Positive Thinking - Negative Thinking

Just completed a great weekend of kayak fishing, Friday night involved lots of fish caught between Upgang and Whitby Bellbouy, Saturday it was The southern softies match at Runswick where the fishing was difficult, but sticking it out to the end and staying positive brought me the heaviest fish of 6 and a half pounds and heaviest bag of the night and a prize of £100 cash.

Now with positive thinking in mind, Sunday turned out to be a fantastic day for me and a rather difficult day for the rest of the lads. We launched at Sandsend and fished in the bay for sandeels before having a go on the soft ground to see if we could pick and big flatties up on live sandeel.

After a couple of long drifts I switched tactics and headed onto the rough ground. First drop down and Im into a stonking fish, got it up and onto the yak and its a fine red cod easily 2 pounds bigger than the one I got Saturday night, Im estimating the weight at 9lb ish.

That same drift I took another 3 fish and lost one about 7lb on the surface. I was joined by the other lads who just couldnt get a fish between 6 of them. Next few drifts I had several more upto 5lb, all red fish and all returned. The other lads splattered about the ground just continued to draw a blank.

Next a few of them grouped together and you could almost feel the negativity, "doggy do do this isnt it", "Id rather be in the pub". Finally we all agreed to have a go around the piers for pollack and codling.

That was pretty fruitless so I headed back to the rough ground I had caught the cod on. The others joined me and a few of us managed some more fish. I got another 3 and Kev and his mate got a couple each. I think Dan managed 1 or 2 and Mike and Damo seemed to draw a blank again.

At the end of the day I think my total was 10 or 11 cod upto 9lb and a good average size of 4 -5 lb. I think Kev and his mate managed 1 or 2 between them and the rest blanked.

This got me thinking about how I could pull out all those fish whilst the rest had little at all. Am I a much superior angler to them ??? I know thats not true, the lads have all dicked me at times and all of them are top rods. What Im thinking is that they wernt up for it. Its almost as if that negativity transmits down the rod to the fish. I was also sharp, making sure I was in exactly the right place for every drift. At the mark Im thinking of there is 1 hot spot in the middle of a peace of hard ground. You line up some landmarks and the fish always seem to come out of the same area over a stretch of 2 -3 hundred yards. If your out of that zone then your out of the fish.

I have been speaking to Dan about it this morning and he came to the same conclusion that a positive attitude is essential to a days fishing.

Just my thoughts. Would be interesting to know what others think. Does a positive mental attitude help you catch fish ??

My first cod of the day, Going roughly 9lb.

 

I think it definitely does help, mainly because when you know you are in the right place, doing the right things you stick at it and more often than not get the rewards. negative thinking makes you concentrate less, give up early and mainly fish hardheartedly.

 

Without a PMA you're knackered from the start- no matter what type of fishing you do.
Without it lie ins and the pub are much more appealing.

 

Positive thinking is essential. If you arent in the right frame of mind you should stay home. I also thinking negative thinking is infectious within a group. One negative person sets the rest off. By the way Glenn, how do you do it. Not only do you manage to catch some cracking fish you also take smashing snaps of them on the kayak which must be very difficult.

 

I think Matty summed it up well there

Great pics and fish again Glenn

 

Couldn't agree more, you are defeated from the start if your not thinking positive. You fish better and more efficiently with the time you have. And Barnsley Chop is right about negativity bringing others down, we all struggle at some point but you just got to learn what you can from it and keep going.

Some great photos there too. What did you catch the sandeels on??

 

9lb'ers help with positive thinking, I imagine.
Top day out.
Incidentally, I recognise the green kayak. We chatted briefly on Sandsend Ramp last week as you returned empty, so good to see you have had a few bumpers since.
Ben

 

It's all bollocks you're just a jammy git :laugh:

I think when you're on form you tend to think much clearer too. The festivals are a great example of this. When you struggle the indecision can boil your brain but when things are going well things like picking a venue seems like an obvious choice.

Even playing and landing a fish becomes a desperate experience when you are trying too hard.

It's difficult to understand how things pan out the way they do but confidence and positivity certainly play a part.

Well done on the fish and great pics you spawney northern vampire. :butt:

 

The sandeels were all fould hooked on a jigger, the lads using Sabikis couldnnt touch them which is very strange.

 

Think I got a couple of sandeels on sabikis and a couple foul hooked on jigger Glenn. Ended up with a couple cod 4-5lb and Carl had 1 bit smaller, losing a decent fish lifting into kayak as well.

I think the key to it is perseverance really, sticking at it and putting the effort in even when it's slow can pay off, and indeed is more likely to pay off than being lazy - dropping your concentration and work rate through lack of motivation. I felt really confident going onto that bit of ground and thought I do a bit better than I did really, so was a bit downhearted at the end but still gave it a good go while I was there and had a great day out nonetheless. Glenn got it right when he said 'summer's a long time coming', that sort of motivated me as well knowing it's not something I have the luxury of being able to do whenever I want, and shouldn't be wasteful with my opportunities.

I must've put 10-12 undersize and just size Codlings back, just couldn't seem to get the better fish. I've gotta say though Glenn, you're a dab hand with that jigger, I spent a bit of time watching you work it, and if I had more jiggers with me I would have risked losing some to try your technique out for myself. It's very effective to say the least, considering that over that ground I was fishing close to you with the same jigger with much lesser results. Dan said the same thing when we landed.

When you look at it though, the Whitby Bass Club members just weren't on top form. Damo had been silaging 24 hours a day, Dan the jake had lost his shirt and Farron had been up all night with your camera. They'd not had the ideal preparation of being in Raw until 3 the night before either.

 

Was nice to meet you Glenn on Sunday and such an enjoyment watching you pull some nice fish in. Having never fished north of marine drive in my life I was positive throughout just looking and taking in all the new venue and the experience and think that showed with my one nice 3-4lb codling a small 1lb codling and lost a cracking one double the size of my first one at my feet on the last few drifts all in all a very enjoyable days fishing with some cracking anglers.

 

Wishing it was summer.

 

I agree Glenn, I'll be having some of that fishing action with a bit of luck

 

If u fish the charter boats glen, especaly uptiding u can see the fight drain out of some people. What i mean is they start the day bright and up for it. Bait is changed on a regular bacis and all is happy with the world..after an hour or so with little fish comin out baits stay in longer the mood of the boat takes a nose dive and people are already thinkin it will be a bad day. If they continued to change baits and fish hard then when the fish come on the feed they would be ready.

 

always, sadly we are now in that stretch of the year where there are 8 weeks to each month and summer takes forever to come

 

Bump

 

so so right spend nigh on 150 easy on summer gear gone are the days of a 20 quid spinning set up from eric wilsons

 

Ive spent a fortune already for this coming summer Perry.

New Rod £150 off Lawsey
Savage Gear Bushwacker -£70
Penn Battle £100
Braid £30
Jiggers £30
Soft Plastics £100 +
£500 trip to Skye
And I aint finished yet.
Planning on Wales and another Skye trip if I can get company.
Plugs £150