Self-awareness
Chapter Six: Recognizing internal obstacles
Ask competitive fishermen to name the biggest obstacle to tournament success, and you will typically hear about external factors such as weather changes, equipment malfunctions or uncooperative fish. Yet how often do we consider internal obstacles, the mental blocks, the beliefs and attitudes, and the self-talk that interfere with our success?
Let’s use this column to look at common internal obstacles to tournament proficiency.
What did you learn?
I will never forget Steve, the president of my first bass club. He was a great teacher, and his goal at every club tournament was to help people learn. Steve wisely understood that one of the biggest internal obstacles to fishing success is a closed mind.
Midway through that first season, the club had a tournament with bleak results. Very few fish were tallied, and at the end of the day, we were hanging in the parking lot, grousing. Steve, however, stuck with the club practice of making the rounds, asking each fisherman to talk about his day.
I made the smart remark of saying my day was a lesson in humility about getting shut out. Steve persisted, however, asking, “What did you learn?” He made us think, and eventually the discussion turned serious. Some helpful ideas were tossed around, though the most important lesson for me was Steve’s insistence on learning something from every fishing experience.
In this type of situation, the importance of keeping records becomes especially obvious. It’s pretty easy to remember what we “learned” on the days when the fish bit like crazy. Watermelon-seed tubes + 8-foot rock piles + mild current, in the fall = lots of big smallmouths! We will remember that day for a long time, eh?
At the same time, it’s easy to forget those practice or tournament days when nothing seems to work. High sky + no wind + clear water on midsummer afternoons = zippo. Let’s just forget that day ever happened.
Except that day will probably come around again, and then what? So even on your worst day, take Steve’s advice and learn something. Be specific about writing down what you tried. Talk through your day with someone else, and see if they can help you figure out what went wrong. As a last resort, find people who caught them and learn what they did.
I can’t …
Try this exercise: Get your Performance Psychology and Tournament Fishing notebook and in the left-hand column write “I can’t …” about 10 or 15 times. Then finish the sentence with something that applies to your tournament fishing, as in:
I can’t … find fish in deep water.
I can’t … catch smallmouth bass in current.
Try to be candid here. Admit what you believe you can’t do.
Then go back and realistically ask yourself if this is something you genuinely can’t do or if this is a skill you have not yet developed. If it’s the latter, change the “I can’t …” to “I haven’t learned yet …” and set a goal to improve in that area.
It would also be smart to consider whether each “I can’t …” message came from you or from someone else. We all carry words and ideas from our early years that affect us as grownups. This type of exercise can highlight negative messages we may have internalized that are no longer useful.
Status quo or experiment
We were on our way to the tournament registration dinner following the last practice day for a national pro-am event when we overheard Larry Nixon tell a fellow competitor he had not caught a single fish all day. He made it known, in no uncertain terms, that he was discouraged. And this was on a lake where he had guided for several years.
As we continued to eavesdrop, I discovered that Larry had spent his day exploring lake areas he had not fished before. More than three decades into his professional career, and Larry Nixon was still looking for new water on a reservoir he had fished his whole life!
Clearly, Larry was not letting the “where we caught `em before” syndrome become an internal obstacle. He was willing to experiment, preferring to try new areas and thereby keep his options open. You should too.
Find a map of a favorite lake, make a copy of it and put big red marks on it where you have caught nice bags before. Now head to that lake and fish different places. Or make yourself try new techniques on old spots.
If you have a good Carolina-rig ledge, try pulling a roller jig over it. You have a favorite secondary point? Great! Find a similar point in another creek channel. Don’t let your past success become an internal obstacle to new learning.
Challenge yourself to experiment; don’t say “I can’t …” when you can, and keep asking yourself Steve’s question: “What did you learn today?”
Jay T. McNamara, Ph.D., L.P., is a psychologist, who is also an avid bass and walleye angler. With more than 25 years of professional experience complemented by participation in competitive fishing at local and national levels, he is uniquely qualified to illustrate how performance psychology principles apply to tournament fishing.