James Niggemeyer – Florida Blessings

I can’t say anything about the Harris Chain, other than it was a huge blessing.

The week started out tough but late on the second day of practice I found two key bed fish that would set me up for the rest of the week.

I spent most of the week with my St. Croix Pitchin’ Stick in my hand and an Ardent F700 Flip and Pitch Reel flipping a Strike King Finesse Worm or a Rodent into bedding areas. Most of my fish came on the Finesse Worm, which is kind of a Florida go to.

It was a huge blessing to finish 9th in the first tournament of the year, especially when you consider that I had to keep moving and finding new water so much. On day three, I was really struggling, and I decided to go to a new stretch in the area that I had been fishing in. I hadn’t even looked in that area before the third day, and I was fortunate to find a five pounder that I got to eat, and that was the fish that put me into the cut for the Elite 12.

It has been so great to have Sandy and the kids here with me. It’s been a little tight in the camper, but we are really enjoying being all together while I’m out here working.

Sandy has been spoiling us with cooking here in the camper; in fact, we’ve only eaten out once the whole time we’ve been on the road; which has been really nice. Daniel and Abigail have been running and playing as hard as they can all day, so at night, they sleep really hard at night.

We were really tired by the time we got to Palatka after making the Elite 12 cut at Harris Chain, so I slept in a little on Monday; which isn’t like me at all, but I needed the rest.

At first the tournament looked like it was going to be right in my wheelhouse, but things have been changing rapidly, and I’m just having to keep adjusting and following my instincts and trying to stay ahead of the game.

I caught 12 pounds on day one, and was able to move up into 28th place today after catching 13-1; so, I get to fish another day, and see what happens.

I’ve been blessed with a good start here in Florida, now we’ll see if we can keep it going.

To learn more about James or for information on booking him for a trip, visit his website at: www.jamesniggemeyer.com