Journey Back to Confidence

Stuart Dennis – his cheery, positive and comforting outlook helped Rik (click for bigger picture)

As many of you will know, fishing for me has been on the back burner for the past 18 months or so. With some personal issues to contend with things haven’t been too easy. Once the personal stuff had been sorted, then the major problem for me was to rekindle my desire to be on the bank again.

Never being a person to work at something less than 100%, I knew that until I felt fully committed, I wouldn’t be wetting a line.

So who’s responsible for re-lighting my fire?

I suppose ultimately I am, because without my own desire and need, then I’m not one to be swayed or bullied into something I don’t want. But a major portion of the responsibility must lie with a very true and close friend, Stu Dennis, because without his cheery, positive and comforting outlook, then I think I may well have never gone again.

So how did things go and how did they work out?

It started with phone calls, five times a day for a month, discussing everything from rigs (mainly) bait, bait application, bait boat anatomy, Wols Hock and lemonade, etc, etc, and culminated in us organising our (in)famous trip to Le Mans.

Prior to France I thought I’d better get out and have a go somewhere, but with other commitments abounding then time was limited, so it was a couple of evening trips to the river through the last week of February and the first week of March.

Former glories before the confidence took a knock (click for bigger picture)

France came and went and you can read about that by clicking on the link below, but there was something very vital missing that Stuart and I had discussed at length previously – my confidence.

Any of you that knew me two years ago would know the kind of fishing that I pursued. I would tackle waters that needed a dedicated season-long approach to get any results. Venues that needed you to get intimate with them, to know their moods, topography, habits, etc, and to make things harder for myself, I used to fish these types of venues for just a day or two to try and get a result.

My self confidence was that high, that I thought I could achieve in an overnight session what most of the regulars would take several months to equal. That’s not arrogance or conceit, it’s self belief. Believing in myself through years of catching a lot of carp and a lot of big carp from a variety of waters.

To me it represented a big challenge, attempting to channel my amassed knowledge to overcome the hurdle in front of me and it would give me a massive buzz every time I succeeded.

There is no amount of talking to put back what I had lost, so what to do? Confidence is a funny thing, very difficult to gain, but very easy to lose. But what benefits are there from it?

As many of you will know, specimen fishing is a multi faceted jigsaw and all the parts need to click together for you to succeed. If you have total confidence in your approach, your bait, your rigs, etc, then the only other variable is the fish; the final piece to the jigsaw.

To not have that confidence is akin to somebody stealing several pieces of your jigsaw, or maybe some bugger has hidden the whole box.

So what did I do?
Well the first thing I had to do was decide on the waters I would fish this year. I’ve opted for a reasonably local club, who have some interesting waters that I fished about fifteen years ago. None of these lakes could be classed as easy, with the better (or more confident?) anglers catching one or two carp on a three or four day session on one lake, with the second lake being a little bit harder.

The third is a very unknown quantity with hardly any carp being caught at all.

So I have a good spread of venues, with some interesting and hearty challenges.

It was a very strange experience going round the lake for the first time, with lots of things buzzing in my head. The usual expectancy was replaced with trepidation.

The Source, top quality boilie from Dynamite Baits

The first three swims were taken, these are long chuck swims to the out of bounds banks and these are plum pegs.

Three anglers, three nights, one tench between them.

Mmmmmm, not good.

So I take a slow walk round looking for signs. There was a good wind blowing into one particular bay, so I stayed there for ten minutes or so, watching the water and was rewarded with a flat spot amongst the ripple.

Duly noted, I carried on walking around the lake.

All the way to the last swim, which is also a flier (first peg from the out of bounds and also the back of the island). The guy in this swim hadn’t had a touch, but in his words, “I’ve only been here two days.” ???

Lovely common – never has a fish been so welcome! (click for bigger picture)

So it’s back round to where I spotted the fish and as it’s only a quick afternoon/evening session I decided to go for it. One rod to where the fish showed and one rod to the back of the spit. Both rods baited with single ‘The Source’ bottom baits, with a three bait PVA stringer.

Thirty minutes later and the left hand rod has wrapped around and the buzzer is screaming.

A couple of minutes tugging in open water and a bit of plodding under the rod tip and up she pops, a beautiful common carp, her scales glistening in the weak wintery sunshine.

I’m struggling to remember a fish I’ve caught that has been so welcomed. Thirty minutes on a new water and already it’s 1-0.

I wouldn’t suggest that my confidence is anywhere near to where it was two years ago, because I think it’s a long rocky road, but armed with willing friends, good knowledge and an excellent bait, then I think I’ve taken those first faltering steps.