One of the most important ingredients to a good day on the water is a little thing called confidence. That feeling when you really bend your back and fling a bait as far as you physically can, only to have that feeling that the next crank of your handle could result in a hit so fierce your ancestors could feel it.
Now, for me this has a lot to do with the bait I’m flinging. I have a few that I always turn too when the times get tough. I refuse to retire them, they wouldn’t cop it even if I tried. They are born warriors, addicted to the thrill of the chase.
I could just replicate them with the exact same bait, have doubles you say, but it doesn’t work like that. They seem to have a mysterious cod catching gift that has something to do with that exact bait, not a copy.
For me, my motley crew consists of a bashed and bruised white Jackall Gantarel, a twisted and tortured chilli tip Bassman 1oz DT spinnerbait and the odd one of the bunch, my 6-year-old black Mudeye Thingy.
This little black ball of fluff, I bought from TB at Mulwala Camp and Ski, has conquered more cod than most of my baits combined. Courtesy of the physical abuse it’s endured, it’s lost both its eyes, gone through 5 tails, 4 trebles, 2 split rings all while glueing its toupee back on, ala Donald Trump, on 4 separate occasions.
If it reported me to the domestic abuse hotline I’d be totally f#*ked !!
But the point of this story is the benefit of always having a handful of confidence baits in your box. Not only are they proven cod catchers, but they also help get you back in the right frame of mind.
Too often if you haven’t got a bite in a while you speed everything up, start making silly casts and waste time on the water. Nek Minute, it’s home time and you’ve chalked up yet another fishless trip – sound familiar?
So, rather than mount them on the wall, hang them in the trophy cabinet or display them in a frame, put these cod superheroes back in the game – I guarantee they, and your confidence, won’t complain.