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Member
Posts: 2680
Location: Essexville, MI./Saginaw Bay. | I'd like to hear from you guys how important you think Mental attitude is when getting ready for, or actually fishing for either fun or during and before a tournament. Also like to hear what you do if anything, to bring yourself up to that (can't loose) (on course) (great game plan) attitude. And how you keep yourself up and out of the dumps, when the game plan seems to be letting you down. Does it get easier with the repetitive familiarity of the techniques used, and on waters your familiar with fishing? Or do you instinctivley/mentally start over each new day?
You see in my charter business, I have to be careful about how I paint an expected day of fishing with clients. I'd rather stay confident, yet keep a passive attitude about what our success might be. I also hate to tell people how I did the day before, if indeed we did do good. That to can be a big let down for clients if the fishing falls off that particular day. Inevitably, one of the questions I get when people call for a charter is "Do you guarantee fish?". I tell them No. "Only Jesus guaranteed fish before the trip out." What I guarantee is that I'll use what 45 years of walleye fishing has taught me, and do my best to get us into fish. | |
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| I was just telling my fishing partner this the other day who is fairly new to the sport. I said that you should feel comfortable with the lure or bait you selected, whether because of past experiance, word of mouth, or a hunch. Because in my opinion a positive confident aproach when presenting the bait will make you work harder to catch that fish. If i'm trying something different whether bait, lure or technique I just don't "Feel" like I have that edge. Then before going fishing or on your way there you should avoid overconfidence like " Boy we are just going to slaughter those fish today" because what if you don't, then you are a little down in the dumps. It's better to have a more humble approach, more of a wait and see approach and remember a percentage of your sucess is out of your hands and remind yourself this when things are slow. I was whatching some guys on the ice the other day, things were slow these guys were sitting around like old men, not even talking, then one caught a nice walleye, well then they perked up they started drilling more holes they started moving around from hole to hole more there conversation started up again and they started catching more fish. So there confidence level rose so did there success. So I think mental attitude is BIG. | |
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Member
Posts: 39
Location: kawkawlin, mi | i think mental attitude is very important. if you have a positive, never give up attitude, it gives you the confidence to keep trying things to catch fish.
when fishing, the best way to keep from getting down is to believe in what your doing. knowing that if you tweak this or that you could get one more bite. once you face adversity and are successful, i believe its easier to mantain a positive attitude (gives you more confidence). now you have something to draw from in the future, if similar situations should arise, and they surely will. its that one building block at a time that gives you "mental tuffness". plus, fishing is supposed to be fun wheather your fishing casually or in competition. dont let bumps in the road keep you from succsess. just think you could be at work. LOL 
its a fact that your not going to catch fish everytime out. that doesnt mean the day was a failure. thats just the way it is. the better thing to do is draw the positive things from the day and use them in the future.
well, thats my take on it. your experience will be allot better if you stay positive...good fishing!
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| It's hugely important, just as it is in every sport. Fishing, esp. tournament fishing, is about decisions and timing, and that is controlled by your mind. | |
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Member
Posts: 2680
Location: Essexville, MI./Saginaw Bay. | Let me relate a story and perfect example how Attitude and her little brother (expectations) can change in a big way your own success.
In 1984 I started guiding on the Big Manistee and Pere Marquette rivers, out of my West Coast style Drift Boat. Fishing back then was fantastic, especially since mine was one of only three of these style boats in the state. This (drop back) technique was something people as well as both steelheads and salmon never seen before. Never seeing another boat of its type on the rivers for the first 2 or 3 years was like a dream, and the fishing, "WOW". But after about 3 or 4 years, more of them started showing up at the isolated parking areas I used on these rivers, and I started to become a little more anxious about it. Now, you have to remember that I was only 32 years old back then, and like many others (even in today's world) figured if somebody got there first, you might as well not even go.
It became almost an obsession to get to the launch first in the morning. Or if I didn't, to catch up and pass any boat that might be ahead of me on the river. And If I knew I was fishing behind somebody, I'd get mentally/physically mad, in a hurry and miss or not fish the spots properly. It made the day a nightmare for me and a short, miserable, often unproductive trip for my clients when this happened. Well, I forget now exactly when it happened, but I finally stopped, thought about it rationally, and figured out that I was good enough at what I did, to catch fish behind anybody on the rivers. So I adjusted my attitude, and I approached every day as if I was the only and first one to launch at the rivers. Heck, I even moved the launch time back a few hours, had breakfast at the local restaurant, just to let others get well ahead of me. Both my fishing success and all around client pleasure factors went up almost immediately. I can recall certain trips where I outfished some really good guides, while fishing almost right on their heels behind them. These trips after my attitude adjustment, became some of the best and mentally satisfying I had, even better than the ones where I was the only drift boater on the river. I've carried this attitude over to my walleyes fishing on both the rivers and the Bay, and its paid off. So attitude can indeed make or break a trip.
Edited by walleye express 1/5/2006 11:59 AM
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| a large part of mental attitude comes from preperation.going into the day knowing what your going to do and making adjustments as needed.it gets real easy to give up on a pattern when things dont seem to be working,stay foucused, if you are marking fish make those adjustments.to often we run and gun only to find nothing better.mental attitude means a lot! MARK VAN KAMPEN 848 | |
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| It's all about confidence and experience that creates a good attitude about fishing. A bad attitude partner can have an affect on your own fishing. Brush fits in the boat are a good example of this. I used to be in the same situation about having to be the first one on the water and hold a good spot three hours before daylight until I came to my senses and realized the best fishing was in the middle of the day while in a crowd. The tournament thing is all about concentration, confidence and experience.
How are the attitudes of your fishing clients? Do you have some tactics when the fishing gets slow? Having some success walleye fishing, I've always had respect for the guides out on the water. | |
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Member
Posts: 2680
Location: Essexville, MI./Saginaw Bay. | Guest - 1/5/2006 9:15 PM
How are the attitudes of your fishing clients? Do you have some tactics when the fishing gets slow? Having some success walleye fishing, I've always had respect for the guides out on the water.
Like most people who fish often, clients to can show up with attitudes and expectations of varying degrees. If they've talked with me at any lengths prior to our trip, or read any of my fishing reports I post on local websites, they know what our fishing odds are well before we leave the dock. I've been lucky enough on bad days to have people just happy to be out and learn trolling or rigging techniques. I never lie to clients prior to any of my trips and have canceled trips (if they want) when I know the fishing has been bad and our chances poor to catch some fish. Not exactly the best policy for paying the bills, but great for preserving a good name and return business. | |
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Member
Posts: 39
Location: kawkawlin, mi | thats the only way to be dan. when i worked for eric on summer remedy, we did the same thing. as a result we had 85% return business. too bad his back went out and he had to quit. i sure miss all the good times and people you meet in the charter buisiness. still fish just as much, just reel more fish in myself...lol see ya on the pond! :)...with the weather the way it is, it wont be long. 
Edited by adam bomb 1/5/2006 9:26 PM
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Member
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Location: WENATCHEE, WASHINGTON | I FISH TWO DAYS A WEEK AND THE DAY BEFORE I START PLANING WHERE, WITH OR WITH OUT GOOD OR BAD WEATHER, AND FOR HOW LONG I WORK THE BAIT AND SPEEDS TO TRY. ON THE WAY THE RIVER OR LAKE, I'M THERE WHEN I LEAVE THE HOUSE AND BY THE TIME GET THERE I'VE HAD GREAT DAY ALREADY. THE FISHING AND CATCHING ARE FROSTING ON THE DAY.
Edited by BORIGINI 1/5/2006 11:33 PM
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Location: Goshen, IN | Attitude is everything..... Dan to me you hit the nail on the head..." some people are just happy to be out " Thats me and how I approach fishing, I do my best to be prepared in everyway. But you can't change mother nature, I'm as competitive as most, but some days are not meant to be. I always go out of my way to make sure whom ever I'm fishing with is having a great time, even if we arent slaying the fish. I went 20 years without fishing, because of making a living. And now I cherish just being out there, catching fish is a bonus. Call me crazy, but sometimes I like having my butt kicked, it makes me try even harder......thats why I love walleye fishing
Doug | |
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| Last year in a tournament I was tempted to push my husband overboard because of his attitude! Since the day I met him, he has always been one of those that if one thing went wrong, the rest of his day would follow suit so he might as well give it up. Can't do that in a tournament!!! Can't recall the one thing that started his attitude this particular morning but took me a good three lectures and threatening to throw him off the boat to get him straightened out. Went like this... "You can CHOOSE to sit your #*$ down and carefully/patiently untangle the line from your crank bait and continue to fish OR you can rant, rave and cuss pulling at the line tangling it up more and tightening the knots, losing boat control for me to fish and waste the next 15 minutes with no chance of catching a fish BECAUSE YOUR BAIT IS IN THE BOAT AND MINE IS NO WHERE NEAR THE STRIKE ZONE!!!!" After a few good lectures, I noticed him lightly stomping on the trolling motor foot control chanting "I'm not gonna let it whip me.... I'm not gonna let it whip me...." That particular half a day cost us a check!!! | |
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Member
Posts: 2680
Location: Essexville, MI./Saginaw Bay. | Guest #2 - 1/7/2006 10:47 AM
Last year in a tournament I was tempted to push my husband overboard because of his attitude! Since the day I met him, he has always been one of those that if one thing went wrong, the rest of his day would follow suit so he might as well give it up. Can't do that in a tournament!!! Can't recall the one thing that started his attitude this particular morning but took me a good three lectures and threatening to throw him off the boat to get him straightened out. Went like this... "You can CHOOSE to sit your #*$ down and carefully/patiently untangle the line from your crank bait and continue to fish OR you can rant, rave and cuss pulling at the line tangling it up more and tightening the knots, losing boat control for me to fish and waste the next 15 minutes with no chance of catching a fish BECAUSE YOUR BAIT IS IN THE BOAT AND MINE IS NO WHERE NEAR THE STRIKE ZONE!!!!" After a few good lectures, I noticed him lightly stomping on the trolling motor foot control chanting "I'm not gonna let it whip me.... I'm not gonna let it whip me...." That particular half a day cost us a check!!!
You pretty much described the (Kill Zone) I'd go off into on my charteres, before I started rationalizing I was doing more harm than good to both myself and clients. I'm not saying I still don't get (lets call it frustrated) at times, but nowhere near the rage stages I put myself through back then. I wish I could give you a quick fix and an answer to share with your hubby, to bring him home to meca fishing as well. But I think being really successful in turneys and to a degree chartering, lies somewhere hapily between the two polar attractions.  | |
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| Guest 2, Thats the kind of brush fit I'm talking about. Usually its not that bad. Teams can be seen hanging their heads while going through the motions, convinced they are done. They might get lucky hooking a fish and pick up a good attitude for a sort period of time. Another sign of bad attitude is the guy that lays his rod against something while jig fishing. I see people get mad if someone is catching fish and they are not, changing their attitude and the way they fish. Sometimes, personality has a lot to do with it. I enjoy taking people out to share my walleye catching abilities and have been hesitant about rough personalities only to find out they where pleasant and and fun to fish with. Have you ever been out fishing where one guy was struggling and someone was giving them a bad time? I've seen that situation get so ugly that you knew he was not going to catch a fish the rest of the day. | |
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Member
Posts: 1188
Location: Chicago IL. | I have a never give up mind set when it comes to fishing. I will try anything and everything to put fish in the boat durring tourneys. Staying focused is major. Yes , I put on my game face when its the morning of a tourney and I have a positive mental attitude going into the day. BUT what is most inportant,, I can turn it off at the end of the day and relax and said I had fun and laugh with friends. If you cant do that ,then get out of tournament fishing because it is going to put a hole in your stomach. | |
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Member
Posts: 701
Location: upper michigan | The biggest thing to remember is that sometimes it only takes five minutes to catch five walleye. So no matter how bad the day is going sometimes you just need to take a step back think about what your doing or not doing and make a new plan and atack it with confidence. In my mind if you put out a lure or bait with the mind set that this wont work then it wont because you will never give it the proper chance to prove itself.
Edited by butch 1/8/2006 6:34 AM
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| I would place the confident attitude brought on by hard work in prefishing as a giant issue. Whether were talking about fun, tourneys or either of our guide businesses. Last year neither my tourney partner nor I spent the time before tourneys to get the job done because of our other commitments and we had some unbelievably horrible finishes even on home waters. All year long both of us made first year partner mistakes again and again because of not enough time on the water together.
Regarding the guiding thing... hey it just seems to work out over here in WI. On the rivers there is almost always some good action for game fish and I make a point to tell the customer what is and isn't biting well and let them decide... an amazing percentage of them just want a good time and new knowledge.
The hardest customer of all is the trophy hunter who won't take suggestions on what time of year to schedule his trip to meet abundances of biting trophys of that species. I found my attitude used to just stink and the results often seemed to follow. In a given year we catch wall trophys of every species we fish for but hey lets face it if you look back over the logs from past years.... the "when" is almost always very close every year. I sometimes wondered if it is because no matter how hard I try I really don't believe it will happen other times. One thing that has helped me a lot in guiding confidence is fishing on 4 or 5 different waters. They seem to peak for different species at different times... for example JUly walleye can be just plain horrible on some rivers except an hour before light and at or after sundown,( so what do you do have shore lunch all day long LOL),... while others like Pettenwell may have July consistently as one of the best months. And the confidence of seeing at least an opportunity has really made my guiding more pleasant. Lets face it we hate bad bites as much or more than the customers.
I have also taken a lot of pressure off myself and made my attitude much better by knowing ahead of time that if we have a horrible day I intend to give the client another day free. Don't usually even mention it to them but always plan on it if it happens myself. Without fail four or five customers a year get a free trip. Actually not to bad for 166 clients in 2004... but hey it happens and this way I do the best I can and if all fails I still feel like the customer gets another try. Unfortunately this doesn't do any good for long distance cutomers.... Carolinas, Texas, Colorado, New York... but I still offer and try to fill the void of a horrible bite with probably too much information on techique, seasonal patterns, and hey even local folklore..... and I rarely feel that they left unsatisfied. Which ofcourse adds to the attitude of the next day. But hey anybody that doesn't think it is tough to maintain a good attitide all the time doesn't fish much. | |
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How important is mental attitude when fishing?