THE MENTAL SIDE

There are a few reasons I wanted to blog on this topic. One is the seminar my good friend Dr. David Gnewikow is offering this March and the numerous phone calls and questions I've had about how beneficial I thought this seminar would be. The other reasons are a lot of phone calls and conversations I've had about how tough I thought fishing would be in these first few BFL and WBS tournaments with these brutal cold conditions we've had.

I've fished with hundreds of people from kids that have never made a cast to tour level pros. Once a fisherman reaches a certain level there's really no noticeable difference in an anglers fishing ability. We are all fairly equal as far as our mechanics go and the equipment we use. So the question rises, what separates the guys who consistently finish in the top of the pack in tournaments from the rest of the field. The answer, in my opinion, is the mental side of fishing.

To me the mental side covers a pretty broad spectrum that ranges from how an angler prepares before a tournament to decision making during the tournament to how he carries himself during and after weigh in. I also believe you need to be able to "change gears" mentally depending on your situation and what your goals are. What I mean by this is I have a total different mindset going into an event on KY Lake compared to say one at Old Hickory. 12lbs will get you a top ten at Old Hickory and on KY Lake, not even close. Therefore, going into Old Hickory, I try to be prepared mentally for a tough bite where every keeper is golden and on KY Lake "just keepers" are worthless most of the time. 

I learned mental toughness the hard way. My first year of tournament fishing I never caught a keeper so my goal the next year was just to catch a keeper. My next goal was to catch a limit, then get a check and so on and so forth. I basically set small goals and took baby steps but I was determined to not let anything get in my way and I focused just as hard on trying to catch that one keeper my second season as I do now trying to catch 25lbs on KY Lake. Starting from the bottom like I did I also assumed that all of my competitors were better fishermen than me so I looked for ways that I could level the playing field. I would hear guys the night before the tournament talking about how the wind was going to blow the next day and screw up their game plan or clear skies would kill their bite and those type things were what I taught myself to overcome. I soon figured out that most of the time the guys that were freaking out the night before the tournament were already beaten. I found myself hoping for nasty weather or drastically changing conditions because the more people that were psyched out before the tournament started, the fewer people I had to out fish. I had an old school fisherman tell me the other day about fishing a team tournament back in the day with legendary lure designer Stan Sloan. He said the night before at the meeting Stan got every ones attention and told them that he would have over 30lbs and that if they couldn't catch that they may as well stay home! His partner asked him why he would do such a thing and Stan replied, "now most of them are already beat." While I don't necessarily agree with Stan's arrogant approach, he was right. Many fishermen are out of the race before it ever even starts because they let dock talk, weather and things of that nature spin them out mentally.

I always thought I had a pretty good grip on the mental part of fishing and then I became good friends with David G and eventually started fishing some tournaments with him. This guy is above and beyond anyone I've ever been around when it comes to this aspect of fishing. This class on the mental side of fishing is a great idea and I don't know of a better person to try and help others understand it. It's like everything else in fishing, some will pick up on it quicker than others but we've discussed some of the things he's going to talk about and I guarantee when you walk out of there you will have an understanding of it all and a process you can follow that will help you become a more successful tournament angler.

So, do I think David's seminar is worth $200? I personally think it should cost more. He's offering something that few anglers are willing to share, something you can't read in a magazine article and something you definitely can't buy at a tackle store. Fishermen spend $200 every day on custom painted crank baits, devices that play shad sounds underwater and all other kinds of equipment. What most of them don't realize is that the most important piece of equipment they have is between their ears and Next Level Tournament Fishing is going to teach them how to put it to use. 

To learn more go to https://www.facebook.com/davidgfishing