HomeblogsJames Niggemeyer – Three Event Wrap Up Gosh, it has been kind of a whirlwind since we last did a blog. I guess I was getting ready to leave for Bull Shoals and, that was a good event for me. I really felt like it was going to shape up to be an even better event for me, but the weather the way it was; the cancellation day or the postponed day really kind of changed the complexity of the event; and the outcome obviously. The water came up and the water temperature dropped; it was a cold rain – it really kind of sent me scrambling to backup patterns and different things like that. I was able to catch them on a Strike King Ocho just about every day and it was a challenging event because it was hard to get that 15 inch minimum that they have on that lake. The lake was fishing a lot tougher than we were last time. I think I ended up in 40th place; I was in the 20’s after day two, but I fell on the last day; I just had a lighter weight . I was really having to adjust every day by changing up locations and presentations. I moved on to the Red River for the Central Open – I only got a day and a half for practice which amounted to an abbreviated practice; but I love the Red, it’s been good to me in the past. I won a Bassmaster Weekend Series Event there in 2005; so it is always good to go back. And I did well there – I finished 13th. I was actually tied with Steven Browning after day two, who was the eventual winner of the event. He won the first tie breaker; the first tie breaker is biggest bag, which meant he was able to make the top twelve and fish on day three I would have won the second tie breaker, the most legal fish weighed in, but we never got to the second tie breaker because obviously, he beat me with, he had the biggest bag with a 13.2 bag and I had a 12.10. I was able to catch them there the way I like to; Flippin’ and throwing some reaction style baits; the Strike King Rodent was a player there for me, as well as the Menace Grub. Then, moving on to West Point – it was a totally different animal this time – fished like a completely different lake. I love the challenges, but, it was super challenging just to get a keeper bite. On the first day, I was in 30th place with a decent bag and the second day really struggled with the falling water. the pattern that I had involved a shad spawn early in the morning, and that pattern died on me the second day. I was only able to catch one fish in that early part of the day which was a problem, because that first couple of two to three hours was definitely the strongest at West Point. I only caught one fish, although, I caught three or four shorts, but no more keepers. I went to my backup pattern and that wasn’t going. I had another area as we began the tournament; the water was high, but it fell during the tournament and cleared up which killed my secondary pattern, a Flippin’ bite that I was able to catch them on the day before. I had eight keeper bites on day one, but the second day; just had one keeper bite that I could really say for sure was a keeper. It really changed on me; I now see how I could have adjusted to the fact; but you know, hindsight is always 20/20. Two checks out of three events in three weeks; that’s pretty good! I would have liked to have some higher finishes there at all three events; and this last one was kind of a doozy, but that’s the way it goes Be sure you get to my Facebook page, James Niggemeyer, Angler. Check it out! Otherwise, we will check back in with you after the Alabama River. Thanks for reading my blog!
