Bob Smith
bob@bassinbobs.com
Pensacola
Blue
Angels
Bass Page
hook.
com
"BOBS LOCAL RIVER REPORTS"
Local Reports and Fishing Articles
A TOURNAMENT ATTITUDE
It is one o'clock in the afternoon. You have been casting nonstop since nine without a bite. In you livewell resides a pair of keeper bass - far from the tournament limit of seven you need to bring to the scales in just three hours.
How are you fishing?
If you are like a great number of competitive anglers you are feeling disappointed, depressed, and desperate. What does this do to your ability to fish effectively and efficiently? In all likelihood you are not fishing to your abilities.
In the high pressure environment of bass tournament competition you, the competitor, can be your best tool, or biggest liability. Its your attitude.
In order to fish to your abilities you absolutely must maintain a
positive attitude - what I call a tournament attitude.
It is often very hard to maintain a positive frame of mind when it
seems that nothing is going to work, that everything you try is useless. Keeping in mind the fact that the fishing is as tough for most of the other anglers as it is for you, is little consolation when the bites are not coming.
You need to be as alert on the last cast of the day as you were on the very first one. Daydreaming while competing dulls your senses and may cause you to miss fish that you would otherwise catch easily. If nothing else it definitely leaves you without full concentration on the business at hand.
Don't loose you cool. So the fish have not been cooperating. Try
something different, try what you are doing a little differently. Move if you need to, but don't give up on your spots just because you have not caught any fish. If you are in a location where you know, without a doubt, that there is fish, why move away? Change you approach somewhat.
Try your confidence bait. Fish the area thoroughly, until you are positive that you are not going to get any fish.
Then move.
Look around the lake. Are the other competitors doing a lot of moving? If so then keep plugging away because chances are that they are not gettingany bites either
(that's why they are moving so much).
Keep you mind focused on what you are doing. Employ every subtlety you can think of in the presentation you are using.
Pay attention!
Throwing your arms up in frustration will almost definitely destroy any chances you had of rebounding from a slump.
Keep the fishing fun. Once the fun is taken out of tournament
competition then you might want to consider another pastime to indulge yourself in since you probably won't be very competitive anymore.
If you are confident in your abilities as an angler, and have
confidence that your chosen location does in fact hold fish, you should be able to maintain your attitude on the positive side. Remember that finding the fish is ninety percent of the puzzle, and catching them simply requires patience, persistence, and knowledge - things that you already possess.
Weather can play a major role in influencing your attitude. Rain, high or low temperatures, and wind, to name a few, often eat away at your concentration on fishing.
Use that to your advantage. It will be having the same effect on the other competitors.
Just because the fishing has gotten tough is no reason to give up. Collect your thoughts, organize your ideas, implement tactics you have the utmost confidence in, and above all maintain a tournament attitude.
Let Me Know How You Do,
Bob
