Mental Game

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Eric DeLay on July 18, 2009 at 7:24pm

My "super focused" partner wasn't with me and Ben is the muscle clincher, not me

Jeff Grimes said:

Hey now....I wasn't whining about not doing well in tournaments .....I know that I can do better and my time will come. I was curious about how you other bozos deal with the frustrations.

By the way.......were you "focusing" when you left your power pole down and decided to take off? or were you flexing at the time ?



Eric DeLay said:

Grimes,
If you want to do better in these tourneys you need to spend more time "flexing your muscles really tight and then letting go".

That is some revolutionary and sound advice Ben.

Ben Holten said:

I put time into making sure I am doing well physicaly. I make sure to have sunscreen on, eat even if I am not feeling hungry, drink a lot, and even jump in the water. Part of my theory being if that I am in good shape physicaly I will be in a better state mentally.

I used to be a competitive triathlete, and took some sports psycology classes in college. There is a lot that you can do to calm yourself down. Work on breathing, mental imaging the night before, flexing your muscles really tight and than letting go. Having a game plan that you stick to is a great place to start though. I rarely deviate from my game plan...not that I have a great plan to start with, or really know a ton.

Permalink Reply by Eric DeLay on July 18, 2009 at 7:32pm

I don't think "cast toward shore" means to fish the bank necessarily. You could be sitting in 30' of water casting to 12' and working the bait from shallow to deep.
The bigger point I think is that Mike Wolsky is telling us to not over-think bass fishing. It is not nearly as complicated as many people make it out to be. Just look at the baits and techniques Wolsky uses. He doesn't get caught up in what the newest trends are, he uses simple, proven techniques and colors and is right up there with Ron in his fishing abilities and success.

The Snake said:

Did the tuna fish have "pickled" pickels in it? I bet it did. Those will make any meal taste great.

Hobbs: Interesting advice...."just cast toward shore".....is there times when that stategy does not work? Many times I go out, and it seems like fish have vacated shallow structure near shore....and that maybe a deeper approach could be the deadly combo?

The only reason I ask...is because I get the feeling that most hack bassers....such as myself....spend too much time fishing shorelines, instead of being comfortable fishing deep.

Permalink Reply by Ronald Hobbs, Jr. on July 19, 2009 at 9:26am

Just because i am casting toward shore doesn't mean that i am getting any where close, please read Erics post above he is a retainer of everyone else info.

The Snake said:

Did the tuna fish have "pickled" pickels in it? I bet it did. Those will make any meal taste great.

Hobbs: Interesting advice...."just cast toward shore".....is there times when that stategy does not work? Many times I go out, and it seems like fish have vacated shallow structure near shore....and that maybe a deeper approach could be the deadly combo?

The only reason I ask...is because I get the feeling that most hack bassers....such as myself....spend too much time fishing shorelines, instead of being comfortable fishing deep.

Permalink Reply by Mark Maderos on July 19, 2009 at 1:38pm

Over the past few years and even this year, I'm with you on the doing great in pre fish and winning the prefish trophies. What I have started working on is to just fish. Have fun and just fish. I have noticed that when I am not overthinking, over analyzing, just fishing, is when I have done better. Now mind you that is not being a zombie and throwing the same thing over and over and hoping for a different result from the same unprodutive water. That means being very observant to what's going on around me, making changes, trying different lures, depths and what not. With all that, I always believe the next cast is the most important one, not the last cast just retrieved. You have to ALWAYS believe your getting a bite on the next cast, or mentally you are already defeated.

Ronald Hobbs, Jr. said:

Just because i am casting toward shore doesn't mean that i am getting any where close, please read Erics post above he is a retainer of everyone else info.

The Snake said:

Did the tuna fish have "pickled" pickels in it? I bet it did. Those will make any meal taste great.

Hobbs: Interesting advice...."just cast toward shore".....is there times when that stategy does not work? Many times I go out, and it seems like fish have vacated shallow structure near shore....and that maybe a deeper approach could be the deadly combo?

The only reason I ask...is because I get the feeling that most hack bassers....such as myself....spend too much time fishing shorelines, instead of being comfortable fishing deep.

Permalink Reply by Eric DeLay on July 20, 2009 at 9:12am

Usually what I post is based off of my own experiences.
Weren't you quoting Wolsky? So I am the one disseminating other's info?
No one ever explained to me what the quote meant, I was just guessing based off of what I know about your little buddy and his approach to fishing you menstrual cycle.

Ronald Hobbs, Jr. said:

Just because i am casting toward shore doesn't mean that i am getting any where close, please read Erics post above he is a retainer of everyone else info.

The Snake said:

Did the tuna fish have "pickled" pickels in it? I bet it did. Those will make any meal taste great.

Hobbs: Interesting advice...."just cast toward shore".....is there times when that stategy does not work? Many times I go out, and it seems like fish have vacated shallow structure near shore....and that maybe a deeper approach could be the deadly combo?

The only reason I ask...is because I get the feeling that most hack bassers....such as myself....spend too much time fishing shorelines, instead of being comfortable fishing deep.

Permalink Reply by Jeff Grimes on July 20, 2009 at 9:19am

Wow, Eric.......I would have never guessed you were that "in touch" with your Feminine side. We are all men here and a little meaningless jabs and harmless name calling is okay, but I would say you may have crossed some kind of boundary line?

Is it because of the Power Pole?

BR>No one ever explained to me what the quote meant, I was just guessing based off of what I know about your little buddy and his approach to fishing you menstrual cycle

Permalink Reply by Ronald Hobbs, Jr. on July 20, 2009 at 8:06pm

LMAO Eric you are so easy to get out of your game!!!

Jeff Grimes said:

Wow, Eric.......I would have never guessed you were that "in touch" with your Feminine side. We are all men here and a little meaningless jabs and harmless name calling is okay, but I would say you may have crossed some kind of boundary line?

Is it because of the Power Pole?

BR>No one ever explained to me what the quote meant, I was just guessing based off of what I know about your little buddy and his approach to fishing you menstrual cycle

Permalink Reply by Eric DeLay on July 21, 2009 at 12:24am

You two have really taken to sticking up for each other. How bromantic!

Ronald Hobbs, Jr. said:

LMAO Eric you are so easy to get out of your game!!!

Jeff Grimes said:

Wow, Eric.......I would have never guessed you were that "in touch" with your Feminine side. We are all men here and a little meaningless jabs and harmless name calling is okay, but I would say you may have crossed some kind of boundary line?

Is it because of the Power Pole?

BR>No one ever explained to me what the quote meant, I was just guessing based off of what I know about your little buddy and his approach to fishing you menstrual cycle

Permalink Reply by Ronald Hobbs, Jr. on July 21, 2009 at 7:07am

You have really turned GAY using words like "Bromantic" WTF and calling me a Menstrual Cycle....huh? Congratulations.....You are becoming that 'Internet WEIRDO'!Eric DeLay said:

You two have really taken to sticking up for each other. How bromantic!

Ronald Hobbs, Jr. said:

LMAO Eric you are so easy to get out of your game!!!

Jeff Grimes said:

Wow, Eric.......I would have never guessed you were that "in touch" with your Feminine side. We are all men here and a little meaningless jabs and harmless name calling is okay, but I would say you may have crossed some kind of boundary line?

Is it because of the Power Pole?

BR>No one ever explained to me what the quote meant, I was just guessing based off of what I know about your little buddy and his approach to fishing you menstrual cycle

Permalink Reply by Jeff Grimes on July 21, 2009 at 7:41am

We better ease up a bit Ron....he might cry

Ronald Hobbs, Jr. said:

You have really turned GAY using words like "Bromantic" WTF and calling me a Menstrual Cycle....huh? Congratulations.....You are becoming that 'Internet WEIRDO'!Eric DeLay said:

You two have really taken to sticking up for each other. How bromantic!

Ronald Hobbs, Jr. said:

LMAO Eric you are so easy to get out of your game!!!

Jeff Grimes said:

Wow, Eric.......I would have never guessed you were that "in touch" with your Feminine side. We are all men here and a little meaningless jabs and harmless name calling is okay, but I would say you may have crossed some kind of boundary line?

Is it because of the Power Pole?

BR>No one ever explained to me what the quote meant, I was just guessing based off of what I know about your little buddy and his approach to fishing you menstrual cycle

Permalink Reply by Eric DeLay on July 21, 2009 at 12:00pm

Good one. And you're are acting like a ....... because?

Ronald Hobbs, Jr. said:

You have really turned GAY using words like "Bromantic" WTF and calling me a Menstrual Cycle....huh? Congratulations.....You are becoming that 'Internet WEIRDO'!Eric DeLay said:

You two have really taken to sticking up for each other. How bromantic!

Ronald Hobbs, Jr. said:

LMAO Eric you are so easy to get out of your game!!!

Jeff Grimes said:

Wow, Eric.......I would have never guessed you were that "in touch" with your Feminine side. We are all men here and a little meaningless jabs and harmless name calling is okay, but I would say you may have crossed some kind of boundary line?

Is it because of the Power Pole?

BR>No one ever explained to me what the quote meant, I was just guessing based off of what I know about your little buddy and his approach to fishing you menstrual cycle

Permalink Reply by Steve Hastings on July 21, 2009 at 4:17pm

Wow what a flurry!! Like the 12th round of a Championship fight in the last minute of a close bout....

Good topic though and back on the slightly more serious side, because everyone has had their moments, I think we are right to be concerned how we handle those times when things don't go right. I think working on all your weaknesses makes you better.

A little technique you can employ is process Orel Hershiser described when asked about how he kept that streak of scoreless innings going in '88 to set the record at 59.
He talked about how he didn't worry about the next several innings, nor keeping the scoreless streak going. Can you imagine if you were on inning 1 and thinking about…. I have to pitch 58 more scoreless innings. He described just focusing on the next pitch, and how he didn't think about the outcome of that pitch, but focused on his feet placement, and getting the sign, a relaxed delivery.

The point is by focusing on the next cast and executing it perfectly, your mind won't have time to think about the crap you can't control anyway. The placement of your lure, that soft entry into the water, or the proper tension on the line all the way to the bottom. When things are going great you don't have to consciously think about them, they "Instinctively" happen. But When things go to crap, just try refocusing on repeated perfect presentations. ( for a few minutes consciously)

Some people call it living in the moment, but that sounds like psychobabble to me, just refocus on the details of the job at hand. I have heard top tournament guys describe it as focusing on “Getting the next bite”. Can you imagine starting a tournament and thinking, I have to catch 36 fish, because I’ll need to cull 31 times before I’ll have my five that can win….not me I’m just not that good.

Good Luck

Steve

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