Confidence is Key 2025
90x reply :
I have come to a conclusion that can be applied to every aspect in life.....confidence is success. I recently went out fishing and was playing around with some baits that I had never used before.
some baits I had different opinions on. For instance, i tied on a buzz-bait. I felt really confident about this bait. I casted it in the water and had a strike (missed the bass, short strike). I did not believe it. I tied on a zoom fluke that I have never really had any success with. casted it and came up empty. Moved on to one of the baits I really love, zoom magnum worms! Caught 3 bass.
I have come to the conclusion that if you have enough confidence in yourself and the bait, you are guaranteed to catch fish.
probably pretty obvious to you. I however, just started to realize confidences roll in my fishing. I have never been the greatest fisherman. I've caught bass here and there. But I have got so say, after catching one or two bass on a lure, confidence really grows. To me, I reassure myself that I am doing the right thing fishing and outside of fishing.
I am sounding pretty weird now, but it is a fascination to me. I have a feeling that the degree of confidence that you have is proportional to the amount of fish you catch. It's like you are transferring some sort of energy to your lure when you fish with confidence lol! sounds kinda crazy, but its the truth.
grimlin reply :
QuoteI have come to a conclusion that can be applied to every aspect in life.....confidence is success. I recently went out fishing and was playing around with some baits that I had never used before.some baits I had different opinions on. For instance, i tied on a buzz-bait. I felt really confident about this bait. I casted it in the water and had a strike (missed the bass, short strike). I did not believe it. I tied on a zoom fluke that I have never really had any success with. casted it and came up empty. Moved on to one of the baits I really love, zoom magnum worms! Caught 3 bass.
I have come to the conclusion that if you have enough confidence in yourself and the bait, you are guaranteed to catch fish.
probably pretty obvious to you. I however, just started to realize confidences roll in my fishing. I have never been the greatest fisherman. I've caught bass here and there. But I have got so say, after catching one or two bass on a lure, confidence really grows. To me, I reassure myself that I am doing the right thing fishing and outside of fishing.
I am sounding pretty weird now, but it is a fascination to me. I have a feeling that the degree of confidence that you have is proportional to the amount of fish you catch. It's like you are transferring some sort of energy to your lure when you fish with confidence lol! sounds kinda crazy, but its the truth.
Come to one of my inland lakes and I'll shatter that confidence quickly....Knowledge also plays a big role,the more the knowledge and success you have,the more your confidence grows.
Which is why i read,re-read over all those tips on the main site and try to apply on the water what i just learned.
Wealth of knowledge and learning from sites like this one is who i own my gratitude for my success.
SkeeterZX225 reply :
IMO, confidence comes from understading how the lure works and what situations it works best in. However you still need experience and knowledge to figure out where the fish are positioned, best lure and pattern choices and a overall knowledge of bass themselves. I could have all the confidence in the world in one certain lure, but if I don't put it in the water near where the fish are, I'm not going to catch anything. Confidence is a great thing to have in fishing, but as you gain confidence in that lure because it consistently catches fish, try to figure out why those fish are there and why that lure catches them. Then you will gain knowledge, which in turn lets you make better decisions at other times and also gives you other choices in lures to use.
One thing I try to do every day I fish is learn something different. If not it just becames a boring sport, and you find yourself in a rut.
Good luck!!!!
Muddy reply :
It's all about LOCATION and the mood of the fish. If they ain't there and they ain't biting all the knowledge and confidence in the world is not gotta put em in the boat
bigtimfish reply :
Confidence is putting time on a bait. If you don't fish it, or you throw it 10 times and change baits,you won't catch anything on it. Therefore no confidence.
DINK WHISPERER reply :
My confidence comes only after mastering a technique/lure or a certain sweet spot, lake etc. Without experience and knowledge there is no confidence!
kingfisher85 reply :
im becoming more superstitious with the confidence will catch fish theory.. i just started and had bad luck (nothing over 1.5lbs) i went out with my new baitcaster and i was confident as all hell and i pulled in about 7 in the 4-6lb range. that day i went out there with the most confidence and the attitude of "im gonna slay the bass today" and it was the best day ive had yet... but logically speaking its probably because it was a cooler day with some rain here and there and some sun here and there while the rest of the times ive been out were probably just way too hot.
although.... the one spinnerbait i had the most confidence in has brought me the most success.. probably coincidence... lol :
bigtimfish reply :
Quoteim becoming more superstitious with the confidence will catch fish theory.. i just started and had bad luck (nothing over 1.5lbs) i went out with my new baitcaster and i was confident as all hell and i pulled in about 7 in the 4-6lb range. that day i went out there with the most confidence and the attitude of "im gonna slay the bass today" and it was the best day ive had yet... but logically speaking its probably because it was a cooler day with some rain here and there and some sun here and there while the rest of the times ive been out were probably just way too hot.although.... the one spinnerbait i had the most confidence in has brought me the most success.. probably coincidence... lol :
I would'nt say you had bad luck, you caught some fish.I can catch 1.5 lb'rs all day long and have a blast. And don't forget, you can't catch a big ol sow belly bass if there is'nt one around.
Lucky Craft Man reply :
I thought success came from buying the most expensive equipment available. ;D
Grey Wolf reply :
QuoteI have come to a conclusion that can be applied to every aspect in life.....confidence is success. I recently went out fishing and was playing around with some baits that I had never used before.some baits I had different opinions on. For instance, i tied on a buzz-bait. I felt really confident about this bait. I casted it in the water and had a strike (missed the bass, short strike). I did not believe it. I tied on a zoom fluke that I have never really had any success with. casted it and came up empty. Moved on to one of the baits I really love, zoom magnum worms! Caught 3 bass.
I have come to the conclusion that if you have enough confidence in yourself and the bait, you are guaranteed to catch fish.
probably pretty obvious to you. I however, just started to realize confidences roll in my fishing. I have never been the greatest fisherman. I've caught bass here and there. But I have got so say, after catching one or two bass on a lure, confidence really grows. To me, I reassure myself that I am doing the right thing fishing and outside of fishing.
I am sounding pretty weird now, but it is a fascination to me. I have a feeling that the degree of confidence that you have is proportional to the amount of fish you catch. It's like you are transferring some sort of energy to your lure when you fish with confidence lol! sounds kinda crazy, but its the truth.
k-n-o-w-l-e-d-g-e is what catches bass.
Muddy reply :
QuoteI thought success came from buying the most expensive equipment available. ;D
As much as you claim that this is not an issue, you love stirring this point up, don't you? :-?
NewAngler reply :
Let me preface this first; I've caught a total of 2 bass since I started fishing.
I don't agree that confidence alone, if at all will increase your number of fish caught. I go out every time I fish with the swagger of that I will put kvd out of a job. I've been out like 30. Read first sentence.
SirSnookalot reply :
QuoteCome to one of my inland lakes and I'll shatter that confidence quickly....Knowledge also plays a big role,the more the knowledge and success you have,the more your confidence grows.
Lived on one of those inland lakes, Cass Lake in Commerce Mi.
Sill have to find them, once you do either they are on or off, the bass have a big say no matter what you are throwing at them.
Once you have learned all the answers, the questions get changed.
Lucky Craft Man reply :
QuoteQuoteI thought success came from buying the most expensive equipment available. ;DAs much as you claim that this is not an issue, you love stirring this point up, don't you? :-?
I don't stir this up, I was just making a joke. I think it would be considered a fact that KVD with a broomstick could outfish me with whatever gear I have. Why? Because KVD has both experience and confidence in his ability, which I assume is the main point of the OP. These intangibles are of infinite importance I think. So if I stirred anything up, I apologize.
Muddy reply :
Hey Dawg: that's why I put the smile, just bustin ob you, left over from Brand Guy thread,No offense meant : ;D
grimlin reply :
QuoteQuoteCome to one of my inland lakes and I'll shatter that confidence quickly....Knowledge also plays a big role,the more the knowledge and success you have,the more your confidence grows.Lived on one of those inland lakes, Cass Lake in Commerce Mi.
Sill have to find them, once you do either they are on or off, the bass have a big say no matter what you are throwing at them.
Once you have learned all the answers, the questions get changed.
You aren't kidding....All my patterns that worked last year 2 years ago,don't work today. Coming home after a day of fishing i look like this half the time.
The Key to those fish success is them being able to avoid getting caught because of their weird behavior.It's hard as heck to get a pattern going from day to day because they change up too fast.I'm guessing the weather plays a role in that as well.
WRB reply :
You build confidence with positive experiences and loose it from negative experience. Fishing with a positive attitude will put a lot of fish in your boat.
You build up a bank on memories that can be used to fall back on when trying to figure out what lure and location worked best. The more time on the water the bigger the bank becomes, filled with both positive and negatives experiences.
The Zoom widget that worked wonders today may fail tomorrow and be replaced with a new confident lure in a new location, expanding your experience of positive knowledge.
Be aware of over load, to much too fast can be a negative experience, then it's time to go back to a comfort level with that positive attitude and fish that standby confident lure and location.
WRB
Catt reply :
I gain confidence through both positive and negative experiences; the more negative experiences the more I cross off the list of things not to do which leaves more time pursuing positive experiences.
JellyMan reply :
Knowledge + Experience + Patience = Confidence!
WRB reply :
QuoteI gain confidence through both positive and negative experiences; the more negative experiences the more I cross off the list of things not to do which leaves more time pursuing positive experiences.
Trial and error learning experiences.
WRB
Catt reply :
QuoteQuoteI gain confidence through both positive and negative experiences; the more negative experiences the more I cross off the list of things not to do which leaves more time pursuing positive experiences.Trial and error learning experiences.
WRB
Best teacher there is 
slider head reply :
I have a couple things I have a-lot of confidence in. Typicaly this is what I end up fishing with 90% of the time. Sometimes I force the issue. If I get a chance to fun fish (which is rare) I will just take the one bait and use it all day until I develop confidence in it. It takes quite a bit of time but I have developed several new confidence baits and techniques.
steezy reply :
So my expensive gear is not going to help my confidence?
I thought I felt more confident or atleast more excited about using nice gear.
Darn, I wasted $2500 in reels and rods.
JK....
I believe you can have all the confidence and experience in the world but you have to find the fish before you can catch'em.
Hammer 4 reply :
Well, I'm losing my confidence at a pretty fast rate..went to a well known bass lake yesterday and got a big SKUNK!..even though I was "trying " to target larger bass, i.e. throwing jig's, larger worms, swimbaits ect. where I thought the bigger fish may be..My buddy was tossin 4" worms on a dropshot, and got all of 3 fish, in water 10' or less, while I worked the deeper water. I'm pretty sure I coulda got a couple of fish IF I had worked a dropshot, but chose not to. I'm startin to think I have a bad juju or something..? :-[
steezy reply :
I felt pretty darn confident but fish for 3 hrs this evening and got skunked! Guess I don't have a clue!
jamarkwe reply :
QuoteQuoteCome to one of my inland lakes and I'll shatter that confidence quickly....Knowledge also plays a big role,the more the knowledge and success you have,the more your confidence grows.Lived on one of those inland lakes, Cass Lake in Commerce Mi.
Sill have to find them, once you do either they are on or off, the bass have a big say no matter what you are throwing at them.
Once you have learned all the answers, the questions get changed.
Amen to that... I know all about Cass and those pesky lil smallies...
burleytog reply :
Confidence means jack squat unless you know where the fish are.
If confidence was the key, I would win every tournament I entered.
Catt reply :
QuoteConfidence means jack squat unless you know where the fish are.If confidence was the key, I would win every tournament I entered.
Exactly
Muddy reply :
QuoteConfidence means jack squat unless you know where the fish are.If confidence was the key, I would win every tournament I entered.
I'm in this club! 8-)
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