Entry 51-4
Mike Wurm on Consistently Finding Bass
A Positive Mental Attitude Equals Consistency
Editor's Note: Mike Wurm, from Hot Springs, Arkansas, has fished professionally for 12 years. He's fished in six BASS Masters Classics. In seven of the eight tournaments he's fished in this year, he's earned a check, and he's finished in the top 16 in three of those tournaments. Wurm is one of the most-consistent anglers on the B.A.S.S. circuit. This week, Wurm will explain five secrets to his consistent bass fishing.
Wurm: Bass fishing is the thinking man's game. But, it's not only about how to think like a bass, it's also about how you perceive yourself, your skills, the environment you're fishing in and your ability to win. I don't know of any consistent fisherman who doesn't have a positive mental attitude. Just like the football coach teaches you to play the way you practice, I know that developing a positive mental attitude is just as important on practice days as it is on tournament days.
If you go out on a practice day and say to yourself, "I'm probably not going to catch any fish today because the weather is bad, the water is terrible, I don't have the right lures, and I don't know where the fish are," then chances are really high that you'll have a lousy day. So every day that you practice, practice having a positive attitude. Don't let anything in the fishing environment cause you to defeat yourself.
When the wind is howling, the sky is spitting snow, and the water is dirty, getting a positive mental attitude is not easy. What you should do instead of concentrating on the weather and water conditions is to start thinking about how are the fish going to react to the weather? Where are they going to be on the lake? Where are they going to be holding on the structure? What kind of bite am I fishing for? What lure have I got in my tackle box that will make them bite today? Bad days are learning days, especially in a practice, because if you'll learn how to fish those bad days in practice, then if you have a bad day during the tournament, you can draw confidence from the fact that you've...
fished in bad weather before and learned how to handle it,
fished with bad-water conditions before and still have caught bass,
used these five baits before when fishing these same water and weather conditions and caught fish.
Always learn to use bad days as teachers so that if those bad days occur during a tournament, you can take the knowledge you've learned, apply it and consistently catch bass. If you'll practice on bad days, then when a bad day occurs during a tournament, you can still maintain a positive attitude. The anglers who consistently don't catch bass are the fishermen who consistently tell themselves they are not going to catch bass and make excuses for not catching bass.
