Fishing Log

[Brian Needham]

I have deemed this year the year of "lessons learned" and the year of "doing it right" (or trying to)

 

lets talk about how YOU keep your fishing journal, log, whatever you call it.

 

what all do you list in it?

how much detail?

what are the parameters you find important to list?

 

the more I fish the more I see the importance of having one.

[roadwarrior]

http://www.bassresource.com/fish/fishing_log.html

 

 

 

[Brian Needham]

I have seen that one Kent, and there is somethign I dont like about it...... I dont know what exactly, but it is something, so I am looking for other options. I think the main thing is I feel like I might not have room to write for whatever reason.

 

Its probably just me by me.

[phototex]

I have been keeping single-page, paper fishing logs of every bass fishing day I've spent since 1973. Normally, I record most of the following: date, lake name, who I fished with, where I launched, fishing start and stop time, temp range for the day, water temp, depth of 68° to 72° range, lake level, weather, wind direction and strength, water clarit, brief description of feeding activity, fishing depth, a paragraph of "notes," and - for every fish caught:  time, weight, depth, lure, location, and remarks. I don't always record every item, but I usually record what I considered important for that day.

 

This has helped me immeasurable when I go back to the same body of water in subsequent years. I just repeat what has worked there the same dates in previous years, and the bass are almost always doing the same thing they did in the past.

 

For example, here is my log from May 30th, 1992:

 

Lake: Ray Roberts

WX: partly cloudy, warm, and calm until noon; then overcast and windy

Wind: ESE @ 10-15 after noon

Water temp: 72° or so at surface

Launched at:  Buck Creek Park

Fished from: 0500 until 1645

Fished with: alone

Fish log:

  0522 - 4lb,12oz - 6'-8' - Black single-spin with black blade and black trailer - E side of railroad bridge

  0529 - 1-04 - 6' - Black single-spin with black blade & trailer - E side of RR bridge

  0626 - 2-08 - 4' - 6" purple Phenom worm w/ yellow tail - E side of RR bridge

  0658 - 1-04 - Surface - 1/4 oz chartreuse & white Lunker Buzz - highway riprap,E side of south RR bridge

  0749 - 1-08 - S - 1/4 oz chartreuse & white Lunker Buzz - first cove E of highway, on S side

  0757 - 1-00 - S - 1/4 oz chartreuse & white Lunker Buzz - parallel to bank E of last fish

  0807 - 1-14 - 3' - 6" purple Phenom worm w/ yellow tail - E of last fish, in isolated stickups

  0912 - 0-12 - 7' - Texas- rigged Black lizard with yellow spots - fence row on N side of Buck Creek, across from last fish

  0915 - 0-14 - 5' - same lure - same fence row, just W

  0926 - 1-00 - 8' - same lure - same fence row, just W

  1040 - 2-08 - 3' - same lure - E of fence row on north side of arm, across from Big Tree hole

  1235 - 3-00 - 2' - same lure - isolated tree E of last fish

  1248 - 3-08 - 5' - same lure - same tree as last fish

  1345 - 1-12 Crappie - 5' - Black lizard with yellow spots - same tree as last fish

  1352 - 1-00 - 4' - 6" purple Phenom worm w/ yellow tail - point between old roadbed & cove, in tree line

  1526 - 3-08 - S - 1/4 oz chartreuse & white Lunker Buzz - point on N side, just E of highway

  1617 - 5-04 - S - same lure - cove E of highway, on N side

  1625 - 3-04 - S - Same lure - just W of last fish

  1634 - 3-04 - S - Same lure - E side of N highway riprap

  + 6 others less than 1 lb each; ended up with 223 bass, 1 white crappie

Biggest 10: 32-10

Biggest limit: 3 for 13-08

Total: 18 bass for 43-00 + 6 small fish

 

I fished Ray Roberts just about a year later, and caught fish on the same lures in just about the same places. Hope this helps.

[roadwarrior]

Geez...1973...That's awesome!

 

 

 

[phototex]

Yeah, RW - I'm an old fart. BTW - those are beautiful smallmouth in your avatar photo!

[michang5]

I use an iPhone app called Flava. You can upload photos, tag and search keywords (searching "senko" for example will bring up all trips that I caught fish using them), and store it all on their servers so you can also access from a desktop computer web browser. It also will geolocate based on the uploaded photo's GPS info.

The service is free and you can also use it without the app at takeflava.com.

Caveats:

- Maybe they'll start charging money someday.

- Maybe they shut down someday; although they will send you an export of your entire profile via HTML that you can do something with if you know how.

- I fish a lot and upload lots of photos. I've used about half of the space they give you. I don't know what happens when I reach my limit. Maybe I can pay for more storage. Maybe I'll just create another profile.

Check it out.

[hoosierbass07]

 I'm trying to keep a small fishing journal on my PC using wordpad and I look up the weather for the time I went fishing on the U.S. weather sites.  

[mnbassman23]

I've kept a log the past 4 years in a regular paper notebook. I usually include: lake fished, date, temp, wind direction/speed, water temp, number of fish caught, fish size, area/spot on lake that fish were caught, lure(s) used, and then usually a small write up of the day overall and any specifics that I feel were important to my success or lack of.   

[Kevin Beachy]

I have deemed this year the year of "lessons learned" and the year of "doing it right" (or trying to)

 

lets talk about how YOU keep your fishing journal, log, whatever you call it.

 

what all do you list in it?

how much detail?

what are the parameters you find important to list?

 

the more I fish the more I see the importance of having one.

there is a program you can download from the internet that is nice for keeping logs. It is called fishing log pro.

[bigbill]

I was keeping records when I first started bass fishing.

I record,

Time of day

Length of trip

Water temps

Water conditions

Air temp.

Light conditions

Lures used with success

Number of bass caught.

Size of bass caught.

[Catt]

I was keeping records when I first started bass fishing.

I record,

Time of day

Length of trip

Water temps

Water conditions

Air temp.

Light conditions

Lures used with success

Number of bass caught.

Size of bass caught.

K.I.S.S.

[Bankbeater]

I put everything down on an excel spreadsheet.  That way I can go back and look at certain items whenever I need too.

 

Trip number

Date

Day of week

Start and stop times

Lake or pond name

Fished from a boat or not

Weather

Wind

Temp

Type of fish caught (if any)

Amount of fish caught

Largest fish caught

Bait used

Type of rig used (T-rig, C-rig, etc.)

Color of bait

Cover or structure fished

General notes

[5 Dollar Fishing Game]

Take notes in a small note pad each outing. Then put it in an excel spreadsheet file named "fishing"

[Hyrule Bass]

meh, too much like work, would take the enjoyment out of fishing for me.

[Brian Needham]

meh, too much like work, would take the enjoyment out of fishing for me.

 

I debated that very thing for a while....... the last thing I want to do is make fishing work.

 

guess I'll try it and dont like it I'll stop.

[michang5]

As I come up on my first anniversary of bass fishing (started in July 2013), it's going to be interesting to refer to my log and see how much I've learned.

 

At certain points later in the year a few small lightbulbs went off and I started noting trends and basic patterns ("in August there is a ton of grass on top, and if I throw a frog there, I got bit"). It will be cool to see if they are reproduce-able in 2014. 

[WIGuide]

I've looked at a few smart phone apps and some seem to be ok but I haven't found one to do everything I want it to. 

[SirSnookalot]

meh, too much like work, would take the enjoyment out of fishing for me.

I agree.  

But if someone feels logging is making a difference for day to day fishing, or knowing what you caught 20 years ago is beneficial, then that's what you should be doing.

 

If I'm on a good bite the last thing I want to do is take the time to make entries into a phone, laptop or a piece of paper.  I wouldn't bother to take the time to measure, photo or weigh a fish unless it's significant.

Not only is the weather and the conditions different here day to day, certainly not the same as 365 days ago.  I do target a number of species, do it every day and manage quite well keeping everything in my own memory.

[Hyrule Bass]

I agree.  

But if someone feels logging is making a difference for day to day fishing, or knowing what you caught 20 years ago is beneficial, then that's what you should be doing.

 

If I'm on a good bite the last thing I want to do is take the time to make entries into a phone, laptop or a piece of paper.  I wouldn't bother to take the time to measure, photo or weigh a fish unless it's significant.

Not only is the weather and the conditions different here day to day, certainly not the same as 365 days ago.  I do target a number of species, do it every day and manage quite well keeping everything in my own memory.

 if someone wants to keep a log, that dont bother me one bit. i just want to fish, i dont care to keep records on everything i catch. i will retain things in my memory and refer back to them. i just dont care to bring office work with me fishing, thats what im trying to get away from...

[5 Dollar Fishing Game]

To be honest it probably would take the fun out of the sport IMO. I have enough stuff to do on the water without messing with keeping up with logs.

[Catt]

I don't do any record keeping on the water but once I get back to the camp I'll jot it all down.

I also keep it simple, the only fish I weigh is anything over 6# or tournament stringers which are weighed at the weigh in.

Y'all will be amazed at how much you don't remember or don't remember correctly!

[Brian Needham]

I don't do any record keeping on the water but once I get back to the camp I'll jot it all down.

I also keep it simple, the only fish I weigh is anything over 6# or tournament stringers which are weighed at the weigh in.

Y'all will be amazed at how much you don't remember or don't remember correctly!

 

what else do you do Catt?

I want to keep it as simple as possible but cover all the needed info for going forward and review.

[Catt]

Brain look at bigbill's post

[bigbill]

I was recording the moon phases too when the success was awesome.