Confidence

[Rebbasser]

Looking through the threads I see a lot about particular baits and colors, but rarely see one about confidence, and truth be told bass fishing is all about confidence-in your bait, location, whatever. I have a handful of baits that I EXPECT to get a hit every time I throw it-I have confidence that bait will catch fish. All of us have a favorite lure or two. We throw them because they work.

But it can also be a trap. If that is all we throw we are really limiting ourselves. To be a better bass fisherman sometimes you have to force yourself out of your comfort zone and throw something different. For example, I threw a jig-n-pig literally for years and never had a hit, let alone catch a fish. But I knew they worked-there was too much evidence they did work. So, I kept throwing one. And then came one magical day when I threw one up on a brushpile, pulled it off and felt a thump. I set the hook and was rewarded with a 4-5 pound largemouth. I caught several more, and guess what? I started to develop confidence in it, and it is one of my go-to lures now. Same with crankbaits. I had caught a few on them, but never really used them consistently. A couple of summers ago I was fishing a bare rock bank and decided to throw a crawfish colored deep runner up shallow so it would dig into the bottom. 10 fish later I had confidence in that, too.

My point is once you have confidence in one type bait put it down and try another type. Expand your arsenal, and you will catch more fish and be a better fisherman.

And finally, if you think spray painting your worm sinkers flat black, using a fluorocarbon leader on braid, adding tailfeathers to a topwater or whatever will help you catch more fish, IT WILL!

Baits, colors, depths, line, weights, hooks, etc.-none of that really matters. What matters is the confidence you have in baits, colors, depths, line, weights, hooks, etc. Because if you have confidence when you go out that you will catch fish, guess what? You probably will!