August 26, 2010

Conquering Fear in Fishing

I think of fishing lures as just tools to catch fish.  I will cast them anywhere I think fish might be hiding.  I get comments all the time when I cast over limbs, stumps, docks, ropes, grass patches or whatever to get to an open spot.  Most of the time, people ask; "What are you going to do if you hook one way back there?"  My answer is always; "I'll figure that out when I get one."  I know I'm not the only one who does this, but it always surprises me when people don't even try to get into these areas.  Earlier today I read an article that explains exactly how I feel.  It was written by Penny Berryman, who is the Roland Martin of Women's Bass Fishing.  The article is called "Conquering Fear" and can be seen here.  One of the biggest things I took from the article is how she said "learn to conquer that fear of getting hung up.  Besides, you aren't fishing properly, if you aren't losing a few lures along the way."  Think about this next time you are hesitating to pitch into that huge pile of sticks.  That's where the fish are.  Don't be scared.

4 comments:

Basspastor said...

Conquering fear or giving into stupidity. That can be a fine line.

In MN there are a lot of docks with crossing chains and in my experience you have to be very careful how you fish them. It just simply does not pay to challenge them from some angles.

TBRINKS said...

Your right it is a fine line BP. But like you said some people don't want to challenge certain areas. Those fish in there see alot less lures. This is where precision casting/pitching comes in.

larryb said...

I agree Tyler. Most fishing lines these days hardly even flinch when dragged over stumps,sticks and even the corners of wood and cement or rock docks. It's not like you're using #4 mono and a 5 foot UL rod. Hehehe.

Also, every time you pull a decent fish from one of those tough spots you gain even more experience on how to handle fighting bass in cramped quarters. Add that up and soon it's like: Wham,Bam,thank you mamma bass. :-)

No stress,just do'n your job better because of try'n the tough spots in the first place.

Tight lines buddy Ty.

TBRINKS said...

Your right Larry...each time you get better at it, and maybe a little more brave.

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