How much does confidence affect fishing?

Lord Paul of Sheffield · Mar 4, 2013

Yesterday I fished a local commercial with my fishing pal, he is an ex match angler and a good angler.

As soon as we got there he was dithering to decide which swim he wanted to fish (we've fished here a few times and know what the waters is like)
After 20 minutes walking about he picked the swim next to me and set up, but he kept saying something didn't feel right.
We fished for about 4 hours but all the time he was saying something wasn't right, that he could not get settled - he struggled to catch but managed a few small roach, chopped and changed his set up a couple of times.
He finally hooked a decent fish (either a carp or a tench) that kept low then after about 45 seconds the hook pulled.
Now did his lack of ease about the fishing somehow up set is fishing and resulted in not catching much and losing the one decent fish he hooked or did he have a 6th sense about things?
To put it into prospective - 2 anglers didn't get a bite all day, one bloke caught 1 fish - I scratched about with maggot and caught a few small roach and a perch of about 2lb on the float and then a carp on ledgered sweet corn

paul80 · Mar 4, 2013

Well you could have all the confidence in the world, but if the fish are not in your swim you won't catch a thing. And conversely if you don't feel comfortable in what you are doing you might make silly mistakes that might cost you fish.

I don't understand the concept that if you have confidence in your bait, tackle and abilities you will catch, because if the fish are not there you won't, no matter how confident you are.

Paul

binka · Mar 4, 2013

There are times when I just can't seem to settle for one reason or another.

Confidence is a mind set thing, either bought about by own experience or trusted testimony (amongst other things) and if your mind is right I reckon you're more likely to settle into a good routine and make something work if you have fish in front of you rather than chopping and changing in an unsettled mood before something has had a good chance to work.

I've always been fairly dyed in the wool with my methods and they have worked for me although the last couple of years i've been much more open to new things and the usual pattern has been to sit there wondering until that first fish and then everything suddenly changes and the confidence factor comes in.

I think that combining confidence with experience and a broad general knowledge would be my ideal... I often think if only I could perfect it but then it would just become boring

chefster · Mar 5, 2013

Personally i think confidence can play a good role in your fishing,for instance sitting on a certain method waiting for periods of time for a bite especially in winter can require a lot of confidence.Also i find when you have a good result several more seem to follow,which is down to confidence-although some will just put it down to mere luck.........

Keith M · Mar 6, 2013

I think that confidence can make quite a lot of difference to the way you fish.
Someone who Isn't confident will continually be changing their baits, where they are feeding and casting, their methods etc. and be constantly fidgeting about and swapping about; whereas when they are confident with their bait and method they will be a lot more focused and more efficient at catching fish.

flightliner · Mar 6, 2013

Having a match anglers mentality he could walk around your venue (Aston park??)as much as he liked but if there was only one other angler presant he would like as not sit next to him. Perhaps his confidence wasnt very high as he was nervous of your own reputation / capabilities.
You did catch more than him in your report so I reckon his confidence is now at rock bottom.

Lord Paul of Sheffield · Mar 6, 2013

flightliner said:
Having a match anglers mentality he could walk around your venue (Aston park??)as much as he liked but if there was only one other angler presant he would like as not sit next to him. Perhaps his confidence wasnt very high as he was nervous of your own reputation / capabilities.
You did catch more than him in your report so I reckon his confidence is now at rock bottom.

Thanks for the vote of confidence in my ability but I think you've misjudged me - my mate has taught me loads - he a very good angler
But just occasionally he gets so he can't settle to his fishing, like on Sunday.
I did catch more than him but it's often the other way round and he's had 3 or 4 fish before I've got one

Two weeks earlier he was in a totally different mind-set, he knew just which swim he wanted to fish, he caught more and bigger roach than me that day

nicepix · Mar 6, 2013

There could be other reasons that we aren't fully aware of. High pressure systems such as we have experienced over Europe lately don't generally bode well for fishing in my experience. I do far better the mild days with cloud cover and a touch of wind and rain.

Some anglers feel this more than others and if you find yourself fishing a venue when the weather conditions don't feel right your confidence will naturally take a dive.

At one time I used to put the rods away around Christmas time until the trout season opened in March. Those cold cloudless days in January and February were never very productive.

The weather has turned here now. After a couple of weeks of high pressure and overnight frost yielding to bright blue skies and sunshine we've got a southerly wind bringing a touch of warm drizzle. I've got something to do this afternoon but I'll be baiting the river ready for a session tomorrow and already I feel more confident than I did the other day.

brummiephil · Mar 6, 2013

I think confidence plays a huge part in any sport . NLP tells you that if you think you will do well you will do well,walking through the day before you get to the match helps you set you mind at rest

Walk through, in your mind what you will do and how the day will pan out, have a plan and stick to it , but always have the plan B ready if things go wrong

Sir Clive Woodward used NLP when he was planning to win the RWC in 2003 , worked for him

terry m · Mar 8, 2013

NLP can indeed be a very powerful tool to promote positive thinking.

Confidence is always important to me when angling, things have to be right so far as I can ensure.

frothy · Mar 8, 2013

It's a pseudoscience and every time I get a little over confident I'm reminded of this, If i have a red letter day I seem to suffer from being confident in hindsight

mg:

Royffey · Mar 12, 2013

OP - Personally, i'd say it was a bad day all round

How much does confidence affect fishing?

Lord Paul of Sheffield

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paul80

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binka

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chefster

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Keith M

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flightliner

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Lord Paul of Sheffield

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nicepix

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brummiephil

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terry m

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frothy

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Royffey

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