Luke Estel – Tournament Team Blogger

 

What’s your favorite bait to throw?

It may be a shakey head worm, a small crankbait, or even a spinnerbait, but you have one lure that you always have tied on. The reason these are confidence baits are obvious, you catch fish on them.

I have two confidence baits.

No matter what time of year or what lake I am on, I have these two baits tied on. The first is a frog and the other is a swim jig.

Years ago one of my mentors, Keith Gale and my Uncle were fishing a tournament on a river. They weren’t doing very good and had only a few bites. As the day wore on, Keith told my Uncle that if fishing was this tough, that he might as well throw something he likes to fish with. That just happened to be a black Lunker Lure buzzbait. The original. Not long after he started throwing it, he immediately starting catching fish, and they were big ones. They went from zero to hero real quick, just because Keith decided to throw his confidence bait.

Another time my partner Chopper and I were fishing our home lake. It was summer and the deep brush pile bite was “supposed” to be on. We fished half the day with nothing in our live well. I decided to pick up a swim jig and work the edge of the grass. There was no reason for the fish to be there but we had exhausted all of our deep stuff. I put a clinic on in a matter of hours ultimately cashing a check.

Sometimes we bass fishermen tend to over think what the fish are doing and what we “should” be catching them on. We focus on the lake, the time of year, and the never ending dock talk, when in reality a bass is a bass and just go fishing.

Confidence is a huge part in success.

There have been many examples throughout history of it. Some of the best examples of this are found in our sports we love to watch. For example, watching underdogs upset top teams because they stuck to how they normally play.

Use this confidence to your advantage.

If a fisherman goes into an event with a closed mind, a terrible practice, and a bad attitude, they will never succeed. But the fisherman who thinks outside the box, has a drive to win, and the confidence it takes, he or she will come out on top.

Confidence baits can play a huge part in our success as tournament anglers. Have yours always tied on, and when things get tough, pull it out and start casting. It’s just a bass and it’s just fishing.