Youve got to be confident those fish are stacked like cord wood.

If you dont have confidence, I promise you every part of your game will lack you may not realise it but it affects everything you do on the water.

I realize what you are saying and I'm not trying to say that confidence is unimportant. But a few years ago I found a huge concentration of fish that I was catching on a Carolina rig. I caught over 80 bass one afternoon.

I called my 72 year old mom, who had never fished a Carolina rig and had never caught a fish on a soft plastic that I know of in her life, and asked her if she wanted to go catch a bunch of fish.

Using a Zebco and a C-rig that I had spooled up for her, my mom caught 26 bass in about five hours. Her five biggest weighed over 15 pounds. I quit fishing when I had caught 50 and just enjoyed guiding her around and watching her catch fish for the rest of the day.

I'm not sure how confident she was, but she figured out quick enough how to reel in fish when they ate her bait.

Razorback, good point. I never thought of that.

I don't lose confidence in the lake, but more in my decisions on that lake. I will get beat down on a piece of water and just start chunkin and windin. I finally remembered why I went fishing in the first place, to RELAX. Once you get passed the mental blocks, the decisions get better and you apply what you have learned and the fish come. Keep at it!

I bet she was more confident in the rod/reel she was using more than anything else. Simplified it with the O'l Zebco for her and she went to town. (Not insinuating she doesn't no how to throw a baitcaster but I've had to do this for my old man a few times as well.)

You're right about the Zebco. I would have had to wear a suit of armor in the boat if she had started trying to sling around anything tied onto a baitcaster.

It wasnt her with the confidence it was your confidence in the area to hold fish, she didnt have a choice.

+1

.....and some earplugs to drown out the loud colorful language he uses while undoing the backlashes. Zebco = win win for both on these occasions.

It's you. Just fish the lakes on which you do well. It's supposed to be fun.

Good point.....however, to me, one of the most enjoyable aspects of bass fishing is the challenge it proposes. I feel like there is ALWAYS something new to learn which IMO is not the case for other types of freshwater fishing. Its like playing a round of golf and totally suckin it up all day....but on hole 16 you make some miraculous chip shot....it doesnt matter that you shot a 130.. its that one shot on 16 that grabs ya and creates the anticipation for the next round. Same thing goes for bass fishing for me. I can truly say the only outdoor sports Im totally addicted to is bass fishing and duck hunting. One day its on like donkey kong and the next you're left scratching your head. Love the challenge and the unpredictability.

i would troll the lake
loose a couple of lures
birdnest a reel or two
try a finness worm
get mad
get drunk
try agian tommarow
call it pre fishing
better hide the reciepts from my wife

There are the Tiger Woods guys of tounie fishing and then there is me.I realize I don't spend the time to become a Tiger on the water.I don't take it real seriously and I go to have fun.Now I can fish in a tounie and take a check now and then which keeps me going.But if I was out there and I expected to win or take a check all the time I would be miserably unhappy.My hat is off to those guys who consistently go out there and win or take a check. They are really good at what they do.But I see a lot of them that don't enjoy it as much as I do each and every time I fish whether I take a check or not.My home lake is Ray Hubbard. It is a real ball buster of a lake to get consistant on.But if I expect to fish against all those great sticks out there and take a check I better be on the water 5 times as much as they are just to come close to the experience they have on the lake and even then its going to be hard.

Confidence comes from catching fish, plain and simple. You can't be confident if you never catch any fish. And even if you started out confident, you wouldn't stay that way for long without getting bites and catching fish.

I'm pretty sure which lake you are refering too, and I fished it for the first time last weekend.
I recieved alot of advice on how to fish it and a few suggested where, but when I pulled up to the ramp and seen the lake for the first time, I knew right away what I needed to do to locate fish.
I combined my experiences from other simuliar looking lakes, grabbed one of my confidence baits and went fishing.
I new with this pattern, all I needed to do was find those areas where fish would likely be holding and found some good bites.
I fished this same pattern during the tournament I was fishing and it got me first place and big bass.
My confidence was the idea of knowing that if I stuck with my game plan and didn't scramble to get fish in the boat, I'd at least get a limit.
You have to have the mindset that you can figure those bass out no matter where you fish.
If you know the lake produces good size bass, and have been able to catch them in the past. find areas like where they related to when you were catching them before.
Most likely, they are in the area, you need to figure out what they will want to get you those bites.
You have probably heard this before, but when you think your fishing slow, slow down even more.
If I know an area produces good fish sit on it feast or fammin, because eventully they'll show up and be hungry.
I try not to think of tournaments as me VS the other guys. It's me VS the fish.
Don't try fishing the same thing over and over if it's not getting bit, be versitale with your colors, and presentations.
One last thing, your best chance of catching bass on any lake is by understanding those bass, and thier habitats.
If you haven't read this check it out.
http://www.umpquavalleybassmasters.com/bassbook.htm
I'd be happy to meet you on this lake and try to help you out.
I didn't even get to search 1 tenth of the lake this past weekend, and I know I could probably get on some even better fish just fishing it for fun.
You have my number so....

Texan4Liberty