The Reverend Stewart Bloor, perhaps better known as Sedge in the pages of FISHINGmagic, is an ordained Minister and Director of the Sedgley International Christian Ministries.
He is also a very keen angler, having come back to the sport five years ago following a break of several years. In this regular column he will tell us about his progress as an angler – his thoughts about the sport, what he learns, the fishing trips he makes, the anguish, the humour, in fact everything he experiences as his angling career develops.
‘The Ring of Confidence – The Key to Success’
When I started fishing my aim was quite simply to catch fish. I had no targets or size goals, I just wanted to catch fish. In fact I would go as far to say that, if anything, I targeted small fish. I measured satisfaction by how many fish I caught, not by their weight. It really was a case of quantity is better than quality.
I don’t know when the change took place, I guess it was more of a gradual transformation rather than an overnight one. But I went through a total turn around. Now I target biggies. I don’t always catch them, but I target them!
Of course there are lots of blanks along the way. But at the stage where I am in my angling I’m not afraid of blanking, even when it’s a run of fishless sessions. I have the confidence to keep going, knowing that the well thought out tactics will come right in the end. In my early days of fishing, the thought of a blank filled me with horror, now I see it as an inevitable consequence of fishing the way I do. The size of fish that I am targeting means that in effect I’m really fishing for only 5% or less of the total fish in the water. But confidence means you can do that.
I had an e-mail recently from someone who wanted to take up fishing. He commented that he wants to catch big ones right from the start. I advised him to begin with small fish and then as he progresses, maybe consider targeting something decent. What would happen with a new angler aiming too high is that he would quickly become discouraged. We have to learn to walk before we can run. The first fish I ever caught as a youngster was a very small gudgeon, and then when returning to the sport in recent years, an even smaller bleak.
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For a long time all I fished with, as far as bait was concerned, was the humble maggot. My philosophy was that the maggot is a bait that every fish in the water will take, so I wanted to spread my net as wide as possible, so to speak. There was also the added confidence, that once on the hook, the maggot is there to stay. The thought of fishing with a big bait was something I simply did not have the confidence to do. But as my experience grew and I became bolder that’s exactly what happened. Now I very rarely fish with maggot. I now have the confidence to put a big bait on, and cast out, being prepared to leave it there for hours.
It was a long time before I had the confidence to fish with meat, for example. I kept wondering if the bait was still on the hook, or whether it had come off under the water, so would often re-wind every couple of minutes to see if it was still attached. Now, because of confidence, I can leave the bait out for a couple of hours, if necessary, without worrying.
Yes, confidence is important. I’m not particularly into the Olympic Games, but like most of us, did watch the odd event from time to time at Sydney this Autumn. I was fascinated to watch one swimming race, all the competitors were decked out in different costumes. Some had caps, others none, some wore leggings, some wore full length body suits. Only one was in the traditional trunks only.
When interviewed, each competitor swore that their outfit was the best and gave them the edge over their rivals. The truth was that each swimmer had confidence in their particular gear, and that’s what really counts. The same applies to fishing. When I fish bait on a hair rig I always colour co-ordinate the boilie stops, yellow for sweetcorn, brown for luncheon meat etc, etc. Now, in all honesty, I don’t really think it makes all that much difference. But I do it because it gives me confidence.
In fact, confidence has such an impact upon every aspect of our angling, that we often don’t realise just how much. I recently field tested Sufix Invisiline fluorocarbon, the results appearing in the reviews section (see link below). I invited anglers to mail me with their own comments, and several did just that.
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The variety of what was said was amazing. I would get a mail from an angler literally staking his life on ‘brand A’, then a mail would come in from another angler who never fished with anything other than ‘brand B’, and in fact mentioned ‘brand A’ as fit only for the dustbin! What it reinforced is that confidence is the key. If you read the review you will see that one of the important conclusions, as far as I was concerned, is that I now have total confidence in Sufix Invisiline.
We could go on forever, there is not a single item of tackle whereby confidence in it’s use does not become the overriding factor. Take braid for example. Depending on who you talk to, it’s the best thing since sliced bread or the worst thing to hit the fishing market ever! Yet we are talking about the same product, it’s just how we view it in terms of confidence.
I guess we all learn the hard way, often from the mistakes we make. I know I do!
I think back to the times, particularly when I first started fishing, and I knew the hook knot I tied wasn’t really 100%, but I carried on fishing anyway. How I could have kicked myself when I struck into a good fish, only for the knot to give way. Now I sometimes tie a knot three or four times until I am totally convinced that it is right. There is nothing worse than playing a big fish knowing you have a dodgy knot at the hook. You don’t enjoy the fight. I know, I’ve been there.
In fact I often check not just the knot at the hook on a regular basis, but the hook itself, the knot at the swivel, and so on. I also check the line for abrasion, particularly when there are snags about. If there is just a small doubt that things are not quite right, I cut the line and start all over again. I know I might sound paranoid, but I have cut down incredibly on lost fish due to tackle weakness. I will not cast out until I have absolute confidence. Sometimes in the winter, when fingers are freezing cold, it can be a temptation to take a short cut and overlook some little irregularity. But I refuse to give in to temptation, knowing it may just be that cast I hook a 14lb barbel that I lose just because I fished with a blunt hook.
The word ‘confidence’ appears 18 times in this article (19 now!). I make no apologies for the repetition, because it’s such an important part of our angling. We really do need to embrace that concept of ‘having a feeling of self assurance’. Not only will it help us to enjoy our fishing more, it will put better fish on the bank.
