing; there’s going to be ups and downs, so if they just keep getting back up they will never fail. So that was kinda what I talked to them about.

It’s a really a neat deal with the collegiate programs that are available today and these kids are pre high school and high school age and to see things like this coming around are just incredible and to be part of it was really a treat. They were all just passionate about the sport as well and it looks like, with the way collegiate things are going there are just so many things that are light years ahead of me, from where I was at that age, and just really a neat deal.

Well, on the guide scene, fishing has been actually good, but the fish are moving a bunch. The shad have been suspending on Lake Fork, but we were able to track them down and catch them a couple of different ways. One of them, which was probably the most fun, was catching ‘em on a Strike King Series 6XD and cranking like 15 – 20 feet of water, and we got them on this one spot and just blitzed them; I mean, it was just incredible.

We’ve been able catch some fish that are schooling as well on a Caffeine Shad and a Wacky Worm style bait, but that Strike King Caffeine Shad was the deal. I still have a great time; you know still just love to guide, get out there and stay sharp while learning on the water, which I don’t think we ever quit doing that.

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