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OCD and fishing.

I think I have posted before on here regarding my thing which is also assembling my landing net first and last thing to take down.Also my rod rest or rests have to be vertical as you look at them.Apart from that I'm O.K I think but had to have a word with myself recently while putting up some raised beds in the garden.Was it really necessary to use a spirit level both horizontally and vertically?
 
Mark Walker said:
I agree with some of the above, OCD about clothes rod colors etc. makes zero difference. level rods etc, no edge either. It more just brings a level of enjoyment to some I guess.
I do think being organized is an edge. Not wasting time finding stuff or tying rigs etc. being consistent on rig lengths, hook lengths knots etc definitely an edge. Also back when I was match fishing canals and you needed a couple hundred fish in five hours to frame organization was everything. No time to re rig or look for a disgorger, could literally cost you the match. Obviously much less important pleasure fishing but I still try to maximize fishing time vs other time with the limited time I have to fish.
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I think being OCD is a mindset; its more about striving for perfection in everything - all those micro percentages add up to an % increase in catching efficiency. Terry Hearn has mentioned it more than once - its all about %'s (and in his case time!)
 
Chris Belcher said:
I think being OCD is a mindset; its more about striving for perfection in everything - all those micro percentages add up to an % increase in catching efficiency. Terry Hearn has mentioned it more than once - its all about %'s (and in his case time!)
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What about those of us who don’t have OCD; but still care about the things that matter: like setting up your landing net before you get a bite (as Joe has just said), tieing decent knots, using a good bait and casting it in the right place.

I dont care about having scruffy gear, having a dirty, oldish car, holes in my shirt, filling the dishwasher and all that ‘stuff’. But I can still catch the odd fish.

I know some very competent anglers and I dont think any of them suffer with OCD - so I’m not sure that it’s a pre-requisite to be a top fisherman.
 
Chris Belcher said:
I think being OCD is a mindset; its more about striving for perfection in everything - all those micro percentages add up to an % increase in catching efficiency. Terry Hearn has mentioned it more than once - its all about %'s (and in his case time!)
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OCD is a serious form of neurosis. It has little or nothing to do with 'perfectionism'. The latter is a 'mindset' (it involves choice), the former definitely is not. OCD ruins lives.
Just sayin'.
 
Just a few things that get to me, not sure its OCD but they are things I always do. If roving a small river and the lead goes in too heavily I reel in and walk to my next swim. Does not happen often but my thought is that I have killed that swim for an hour so its not worth me wasting my next 20 minutes. Again roving if I make too loud a noise settling into a swim I get up and move. When I tie small spade end hooks I always do over 20+ turns. My thought is that the knot is less likely to come undone with that many turns. When trotting bread for Chub I will always have a first cast without feeding, often over the years this has produced the biggest fish in the swim so that always get done. There are many more but those come to mind first
 
Graham Elliott said:
Not OCD at all...however I always count to anything between 100, 200 before I pack up.

Sometimes 3 times!
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I don’t do it as much anymore but if I hadn’t had a touch for a while and was going to recast I always used to try count 60 seconds in my head then normally add on another 10 seconds before I reeled in. You’d be surprised the amount of times I’d get into the 50’s and get a bite
 
Terry Simner said:
OCD is a serious form of neurosis. It has little or nothing to do with 'perfectionism'. The latter is a 'mindset' (it involves choice), the former definitely is not. OCD ruins lives.
Just sayin'.
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Lol - bit harsh! Do I ACTUALLY think I suffer from proper OCD . . . no, don't think I'd be able to function in the real world if I had the same afflictions so maybe we are all abusing the terminology and as you say 'perfectionism' is more appropriate. Do think a lot of anglers and the nature of the activity itself creates 'perfectionist' behaviours all geared towards catching more fish or assuming that by doing so one will catch more fish! Or perhaps as the more experienced one becomes these are just habits/muscle/brain memory based repeated actions based on things that equated to past success and are therefore automatically repeated?
 
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Graham Elliott said:
Not OCD at all...however I always count to anything between 100, 200 before I pack up.

Sometimes 3 times!
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In my case it’s always 120, though I sometimes start again if I’m not happy with how I’ve counted, which turns out to be quite a lot. I thought I was alone in doing this until I confessed it to a mate once, in a slightly embarrassed tone, only to be told he does exactly the same!
As for OCD, not really, though I do like matching rods and reels if I’m using two rods, and I like them to be level and reasonably close to each other - can’t do a six feet apart thing at all. That’s just practicality, surely? Oh, and obviously wonky rests drive me nuts. They have to match too - the same mate has two completely different rests and uses two different rods, with different reels. He’ll often have them miles apart and at wildly differing angles, which sets my teeth on edge…Hmm, maybe I’m more anal than I realised…
 
Richard Gardiner-Smith said:
In my case it’s always 120, though I sometimes start again if I’m not happy with how I’ve counted, which turns out to be quite a lot. I thought I was alone in doing this until I confessed it to a mate once, in a slightly embarrassed tone, only to be told he does exactly the same!
As for OCD, not really, though I do like matching rods and reels if I’m using two rods, and I like them to be level and reasonably close to each other - can’t do a six feet apart thing at all. That’s just practicality, surely? Oh, and obviously wonky rests drive me nuts. They have to match too - the same mate has two completely different rests and uses two different rods, with different reels. He’ll often have them miles apart and at wildly differing angles, which sets my teeth on edge…Hmm, maybe I’m more anal than I realised…
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Reasonably close to each other Essex style 😂
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Richard Gardiner-Smith said:
In my case it’s always 120, though I sometimes start again if I’m not happy with how I’ve counted, which turns out to be quite a lot. I thought I was alone in doing this until I confessed it to a mate once, in a slightly embarrassed tone, only to be told he does exactly the same!
As for OCD, not really, though I do like matching rods and reels if I’m using two rods, and I like them to be level and reasonably close to each other - can’t do a six feet apart thing at all. That’s just practicality, surely? Oh, and obviously wonky rests drive me nuts. They have to match too - the same mate has two completely different rests and uses two different rods, with different reels. He’ll often have them miles apart and at wildly differing angles, which sets my teeth on edge…Hmm, maybe I’m more anal than I realised…
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If I fish 2 rods I like to have them either side of the peg so that if I get a fish on one the other isn’t in the way. Only time I’ll have them next to each other is if there is enough room to play the right hand rod stood to the right of them and the left stood to the left.
 
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