"What the heck is wrong?" you wonder. "Does he have a different set of skills required to produce success? Naw, can't be," you think to yourself. "I'm just as good a fisherman as he is, so that can't possibly be the difference."
Let's face it. We all have more confidence in some baits over others. Some of us even have confidence in some brands of the same style of bait, though they all appear to be about the same...or are they?
Take spinnerbaits, for example. For some, these baits always seem to do the job when the conditions are favorable for this style of bait. Tie one on, and in no time, you're putting fish in the boat. The problem, however, is how long it takes you to decide to make the change. Is it sooner or later? Too many times, it's later.
Being slow to make a bait change is just part of the problem. In many cases, we also are too slow to change locations. Why is it we will throw unproductive baits for hours before making a change? The same thing applies to fishing a honey hole and getting skunked for hours before realizing there are no bass present.
As one fella noted, "This statement should be printed on the reverse side of all fishing licenses: 'You have the right to be bull-headed. Any refusal to apply logic to your bait or location selections will be used against you at the weigh-in scales. If you cannot understand your transgressions, your buddies at the ramp will have the right to believe that you don't know what the heck you're doing.'"
Admittedly, such a statement likely would not matter to some, but many would remember this statement at weigh-in, while taking the lonely walk of shame. If you're not a tournament fisherman, this conversation will be with yourself as you drive home. Probably will be good practice for when telling the wife that catching didn't go as well as planned.
In the privacy of their home, anglers often again think about the day and kick themselves for not acting sooner or for not selecting the right bait for the conditions. Addicted anglers will immediately start planning what to do the next outing. At this point, anglers need to realize they must stop immediately. They cannot make an informed decision until the next trip, when the conditions, the mood of the fish, and the forage they are chasing can be analyzed and used in the equation.
We all know how to do this fishing thing, so why is it that, when we get to the lake and pick up our fishing rod, all logic and pre-planning often goes right down the drain? Perhaps it's some form of ADD, with maybe conditions involving cranial-rectal insertion.
As one old-timer I found online noted about this all-too-familiar tale of woe, "I am reminded of watching an old World War II movie and seeing a picture of an anti-aircraft gun with writing scrawled on a section of armor plate that clearly bore these words: 'Lead, dammit, lead.' Perhaps this applies to us not-so-smart anglers as we head out to do battle with those green fish that are the object of our obsession."
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