I was out fishing the other day and had a thought.  I've fished for a long time, but bass fishing is fairly new to me.  Now, it almost the only fishing that I do.  At first, I was lucky to get a bite in 4 or 5 hours.  Later, I considered catching one bass over one pound a successful day.  In recent months, I've fished a lot more and am catching 5 to 10 bass in the same time span that I used to catch one or none.  I think that as I have read article after article, talked to other bass fishermen, and tried to apply what they taught me at the lake, I developed little changes each time out and began to realize, "Hey wait a minute, I'm catching fish every time now!"  This was a revelation for me.  I certainly have a lot to learn, but at least now I feel like I can take a few plastic baits in a few colors and always catch something, anywhere there are bass.  I think the confidence factor plays a big role in the way I approach fishing.  The more I gain confidence in a certain technique or certain bait, the more I seem to have success.  I was wondering if any of you guys realized the moment when you had bass fishing confidence.

Terrific post. Like you, I did other kinds of fishing, but didn't really focus on bass fishing until about a year ago. I think I started to feel confident about two months ago, when I started catching bass regularly on Senkos and husky jerks. Before that I threw spinnerbaits and reeled them in, and sometimes bass grabbed 'em going by. I think feeling as if I could work a bait made a big difference in my confidence level. Having said that, confidence is still two steps forward and one backward for me. Just when I think I know what I'm doing, I'll stop catching fish and start scratching my head again.

Unfortunatly MudCatWilly I am still in the frustrating learning curve. How something so frustrating can be so much fun is beyond me  ;D

I have to say my confidence comes and it goes.I have gotten used to having it and not having it.

dude thats awsome that you are getting that confidence in your game.  I have the mindset that there is not a lake in this world that I cannot catch a fish in and although its not always true, you gotta have that attitude with everything you try.  There are times when you lose cofidence and your technique goes to crap, you fish too fast, dont pay attention, ext.  That is why you gotta stay focused and be confident in every cast you make.

Keep up the good work and congrats.