It's all about confidence...

As anglers, we always have a lot of confidence and a belief, dismissing any uncertainty about what we do within our approach to our fishing. In fact it’s something that applies within probably everything that we do, especially in many sports that are undertaken.

I truly am a believer that by having confidence in everything we do within angling, everything we do plays a huge part towards us achieving what we all set to do each week – catch fish. This was discussed within a long conversation with friends recently and one in which I shared my own understanding on the subject of my own confidence.

With bragging rights held after a successful week on the bank, I used my own experience on this occasion as evidence and that if it can work for me, then why not for anyone else? Confidence has to be the mainstay of everything I do personally, particularly when it comes to the much-needed assurances on my ability to use my equipment.

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This, along with whatever approach I may have chosen on the day, it is always my self-assurance that always helps me within using the many tactics I use at my chosen venue approached. By simply having a trust in everything that I use when it comes to my tackle, baits and chosen methods on the day, it’s all something that always gives me a sense of control and that added edge towards doing my best to achieve whatever it is I aim to do.

Many readers may recognise that natural waters are the venues where I like to fish and that my favourite species of fish to target are bream on huge open waters across the region, often travelling regularly across the borders into other counties to visit some of there highly prolific venues in search of these beautiful bronzed beauties. By always looking for an edge on our neighbours as we all do naturally as anglers, for me my confidence, particularly on my long distance casting techniques also applies on my personal choice on whatever bait it is I choose on the day.

Something that together could always create that all important winning edge. On baits, ground bait mixing for one is something that I’ve always loved to do personally, as I constantly pay attention to consider the all important texture’s, flavours, smells and ingredients that are crucial towards winning me over to confidently use.

As many of my fellow anglers will be sure to agree, lots of us will have experimented with many baits that we have used at times to gain success, however on saying that, before we even look at using a possible winning formula, for me, it’s got to look, act and at least smell right. If it doesn’t sit right with me and I have little confidence, it simply doesn’t get used.

On summing up our conversation that day, it was finally agreed that the real value of whatever it is that we do within our beloved past-time, it can only ever be measured and judged within our practical experience and not just on its appearance and theory.