Angling Confidence

TOM ROWLAND PODCAST

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“Confidence is key.”

PODCAST SYNOPSIS

I’ve gotten a lot of questions about permit, and it’s no secret that permit is my favorite fish. And there’s a reason for that. I was fortunate enough to start guiding in Key West, Florida which is the epicenter of permit fishing. So I found myself in a place where it was the best place to fish for permit but I did not know much about the species at the time.

When I would go out I would see them a lot so I didn’t think they were very hard to find, but they were hard to catch. So I just found myself fishing for permit a lot and I was able to gain a tremendous amount of respect for the fish and I was able to start catching them after a while. Then I was able to gain a lot of confidence when fishing for permit. Because of that confidence I feel comfortable going to fish anywhere and for any kind of species.

So when people ask me about catching permit, I notice that behind the question is a belief that it is impossible… It is certainly possible and if you are casting without confidence you are going to be less likely to catch it. But if you cast with confidence then you are going to be more aggressive with the cast, you won’t be afraid to fail, you will push the comfort zone of the fish and get the fly closer which is where you need to be…

If you aren’t confident, then you don’t want to spook them so you are casting far away to the point where they won’t even see it… In that case, of course you aren’t able to catch them! You need to be throwing where the fish is going to be able to see it and you can’t be afraid to fail.

This can be applied to permit fishing, bonefish, tarpon and more with spinning tackle, jig, fly, etc… Confidence is key…

See you on the water,

Tom Rowland

Check out the show notes:

00:00 - I started fishing in Key West and that is where I became obsessed with permit

01:23 - It wasn’t that I was amazing at fishing for permit, I just was in an area where I saw them constantly and was able to hone my skills

02:36 - I find a lot of people think catching permit is impossible. It is challenging, but there are way harder things you could do. Have you tried catching a hammerhead on a fly?

03:15 - You can’t think it’s impossible

04:05 - Permit fishing has become a fashionable thing to do, but you can’t build it up to be a virtual impossibility

05:27 - You need to have confidence that it’s possible

05:43 - You need to have confidence to be an effective angler. You tend to catch a lot more if you’re confident

07:05 - If you aren’t casting with confidence then you have a much lower chance of catching a fish

07:26 - When I started out I wanted one of the first permit I caught to be on a fly

09:16 - If you’ve seen it happen, then you’ll know its possible and you will make it happen

10:21 - This is something to consider with tarpon, bonefish, permit, etc…

11:13 - Permit fishing is certainly not impossible. It just requires confidence.

12:40 - Send me a picture of the fish you catch! podcast@saltwaterexperience.com or on instagram @tom_rowland