Entry 317-1

How to Catch Bass from Texas to New York with James Niggemeyer

Part 1: A Span of 1,500 Miles and They’re Still Just Bass

Question: James, how are you going to change your fishing when you leave east Texas and head for Lake Oneida in New York this August? There will be temperature changes, climate changes and even bass changes. You don’t have smallmouths in the Texas lakes you fish, yet smallmouths are one of the most-dominant species at Lake Oneida.

Niggemeyer: Regardless of where you fish in the United States in August, you’ll be fishing in the summertime. Right now it’s summertime in New York, just like it’s summertime in Texas. And although there may be temperature differences, the bass will still be in their summer patterns.

When you make an extreme geographic change, like from Texas to New York, remember that regardless of where you’re fishing, unless you cross the equator, you’re fishing at the same time of year. So the first thing I consider as I’m driving to New York is where will bass be in New York on their summer pattern? Although I’m traveling northeast 1,500 miles from home, I’ll still be fishing for summer bass. There will be a lot of similarities in how I catch bass in Texas and how I catch bass in New York at this time of year.

The one big difference will be that I’ll be fishing for multiple species of bass in New York, instead of fishing for just largemouths like I will in Texas. The other factor affecting my bass fishing will be that I’ll be fishing extremely-clear water. Now there is some clear water in some parts of Texas, but not nearly as clear as the water we’ll be fishing at Oneida. However, even though the water’s clear, and we’ll be fishing for largemouths as well as smallmouths, once again, the fish will still be feeding on their summer patterns. One of the advantages to going to New York and fishing on Oneida is I can put 15-20 rods on my casting deck with a different lure on each rod and catch a bass with any one of those lures. In Texas, I only may have six rods out on my deck, but I’ll probably catch bass on only one or two lures.

Question: What’s another difference between fishing in Texas the last week in July and fishing in New York State in August?

Niggemeyer: Many of the lakes in New York are natural lakes, and they have grass in them. The bass will relate to grass in the same way in Texas as they will in New York. So I’ll be able to use many of the grass techniques that I fish in the South when I go to New York.

Question: Okay, James, if you’re going out in August to catch bass on Lake Fork in Texas where you guide, where will you expect the bass to be, and how will you expect to catch them?

Niggemeyer: Right now you can catch bass from right-up against the bank all the way out to 30-feet deep on Lake Fork. Normally at this time of year, most of the bass will be caught about 20-feet deep. However, this year has been a strange one on Lake Fork. I’ve been doing really well and catching plenty of bass fishing grassy main-lake points with Strike King Series 5 and Series 6 crankbaits. For some reason, the bass seem to be holding more in that mid-range from 8 to 18 feet than at 20- to 30-feet deep. I’ve also been really successful at catching bass on points in 4-10 feet of water.

Question: How will your fishing change when you travel to practice fish on Lake Oneida the first part of August?

Niggemeyer: I’ve got several options when I fish Oneida that are drastically different from fishing at Lake Fork. At Oneida, I can try to pattern just smallmouths and hope to catch enough big smallmouths to win. Or, I can pattern just largemouths. Because the largemouths tend to grow bigger, I can hope that if I just pattern largemouths and try to catch them, I’ve got a chance to win. I also can set-up a pattern to try to catch both largemouths and smallmouths. Then if I’m struggling try to catch largemouths and not catching the sizes and numbers I think I ought to be catching, I can switch and start fishing for smallmouths to make sure I get a limit of good-sized fish.

When I’m going for the smallmouths, I can fish top-water lures like Strike King’s Spit-N-King or Wild Shiner. In that clear water at Oneida, those smallmouths will come up from down deep and blow-up on those baits. If I want to go a little deeper for smallmouths, I can fish Strike King’s new Burner spinner baits. The smallmouths will react to those baits and take them in that clear water. If I decide to finesse fish for those smallmouths, I’ll use the Strike King Coffee Tube, or I can drop-shot for them with Strike King’s finesse worm.

Now when I’m fishing for largemouths, I’ll be trying the Rage Toad in the grass or Strike King’s deep-diving crankbaits like the Series 6 XD in 20 feet of water. There will be bass holding in more different segments of the water column in New York than there will be here in Texas. That can be an advantage or a disadvantage. In Texas, 80% of the bass will be holding in that really-deep water. In Texas, I primarily fish reservoirs, and in New York I’ll be fishing natural lakes that tend to lend themselves more to a shallow-water bite.

Next: New York Has Largemouths, and I Can Catch Them on the Same Strike King Lures I Use in Texas

Contents:

• Part 1: A Span of 1,500 Miles and They're Still Just Bass
• Part 2: New York Has Largemouths, and I Can Catch Them on the Same Strike King Lures I Use in Texas
• Part 3: Practice Down South to Catch Bass Up North
• Part 4: Being the New Guy in Tournament Bass Fishing
• Part 5: Choose Where to Fish for Summer Lunkers