Give me a break!

[Dan]

If you compete at any level, in any type of event, you are likely to incur a tough loss. Winning is a game of failure. In any contest, all but one person or one team comes out on top. You can compete, and be quite good, without ever savoring the limelight and the champions trophy.
Dean Rojas beat Gerald Swindle by an ounce after fishing for four days in the Toledo Bend Elite Series event this last weekend! David Walker lost by 13 ounces, and had the fish he needed to win halfway to the boat.
What do you say to yourself after something like that? How do you not let that doubt creep in the next time you're in contention?
You can take solace in quotes like author and publisher Harry Golden have made, "The only thing that overcomes hard luck is hard work."
What are your hard luck stories and how do you motivate yourself after one of those tough losses?

[Manxfishing]

I see it is,

If you need to motivate yourself maybe it's not there cup of tea
It's the love of fishing and the competition that keeps me going.

[McCarter]

last year at the tbf event on muskegan, i had an absolute mental breakdown.  i had a terrible practice listening to tips from people.  i had never fished up there before so i kinda was relying on advice from others.  but it didnt pan out.  so when the event started, i just decided to go with my gut and fish my strengths.  it ended up working pretty good as i found a school of good ones.  but for whatever reason, i lost 4 fish that absolutly crushed me.  after the first one got off, i was ok.  the 2nd one was a monster, and that one got it started.  a few minutes later i lost a 3.5 lber and not long after lost a solid 3 lber.  i was livid.  i did the only thing i could do at that point and sat down and watched a few videos of my kid on my cell phone.  then i looked at a few pictures of her on my phone and it really helped.  kinda reminded me of what is important and i was able to compose myself and improve my mood.  if i wouldnt have had those, i dont think i would have been able to pull it together.  i would have probably ended up breaking stuff ( cuz i am a 200 lb 4 year old at heart ) and would have ruined my co anglers day.  thank god for family.  when all else fails, they are always there.

McCarter himself

[Cy]

I think one of the biggest requirements to even become a fisherman, let alone a tournament angler, is to be an optimist.  I am not an optimist in most things, in real life I play a very convincing realist!  However optimism is a critical part of fishing.  It's the idea that every cast is going to produce a fish.  I consider this to be one of the mental keys to success on the water.  Oh sure, there are countless other mental keys, but if you don't believe you are going to catch a fish, then you probably aren't going to.

The point to all of this is, as most of you are wondering already, I don't remember my "bad beats" on the water.  I forget about them as quickly as possible and move on to the next event.  Unless someone were to remind me of the time I got my butt kicked, I really can't pull one out of thin air and tell you about it.  As far as I am concerned, it didn't happen.  Everything is a learning experience, a mental exercise or just preparing you for something else.  Roll with it and come up swing the next time.

Cy

[Eric]

You kind of have to expect bad things to happen sometimes.  I bet I have lost more bass tournaments that anyone else on here in the last decade.  I've probably lost 250 tournaments.  rather weirdly, losing has made me become rather successful.  You can't win them all, remember that.  Be as mentally and physically prepared as possible and have your equipment as prepared as possible, then go do your best.  Sometimes it's good enough, and sometimes it's not.  When it's not, assess to see what you maybe can improve on for next time.  When it is, stick your tongue out and put your thumbs in your ears and wiggle your fingers at your buddies. 

Luck is the culmination of hard work and preparation.

[Redbone]

You kind of have to expect bad things to happen sometimes.  I bet I have lost more bass tournaments that anyone else on here in the last decade.  I've probably lost 250 tournaments.  rather weirdly, losing has made me become rather successful.  You can't win them all, remember that.  Be as mentally and physically prepared as possible and have your equipment as prepared as possible, then go do your best.  Sometimes it's good enough, and sometimes it's not.  When it's not, assess to see what you maybe can improve on for next time.  When it is, stick your tongue out and put your thumbs in your ears and wiggle your fingers at your buddies. 

Luck is the culmination of hard work and preparation.

Well said!
I always make sure that if I am beat me.  You were on top of your game and not just limping around.

[josh617]

" Ya can't catch 'em all, Charlie," one of my favorite fishing quotes, from Charlie Hartley at the 2007(i think) classic on Hartwell, after he lead on day one and could barely boat a bass on day three. Without going into too much painful detail (the memories have been repressed for my mental health lol), I ve lost some fish the last couple of years that have cost me quite a bit of money.  

[thedude]

hey cy, remember that time you hooked a pike and a trap into your hand and then we weighed in and the scales were off and then we went to the hospital for an hour to get the hook pulled out and then we went to pizza hut and drank beer and ate pizza?

i love beer and pizza!

[Redbone]

You kind of have to expect bad things to happen sometimes.  I bet I have lost more bass tournaments that anyone else on here in the last decade.  I've probably lost 250 tournaments.  rather weirdly, losing has made me become rather successful.  You can't win them all, remember that.  Be as mentally and physically prepared as possible and have your equipment as prepared as possible, then go do your best.  Sometimes it's good enough, and sometimes it's not.  When it's not, assess to see what you maybe can improve on for next time.  When it is, stick your tongue out and put your thumbs in your ears and wiggle your fingers at your buddies. 

Luck is the culmination of hard work and preparation.

Well said!
I always make sure that if I am beat.  You were on top of your game and not just limping around.

I must of had one to many last night looking at this post!

[Eric]

Were you with Justin?  Looks like he was liking beer and posting too.

[Dan]

That's funny in a sick kind of way Justin. Poor Cy.
I know that I thoroughly enjoy the competition whether it's fishing, sports, poker, triathalons,  etc. I do get upset with myself when I feel I could have done better.
I don't really have a need to win any more. Getting old I guess. Don't get me wrong, when I do compete I have goals. In bass tournaments, I look to win. In events like the Chicago Marathon, I just hope to finish and run the whole way. (I don't do that any more. My knees got tired of being carved on. I like walking without pain. In fact, when I quit running, I started bass tournaments more seriously.) The older I got the emphasis or importance of my competing was tempered by the insignificance of it all it the larger sense. My priorities changed. Maybe that's because as an old man all my kids can out wrestle me now. In any case, when it comes to competing I like how this quote  from Wadsworth sums it up.  "Not in the clamor of the crowded streets nor in the shouts and plaudits of the throng, but within oneself lies victory and defeat."   

[Cy]

hey cy, remember that time you hooked a pike and a trap into your hand and then we weighed in and the scales were off and then we went to the hospital for an hour to get the hook pulled out and then we went to pizza hut and drank beer and ate pizza?

i love beer and pizza!

Yeah I totally remember that!  I remember all that stuff and I remember we caught 'em pretty well that day too.