What Does Confident Fishing Mean To You

[Ersteman]

What does confident fishing mean to you? 

What are things you've done to increase confidence?

 

[Bluebasser86]

I'm fishing confident when I'm doing what I know and what I feel should be working, and it's producing for me.

 

Nothing increases confidence like going out, fishing, and having success. 

[Oregon Native]

Time on a body of water....being open and not stuck on a plan

[Ersteman]

Agreed Blue.

Yah, Oregon, I need to shake the 'being stuck on a plan' thing, but I get torn at times, when I'm trying to increase confidence in a weakness I have, but if the fish don't like that particular presentation, then how am I supposed to gain confidence in it.  It's quite a conundrum.

[scaleface]

  Fishing is easy and I have caught a lot of fish not just bass . I just feel confident whenever I go fishing  

 

If I dont catch fish on a lure or technique , so what , I know they work and I just wasnt in the right place at the right time .

[tander]

Knowing I got all the tools in my boat to catch fish, All I got to do is choose the right one and use the correct technique.

[Nice_Bass]

A confident day of fishing results in me only having 2-3 rods or less on the deck of the boat.

[Catt]

Experience tells you what to do...confidence allows you to do it!

[scaleface]

I have never been salt water fishing in my life . I am confident that I can walk  down one of those peers with my Bass fishing gear and catch something . I would be surprised if I didnt .

[soflabasser]

Confidence is by far the most important attribute anyone can have in anything they do!

[Gundog]

For me confident fishing means fishing slow with flipping and pitching techniques. Its spending time on the water, reading the conditions & changing when you need to change. 

[scaleface]

I'm going to make one more post on this thread . 

I have taken a lot of people fishing . Those that get discouraged easily dont  develop into competent anglers . Those that dont get discouraged learn quickly .  Bad days of fishing are good learning experiences . 

 

 

[A-Jay]

For me fishing confidence has been developed over time.

More time & experience on the water equates to more understanding.

It's this experienced based understanding that helps enable me to apply concepts learned that provide confidence.

Finding & catching fish "right where & how" I expected certainly boosts confidence.

However, putting it all together in a way that's not what I expected and / or doing something different in a new location is a very empowering.

I roll out of bed confident, doesn't guarantee anything, but it certainly doesn't hurt either.

A-Jay

[J Francho]

It means I'm content to concentrate on what I'm doing without question. 

When there is a question, I try a solution, and go back to the first sentence.

[Preytorien]

I think confidence, as you can see by the posts above, is the confluence of a lot of different things. The right gear, conditions you like, maybe a body of water you historically have success on. But I've learned that confidence doesn't always mean success. Sometimes those fish, despite excellent weather for fishing, having the right gear, and being on the best lake, will not bite, and you never know why - they tend to keep it a secret. 

For me, confidence is simply knowing I've done all I can do for the factors that I CAN control. It's knowing that despite the conditions I'm faced with, I'm using the right gear, an effective lure, and breaking down my presentations to cover and structure, and I'm giving it my focus and best. 

That's all we can do really......be confident

[iiTzChunky]

1 hour ago, scaleface said:

I have never been salt water fishing in my life . I am confident that I can walk  down one of those peers with my Bass fishing gear and catch something . I would be surprised if I didnt .

I would be surprised if you didn't either, all you gotta do is drop the line down with some shrimp on the end and reel it back it. 

[blckshirt98]

For me confidence fishing means a bite is just a twitch of the rod away; confidence in the lure I have tied on, to how I'm working the lure, to the location I'm at.  Time passes by faster as I'm focused on fishing.  On days when I'm not fishing with confidence I feel like I'm just going through the motions, and I think of what other things I could be doing instead of fishing.  I'm not paying attention to my rod or line, I'm not alert to properly set the hook because I'm not expecting a bite, I'm not working the bait properly (usually too fast), which all leads to fewer bites/no bites/missed bites.

[Master Bait'r]

To me confidence isn't necessarily confidence in catching but more of confidence in what the bait is doing and the look I'm giving.  It's also knowing how the rod loads, the hooks sets stick nice and the drag behaves with X size fish on Y combo.  

 

When I am familiar with all the variables in my control, I'm fishing confident.  When I'm learning, experimenting or just trying new things/equipment I fish more tentatively because I am still maybe unsure of what the bait is doing and how the fish tend to react, or maybe dialing in a new combo and getting the feel of the cast control, brakes, spool and rod loading etc. 

[MassYak85]

Confidence to me is going the entire day without so much as a bite, but on that last cast of the day still saying to yourself "I am giving myself the best chance to catch a fish right now". That's a combination of conditions, lure selection, and gear. 

[K_Mac]

4 hours ago, J Francho said:

It means I'm content to concentrate on what I'm doing without question. 

When there is a question, I try a solution, and go back to the first sentence.

I think this sums it up well. It is knowing that what you are doing gives you a good chance of catching the size and/or numbers you are looking for. It takes time and patience, but real confidence only comes with knowledge and experience. What allows J Franco to concentrate on what he's doing exclusively in any situation? He's paid his dues by learning about bass; the what, why, where and when of their behavior, and spent countless of hours refining his skills.

I have spent far too many days on the water manically trying  everything in the box. I still get caught up in that occasionally, but not very often. Most of the time I have done my homework,  and know what techniques and locations gives me the best chance of success. That confidence allows me to relax and focus on what I'm  doing. 

Relaxed and focused is the real secret to success in my opinion.

[J Francho]

25 minutes ago, K_Mac said:

I have spent far too many days on the water manically trying  everything in the box.

I still have days like this.  My statement above is when I feel like I did everything right, even if I didn't have success.  I know I've said this in the past, "I gain confidence through success."  However, I'm gonna shift on that, and open it up to gaining confidence through failure.  Meaning, I'm confident that won't work.  There those days too, lol.

It's a game of educated guessing.  Sometimes I'm more educated.  Sometimes I'm more guessing.

[Darren.]

I've always thought of confidence in fishing
to be a nebulous term. I.e., say Joe is "confident"
in that bubblegum worm. Works all the time.

But then I try it and can't buy a bite. Confidence
is one thing to one person and something else
to another.

I experimented though, once, following a suggestion
here at this forum, by taking only a bag of a new
BPS Stik-O out, and only that bag, none of my
fall back baits, or usual Senkos.

Actually had good success to the point I felt...
"confident" in using that bait that I would catch bass
on 'em. And I have. But my buddy has had no such
luck with it.

So ... for whatever it is worth, my .02 on the matter.  

[Montanaro]

Confident means feeling giddy that I could get a bite on any cast.  Love that feeling.

 

How do i get confidence?  Listening to music.  It gets me out of my head and puts me in a good mood

[whitwolf]

Confident fishing; Most everytime on the water I start with a supreme amount of confidence. I usually know the what, where, and why so I pick my bait and go to work. There are times I catch and there are times I don't. I never sweat it and always take a positive approach to the day from start to finish. If experience has taught me anything It's a "knowing" what to do. I might go fishless or I might catch my personal best but no matter what I put myself In what I feel Is the best possible place(location) to catch some fish which In turn breeds an Incredible amount of confidence.

 

On a side note: For those of you that find yourself merely going through the motions I suggest this. Everyone has those days and It's quite common. What I do Is simply set everything down for a few minutes, think about the day while eating a bite or drinking a drink and just enjoy the down time. 

To the OP, good topic, thanks for posting!

[Cody Krehbiel]

Confidence to me is a Texas rigged gitzit in submerged timber.