Entry 329-1

Strike King’s James Niggemeyer and the Lures That Got Him to the 2010 Bassmaster Classic

Part 1: Fishing the Ocho

Question: James, what was the most-important lure to you this year that allowed you to make the Bassmaster Classic?

Niggemeyer: I can’t really say that one lure or even five lures were totally responsible for helping me get back to the Classic. I’m fortunate that Strike King makes a wide variety of lures and over the course of the season, I’ve probably fished and caught fish with most of them. But I can tell you about five-different instances where one particular lure made an impact on how I fished a particular tournament.

Some of the most-memorable baits of my 2009 competition include the Ocho, the Rage Craw and the Pure Poison. At the first tournament of the year around 9:00 or 10:00 am, I had a bite on the Ocho and set the hook on a 10-pound largemouth. When I got that bass in the boat, I knew immediately that the Ocho was a bait that big bass on that lake would eat during that tournament. So, from that knowledge, I continued to fish the Ocho. I caught most of the fish I weighed-in on the Strike King Ocho during this tournament.

Question: How did you fish the Ocho, and how did you catch your fish?

Niggemeyer: We were fishing at Lake Amistad in Texas, and I Texas-rigged the Ocho. I was fishing the 7-inch Ocho on 14- and 16-pound test Sunline fluorocarbon with a 3/16-ounce bullet weight and using a No. 4/0 offset Xpoint hook. I was using a St. Croix Legend medium-heavy action tournament rod that’s 7-feet, 8-inches long. The reel I used was an Ardent XS1000.

Question: How were you finding the bass, and how were you catching them?

Niggemeyer: The majority of the bass I caught and weighed-in came from one area – a main lake flat with close deep-water access. What made this region so special was that I could catch bass coming and going. The pre-spawn fish were pulling-up and staging to get ready to spawn, and the post-spawn bass were coming off the bed and staging there before they went to deep water. There were also some scattered underwater bushes. I was fishing at depths of 25 feet to 40 feet.

Question: Most people think of the Ocho as a stick worm that you hook in the middle and fish wacky style. That’s what the bait was originally designed to do. Why were you rigging it Texas style?

Niggemeyer: When the water’s cold during the spawn, I’ve found that the Ocho can be deadly effective as a falling bait. Whether you rig the Ocho with or without a weight, the Ocho has a unique fall. It’s salt-injected, which means it has its own weight. Also it has 8 sides, which causes it to fall differently from a totally-round worm. Since the Ocho catches water from eight-different angles as it falls, it glides as it falls. Another thing about the Ocho is because it has 8-different sides, often the sun will hit many of those 8 sides and give off a flash, like the side of a baitfish when a baitfish is turning. So, the Ocho is a productive bait to fish whether you’re fishing in 3 or 40 feet of water.

Question: What color Ocho did you use and why?

Niggemeyer: I was fishing a color known as the Amistad special, an amber color with green and black flakes in it. Amber green always works really well in clear water, and the water was extremely clear for this tournament. That color can also represent many different types of forage that the bass eat.

Question: How did you rig your weight when you were fishing the Ocho?

Niggemeyer: I rigged the weight two-different ways. Sometimes I would peg the weight to the head of the worm, but other times I’d just let the weight slide freely up and down the line. Not only does this bait glide down, but it will also glide off to either side as it falls. One unique characteristic I’ve observed in the Ocho is that sometimes it will turn round and round, which gives it a unique action, allows the light to hit it from different angles and causes bass to be drawn to it.

Question: Was the Amistad tournament the only one where you used the Ocho?

Niggemeyer: No, it wasn’t. I caught fish I weighed in at Lake Dardanelle, Smith Mountain and an open tournament I fished before we went to Amistad with the Ocho. I caught most of the bass I weighed-in on the Ocho in that tournament. Don’t ever think that the Ocho is a one-trick pony. It can be fished successfully a lot different ways under various water and weather conditions in many sections of the country.

Next: I’d Bet on the Rage Craw

Contents:

• Part 1: Fishing the Ocho
• Part 2: I'd Bet on the Rage Craw
• Part 3: Pure Poison Proved Deadly
• Part 4: Fishing the Rage Tail Lizard
• Part 5: The Importance of the Game Hawg in 2009