James Niggemeyer – In Tavares Prepping – Gear, Mind and Soul

Getting ready to come to Florida was a challenge. It took me a little longer than I thought it would to get all of my tournament stuff, all of Sandy’s, Daniel’s and Abigail’s stuff into the camper for our trip to Florida.

It also took a little longer to get here than I thought it would have. It took us two full days of driving; mainly because we met a bunch of really bad rainstorms through Louisiana and Mississippi that really slowed us down. We pulled into our campsite at about 10:00Pm on Saturday night, and went to sleep.

We got up Sunday morning and set up camp, and then I got together with Alton Jones, Brent Chapman, Mark Davis and Randy Howell for a Bible study in the afternoon. It’s hard to be on the road so much and miss worship on Sundays, so Alton came up with this idea for us all to do together. Of course if the Lord blesses us with Elite 12 finishes, we’ll still miss, but it’s nice to have us all together for some study and prayer.

Daniel and Abigail are having a great time, playing with the other kids and being outside here. Sandy is adjusting to having our stuff is small places but it’s going pretty well. It’s just really nice to come home from a day of fishing and see my family; I’m really super blessed to have them here.

The fishing has been tough; it’s my second time here on the Elite Series, and there is a lot of ground to cover in the three days of practice, but we’ll make do. I’m really super excited about the season kicking off; it’s the first one of the year, and I’m ready to get started.

I went to the FOCAS Meeting tonight to hear Mark Davis speak. He was filling in for our Chaplain Chris Wells, who couldn’t make it until after the tournament starts. Then it was off to registration and check-in; back to the camper to have dinner and work on tackle; then to bed for the morning.

I have to say that I am more and more impressed by my Yamaha SHO Four Stroke every day. I was able to get it up to 77.1 miles an hour on my Humminbird GPS during practice. My Bass Cat Puma FTD is really responding to it, and I’m excited about it.

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