Bass Fishing Forum - Westernbass.com

I have a lot of confidence in certain lures and colors under certain conditions. But just because I have confidence in a lure, color, or technique, doesn’t mean I should fish it nor use it. The fact of the matter is, that no matter how much “confidenceâ€

I dont even know where to begin. CONFIDENCE is huge. If you dont have CONFIDENCE in an area or lure you might not put in the time required to catch fish. Fishing is not always easy. When it gets tough do you try something new? I have a bunch of baits that I am fairly CONFIDENT in if the conditions are right. But my #1 CONFIDENCE bait I will fish any where any time and have the CONFIDENCE needed to catch fish. There is only one magic lure, and that is the one you have the most CONFIDENCE in.

I don't know nipples, when I refer to a confidence bait, it isn't so much a particular bait but rather a style of bait..For example I have a lot of confidence in using crankbaits, but I don't have so much confidence as to use just one particular crankbait, or even just one color of several crankbaits..I think it is generally better for someone to stick with what they believe in rather than try something they have never used in a tournament situation..In a fun fishing situation, I think you should try any and everything..Fun fishing should be the time for experimentation and developing new skills and new confidences..

mac

First of all Seth and Mac.. Please don't think that this is aimed directly at either of you... I'm just trying to stop a little insanity and get people to think.

If you don’t have CONFIDENCE in an area or lure you might not put in the time required to catch fish.

If you don't have DETERMINATION then you might not put in the time required to catch fish. But if you are fishing in a mud puddle that does not have fish, then you are either insane or stupid, and it doesn't matter how much confidence you have.

Confidence is NOT huge..

Confidence IS a noun.

Confidence is NOT an adjective.

Confidence does not describe anything... again.. noun.

There is no such thing as a confidence bait... Confidence has become a buzzword that has a thousand meanings depending on who spews it out. It means crank baits in general to Mac, and something different to Seth (thanks for the replies by the way)

In a nutshell... it is the WRONG word for the application fishermen are trying to use it for.

Providing the word is not abused, it is a great word and it has a very specific meaning. but "confidence bait" does not fit the definition of the word... again, it is a noun.

You can have total confidence in a lure, but if the fish don't want it, then it means nothing.

You can have confidence in an area, but if the fish are not there, it means nothing and you are wasting time.

What does confidence mean in regards to fishing???

It means you should ALWAYS try to keep your mental game and have faith in yourself and never give up trying to win. It does not mean that you will catch fish on a lure simply because you have faith in the lure.

Fishermen have mistaken the word confidence for the word favorite. Do you guys remember Grandpa??? Old guy... if you were lucky he took you fishing... coming back to you now??? Grandpa had a favorite lure... not a confidence lure.

When it gets tough do you try something new? In a nut shell, HELL YES, but that all depends. If I have gone through my entire bag of tricks and came up empty and I am pretty sure that there is a technique that will likely produce, then, hell yes I will try something new. Winners adapt and make good decisions and don't waste valuable time being unproductive. And there are a ton of guys who have learned a new technique mid tournament.

The first time I tried drop shotting was because I wasn't catching fish and I heard that the people who were catching fish were drop shotting. Did I have confidence in it? NO... Did I build confidence in it? YES. And I caught a ton of fish.

The first time I tried ripping was again, during a tournament, and I had heard that guys were killing them by ripping. Did I have confidence in it? NO... Did I build confidence in it? YES. And again, I caught a ton of fish.

With the way guys are slinging the word around today, here is the scenario I see happening all the time.... A newbie (new to the area or fishing), who is looking for some good friendly advice, asks what color jigs to throw on a local lake. He is responded to with the reply, "Just throw any color you have confidence in". Well maybe this person doesn't have confidence in anything yet. Or maybe he has confidence in yellow hair jigs and muskie baits which are not going to work.

"Well you gotta have confidence cus it's all about confidence and if you don't have confidence, then you are sunk and you gotta have a confidence color and a confidence bait and you need a confidence boat and a confidence fish finder and be sure to wipe with confidence after you take a confidence and be sure to eat plenty of confidence"....

SO WHAT??? Are guys using that word because they are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO protective of their secrets that they want to be vague and not disclose any brand names, sizes, colors, etc.???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????


If so, stop, and just be honest. If someone asks for your advice about something you are protective about, tell him or her it's a secret and you don't want to tell.

How pissed would you be if some fisherman won a tourney on Clearlake with a 70 lb single day sack of fish ( 5 fish around 14 lbs each), and when asked what he caught them on, he replied "my confidence baits".

Fishermen are abusing the word and you don't have to be an English major to figure that out. ( I'm a math major)... Does it irritate me? Oh Yeah it does. By abusing the word, we are hindering communication. There is enough confusion in this sport as it is. Do we need to add to it because we like saying words with more than 2 syllables?

And Thanks Bones, I think your clarification helps the case tremendously.

Again.. I'm not trying to slam or offend any individual out there.

Good Fishing,

-Paul-

I will try and stop using that term as much as I do,but can I start after my"Confidence"bait stops catching fish?What if I call it my "favorite"bait?For that last 3 years during this time of the season which is still really cold up here(Tri-Cites Wa)I use almost only one bait for largemouth and I know it is going to work.All of my big fish have been caught on this bait year after year.Maybe confidence isn't the right word to use,maybe my GO TO bait would be better.I'm just joking for the most part but I do see where you are comming from.
Working at Sportsmans up here I catch myself telling people to use what they have confidece in and not just what other people are using.Maybe I will change my aproach.

Oh yeah,I caught my PB(8.64lb) today with my "FAVORITE BAIT",think I will stick with it for awhile.

LOL.. thanks leachman.. I'll be the first to laugh with anyone poking fun at me. While this post reflects my honest feelings, there is no reason that I can't take a brutal teasing for having spilled my honesty and exposed a weakness. It's all in fun and I not only expect it, I appreciate it.

Congradulations on you PB 8.64lb in Washington is a serious toad.

Good Fishing,

-Paul-

Thanks Paul.I was serious about maybe taking a different aproach.You have given me something to think about.I get alot of folks that come in and take me at my word.And I do try and help them out to the best of my ability.Maybe confedence in our own ability on what we can control would be better?God Bless and Good Night Paul...Jim

Holy crap man are you sure you weren't my english teacher. I am not protective of any water or lures. I live way up in northern CA almost to OR. I dont fish to survive and I dont fish tournements. So I have no reason to try and bull sh*t someone. A jig is my #1 bait any where any time. I catch fish on many differnt sizes, styles, colors,and brands. So when someone asks what is the hot jig and color. I would reply with use what you know works because that is what I would do, not because I'm trying to hide a secret color. somedays the hot jig is defferent than it was the day befor on the same fish.

NM

*NM*

hmmmm....

Wouldn't "Confidence Bait" be a compound noun like "Police Officer"?

Definition something like... A bait that someone has faith or trust in

Just thinking in type

I am with Humpty Dumpty on this one....

"`When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, `it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less.'

`The question is,' said Alice, `whether you can make words mean so many different things.'

`The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, `which is to be master - - that's all.' " Lewis Carol (Through the Looking Glass)

I am confident that either Fishin Dave, L.Hackney or myself will hyjack this thread and run it to 237 posts in the next 3 days.....

Confidence is what you belive it is...

NM

no encourging needed, I said I had the confidence.........

Just like in my jerkbaits. I have the confidence I can catch a bass on them babies all year long. shallow or deep, lake or river. It is my confidence in my skills to use a jerkbait that I have the confidence to catch a bass using them...........

H-Wood
The Official Post Hyjacker Monitor

I am confident that anything I say on this site can and will be used against me.

I certainly have to agree with the dictionary definitions of the word "confidence". And of course I believe that I knew what it meant before I read the dictionary stuff.
The main thing that we have to remember is that words are for communication. And as long as we are capable of communicating, who the heck cares whether they are verbs or nouns or for that matter if we are dangling our participles. The Bass sure as hell dont care.
When I say "you need to have confidence" it simply means that people are not likely to stick to something if they lack confidence in the outcome that they are doing. I think that 99/9% of the people who you tell that they need to have confidence, understand my defintion
When someone says "Paul, you relly a cool guy", do we all know what was meant by that or are we looking at the way you are shivering? Wow what a Hot girl!!!!! Im 73 and I even know what that means.
Words always have nuances and shades of meaning. I am confident that that fact is not likely to change in the near future

Jim Conlow Sr. wrote:When someone says "Paul, you relly a cool guy", do we all know what was meant by that or are we looking at the way you are shivering? Wow what a Hot girl!!!!! Im 73 and I even know what that means.

Jim, I have no idea what you just said, therefore...






And to the rest of you.. great feedback and thanks for responding and sharing... LOL Hollywood hijacking the post...

Nipples you are technically correct..There cannot be a confidence bait, but there can be a bait you have confidence in..And by the way, I used crankbaits purely as an example, no intent was implied to it being the bait I have the most confidence in..Also I think if you look around and read a lot, you may just find other examples of using nouns in a descriptive manner..It may not be entirely correct to do so, but it is common in usage..

mac

I agree with you Mac...

I’m just coming off a little stronger to emphasize the point.

I don't think anyone can deny that the word is getting more abuse then hollywood in a photoshopping contest. And I hate to see people get shunned because someone doesn't know the meaning of the word.

My little rant earlier was dead on...

<snip>
"Well you gotta have confidence cus it's all about confidence and if you don't have confidence, then you are sunk and you gotta have a confidence color and a confidence bait and you need a confidence boat and a confidence fish finder and be sure to wipe with confidence after you take a confidence and be sure to eat plenty of confidence"....
<snip>

Basically its getting to the point of stupidity and I am really irked at seeing a really good word go down like that. It's going down the same path as ironic/irony or touche', most people don’t have a clue about their meanings either.

Anyone fishing a tournament should have confidence in his/her abilities. But more than that, they need to have determination and the persistence to go the distance without giving up.

Guys now days confuse the word “confidenceâ€

You dont have to use words in accordance with their dictionary meaning to communicate to other people in our peer group.

If someone refers to you as a cool dude, or to a female as a hot chick, it has nothing to do with the air temperature, but we all know what is being communicated.
I have confidence that what I just wrote is a reasionably factual statement

I hope this clears up any confusion about what I said befor.

I am not trying to be a wise guy or to try to insult anyone Im really only trying to communicate my opinion. I recognize that it is an opinion and may not be correct

well i still have confidence in my ability to jack this thread, win my hyjacker award and in my jerkbaits...........

*NM*

no it's pre practice, ill be gone most of next week but that is a different subject, your not allowed to jack threads jim, i am.....

next week buddy...

Hollywood, The mast thredjacker.........


p.s. fish, fish, fishy..

hey hack, did you build any confidence in them new baits we been talking about? wink wink

Yep, I sure did.....


p.s. fishy,fishy,fishy

aint confidence a great thing to have??? Like the confidence to take this well.......

I am confident that Wood told Hack something in strict confidence and made him his confidant. I am confident that whatever confidentiality they have between them will soon dissolve when Wood confides in Bones with this confidential information.

Now that that is said.... Time to kick back and relax.

I am confident I wouldn't confide my confidence in bones.... No offense bones.... but maybe my confidence was confided in hack.......

I am confident you are guilty as the other 3 as being a post hyjacker there too nippss

Yesterday I was thinking about 'confidence' in my baits while fishing Hodges. It was not the confidence 'that they would work' necessarily, because all baits will work somewhere, sometime, but confidence that if I could fish it properly enough, and if the fish were biting that type of lure, then it would work.

A couple of day earlier, fishing Murray, I found out that Texas rigged robo's would nail them before I launched. I figured the last thing I was going to fish was just that. Why, because someone already found out it was working, so I went to other baits to see if I could make them work.

I guess as a fisherman, serious for three or so years now, I'm not out to catch fish per se, but to learn how to catch them under any circumstances. I will have confidence in myself after awhile, ok?

Hollywood, how is the Tsingtao over there lately?

you talking about the chinese beer?

Oh yeah, how is the Kirin? (Actually, I think they are both good!)

I haven't had that chinese beer since I was in Shanghai and Hong Kong last year. Wait, I take that back, We had chinesse two weeks ago and one a few of them. There good. Kirin is good too. Im more of a sho-cu type of guy!

But a cold one after getting off the water is nice!

I'm in here late, well said nipple man. I don't have the time or understanding of the language but I was kind of going that way the other day on another thread.
I think it was you rip that started it.I can have all the "faith" in the world in a bait and don't mean they are going to eat it.
I am confident that if my computer continues to act up, it's going flying like a frisbee!