Positive vs. Negative thinking?

[fishbear]

I have a question for everyone here.

How does Positive or Negative thinking affect your fishing trips or tournaments?

If you have a negative attitude about a certain lake before you fish it, does it affect the way you approach the day?  Or if you lose your favorite lure in the first 30 min???

Likewise, how does it affect your fishing if you are excuse the expression all warm and fuzzy about the fishing trip?

I am just kinda curious about this, since someone was talking to me the other day about the force of positive thinking vs. negative.

[Guest the_muddy_man]

I'm grateful every time I get a chance to fish. I didn't do nearly as well as i thought at the Fork Trip. I came away with a lot more security in how i fish b/c I was trying too much new stuff.When I started to fish the way i like I STARTED CATCHING FISH.

 The best part of the trip was the fellowshipping. The most important thing i learned, because it was so windy MY BAITCASTING SKILLS IMPROVED A LOT!!!!!!!!  I think of myself more as greatful than anything else 8-)

[KU_Bassmaster.]

There are A LOT of times when that alarm clok goes off in the morning and I think for a second that it would be nice to sleep in that day because the conditions aren't great.  A lot of times those turn out to be the best days :.  That keeps me going.

[burleytog]

Confidence and positive thinking are two of the keys to being a successful fisherman.

IMO confidence means more than just about anything.

[Guest avid]

when I start getting negetive on the water, I know it's time to go in.

My problem is usually that I think the next cove, or the next cast will get me a biggun.

[burleytog]

I do the same thing avid.  Especially if it is 'fishy' looking water.

One of my local lakes has a ton of cover and houses some big fish.  5 or 6 times a year I'll get my hopes up after a few successful trips to other lakes, then go to that little 50 acre lake and get skunked.  It really gets me down on myself.

It is hard to keep a positive attitude when you're getting skunked.  That attitude usually gets compounded by getting tangled in every limb on the lake.

If I am fishing alone I find that I get negative entirely too quickly.  If someone else is along and we're both struggling then I don't get that negative.  If the other person is slaying them, then I tend to get a little miffed and start 'playing' instead of fishing.

[Long Mike]

I guess I am the eternal optimist. I am a newbie to bass fishing and have all of eight months of experience under my belt. Unfortunately, winter intervened in my learning process, so you could narrow it down to three. I fish alone from an inflatable raft. My mentors are the ones who teach me on this forum. Spring has been a real ***** this year. so I have had limited fishing opportunities.

All the babble aside, EVERY time I put my boat in the water I have every confidence in the world that I will catch bass. If I didn't catch them today, then I am positive that I will do it tomorrow. Never give up.

[burleytog]

All the babble aside, EVERY time I put my boat in the water I have every confidence in the world that I will catch bass. If I didn't catch them today, then I am positive that I will do it tomorrow. Never give up.

That is what keeps me going.  I know people who get PO'ed if they don't catch a fish during their first 5 minutes on the water.

I have a friend who pretty much gives up after an hour.

As I said in my initial reply, IMO confidence is the most important factor in fishing, be it competitive or recreational.

[BucketmouthAngler13]

Dont forget, when someone says that negitive thinking has negitive results, they are thinking negitive thoughts.

;D ;D ;D

[frogtog]

Burley hit the nail on the head. You have to wipe the neg thoughs out if you don't they will rule. 8-)

[Catt]

I'm completely confident in my ability to locate and catch fish on any body of water; however this does not mean they are going to bite.

Some days are diamonds

Some days are stones

Some days I should have never left home

[RecMar8541]

Negative thinking in my opinion opens the mind up to wandering....right when that good bite hits.  We tend to concentrate less, and dont give every cast 100% its easy to do on a rough day, or when out of our comfort zone.

What I try to do is just set the rod down for a second, comptemplate my options and look at the lake differently.

Carlos Hathcock (best marine sniper ever)  said "the most deadly thing on the battle field is one well aimed shot."  

How true of fishing also.  concentration, and in alot of cases accuracy can make a huge difference!!

remember all it takes is one cast to catch that bass of a lifetime.  Rememberin that keeps me on my toes. All to often negative thoughts lead to negative actions....

[BASS fisherman]

Rick Clunn participated in an interview about this very topic in the March 2007 Bassmaster mag.  

The article touched base on how everything in the universe is connected on a quantum physics level. You know like atoms, protons, and neutrons.

Clunn says

"At the quantum physics level, it says there's a negativily charged particle and a positivily charged particle and these particles are related.  When one of the particles changes it's charge, the other one immediatly changes it's charge.  This happens even though, in universal terms, they're light years apart.  How does a message go from this particle to that when there's no known communication that could move that fast?  It happens at the quantum physics level."

"What I'm getting at is that there are connections that we don't understand.  A dog at a distance can sense whether it likes a person or doesn't like them.  It sounds wild, but it's unexplained things I've always been curious about. Stuff goes on that we just don't have any clue about."

The interviewer asked Clunn:  "Can you give a specific example of a quantum physics connection to fishing you've experienced?

Clunn:"When I was guiding [on lake Conroe, Texas], I had clients that could not catch fish no matter what I did.  And this happened to the same people over many, many trips.  It was like some type of force was at work.  This one guy stood out I mean, it's like he repelled other things around him.  He was a very negative person.  He complained alot about the wind, the heat, the way we were fishing.  Over and over, this guy could not get a bite when the other guy in the boat could catch them every cast.  I'd give him my rod.  I'd give him my lure.  I'd even make the cast for him.  I tried to remove every physical variable I could.

 There's one instance that will always stand out to me.  The year after they killed all the hydrilla in lake Conroe, gigantic schools of bass moved to brushpiles because they had no other cover left.  I had one brush pile that held thousands of bass.  All you had to do was hit that brush pile with a crankbait and you'd have a four pounder on every single cast.  

 I would make the cast to make sure the crankbait would come through the brush pile.  I would hand it to this guy and watch his rod tip jump when the crankbait hit the brush.  I would expect his rod to load up, but it never would.

 And then I would think, that can't be possible.  A fish can't possibly know that this guy has a negative attitude.  They're over there, and he's over here.  And yet, if you look at it from a quantum physics level, yes they can."

I have seen the same scenario while fishing with my Dad several times.  He is just 110% bad/negative attitude when he is on the water, and has yet to catch a bass over 1lb.