Entry 329-3

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

Part 3: Pure Poison Proved Deadly

Question: Where was the Strike King Pure Poison, which is a chatter or racket-type bait, important to your success in winning a berth at the Classic?

Niggemeyer: I caught bass on Lake Oneida with the Pure Poison and at Alabama’s Wheeler Lake, but where I really caught some key fish that helped me gain points for the Classic was on Lake Guntersville in Alabama. This bait helped me get to the Classic because it was so versatile. I caught bass on several lakes with it.

Question: How were you fishing the Pure Poison at Guntersville?

Niggemeyer: I caught the majority of the bass that I weighed-in using the Pure Poison on a 3/8-ounce one that was chartreuse and white but leaning toward a natural shad color. I was fishing it a few-different ways. I would crank it until I hit grass, and then I’d rip it free from the grass. Many times, as soon as I’d rip it free from either milfoil or hydrilla, the bass would attack. But some of the bass also would attack the Pure Poison when I was just steady winding it on a straight retrieve. I was fishing the Pure Poison around main lake grass, points and pockets in the grass. I used 20-pound-test Sunline fluorocarbon, a St. Croix Legends Tournament 7-foot heavy-action rod with an Ardent XS1000 reel.

Question: Why did you pick the Pure Poison to fish at Guntersville?

Niggemeyer: I had caught bass on Guntersville with Strike King’s Premier Elite spinner bait and on Strike King’s 4S X crankbait. But when I started fishing the Pure Poison, I realized I was getting more bites per hour of fishing with the Pure Poison than I was with the other two baits. Also, the Pure Poison was producing better-than-average-size bass at the Guntersville tournament, where all the competitors were catching numbers of bass. Although I could catch bass with a lot of different lures, the Pure Poison was producing bigger bass than the other lures I was fishing.

Question: Why did you consider selecting the Pure Poison over the other baits?

Niggemeyer: The shad were spawning when we were at Guntersville. The bass would follow the spinner bait and the crankbait back to the boat, but they wouldn’t eat them. Now I don’t know why the bigger bass on that day on that lake preferred the Pure Poison to the Premier Elite spinner bait or the 4S X crankbait, and I don’t really think the “why” matters. I think some of the bass I caught had seen a spinner bait before slow-rolling through the grass. But they hadn’t seen anything that looked like the Pure Poison. I think that when I hit the grass with the bait and jerked it free, many times that action was what triggered the strike.

Next: Fishing the Rage Tail Lizard

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