“Confidence” such a huge factor when fishing.  
 

Two techniques that I admittedly struggle with but should be staples in my arsenal.  

1) Jig fishing (I know, how???)

2) Shakey Head

 

Both techniques I always have good intentions to use but the rod usually gets put down if the magic doesn’t happen fairly quickly.  Lord knows I have piles of straight tail worms, shakey head hooks & a whole 3700 box stuffed with jigs.  
 

The turning point was chatting with a fella a few weeks back mid day when we were both about to call it a day. I had a decent day throwing Texas rigged Ribbontails & creature baits on standing timber but he said he absolutely slayed them on a jig.  I was envious and admitted to him that I struggle with my confidence throwing jigs.  He said he was the exact opposite and said he has so much confidence in jig fishing it was probably a fault and throws it when he should be throwing something else.  
 

At sunrise today I found myself on a lake that I’ve only fished one other time but did actually catch a couple on a jig the last time I was there.
 

Slightly windy and overcast sky’s…. It should be good!  After a slowish first hour throwing Topwater and my Texas rigged baits I found myself on a rocky point and thought, “man, this is screaming shakey head”

 

I tied on an owner 3/16 with a bama bug T-Mac and boom, boom, boom.  3 casts, 3 fish, SWEET!  Went down the bank and was wacking them left and right!  

 

Good fish but not a lot of size so I picked up the jig.  Green pumpkin purple with a toxic grape D-Bomb trailer.   I proceeded to go down the shoreline and catch bass after bass.  Man what a great feeling!!  My best day of the year numbers wise and it was nice to do the majority of the damage on the jig and shakey.  

Big fish of the day made up for the lack of length with girth!

 

The most important stage of developing your confidence in a new technique is being confident that it should be working and thus knowing when to put it down and try other things.

 

The first phase of confidence building is definitely the fun part 🙂

 

I always have a jig and a big worm tied on because you just never know what kind of mood the bass will be in and I have reached late stage confidence with both techniques.

 

I know when it's gonna work or when to throw something else within 10 minutes on my lakes usually.

Yes confidence has a lot to do with it. When you fish a bait a lot, because it catches fish for ya. You get better casting it, where, and accurately because you use it a lot. 
Like you, Texas rigged ribbon or curly tail is my go to.
Crank baits were my weakness, I dedicated a whole season to last year. My numbers dropped but the did get better by end of the year. Before I didn’t use them because I was convinced they wouldn’t bite them. Now I know it was me all the time and I can catch fish with them.

Texas rigged ribbon is still my favorite though.

I try to add a new “confidence” bait or presentation each year, to continue to be more well-rounded bass fisherman. It’s rare that I lose confidence in a technique that I was once confident in. 

Can’t go wrong with a jig. I probably fish a jig more than anything now. I used to be a huge Texas rig guy. I still throw it. But not near as much. I usually

do better on the jig. I’ve found color and all that doesn’t seem to matter as much as the presentation. Now there is days they are chewing and just destroy the jig. But most days I can always sneak a bite in on a jig. 

Where I fish, my confidence is with a T-Rigged Trick Worm with colors of Green Pumpkin, Watermelon Red and June Bug casting and spinning and weightless 6 - 12 lbs. Mono line used. Finesse ...

Good Fishing

I will say though. Keep trying new baits. Really try to make them all confidence baits. I haven’t caught a thing on a blades jig in 10-12 years of trying. I did this week and did well. I’d throw it again and catch fish. Caught them on multiple retrieves. I’d catch fish on it again. That said in my area I don’t like it every bit of grass stops the blade from working. And honestly I can catch more working a swim jig. But I wana be capable with it so I’ve always kept trying. 

If the rig you have in the pic is what you call a shakeyhead head, I don’t think it is.  That is a ball head jig from the looks of it.  A shakeyhead head is normally flat on the front side of the head so that it stands up when drug across the bottom.  Take a look at the Spotsticker shakeyhead to see what I mean.   As for the confidence thing, I worked a show with Gary Klein once and asked him about confidence and this is what he told

me:

”I don’t know if confidence in a lure helps you catch more fish but I do know that lack of confidence will guarantee you to not catch them”

8 minutes ago, TOXIC said:

If the rig you have in the pic is what you call a shakeyhead head, I don’t think it is.  That is a ball head jig from the looks of it.

Not all shaky heads are noticeably flat on the front. The Owner Ultrahead is 'barely' flat on the front,

13 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

Not all shaky heads are noticeably flat on the front. The Owner Ultrahead is 'barely' flat on the front,

True, but if you zoom in on the rig in the pic, it’s a ball head.  

My “confidence” bait might change every year.

 

This year?

 

100% a swim jig.

 

I would have to think a few minutes to come up with 2nd place.

5 hours ago, TOXIC said:

If the rig you have in the pic is what you call a shakeyhead head, I don’t think it is.  That is a ball head jig from the looks of it.  A shakeyhead head is normally flat on the front side of the head so that it stands up when drug across the bottom.  ”

it’s flat on the backside, you just can’t tell from the pic

 

8 hours ago, Jar11591 said:

I try to add a new “confidence” bait or presentation each year, to continue to be more well-rounded bass fisherman. It’s rare that I lose confidence in a technique that I was once confident in. 

I’m the same way, each year I try to pick a technique or two and get better at it.  The approach has worked out really good the past several years

4 hours ago, HawkeyeSmallie said:

My “confidence” bait might change every year.

 

This year?

 

100% a swim jig.

 

I would have to think a few minutes to come up with 2nd place.

Same here!  Last year was Texas rigged anything.  Year before was bladed jig & jerkbait.  Year before that was a squarebill

Pretty awesome. I haven't given any time to the shaky head yet. I need to. I think I have 2 or 3 shaky head hooks.

 

I just recently started learning jig fishing, and I have quickly gained confidence in it. Jigs is very fun to fish, though I never thought they would be.

My confidence baits are always seasonal pattern and current conditions dependent.

This was last season's confidence baits.

 https://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/263885-productive-baits-2024-edition/

I can really only ever have confidence in a bait or technique when it 'matches' the above.

There are many times over the course of an open water season

where I feel like I'm about to make it happen. (insert confident)

Sometimes it does and just as many if not more, when it does not.

I might be a hack but I've never found ONE bait

that gets the bites I'm looking for all season long. 

My confidence is born out of fairly repeated net, scale & camera use. 

My lowest level of confidence is a common theme when I'm trying or learning a new deal.

However if & when I figure it out, that changes pretty quick.

Usually end up building a nice cart at TW.

😎

A-Jay

Jigs and spinnerbaits have always been a confidence bait.

Wacky rig if I'm looking for numbers.

 

My confidence baits have not really changed over the years even though I try other presentations with high expectations......end up back to the basics.

18 hours ago, Robinhood21 said:

“Confidence” such a huge factor when fishing.  
 

 

 

I don't mean to throw a monkey wrench into this discussion, but this line caught my attention.

 

I have to disagree on confidence as a fishing factor. The fish do not know if you are confident or not.

 

Confidence does not put fish in the boat.

 

I've seen confident fishermen get skunked and I have seen people with zero confidence in what they are doing catch fish.

 

As a human I am always confident in what I am doing. Confident with the boat. Confident with rods and reels and even lures. But none of this puts fish in the boat.

 

It comes down to me learning how to trick a fish into biting a piece of rubber or plastic or metal.

 

There have been times when I was not confident I was going to catch a fish and did, and other times I was confident and never got a bite.

 

So I am curious how confidence is such a huge factor when fishing?

 

Why do fishermen want or need to "feel" or think they are confident some lure is going to work?

 

When fishing I am not throwing confidence out there. I am throwing the kitchen sink at them sometimes and hope something works is how I see myself and many fishermen really operate that way as well.

 

If we were so confident in one lure why do we throw everything from the tackle shop at them? Lure switching over and over to me shows a lack of confidence in what we/they are throwing.

 

Sometimes I go fishing and take only one lure. If it works then fine. If not, that is fine as well.

 

I never saw confidence catch a fish! I do see confidence develop once someone actually does catch a fish. And maybe that compels them to try even harder? Throw it some more? Are we really fishing with confidence? I have to wonder.

 

Back to regular programming...

For me, what confidence does is keep me more involved with what I am doing. Being confident increases my concentration and keeps me motivated even when fishing is tough. Could be just me, but that is how it is in my case.

It starts with where you're at, then what you're throwing, and finally how you're presenting it to the fish.  Take a novice fishing and this becomes all too apparent.  

 

scott

Confidence definitely matters. Hard to put into words why. Maybe it's because of so much experience with a lure that built that confidence. Maybe it's because you keep that lure tied on longer so statistically more likely to get bit. Maybe it's paranormal. It definitely matters though. 

2 hours ago, FloridaFishinFool said:

 

I don't mean to throw a monkey wrench into this discussion, but this line caught my attention.

 

I have to disagree on confidence as a fishing factor. The fish do not know if you are confident or not.

 

Confidence does not put fish in the boat.

 

I've seen confident fishermen get skunked and I have seen people with zero confidence in what they are doing catch fish.

 

As a human I am always confident in what I am doing. Confident with the boat. Confident with rods and reels and even lures. But none of this puts fish in the boat.

 

It comes down to me learning how to trick a fish into biting a piece of rubber or plastic or metal.

 

There have been times when I was not confident I was going to catch a fish and did, and other times I was confident and never got a bite.

 

So I am curious how confidence is such a huge factor when fishing?

 

Why do fishermen want or need to "feel" or think they are confident some lure is going to work?

 

When fishing I am not throwing confidence out there. I am throwing the kitchen sink at them sometimes and hope something works is how I see myself and many fishermen really operate that way as well.

 

If we were so confident in one lure why do we throw everything from the tackle shop at them? Lure switching over and over to me shows a lack of confidence in what we/they are throwing.

 

Sometimes I go fishing and take only one lure. If it works then fine. If not, that is fine as well.

 

I never saw confidence catch a fish! I do see confidence develop once someone actually does catch a fish. And maybe that compels them to try even harder? Throw it some more? Are we really fishing with confidence? I have to wonder.

 

Back to regular programming...

I completely agree.  I have thrown baits I lacked confidence in, but the conditions seemed to call for them and I was certainly comfortable using them.  And even catching fish didn’t increase my confidence in using them, but my comfort level did spike a little.

40 minutes ago, FishTax said:

Confidence definitely matters. Hard to put into words why. Maybe it's because of so much experience with a lure that built that confidence. Maybe it's because you keep that lure tied on longer so statistically more likely to get bit. Maybe it's paranormal. It definitely matters though. 

Just curious…do you believe you could you lose confidence in a bait you had so much experience with?  And if so, what would it take to lose your confidence?

My confidence baits vary some by season. Early in the year, I love my cranks. Once the weeds take hold, a lipless is the one that gets the most use. Summer, it's worms and jigs unless there is hard cover without a lot of weeds then it's jigs and tubes. Tubes are my 'finesse' go to, I'll even fish them weightless over the tops of weeds as they walk the dog fairly easy. Come fall it cranks and paddle tail swimbaits.   One last thing; SPINNERBAITS. If you get the idea that I have confidence in more than one bait, yea, I worked at getting there with them. 

BFS Crankbaits and a Senko. These in the right colors and presented the right way will catch fish in any lake for me. It use to be a jig and Texas rigged worm but it ain't even close anymore when I look at numbers. Quality of fish might be a different story though. 

I have been putting in many hours (about 100 thus far) on the Neko since Joedodge started a thread on June 2. I got going on the 10th. Lots of fishing, testing of baits, refining of technique. 

 

Was the season opener today in not ideal conditions. Plus it was deep for what I (thus far) consider optimal use depth.

 

But I still caught fish.

I think part of maximum confidence in a lure is knowing when to have zero confidence in a technique that you have caught lots of fish with.

 

It's the final stage of mastery/confidence building of a technique IMHO.

 

Now that I've thrown a frog in every condition during every month of the year, I know exactly when to leave it at home or on the deck of the boat.