Entry 203-1

James Niggemeyer’s $62,500 Payday

Part 1: How the PAA Texas/Toyota Tournament Was Set Up

Question: How many people and how many teams took part in this PAA tournament?

Niggemeyer: There were 160 anglers fishing. PAA divided that number into four-man teams, which meant 40, four-man teams participated. Denny Brauer, Chad Brauer, Mark Menendez, Mike Wurm and a couple of the other Strike King pros took part in the tournament. Pros from both the Bassmasters and FLW circuits participated.

Question: How was the tournament conducted?

Niggemeyer: Two people on each four-man team fished together during the morning session, and the other two members of the four-man team fished together in the afternoon. There was time in the middle of the day for strategy talks where team members could share what they’d learned from each other to try and put together a winning pattern. I believe the strategy sessions were very important to our team, because I’m convinced they made the difference in our winning. We had two practice days, and then we had two competition days. At the end of the two competition days, the field was cut from 40 teams to five teams to fish for the championship.

Question: Who fished with you?

Niggemeyer: Our team consisted of Terry Scroggins (the team captain), and he fished with Chris Daves. My partner was Frank Ippoliti.

Next: What We Learned in Practice

Contents:

• Part 1: How the PAA Texas/Toyota Tournament Was Set Up
• Part 2: What We Learned in Practice
• Part 3: First Day of Competition
• Part 4: Disaster Strikes
• Part 5: How Four of Us Won $250,000