OPTIMA® Batteries PAA Corporate Cup Team Highlight – Team Strike King – Mark Davis and James Niggemeyer
Category: press release
Sep 11th, 2008 by OutdoorsFIRST
Modified Sep 11th, 2008 at 12:00 AM
OPTIMA® Batteries PAA Corporate Cup Team Highlight – Team Strike King – Mark Davis and James NiggemeyerBenton, Ky. – As the calendar winds towards October 9 – 11 and the PAA Corporate Cup presented by OPTIMA® Batteries draws closer, teams are making preparations and planning strategies to use in attacking Pickwick Lake. One of those teams that has been burning up the phone lines making plans is the team organized by Strike King Lures. The Collierville, Tenn. firm has compiled a team for the Corporate Cup that includes past PAA President Mark Davis from Mt. Ida, Ark., a three-time Bassmaster Angler of the Year, and the 1995 Bassmaster Classic Champion, and James Niggemeyer of Van, Tex. Niggemeyer is the 2006 Bassmaster Southern Tour Angler of the Year, an Elite Series pro with two BASS wins and more than $308,000 in earnings over 60 tournament entries. Talk amongst the anglers and prognosticators is that Pickwick Lake will be in an early fall conditions that will see anglers be able to pick from one of two patterns to target. Typical early fall patterns on Tennessee Valley Authority Lakes can consist of attacking shallow hydrilla beds or fishing offshore structure. With those being the predominant locations for schools of Pickwick bass, the Strike King contingent of Davis and Niggemeyer seem tailored to match those conditions. The reason being, Davis is known for his penchant for targeting offshore structure with crankbaits and plastics, while Niggemeyer is most at home with a flipping stick in his hand; the pair will use their strengths to adopt a practice strategy to capitalize on the conditions. “James and I have talked about our strategy for the event, and we are going to try and use our own strengths to develop our plan,” The Skeeter boats pro revealed. “James is great around grass, and I love to structure fish, so we will each fish our own way in practice and figure out the collective strategy for the event.” Niggemeyer said that he agreed with Davis’ assessment of the approach, but added that he felt the team as a whole was very well put together. He revealed that there is a lot of fishing acumen with Allen Ranson, Strike King’s COO and Chris Brown the company’s Marketing and Consumer Relations Manager. “Mark and Allen fished tournaments together as teenagers, and have a lot of history together on the water,” Niggemeyer let on, and said that he and Brown also fish well together. “Chris and I have been in my Bass Cat plenty of times over the years and I can say that he can hold his own out there as well, I’m really looking forward to fishing with this team.” Davis said one advantage that the Strike King team would have would be local knowledge. “Allen has intimate knowledge on Pickwick that could prove to be invaluable to us,” he said. “He really knows this lake well, and while there are times that kind of history can prove to be too much for a tournament, his knowledge will help us locate more areas once we have identified a specific pattern.” Both Anglers are looking forward to the Corporate Cup, Davis, who recently finished his two year term as the President of the PAA, and remains on the Board of Directors said that the Corporate Cup is precisely what the industry needs. “I think that this event is a great opportunity to bridge gaps that exist between anglers and sponsors,” Davis said. “Those gaps are a result of a lack of opportunities for anglers and sponsors to interact in environments where fun and camaraderie are the focus; I think the Corporate Cup is going to become one of the benchmark events each year.” Niggemeyer also relishes the opportunity to interact with his partners from Strike King, but also because the event has so many close ties to his entire support group as well. “With the PAA joining forces with WFN for broadcasting the Corporate Cup, I am looking forward to working with an organization that televises Bass Edge, a show I am fortunate enough to promote,” he said. “The Corporate Cup gives us another opportunity this year to present not only Strike King, but companies like Bass Edge and Ditch Witch to fishing fans throughout the U.S. and Canada as well on our shared network.” Like any tournament, the anglers are professionals, and their thoughts are geared towards how to win the tournament, but Davis said that motivations are somewhat different in an event of this type. “Team tournaments are a low pressure way to compete and have a lot of fun,” he said. “I know that Allen is looking forward to competing and trying to win the event, we’ll certainly go after it that way, but this is going to be a really fun event, I am really looking forward to it.” For more information about the Professional anglers Association or The PAA Corporate Cup presented by OPTIMA® Batteries, visit: www.fishpaa.com.