What Does Confident Fishing Mean To You

[BiteFiend]

I tend to associate confidence with trust. 

Fishing with confidence to me means that I trust my plan and my abilities. 

[N Florida Mike]

I have kept it simple.I started out using a few different baits( mostly t- rigged plastics.)And  I tried to learn a few areas well instead of fishing all over.

[JPascavage52]

A few things: 

- Finding areas on a body of water that produce with the techniques you're most proficient at, and being able to catch fish on them, while still being able to use a wide variety of techniques, not allowing yourself to become one dimensional and make adjustments for weather changes, bite turning off, etc. With that said, in my opinion, eliminating water and unproductive spots is almost just a successful as finding productive spots.

- Developing a system for preparation for trips, and getting everything ready ahead of time. Making sure everything works before you leave. There is nothing worse than getting out on the lake and getting stranded, or arriving to the lake and finding your trolling motor doesn't work, or arriving the morning of a tournament, only to discover you forgot that new bag of baits, or that your motor won't start. This immediately takes you out of your bubble, and makes you lose focus.

- Not panicking if you don't have success at first, and focusing on staying in your bubble, and grinding it out. If you lose focus, you increase your chances of missing a bite.

- At tournaments, avoiding chit chat and "dock talk" with your competitors as much as possible until you arrive at the weigh in at the end of the day. It's okay to be friendly, but chances are they will only try to "trash talk," "one up" you, and even psych you out with stories about catching big fish there on another day. Couple years back, in a club tournament, had a rider who would not stop talking for a second. Seemed like every spot we went to, he had a story to tell about "catching a four pounder here, catching a six pounder there, hooking a fish easily over five that jumped and threw the hook last week, etc." Those are good for photos and stories, but keep in mind, for tournaments, the only thing that matters are the fish that you physically bring to the scale at the end of the day, and that the official scale doesn't lie. 

- Realizing that you can fish all you want, but sometimes, it can be a crapshoot, and be a matter of luck. That hawg may just happen to be at your favorite dock/ laydown/ brushpile/ piece of offshore structure at the same time as you or someone else. 
 

[Molay1292]

Confidence in fishing for me is knowing that I have taken care of the things I can control.  Sharp hooks, quality line, perfect knots, ensuring my rods and reels are in top shape.   Knowing that I have asked questions and studied enough that I can read the conditions, wind, water, cover, structure, seasonal pattern and develop a plan that I will have success with.  

[bigbill]

Confidence?..I'm not sure if I have any.

I have continued to hone my skills to perfection with most baits and presentations. Don't get hung up with one bait for too long. If it isn't working change presentations. They change baits. What killed then yesterday may not work today. It can be a color thing too. Change colors. Skill is more important than confidence to me anyway patterns change.

In fishing the same places what was hot last year might not be hot this year. Throw something different. We're like a baseball pitcher try the change up pitch.

Confidence? I have no time to think I just fish. Confidence to me maybe is using the best fishing line I can buy. Excaliber Silver Thread Copolymer Line. 

Dont ever panick on a tough day, regroup and stay going forward. Finding the correct pattern along with the right presentation will load your boat. It not confidence it's faith in yourself with your skills.

 

[hawgenvy]

Confidence is fishing hard all day long in the heat of the summer or after a nasty cold front.

Confidence is when you haven't had a bite in four hours, and you're not only still fishing, but concentrating 100% on your rod tip and line to detect the tiniest tick.

Confidence is when you've got credit card debt but still ordering stuff from TW, even though you haven't caught but 12 pounds all year.

Confidence is going fishing after you've been skunked three times in a row.

Confidence is when there is a lure or lure category that you've never caught anything on, and you fish with it exclusively until you figure out how to catch fish with it.

Confidence is skipping docks with a bait caster.

Confidence is a virtue that a reasonable man would find that we bass anglers have beyond reason.

[An Outdoor Guy]

Confidence to me is going out there knowing that every piece of tackle I have catches fish, and all I have to do is figure out which one the fish want. (Color/size/retrieve)

If I'm trying a new lure and I want to boost my confidence in it I will DOWNSIZE. get a smaller lure of what I'm fishing. Smaller lures means smaller fish but more of them. I started with a little jerkbait from rapala. the husky jerk HJ6. and now I'm up to the rapala shadow raps. the smaller lures buld your confidence because you WILL catch fish just not monsters.

another good example. Chatter baits. Never used them till last month. got 4 regular sized chatter baits and 3 smaller ones. guess which ones have caught the most? yep. the smaller ones. still haven't caught anything on the regular sized ones but I'm still trying to gain confidence in them so I'm using the smaller ones for now.

 

[wnspain]

IMO confident fishing results from applying proven techniques with proven lures in areas that have the right characteristics (structure, cover) so that the anticipation of catching a fish remains very high from cast to cast. Many times, unsuccessful techniques, presentations, lure selection, or other factors will cause you to loose some of your confidence. That's about the time I change some aspect that renews my confidence, and revives my anticipation of getting bit. Fishing with confidence is a whole different world than those who let unsuccessful periods affect their attitude adversely resulting in giving up. This applies not only to fishing...

[ClackerBuzz]

technique/lure confidences:  you've fished a lure for so long, the wrong ways, that you've eliminated all possibilities and know the right way.

[BASS959]

Confidence to me is; Knowing I have the skill and experience, knowing I have the tools, knowing I am up for the challenge, knowing I can succeed but don't always do it, and understanding that even Van Dam doesn't always hit the mark. Hit or miss fishing is the most enjoyable hobby I have. Love your time on the water.  

[kilroy9988]

confident fishing comes in many different forms, and can have many different outcomes. sometimes it can prevent you from having a good day if you are to confident in one specific technique. up until the last couple years I was spending to many fish-less days pounding shore lines with spinners, when I should have been working slow and low. I have had some fantastic days on Mepps spinners, and had a lot of confidence in them. I still do have confidence in them, but only at specific times of the year. I had to force myself to try and gain the same type of confidence in other baits better suited for the time of year. Don't waste days on out of season confidence.