Keeping a positive mental attitude when bass fishing is hard. Your mental state can and will determine how you finish in a tournament or even just a day on the lake with family and friends.
You may only have one fish in your livewell at 1 p.m. on a tournament day, and you know you only have two hours left to fish. Immediately you should decide to keep your head up and keep fishing to get what you need. You will succeed more if you never allow defeat to come into play.
Let me give me an example: You wake up to weather conditions that don’t play to your strengths. Even worse, the night before you rigged all your tackle for other conditions. You can either say, “Okay let’s regroup here.” Or you can head out onto the water already defeated before your first cast.
Before the LaCrosse Elite, practice days one and two for me were horrible – well up until around 5 p.m. of practice day two. I hit a spot that made a difference. I had nine or 10 blow ups on a frog and that helped me know what was going on and prepare for the tournament.
No matter if you are catching them or not, if you are focused mentally you are eliminating water and adding knowledge of the lake or river you are fishing. So even though the fish aren’t biting, you are right where you need. You know those waters are eliminated. You know to move on and keep moving to another spot and either find the fish or eliminate water to find what you need.
Be open-minded always. It may sound crazy, but never knock it till you try it. Don’t be afraid of change. Change is a good thing in bass fishing.
The sport of fishing is 90 percent mental and 10 percent physical. Everyone can catch a bass, not everyone can find them. This is where your positive mental attitude comes into play. Grind it out!