The JuJu

[Ketchup]

17 hours ago, J-Doc said:

Welcome. 

 

Lol

 

 

"Last thing I remember, I was

Running for the door

I had to find the passage back to the place I was before

'Relax' said the night man,

'We are programmed to receive.

You can check out any time you like,

But you can never leave!'

Haha, good song. 

Man im telling ya, if i didnt know better, i would swear i was a beginner bass angler so far this year. Worst year on record for me as far as numbers and size. 

Yesterdays tournament i threw seriously everything i could think of that i thought would catch fish. Heres the lesson learned part tho...... I caught all 3 fish before 10am on a C-Rigged worm.  I broke that setup off on a snag, but was to intent on catching 4 keeper "13" on Pomme" with the Ned, that i fished it for 4 hours straight without a fish.  Now a smart man would have taken the time to tie on another C-Rig and go back to catching fish.  

Have i said i hate high water?

[Norm M]

 dance naked with 16 virgins around a bonfire at midnight . 

[Mofloatjunkie]

I'm my experience when I get frustrated I suck bad at fishing. We all do our best when we are relaxed and using baits we are familiar with I think. Just keep in mind that even if you get skunked, it's still WAY better than being at work. If you approach it carefree I think you will catch more fish. And don't bring bananas. I learned that the hard way. 

[J-Doc]

5 minutes ago, Norm M said:

 dance naked with 16 virgins around a bonfire at midnight . 

(Frantically flipping through a 2ft stack of Bassmaster and FLW magazines to find where I missed this VITAL nugget of wisdom)

[Al Agnew]

I don't know which is worse...not getting many fish to bite, or losing every big fish you hook.  That's where I am right now.  Floated a nice Ozark smallmouth creek Thursday.  Got plenty of strikes, caught enough little ones, but hooked a solid 20 incher, got it right up to the canoe, and it made one last leap and threw the lure.  Friday, waded a trout stream full of wild rainbows.  Caught plenty of fish, including an 18 incher, but lost one that was well over 20 inches.  And then there was the smallmouth I lost a few weeks back that was the biggest one I've had hooked in several years.  In fact, although I've hooked a number of smallmouth in the last year that I'm pretty sure were over 20 inches, it's been way too long since I actually was able to touch a 20 incher.  It's beginning to get ridiculous.

[snagged in outlet 3]

2 hours ago, J-Doc said:

A good example....

If me and Fishinwrench go fishing (and we have), he will sleigh the bass on a hula grub or jig. I myself, am lucky to catch one.  

 

We could use same exact gear, same presentation, work the bait the same, fish same water, etc. 

 

He WILL catch more fish. 

Some people just have better luck and inherent skill to feel more bites I suppose. I'm learning more and more how many bites I'm missing by not watching line and staying focused on super super subtle cues. 

Sounds like you got backseated.

[J-Doc]

1 hour ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

Sounds like you got backseated.

I've been in the front of the boat and the back. 

A) He's that good with a jig

B ) I'm bad luck with a jig yet I love the little jerk and throw it anyway

[Flysmallie]

16 hours ago, J-Doc said:

I think we all know it's a mental thing.  I was simply making excuses like most of us do. ;-)

Well yeah it's a mental thing. That's usually all it ever is. That's when it's time to push through all that. Quit worry about so many variables. Quit worrying about what other people are doing. Just go out and catch your own fish your own way and it will come back together. 

[Haris122]

I'm nowhere near the skill level of you guys, catching several good fish per trip on a frequent basis (I'm usually lucky if even 1 approaches 14-15" in bass or trout terms) but I've started looking at it this way. Whenever I'm in a long slump, things are just setting the stage to culminate into a day of just awesome and extremely rare fishing, or into a day of 1 or a few just awesome and extremely memorable quality fish.

Guess it's the  "old man and the sea" fishing mentality. Only quality needed for it is persistence.

[Old plug]

You will never figure out the mental thing unless exercise deep concentration. That means blocking out everything between you and the end of your line. For me thats easy. You could run a train next to me and I would not hear it. That is also one reason I like to fish alone. It is twice as hard for me than a hearing a person with someone in the boat. Keeps you on edge tapping you shaking the boat amd god only knows what else. But hearing are not it is eally hard to concentrate woth someone else in the boat.