The Mental Side of Bass Fishing

[Mark Perry]

Yesterday Matt Lee was struggling badly and they had him on live footage. He was well outside the cut around mid day. He said he was gonna stick with it a nbn d had confidence it was about to turn around. By the end of the day he was high into the cut.

Just goes to show what staying positive can do. A lot of guys would have spun out.

[Neilslure]

Other thing I have noticed about myself is who I have with me in the boat can influence me good or bad. If I have a guy who stays positive it keeps my head in the game and I make good decisions, if I get a negative nancy and the going gets tough and they go to bitching it can have a negitive effect on my clear thinking.

[skeeterator]

A full week of practice along with the event especially if bad weather, extreme heat or cold, windy etc all can make it physical.

Yup, daylight to dark practice in extreme hot or cold for a few days will flat out drain you physically.

[mikes733]

I know when I started leaving the house knowing I was gonna catch fish and knowing I would find them at some point in the day. My fishing improved drastically.

[c rig]

Confidence is a huge part of the equation.

Back when I used to fish a lot of local tournaments there were a few guys that I knew I could always make spin out.

For example, if fishing was slow with bites few and far between, and I knew they (and myself) were catching a few deeper, at times I’d make sure to park my boat next to theirs. They’d have c rigs and deep diving crankbaits on, I’d have just a couple rods on the deck rigged with a Pop R and bubblegum floating worms. To complete the picture, there would be a couple of scuffed up bubblegum worms on the floor of the boat. They’d comment on the shallow water stuff, I’d look around to make sure no one else was listening and in whispered tones confide to them that there was a dynamite shallow bite that everyone was missing.

Once they were out of sight I’d put the shallow stuff back in the rodbox and pull out the deeper water gear. If they didn’t get bit immediately deeper they spent so much time second guessing the potential shallow bite that they were done for the day.

A few other times when I knew where certain guys were fishing I’d be sure to be standing within earshot of them, and comment to my partner that Santee Cooper Power had just sprayed the grass in the area they were fishing. Then to complete the sting I’d get another team to stand within earshot of them and repeat the same story.

You could literally watch them crumble like a cookie. Do that to a few different guys, you just eliminated some competition.

[Stratos xl NC]

Confidence is a huge part of the equation.

Back when I used to fish a lot of local tournaments there were a few guys that I knew I could always make spin out.

For example, if fishing was slow with bites few and far between, and I knew they (and myself) were catching a few deeper, at times I’d make sure to park my boat next to theirs. They’d have c rigs and deep diving crankbaits on, I’d have just a couple rods on the deck rigged with a Pop R and bubblegum floating worms. To complete the picture, there would be a couple of scuffed up bubblegum worms on the floor of the boat. They’d comment on the shallow water stuff, I’d look around to make sure no one else was listening and in whispered tones confide to them that there was a dynamite shallow bite that everyone was missing.

Once they were out of sight I’d put the shallow stuff back in the rodbox and pull out the deeper water gear. If they didn’t get bit immediately deeper they spent so much time second guessing the potential shallow bite that they were done for the day.

A few other times when I knew where certain guys were fishing I’d be sure to be standing within earshot of them, and comment to my partner that Santee Cooper Power had just sprayed the grass in the area they were fishing. Then to complete the sting I’d get another team to stand within earshot of them and repeat the same story.

You could literally watch them crumble like a cookie. Do that to a few different guys, you just eliminated some competition.

That is classic!!

[188Musky]

Confidence is a huge part of the equation.

Back when I used to fish a lot of local tournaments there were a few guys that I knew I could always make spin out...

Maybe that's why you never won anything; you were always focused what other guys were doing, instead of being focused on you were doing.

[Lund1625]

Fishing is 90% mental and the other half is physical.

[basscatcher89]

100% agree with this. Read on another forum one time a story about a Marshall who was with KVD. He loses a big fish at the boat, 6+. Never said a word. Threw right back out and kept fishing. When they were heading back in and about to put it on the trailer, Kevin looks at the Marshall and says “Really would have liked to have had that fish”. Only thing he ever said about it.

I once lost a big fish, 8+ in a tourney. Mouth could fit a basketball in it. It screwed me up for an entire summer.

80/20 sounds good to me.

Swindle tells a story like that about Kevin in his PMA seminar and he said Kevin hooked up with a 6 and fish come off at the boat he just keeps casting and hooked up with a 5 and lost it at the boat again and just went back to casting and looked at the camera guy and said "That don't happen often does it?" And kept on going.