®
Winter 2019
Fishing was fun again, and it showed in his performance. In particular, he recognized that moving to a new tour gave him a fresh set of eyes on the water.
His three worst finishes came on the Harris Chain, Kentucky Lake and St. Clair, all stalwart venues of the Elite Series, while his two best finishes came on Lanier and Cumberland, waters he’d never fished with B.A.S.S. It wasn’t the first time that the veteran pro jumpstarted his career with a change of scenery.
Nearly two decades ago the California native uprooted his life and moved to what he perceived to be the center of the bass fishing universe – Lake Fork, Texas – where he guided and fished non-stop while couch surfing and even living in a barn for a while. He’d pursued that move for
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several reasons: It would put him closer to the heart of the national tournament scene, allow him to guide as much as he wanted, and expose him to new types of waters and techniques.
Just about every angler, from the beginning weekend competitor up to multiple-time Classic winners, goes through slumps or down periods, and Niggemeyer said that it’s not always easy to identify the reasons for those troubles.
“If we knew how to fix it, we wouldn’t have those problems,” he said. Similarly, changing tours is not necessarily a cure-all for everyone. “I’ve seen some guys come from BASS to FLW and do better, and others do worse. Look at David Williams. He’s a hammer, he qualified for the All-American five times. But he could only hang on the Elites for a short period, and then he came (to FLW) and challenged for AOY. The change did well for him just like it did for me.”
Indeed, his friendship with Williams, which started to bloom after they both left the Elites but before the 2018 season began, benefited both anglers.
While changing organizations can provide a “clean slate,” it also creates challenges of its own. For example, in many cases anglers will have to find a new social network on the road.
Niggemeyer noted that B.A.S.S. and FLW conduct their livewell checks differently – an inadvertent failure to comply with your circuit’s rules could nevertheless be costly.
On the other hand, some of the seemingly minor differences were very much welcomed – in particular he liked the fact that FLW provided an “off day” between the end of practice and the start of the event.
Not only did that allow him to make sure that every piece of his tackle and boat were ready to go, but it also enabled him to socialize with other competitors over dinner, once again adding fun back into the equation.
“It was like starting a new job, and newness in anything keeps you on your toes,” he said.
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