Building Confidence In Lures & Techniques

BY: HAYES ANDERSON

The other day I was reading a post on Facebook. The guy that started the thread was asking if there was anybody other than him that struggles with spinnerbaits. Which I thought was the weirdest thing ever because spinnerbaits are a total confidence bait for me. I not only use them as a search bait but I’ll also throw one all day if the bite is on.

So how did I gain so much confidence in spinnerbaits? I use them. I use or at least try them even when I probably shouldn’t. This isn’t about spinnerbaits though, not at all. What I want to talk about today one of the ways I learned to develop confidence in a bait or technique. This is hands down the best way I’ve found to learn and gain confidence in a lure or technique.

SINGLE FOCUSED PRACTICE

Leave everything else at home and just work on what you want to learn. I don’t know where I first heard it, I just remember it being about jigs. Later I know I saw it on fishing forums about swimbaits. Somebody would be looking for advice on the subject and somebody would tell a guy leave everything else at home but a swimbait rod and a couple of baits and go fishing.  Leave everything else but what you want to learn at home and focus on just that one bait.

I think this is especially true if you’re wanting to learn how to fish jigs or big swimbaits. Jigs are so versatile and learning how to present and fish a jig should be the cornerstone of your fishing arsenal. Swimbaits teach patience and perseverance, you are not only trying to learn a new class of baits but you are actively eliminating smaller fish that you might normally get to bite by throwing other lures.

If you leave all your other tackle at home you can’t be distracted by the other shiny things you have with you. It forces you to fish that one bait. I don’t necessarily like to take only one rod and one bait because there is too many variables that can lead to a very short trip. So take two rods and just a handful of bait. The second rod is only there as a back-up in case of a mechanical failure. Learn different casts and try to get good at them. Take skipping for example; if you don’t know how to skip a jig or swimbait it is a great skill to have your tool box. The same goes for flipping and pitching. Being able to gently land a jig in a small area could mean the difference between getting bit and not.

Retrieving baits can take some practice too. Take working a glide bait with your reel and not the rod, that timing is just as important as learning how to walk the dog with a Spook. Your retrieval speed on the Hudd can be painfully slow almost dead sticking slow vs. dragging a worm. What about stroking or hopping a jig without over working the bait? All of these things take some practice. A little single focused attention.

I’m not talking about blocking out your entire summer, I’m just saying block off some days where you go out alone and work on a skill set. Develop some confidence in yourself and your ability to adapt to and learn a new technique or techniques.

I will say that this isn’t the easiest thing in the world to do, but I believe it’s one of the most effective ways to learn a bait. I also understand there are a lot of people out there that just don’t have the time or energy to do something like this. A guy that only gets to fish twice a month probably isn’t going to be a player on this concept. A guy that fishes two or three times a week though….

There is one major drawback to this concept. How do you know if what you’re doing is working or not if you’re not getting bit? Honestly you don’t, but you can swing the odds in your favor. I’ll give you an example.

Fish high percentage areas. When I first got into big swimbaits I fished a place I knew big fish lived and I knew I could get bit there. I also threw baits I thought would be fun to get bit on (This helped keep me interested). So at first I threw topwater baits like rats and wake baits. It took a few outings for me to get bit and once it started happening it was easy for me to continue down that path.

If you’re having trouble getting bit on a particular type of bait most likely it’s not the bait but the angler. One way to eliminate it being you, is to know that you know what you’re doing. The only way to do that is to put in the time and energy to get the results to build your self-confidence. So get out there and get after it. Learn a new bait this year. Put in some focused effort and see if it doesn’t make you better at the things you’re already good at too. What do you have to lose? It’s not like you haven’t been skunked before. What if in the process you stick a new Personal Best? There’s only one way to find out…

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