James Niggemeyer
Members
-
Joined
-
Last visited
Everything posted by James Niggemeyer
-
Hey BR, Recently uploaded a video of my day on the lake in the process of finding fish. Hope you like it!
-
-
Hey BR Here are my videos from the recent and first BASS Open of 2020 on the Arkansas River in OK. Thanks for watching...Hope you like it!
-
Rate of fall is something to always take into consideration when flipping and pitching. The main purpose is to understand how the fish are positioned on cover and what triggers strikes. For example sometimes bass suspend on cover and so a slow fall is good to keep it in front of them longer, while other times water is very warm or even hot and a fast fall is the only thing that will trigger a reaction strikes. Water clarity is key also where in clear water typically a faster decent is good because otherwise fish get too good of a look at it. When it comes to gear I like a a Lew’s magnum heavy cover 7’6” heavy action rod with Fluorocarbon on harder cover targets and braid for areas of grass or weeds. Regarding the tidal aspect it’s important to remember that a fish will position on the end of cover types nearest deeper water like the end of a lay down tree while they will get really shallow and move into flooded areas or shoreline areas on high tide. Lastly, it’s important to remember that fish will relate to shade lines as well commonly referred to as soft cover edges. Hope that helps and good fishing
-
I’m originally from Southern California and Brown and Purple has been a popular color out west as long as I can remember. Not sure why other than the contrast of a natural brown (crawfish) with the eye catching (purple) trailer. Regional colors are something that is relevant just about everywhere in the country and something to take into consideration for sure. There are a lot of things in bass fishing that don’t make sense. Why do bass eat a bubblegum finesse worm or fluke type bait? . Important thing in my opinion is to know that it works.
-
-
-
Hi DG, tides and be a bit tricky, however as a general rule the last hour of outgoing and first hour of incoming are preferred. Slack water or no water movement are not. Here are some more general rules: Hight tide positions fish closer to the bank or shallower and low tide positions them on the end of cover types and closer to deeper water. I generally like to fish areas that offer a little bit of everything with a mixture of hard (rock) and soft (weeds) cover types, flats, sharper breaks, current breaks that create an “eddy” and stay in that area and fish it through the tides cycle. At some point they tend to reveal there location and what presentation they prefer. I found moving around and following the tide to be a little more challenging. Hope that helps...good fishing!
-
Hi Ed, I really like to throw moving type baits in wind, however what I throw is dependent on water conditions and clarity. Short list is: spinnerbait - stained water, lowlight conditions, areas with brush, grass or various weeds, but of course when I’ve identified baitfish presence. Crankbaits, bladed jigs(Chatterbait) type lures as well as some topwaters like buzzbaits and walking type baits depending upon the velocity of the wind. Jerkbaits and swimbaits on jigheads also work too. I will throw texas rigged soft plastics do work in the wind but your gonna need heavier weights to stay in contact with the bait. I always try to line watch however with too much line bow you’ll need to fish more by feel. As a general rule the wind should position the fish much like current will in a river on and along points, objects or cover that might act as a current breakout ambush location, as well as stimulate some feeding so if you don’t get bit in an area move and try another section. Fish tend to feed into current to take advantage of things as they come by. Hope that helps, good fishing!
-
-
-
-
-
-
My parents started me out pan fishing and start trout fishing which I still enjoy VERY much to this day and have caught my fair share of them. What I have noticed over the years is there are days when they will "nip" at a bait and never really get the hook in the mouth. Some times its all about the conditions (still, flat, calm, bright days) that behavior and other times I've witnessed that when they have been pressured a fair amount. My recommendation would be a couple of things: #1 Making REALLY long casts which can give the trout more time to "trail" the bait before ever getting in sight of you or the bank. #2 Change to a different color, action, size or even switch to another lure type like a spinner instead of a spoon. #3 Also I have had success by imparting an erratic action into the lure with short twitches of the rod tip. #4 There are also time when they more attracted to a fly or surface type presentation instead of something beneath the surface. Hope that helps! Good fishing JN
-
When it comes to the Strike King Sexy Dawg I pretty much carry both sizes and now very recently JUST got some of the Hard Knock version. Depending upon the lake I may even consider the Mega Dawg too! When it comes to colors my standbys are the Bone or Oyster, Clear Sexy Shad, Summer Sexy Shad or TN Shad (new color), Chrome Sexy Shad, Green Gizzard and maybe Bluegill. That is quite a bit and IF I was just to narrow it down to 3 I would select Bone on dark or overcast days, Clear Sexy shad (for clear water and bright calm days) and Chrome Sexy shad when they just have to have some thing bright and flashy. Hope that helps and appreciate the question!
-
I have been to Table Rock several times and like it a lot. Certainly understand how the rocks could be a bit snaggy, but that is the nature of the beast with those types of highland reservoirs. I have actually never this "free rig", but my understanding is that the weight slides freely up and down the line which is why they call it the "free rig", so if your wanting to try that rig I would not recommend a drop shot. If you add a snap to the drop shot weight you might get the same desired effect. In my opinion, it would be hard to beat a drop shot, but the free rig might surprise me.
-
Great Question! I believe the best lure for VERY muddy flooded water is a spinnerbait. Typically a chartreuse or chart./white 1/2 oz double gold or copper (size #4 & #5 or larger) colorado bladed spinnerbait will get attention under these conditions. I have found fish to relate around bushes logs, rocks or docks and fishing the spinnerbait near them can get some great strikes. I would also recommend a matching grub or worm type trailer for added movement to attract attention.
-
-
-
-
No I have never used the Champ Craw. I use a Strike King Rage craw if I want at craw type look.
-
Thank you Jon glad you like the YT videos and SK shows. Thanks for watching...great question! Assuming your fishing for Smallmouth? Either way these should work for stained or off colored water I generally use the following: Spinnerbait with grub trailer Bladed jig (Thunder cricket) with a swimbait trailer Jig with chunk or Rage Craw for trailer Square Bill Crankbait (Strike King KVD 2.5) Buzzbait Tube in a dark melon, dark GP or black could be a killer for smallies A Red Eye shad Lipless crankbait can also be effective. Whenever the water visibility is diminished I use either bright colors (white, white and chart. or firetiger) or colors that produce darker silhouettes like Black/Blue or Dark green Pumpkin and sometimes dip the tail in chartruese or orange dye. Generally the fish in stained or off color water run shallower so that is where I would focus my efforts. Good fishing!
-
I don't use Falcon rods so I certainly don't want to speak to the rod brand or model your using. One thing to keep in mind is each persons muscle mechanics and each rod companies rod actions are going to be different, so if one rod doesn't produce the desired outcome experiment and keep working on both until things work for the best. For me if I am flipping a jig I typically will use a 7'6" Heavy Power Fast Aciton rod, that being said here are some thing to consider. I believe what I can share should be solid across many brands. #1 A strong powerful hookset is very important when flipping and driving through the set with a continued turning on the reel handle to maintain pressure during the whole battle is also important. The hookset doesn't always bury the hook past the barb because of many factors (cover, lure position in the fishes mouth, movement of the fish, etc.) so constant pressure throughout the battle is key. #2 Length and Leverage are important when flipping, so the move towards a heavier and longer rod is definitely a step in the right direction (helps take up slack and control the fish) Another thing is the Heavy Power Fast Action is also a good choice because flipping jig fishing requires a strong hookset (assuming you have a heavier gauge hook on a flipping type jig - key also) and that is magnified when your fishing close to the fish (like the flipping technique) #3 If I am using fluorocarbon when flipping I generally use nothing less that 20lb, some times 25lb, which gives me the ability to hit them with everything I have without ever thinking that my line might break as well as allows me to control the fish and get them away from cover. One last thing...Cover types matter. If your fishing in heavy grass then I would choose braid or braid to fluorocarbon. The grass can absorb a lot of the power on the hookset if the fish is buried in it causing lost fish with lines that have stretch. If your still loosing fish you may consider braid to help bury the hook even if your not fishing in grass. Thanks for the question, hope that helps and good fishing!
-
Generally speaking I try to choose to fish in a way that gives me the best opportunity for both and not necessarily strongly in one camp or the other. It doesn't happen often over the course of a tournament year where I have the luxury of targeting 5 big fish with larger field sizes (150+ boats). It really also depends on the current conditions, the type of lake, time of year and if the lake has a large population with numbers of big fish? If so you really need to focus on catching at least 2 to 3 big ones if you want a fighting chance. If I know that the lake has a history of producing numerous heavy bags and the conditions are favorable (low pressure and low light conditions) I will push harder towards what I perceive would produce bigger fish. If the opposite is true after the first bit in the morning then I would make sure that a nice limit is secured before I try to go big. Over 90% of the tournaments I fish are multiple day and points style events in an effort to qualify for a championship event, which makes it more problematic of recovering from in that event and for the season if you have a bad day. As you know, big fish are a high risk - high reward proposition, so I give it careful consideration before competition begins and really don't have a standing order of going big.
