Feel the Flow Happy! Feel it! It's Circular!

A lot of new anglers and seasoned anglers alike get caught up in the what bait, what color pitfall. While these things are often important, I think they are often less important than we anglers make them out to be. I have found that if I am confident in a bait I will usually catch fish with it. Bait confidence is really easy and it is something I often talk to new anglers about when doing seminars. Instead of going out and buying every lure on the shelf at your local retailer, pick a couple of baits that mimic different patterns (usually a shad pattern and a creature pattern in my case) and build confidence in those baits. If you have done any fishing at all you may already have a couple that you like. I know I have a few baits that I can catch fish on almost every time I go out. I know this and that confidence is what I believe helps produce those bites. Not only that but when I start catching those fish on confidence baits then I can switch over to something new or different that I don't typically have as much confidence in, and I can begin to gain confidence in those baits because I am confident the fish are there and I will catch them.

I have also found that if my mental game isn't right that it doesn't take much for me to have a bad day of fishing. Most of us have had that day of fishing where nothing seems to go right. Whether a piece of equipment breaks, or you lose a big fish, or you get a hook in the hand, it can be hard to recover from that and have a good trip if you don't have your mind right. On the other hand, if you have a positive mental attitude and go out knowing that you are going to catch fish and have a good time then you usually don't have those types of issues, and even if you do you are able to move past them much easier. That positive mental attitude also applies to every other part of your life. It is amazing the difference in a day where you have a positive outlook vs a day when you are feeling like a grumpy pants.