I am voting for Patience over confidence...

I am not confident in a lot of baits, but took the time to practice with each one.

I didn't gain any confidence until I had patience.  

Further, I find that when I am impatient, even confidence baits fail me... I fish a lot with my kids, and they get bored easily.  

You are forgetting the main one...................Knowledge and the ability to apply it.

I voted for confidence because them fish can read my mind and if I don't think I'll catch them I wont. :exclamation

The two seem inextricably linked in my mind.  Both.

Equally unimportant.  The knowledge of how, where, and when coupled with experience in applying that knowledge is what is important.

Equally unimportant.  The knowledge of how, where, and when coupled with experience in applying that knowledge is what is important.

Yeah right, and none of that gives you any confidence or takes any patience.  :

I voted both because confidence means you are doing something right and patience means you will keep with it.

Equally unimportant. The knowledge of how, where, and when coupled with experience in applying that knowledge is what is important.

Yeah right, and none of that gives you any confidence or takes any patience. :

Opinions were asked for and I gave mine.  If you don't agree with it that is fine.  That's why it's an opinion.

I still feel that confidence and patience are much, much less important than knowledge and experience.  

Definately equally important. I fished a minimum of several times a week for better than 6 months before I caught my first bass. Patience, patience, patience!!!!!

Once I caught a few and figured out a few things, I gained confidence. Now I am confident every trip that I WILL catch fish and so far, I do. I haven't been skunked again. So far. With cooler weather on the horizon, I'm sure I will get skunked again but at least I'll do it with patience and confidence. lol.

Both are equally important.

                                 

I kinda agree with tyrius for the most part. I start confident, but if i'm having a tough time getting bit, i start leaning on patience...

John, I would have a hard time making a choice between them because confidence in my choice of water and bait selection gives me the patience to work the water completely and correctly.

On the other hand, my patience allows me to ck out new water with a variety of bait presentations in order to then gain confidence in this new water or fishing pattern.

Whichever it is, it's all Goooood..

Big O

www.ragetail.com

I voted for confidence but to some people it is seen as arrogant. Down here in Ms most people fish for the meal. I hear things like "good luck" "they weren't biting today" "did you have any luck".  I honestly in all my time of fishing, have ever went  and caught nothing, I feel like i'm better that ( There are exceptional cases when i'm learning a new technique with a new lure or something). I worry about the size not sitting there hoping to get a bite. Its just my version of self-confidence and motivation. ;D ;D ;D

Imo, if you have the patience you'll gain the confidence. Be patient enough to fish a jig, and you'll gain confidence once you start catching a few on it. You gotta be patient to learn anything new, and to me that is key.

good question!

Jim

CONFIDENCE!!! Without it, I wouldn't step out of my house! I am confident that my choices will lend me the patience I need to succeed. Often my patience will waste my own time. You can't have any patience without some sort of confidence in what you are doing.

Knowledge is a process of piling up facts; wisdom lies in their simplification

"Experience is the worst teacher; it gives the test before presenting the lesson."

Vernon S. Law

Patience: All things come to him who waits - provided he knows what he is waiting for

Confidence

You need to play with supreme confidence, or else you'll lose again, and then losing becomes a habit. Joe Paterno

I voted for confidence because them fish can read my mind and if I don't think I'll catch them I wont. :exclamation

My sentiments exactly

I think its good to have both, but I don't believe either puts fish in the boat. You can have all the confidence in the world, but if you don't know where the fish are, and don't present the right bait the right way, you are not going to catch squat!

JimK

I vote neither  

You can be confident & you can be patience & still not catch; both are helpful but neither one nor both will put bass in the boat.

It's like the old saying "is the glass 1/2 full or 1/2 empty", it's still the same glass of water as seen by all.

To me patience is more important then confidence, because I have confidence in my presentation choice, lure choice, location, etc. It's having the patience to find the active fish.  

i voted for patience but i can see how they both are equaly important i have a coffee habit when i go fishing in the morning i take this thermos full of coffee with me in the morning my wife swears its the size of a torpedo and when filled weighs  more than my trolling motor battery  ive noticed when fishing with those senkos ive caught more fish by just throwing it out there and almost forgetting about it for a minute or so, a couple hours later when all the coffee is hitting me less patience and less fish not to mention all the peeing. aceman387

Although both are important, neither, Knowledge far outwieghs both. If you do not know where the fish are andwhy they are there  all the patience in the world is not going to put fish that are not there in the boat. I have learned this from countless posts by Catt,LBH, Fourbizzle.Matt Fly and other very knowlegable fishermen who explain what tehy know here,

Patience has paid off with me, because once I focus on learning something, the last 2 seasons it was jigs, it takes a longer time than i would have thought to learn someting like this

Patience , leads to sucess which then leads to confidence in my book

Although both are important, neither, Knowledge far outwieghs both. If you do not know where the fish are andwhy they are there all the patience in the world is not going to put fish that are not there in the boat. I have learned this from countless posts by Catt,LBH, Fourbizzle.Matt Fly and other very knowlegable fishermen who explain what tehy know here,

Patience has paid off with me, because once I focus on learning something, the last 2 seasons it was jigs, it takes a longer time than i would have thought to learn someting like this

Patience , leads to sucess which then leads to confidence in my book

x2 you've gotta have the patience to stick with something til you get bit then you get the confidence imo

If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you always got

Positive or negative when applied to you?  

Knowledge is a process of piling up facts; wisdom lies in their simplification

"Experience is the worst teacher; it gives the test before presenting the lesson."

Vernon S. Law

Patience: All things come to him who waits - provided he knows what he is waiting for

Confidence

You need to play with supreme confidence, or else you'll lose again, and then losing becomes a habit. Joe Paterno

Well said...or excellent selection of quotes!

My day job is in taking knowledge and turning it into wisdom for my clients, when it comes to fishing I do the same thing...because we all all know that 10 years of experience does not necessarily equate to 10 years of knowledge or any wisdom, it might only equate to 2 years of experience repeated 5 times over...as I've seen with so many much older people that I've worked with.

My point is wisdom in bass fishing often teaches patience and always provides confidence to the locations and techniques that you fish...there is no reason short of bass not being in a lake to not catch any fish...unless of course your tackle box is as light as mine lol.

Both are important but I need to really work on my patience.  Especially when fishing jigs and worms.

Later,