What do you all do to maintain your confidence and focus on the water? I fished the weekend series last year as a co-angler and although I had a couple good tournaments, I realized that maintaining focus was a huge deal. I felt I fished the best in a tournament on my home lake in which my boaters pattern fell apart and we fished my pattern. That wasn't my highest finish, but I felt like I was zoned in all day and never missed a bite.

What can we do to increase confidence and focus every outing? I have a hard time in the back of the boat maintaining confidence and focus when my boaters pattern isn't working. I know I would fish 10x better if I could. It's not only when fishing as a co either. I need to focus better when I'm in my own boat and know I'm doing the right thing but not getting bit.

As I prepare for the up-coming season I keep coming back to the issue of confidence and focus as the number one thing I could due to improve my fishing. What do you do?

Joe

What do you all do to maintain your confidence and focus on the water? I fished the weekend series last year as a co-angler and although I had a couple good tournaments, I realized that maintaining focus was a huge deal. I felt I fished the best in a tournament on my home lake in which my boaters pattern fell apart and we fished my pattern. That wasn't my highest finish, but I felt like I was zoned in all day and never missed a bite.

What can we do to increase confidence and focus every outing? I have a hard time in the back of the boat maintaining confidence and focus when my boaters pattern isn't working. I know I would fish 10x better if I could. It's not only when fishing as a co either. I need to focus better when I'm in my own boat and know I'm doing the right thing but not getting bit.

As I prepare for the up-coming season I keep coming back to the issue of confidence and focus as the number one thing I could due to improve my fishing. What do you do?

Joe

I think the key to your confidence and foucs issues should be to forget what the front seater is failing to do, and for you to focus on what you have control over. Sometimes the back seater can outfish they guy in control of the boat by simply ignoring what is going on up front and finding a lure/presentation that works from the position you're in. Many times, that is a lure/presentation that is completely different.

I have fished from the back a lot and I know how easy it is to lose focus. I find that when I start to get flustered I will stop fishing for a min and then go to a comfort lure. A comfort lure for me is something like a super fluke or jerk bait. Hope this helps.

What do you all do to maintain your confidence and focus on the water? I fished the weekend series last year as a co-angler and although I had a couple good tournaments, I realized that maintaining focus was a huge deal. I felt I fished the best in a tournament on my home lake in which my boaters pattern fell apart and we fished my pattern. That wasn't my highest finish, but I felt like I was zoned in all day and never missed a bite.

What can we do to increase confidence and focus every outing? I have a hard time in the back of the boat maintaining confidence and focus when my boaters pattern isn't working. I know I would fish 10x better if I could. It's not only when fishing as a co either. I need to focus better when I'm in my own boat and know I'm doing the right thing but not getting bit.

As I prepare for the up-coming season I keep coming back to the issue of confidence and focus as the number one thing I could due to improve my fishing. What do you do?

Joe

When I get too serious and hyper on the water I chill for a bit, remind myself I go fishing for the pleasure of being outdoors and away from everyday grievances for a while. Look at the clouds. Have a sip of coffee.

I do understand that you're talking about tournament fishing and that time is money. I'm not suggesting that you sit on a meditation cushion and chant your bass fishing mantras. But in order to focus, you need to clarify what you want to do and, after nearly 50 years chasing one species or another, I am looking at the curious notion that catching a fish is the lesser part of the whole picture . . . I remind myself to smile and to be grateful for the opportunity to be out. And then, when I've relaxed for a couple of minutes, I'll have another look in my tacklebox and see what else I have to offer. While fishing with others, I don't have to be Top Rod. If you can maintain the attitude that you're a player, a participant, and be happy with that, you've freed up your mind to pay attention to the mechanics of formulating a new strategy.

That's probably more than enough of a philosophical ramble. To sum up: Enjoy the day and be cool. You may catch more fish, too.

i used to go through the same issue and found that like stated above, if i stay in my little world and not the boaters, i stay focused and dialed in. i think about what im doing, if its not working i think what i could do differently in terms of presentation, lure selection, ect. in my last club tournament my boater was drop shotting. holding in 40' of water and just drop shotting. its hard for me to do that, im more of a power fisherman. instead of doin the same thing i threw a big jig, crawled it and hopped it and slayed a couple 5 pounders. when the jig bite stopped and the boater moved a little further off the point to locate another school, i threw a flutter spoon and rounded out my limit while he was still dropshotting and catching more short fish than keepers. all that bein said, stay focused on you, not the boater, you can control you and the things your doing or not doing. throw something different than the boater is because theres always another technique or bait that will work just as good or better. dont get frustrated or discouraged and if you have to, take a minute and breath, relax and get your mind right again. sorry for the book i just wrote lol

I can recommend checking out http://finest-review.com/conversation-confidence-review/

It taught me plenty about confidence in general, just a tip