Well, I did it again � I dropped a huge fish because I wasn�t paying attention.

Yesterday I was at Falcon with my wife and having a pretty bad day. We caught some fish but all dinks and not a ton of them. Nothing like most of my recent trips. I�m guessing most have moved deeper due to temps and dropping water and I just couldn�t locate them.

It was late afternoon and it was getting HOT! We hadn�t had a bite in a while so I was starting to feel pretty defeated for the day. We went into Coyote and I started running my SI out deep. I found a big tree sitting all by itself in the middle of a 25 foot flat. I marked it and started throwing a fluke at it. After a few casts I got stuck, and stuck pretty good. I worked it free and could feel it break loose. I started reeling in and it felt like I was still stuck on a big branch but it was bending and giving line. I kept reeling and all of a sudden it hit me there was life on the end of the line. Just as I finally got a clue the fish broke the surface and spit the hook. This fish was huge and I wouldn�t be surprised if it was a teen fish. Well you know where I�m going next time out.

It got me thinking about something I�ve been trying to get better at for a long time � having a positive attitude about every cast. When I was fishing that tree I really didn�t think I was going to get bit. When I did get bit I wasn�t ready � I was sleeping. Why even throw a bait if you�re not believing you�re going to get bit? Might as well sit back and crack a cold beverage and enjoy the scenery.

Maybe this lesson will finally sink in and I�ll develop the mental discipline to pay attention to every cast. Or maybe I�ll need some more heart breaking �the one that got away� stories for it to finally stick.

I need to be an optimist and not a pessimist.

I struggle with the same thing. That's something I've heard the elite guys talk about alot. Having confidence in what you are doing is important.

Very good post. We probably all need to be more on our toes at times. I know it's true for me.

JP, you were on Falcon! Im so disappointed in you! JK

I did that exact thing this morning! I was trolling around a point at Fork and out of boredom I threw a white spinner (with no trailing hook) onto the beach and reeled it into about 2 feet of water. I thought it was hung up and then a very large fish jumped up and spit it out. I learned tree very good lessons in less than 2 seconds. 1. Set he hook. 2. Use a trailing hook. 3. Most fish can't read or text, so they didn't know that they should be out in deep water. I guess I am an optimist since I try to learn from bonehead moves like that.

An optimist glass is half full.A pessimists glass is half empty.I wonder why my glass isnt bigger

I tell that to folks a lot when we are targeting big fish. You have to keep your head in the game. Once you do get that one bite you are looking for you need to be on top of your game.

im a realist, the glass isnt half full, nor half empty. Its just a glass that has half as much water in it that it can hold. You keep fishing because you might catch something.

This seems to happen to me all of the time. I seem to get bites while I'm picking out a backlash, playing with my graph, taking a drink of water..... you name it. This causes bad hooksets and lost fish. It can be frustrating, but oh well, it seems like it happens to us all.

On the other hand, if you feel something, go for it. Hook sets are free and Bass Pro or Tacklewarehouse will be happy to sell you anything you lose.

Better to be a pessimist..... Never will be disappointed with your outcome....

Someone will surely argue my viewpoint!

confidence is everything. fish with no distraction. always stay focus . the other night at Ray hubbard no kidding i saw a fish come up and immediatly drop my worm rod and threw my topwater bait over there. upon reeling in my topwater bait i left it right a edge of the water floating. Pick up my worm rod and then a huge explosion on topwater inches from the bank. The rod start head into the water and i put my foot on it and this monster came up threw the bait right back at me. Easily a ten plus. Freaked me out but miss a opportunity for an double digit from a lake i'm trying to learn. I started think about the whole deal and I just wasn't ready. unbelievable but thought i would tell the story my wife heard it a couple time and she's sick of hearing it. aleast i know where that fish lives now. Two thing came from it
1. fish a topwater slower
2. always be ready

My A.D.D. keeps me from good hook sets. All kidding aside, I like to take the optimist approach to fishing. It is the place in my life where I can go and chill out.

If you don't think you are going to catch a fish on a cast, why bother? Success in fishing as in life depends a lot on attitude.

I know that feeling only to well... with the biggest bass by far I ever almost landed at Fork. I had to beat to a tree in 25 feet of water that was about half way between where we hooked up on a DD-22 and my boat. I surfaced the fish with in just a few feet of wear it hit my crank bait and got a good look at it. It beat me to the tree and shall I say "the rest is history". I guess the worst part about the whole ordeal is not knowing what that fish weighed. I don't think it was a State record by any means but a good solid double digit fish. It would have been my first....

First post I've seen about having a slow day on Falcon. I'm going a week from Thursday. Not what I wanted to hear!!!! ha