Super User Catt Posted May 3, 2014 Super User Posted May 3, 2014 I was recording the moon phases too when the success was awesome. So do I but only 1 st, 2 nd, 3 rd, & 4 th quarter with date. Quote
WolfyBrandon Posted May 4, 2014 Posted May 4, 2014 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. Brian, Interesting post because 2014 is also the year for me where I plan to heavily document my fishing experiences in great detail. I started back in 2008, by simply taking pictures with my digital camera and organizing them on my computer into folders sorted by date. It wasn't really a log so much as just documenting fish I caught and taking scenic pictures while out on the lake. I've always had a love for fishing (any species), but Bass Fishing was something I took up on my own and was self-taught (for the first few years) pretty much the hard way through trial and error. Since I live up north, I have a long winter period where I don't fish, and when I became serious about bass fishing I started to use my winter "down time" to do a lot of research. I found myself looking back on those logs from years ago to try and learn from my past experiences, but it lacked a lot of useful information that I wanted to know this last winter. I also didn't log much of anything in 2011 & 2012 (I had other things going on in my life). So this year I plan to make up for it and have overhauled my system to the point where it has become almost a second job for me (which is ok, I have free time). I'm going to put in the hard work this year so that I have a solid foundation to look back upon, then next year I will take a break and go back to fishing just for fun with hopefully more knowledge that will make it even more fun, at least... that is the plan lol. Anyway... brace yourself, this is my log... On my PC I have a folder structure of the following... /Fishing 2014/ - /01. Research & Gear Stuff/ (Misc Information & Pictures) - - /01. Fishing Videos Research/ (Saved Videos with Useful Information) - - /02. Fishing Information & Documents Research/ (Various Text Documents of Articles and Useful Information. Diagram Pictures/Charts, etc.) - - /03. Weather & Environmental Research/ (Weather Front Diagrams/Symbols, Moon Phase Information, Aquatic Vegetation, etc.) - - /04. Lake Information/ (Information on Types of Lakes, Seasonal Effects, etc) - - /05. Fishing Tackle Research/ (Color Charts of Various Lures and Baits I'm researching/Interested In using) - - /06. Catalog PDF's/ (2014 Tackle Company Catalog PDF files, "bait-monkey galore" 0_o) - /02. New Tackle for 2014/ (Consists of pictures of new tackle I've purchased for/during 2014) - /03. Weather Forecasts & Radar Images [2014]/ (I take 3 images per day & name with date & time, [my 5 Day Forecast + Doppler Radar Widget of WA State & West Coast US/Pacific (Infrared)], ["Current Surface" Image of the entire USA for Front Symbols], and a [Weather Graph Image from the station closest to where I fish]. I also have quick links to websites to quickly get the images/information.) - - /01. March 2014/ (Images for the days of March) - - /02. April 2014/ (Images for the days of April) - /04. Order & Total # Of Fish Caught Pictures/ (I have one picture (best) of each fish I have caught numbered so I can see them all & the order in which they were caught.) - - /01. Fish Maps/ (heh, I have a 500x500 image cropped of a fully zoomed in google map of the location where I caught each fish & marked it up in photoshop with my location, my casts line, and where about I hooked each fish.) [This Is Where My Log For This Year Begins] Example: - /Folder Number - Month - Day, 2014/ (I make one of these folders for every fishing trip, and this is where I store the hundreds of pictures I take during each trip.) I also have the same following 8 items in each of these logs... - - /01. Preview/ (This is where I have selected 10 - 50 good pictures (out of the hundreds) that I can put into a slideshow with music to remember / re-live that day's fishing experience. This is where I also keep a filled out Bass Resource's Fishing Log for each bass I catch.) - - /02. Notes.txt (This is the meat of the log for each day, where I list all of the information) --------------Notes.txt-------------- Date: ? Time: ? Conditions: Water Temp - ?F Water Level - ? Than Normal Summer Level Water Clarity - ? Water Current - (Direction/Speed) Sky Conditions - ? Wind & Direction - ? - From The ? Moon - ?% Notes - (This is where I type out everything I can about my experience on the water that day.) Summery - (This is where I summarize the days events.) Future Goal - (This is something I put notes in on what I plan to try and accomplish on my next trip or a goal to try and achieve as quick as possible.) Updates - (This is where I put in any notes "after" my last trip and "before" my next trip.) Lures & Techniques Used - (This is where I list all of the lures & colors I used that day along with the techniques I used to fish them.) Lures Note - (This is where I put in any notes relating to baits I am currently using or plan to use in the future.) - - - - - Fishing Results - - - - - Number Of Fish Caught: ? Number & Fish Species: ? - ? Fish Specific Details: Species - Weight - Length - Lure Type - Name ? - ? - ? - ? - ? (per fish) /End of Notes.txt -------------------------------------- - - /03. Day's Moon Phase.jpg (This is a picture of the moon's % for that day) - - /04. Month - Day, 2014 (Time) - Forcast & Radar.jpg (5 Day Forecast + Doppler Radar Widget of WA State & West Coast US/Pacific (Infrared)) - - /05. Month - Day, 2014 (Time) - Surface.jpg ("Current Surface" Image of the entire USA for Front Symbols) - - /06. Month - Day, 2014 (Weather Graph).jpg (Weather Graph Image from the station closest to where I fish.) - - /07. Hourly Weather History & Observations.ods (This is a spreadsheet consisting of Temperature, Dew Point, Humidity %, Wind Direction, Wind Speed MPH, Gust MPH, Barometric Pressure, Precipitation in Inches, for every 5 minutes for the 24 hours of that day.) - - /08. Weather Summary.txt (A simple text document that has the summary and averages of the spreadsheet above for quick reference.) End Of /Fishing 2014/... [This Is Where My Log Ends] Now a bit of a Disclaimer lol: I have purposely gone out of my way to setup my system of doing logs to contain the maximum amount of information possible. I'm someone who loves taking a lot of pictures, is blessed with computer skills, and is a fairly fast typer. Believe it or not, with my shortcut links I can pretty much get all the information/pictures required within a few minuets time. It's the Notes.txt that takes the longest to fill out. To help with that, my solution is I have a digital audio voice recorder that I can talk into and record all the information, then come back to it at a later date. I could just use the audio voice recorder by itself, but personally I like to have it in text format. Its about as technical and in-depth as you can get. Most of the work just consists of going to a link and saving an image, or copy/paste -ing information. Then I work on the Notes.txt on the days between fishing trips. So that's how I'm doing my logs for this year... if anything I hope this helps give others "idea's" on making their own if they are interested. WolfyBrandon 1 Quote
Will Wetline Posted May 4, 2014 Posted May 4, 2014 Starting in the early '70s I would make a 2-3 page entry in a notebook with details of a day's trip. (Yes, kids, the tools used for this historical data recording technique were a pen and paper bound between card stock!) In 2010 I lept into the Digital Era with the purchase of of a Mac OS10. A year later I got a Canon PowerShot D10. After gaining a basic understanding of how to operate these tools, my log entry for a day's trip would be in the form of a post for BR and another site frequented by other western MA anglers. Here's a sample: http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/118690-a-smorgasbord-for-smallies-51413/ I am certainly going to mention weather conditions, water temp., depths fished, baits used and presentation. I'll talk about anything out of the ordinary and new baits/presentations that worked for me. In the dead of winter I can relive these trips and smile (or smack my forehead). And I also hope there's a smile here for you and possibly a tidbit of information you can apply to your fishing. 2 Quote
Super User A-Jay Posted May 4, 2014 Super User Posted May 4, 2014 I started keeping a serious log during my Striped Bass Addiction many years ago. Once I retired and started fish sweet water again I kept it going. It's a tool and like any good one there's a learning curve when it comes to using it. A little later on, I liked combining my trip logs with my digital photos. This turned into a nice way to document & enjoy the memories while still being able to go back and look over the data. Each season I start a fresh log and simply keep it running all year. What stands out to me after several years of documenting trips and their associated information is: The more things change, the more they remain the same. A-Jay 4 Quote
MO_LMB Posted May 5, 2014 Posted May 5, 2014 Brian, Interesting post because 2014 is also the year for me where I plan to heavily document my fishing experiences in great detail. I started back in 2008, by simply taking pictures with my digital camera and organizing them on my computer into folders sorted by date. It wasn't really a log so much as just documenting fish I caught and taking scenic pictures while out on the lake. I've always had a love for fishing (any species), but Bass Fishing was something I took up on my own and was self-taught (for the first few years) pretty much the hard way through trial and error. Since I live up north, I have a long winter period where I don't fish, and when I became serious about bass fishing I started to use my winter "down time" to do a lot of research. I found myself looking back on those logs from years ago to try and learn from my past experiences, but it lacked a lot of useful information that I wanted to know this last winter. I also didn't log much of anything in 2011 & 2012 (I had other things going on in my life). So this year I plan to make up for it and have overhauled my system to the point where it has become almost a second job for me (which is ok, I have free time). I'm going to put in the hard work this year so that I have a solid foundation to look back upon, then next year I will take a break and go back to fishing just for fun with hopefully more knowledge that will make it even more fun, at least... that is the plan lol. Anyway... brace yourself, this is my log... On my PC I have a folder structure of the following... /Fishing 2014/ - /01. Research & Gear Stuff/ (Misc Information & Pictures) - - /01. Fishing Videos Research/ (Saved Videos with Useful Information) - - /02. Fishing Information & Documents Research/ (Various Text Documents of Articles and Useful Information. Diagram Pictures/Charts, etc.) - - /03. Weather & Environmental Research/ (Weather Front Diagrams/Symbols, Moon Phase Information, Aquatic Vegetation, etc.) - - /04. Lake Information/ (Information on Types of Lakes, Seasonal Effects, etc) - - /05. Fishing Tackle Research/ (Color Charts of Various Lures and Baits I'm researching/Interested In using) - - /06. Catalog PDF's/ (2014 Tackle Company Catalog PDF files, "bait-monkey galore" 0_o) - /02. New Tackle for 2014/ (Consists of pictures of new tackle I've purchased for/during 2014) - /03. Weather Forecasts & Radar Images [2014]/ (I take 3 images per day & name with date & time, [my 5 Day Forecast + Doppler Radar Widget of WA State & West Coast US/Pacific (Infrared)], ["Current Surface" Image of the entire USA for Front Symbols], and a [Weather Graph Image from the station closest to where I fish]. I also have quick links to websites to quickly get the images/information.) - - /01. March 2014/ (Images for the days of March) - - /02. April 2014/ (Images for the days of April) - /04. Order & Total # Of Fish Caught Pictures/ (I have one picture (best) of each fish I have caught numbered so I can see them all & the order in which they were caught.) - - /01. Fish Maps/ (heh, I have a 500x500 image cropped of a fully zoomed in google map of the location where I caught each fish & marked it up in photoshop with my location, my casts line, and where about I hooked each fish.) [This Is Where My Log For This Year Begins] Example: - /Folder Number - Month - Day, 2014/ (I make one of these folders for every fishing trip, and this is where I store the hundreds of pictures I take during each trip.) I also have the same following 8 items in each of these logs... - - /01. Preview/ (This is where I have selected 10 - 50 good pictures (out of the hundreds) that I can put into a slideshow with music to remember / re-live that day's fishing experience. This is where I also keep a filled out Bass Resource's Fishing Log for each bass I catch.) - - /02. Notes.txt (This is the meat of the log for each day, where I list all of the information) --------------Notes.txt-------------- Date: ? Time: ? Conditions: Water Temp - ?F Water Level - ? Than Normal Summer Level Water Clarity - ? Water Current - (Direction/Speed) Sky Conditions - ? Wind & Direction - ? - From The ? Moon - ?% Notes - (This is where I type out everything I can about my experience on the water that day.) Summery - (This is where I summarize the days events.) Future Goal - (This is something I put notes in on what I plan to try and accomplish on my next trip or a goal to try and achieve as quick as possible.) Updates - (This is where I put in any notes "after" my last trip and "before" my next trip.) Lures & Techniques Used - (This is where I list all of the lures & colors I used that day along with the techniques I used to fish them.) Lures Note - (This is where I put in any notes relating to baits I am currently using or plan to use in the future.) - - - - - Fishing Results - - - - - Number Of Fish Caught: ? Number & Fish Species: ? - ? Fish Specific Details: Species - Weight - Length - Lure Type - Name ? - ? - ? - ? - ? (per fish) /End of Notes.txt -------------------------------------- - - /03. Day's Moon Phase.jpg (This is a picture of the moon's % for that day) - - /04. Month - Day, 2014 (Time) - Forcast & Radar.jpg (5 Day Forecast + Doppler Radar Widget of WA State & West Coast US/Pacific (Infrared)) - - /05. Month - Day, 2014 (Time) - Surface.jpg ("Current Surface" Image of the entire USA for Front Symbols) - - /06. Month - Day, 2014 (Weather Graph).jpg (Weather Graph Image from the station closest to where I fish.) - - /07. Hourly Weather History & Observations.ods (This is a spreadsheet consisting of Temperature, Dew Point, Humidity %, Wind Direction, Wind Speed MPH, Gust MPH, Barometric Pressure, Precipitation in Inches, for every 5 minutes for the 24 hours of that day.) - - /08. Weather Summary.txt (A simple text document that has the summary and averages of the spreadsheet above for quick reference.) End Of /Fishing 2014/... [This Is Where My Log Ends] Now a bit of a Disclaimer lol: I have purposely gone out of my way to setup my system of doing logs to contain the maximum amount of information possible. I'm someone who loves taking a lot of pictures, is blessed with computer skills, and is a fairly fast typer. Believe it or not, with my shortcut links I can pretty much get all the information/pictures required within a few minuets time. It's the Notes.txt that takes the longest to fill out. To help with that, my solution is I have a digital audio voice recorder that I can talk into and record all the information, then come back to it at a later date. I could just use the audio voice recorder by itself, but personally I like to have it in text format. Its about as technical and in-depth as you can get. Most of the work just consists of going to a link and saving an image, or copy/paste -ing information. Then I work on the Notes.txt on the days between fishing trips. So that's how I'm doing my logs for this year... if anything I hope this helps give others "idea's" on making their own if they are interested. WolfyBrandon You CLEARLY write code, deal with code, or work in IT for a living. Quote
Super User Paul Roberts Posted May 8, 2014 Super User Posted May 8, 2014 My fishing (and hunting) journaling goes way back too -pretty close to continuous since the late 70's. I started with, and still use archive quality sketch books and ink pens. The few entries I did early on in ballpoint faded over time. I pretty much have done them like Will and A-Jay –“data” and "the story" in narrative form. Narrative includes my interpretations and explanations as well the how stuff It works well for me bc they help jumpstart rich and useful memories when I review entries prior to an outing. I now also write up some fishing days via word processer on the computer for posts, future articles, or mebbe a book or two (or more) someday. The drawback to handwritten journals is that they can make it hard to find things after you’ve got more than a few volumes on the shelf. Back when I fished more I read them almost religiously -they were a part of my lexicon. I referred to them often and knew just where everything was -like a giant long narrative. Computer typed info is easier to search, but I still keep the hand written journals bc it would be a shame to stop. Nowadays, my hand written journaling contains more data, maps, and sketches, with short narrative. The fuller narratives are done on computer. I get the most out of my days in the field through this process. I use photography, maps, and sketches too, I started with film cameras, my first bought with money earned from my trap-lines once upon a time. Photography, or at least the cameras, have come a long way since then. I've created maps with varying degrees of detail for lots of ponds, small lakes and reservoirs, and streams, using symbols, labels and captions to denote important things. Satellite views now make mapping a heck of a lot easier, at least in terms of big picture water body shape and relationship to the different areas I "know". Interesting that the shorelines in my memory maps rarely meet when I try to draw them! Says something about how biased and fragmented our navigational equipment, or at least memory of it, is. This is true in more ways than mapping I'm afraid. The "data" I keep is mostly the numerical stuff (temp, visibility, depths, fish sizes), but also location, and weather descriptions and trends. I may print weather data in graphic form from weather data websites –you’ll see these in some of my trip reports here on BR. I keep track of critters seen -esp those that tell me something about timing, habitat, or food chain info I should be hip to. Examples might be ... when the blue damselflies emerge which concentrates the bluegills and bass, or when I see the first renovated crayfish burrows in the shallows in spring, or the relationship between the shad spawn and moon phase. I track the quality of the bass spawn by quantity of fry and fingerlings and other year classes observed, back calculating hatch year and forward calculating for expected growth. This helps tell me decide which waters I should be spending my precious time on. Along with this I try to keep tabs on winterjkill by making a circuit of my most vulnerable waters at ice-out. The two, year class popn size and winterkill allow me to keep a bead on which waters are apt to be most, and least, productive. I also watch and talk with other anglers, as they can reveal a lot, if you know fish and fishing. There's LOTS of other ecological interaction stuff that can factor in. The trick is to recognize them, and keep track of them -this, over time, becomes an angling education. I realized long ago that I simply can't hold it all in my head. I journal because I want to capture my experiences, but I realize that this is tied to what's most satisfying for me -being "in touch" with what's going on outdoors. There are definite patterns out there and they are cyclical: seasons, micro-seasons, to ever finer periods. This becomes more obvious after you’ve had a bunch under your belt, but it eventually builds into something unwieldy. It’s too big to hold in my mind. Yes, my body remembers quite a bit, if you know what I mean, but my head can help a lot, in re-directing my efforts or starting me on the right track to begin with. Although seasons are cyclical, no two waters or years set up or progress the same, which translates into the "moods" of each water body. There are too many seasonal micro-events worth remembering, things to be aware of, things to be watching out for -opportunities-"in's" I call them. I cannot keep track of them all. Glad I kept the journals up. Their value accrues over time. Records have helped me be a better "noticer". If you've read any of my trip report posts you'll get an idea of the kind of info I glean and make use of, and how each day’s “story” is really part of a much larger, deeper, narrative. Record keeping takes some work. I carry a small shirt pocket sized notebook and pen for maps and sketches and a pocket digital voice recorder for data, important thoughts and points. When I get home, no matter how tired, I try to journal, because I'll forget things and the resulting story ends up vague. Amazing how different my impressions can be AFTER the days pass. Everyone approaches their fishing differently so you have to decide what works for you, and how much time and effort (and the type of time and effort) you want to put into it. 4 Quote
Super User everythingthatswims Posted May 9, 2014 Super User Posted May 9, 2014 I keep a detailed journal for bowhunting, but the closest I have come to a fishing log was when I counted every fish I caught for a year, just over 3500. That was too much work so I'm not doing it this year, but I might again in the future. I have been able to do pretty well fishing techniques that have worked in similar situations in the past, fishing is one of the only things I can store in my memory REALLY well. -I also have a fishing blog, and I look back on posts I made, which has helped a lot. http://everythingthatswims.blogspot.com Quote
Big Bassman Posted May 9, 2014 Posted May 9, 2014 I only kept records for one year, one lake at the request of the state of Iowa. It was fun, interesting, and helpful. That being said, I am one who thinks it is too much like work and do my best to retain the important items in my head. Retention use to work real well, but now with my age not so much. 1 Quote
Super User SirSnookalot Posted May 9, 2014 Super User Posted May 9, 2014 I only kept records for one year, one lake at the request of the state of Iowa. It was fun, interesting, and helpful. That being said, I am one who thinks it is too much like work and do my best to retain the important items in my head. Retention use to work real well, but now with my age not so much. My sentiments as well. I do believe the variables are not constant, change day to day and year to year. I choose not to keep track of what I'm doing while I'm fishing, if it's a really nice fish I'm going to remember. Any activity other than casting takes my lure out of the water. That includes learning knots on your phone, logging, weighing, measuring, photos and even posting on BR of sub 20" fish. As far as I'm concerned a dry lure catches nothing. 1 Quote
Super User Paul Roberts Posted May 9, 2014 Super User Posted May 9, 2014 I can understand that sentiment. I am just programmed to take things as deep as I can go. When I was very young, I'd look up at the nature section in the library and just about pee my pants. Glad that's over . That said, the one thing I purposely never studied (in knock, drag out detail) was my grouse hunting. That was pure "downtime", like wandering into a watercolor painting. Quote
ClackerBuzz Posted May 11, 2014 Posted May 11, 2014 this is a post from dr reelgood. i enjoyed it b/c it's a fishing log... that is also very enjoyable to read. i feel like i was there! i don't keep a log yet but i'm sure its a great way to re-live the memory if you document it right. http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/115139-its-a-start/ 2 Quote
Super User Paul Roberts Posted May 11, 2014 Super User Posted May 11, 2014 this is a post from dr reelgood. i enjoyed it b/c it's a fishing log... that is also very enjoyable to read. i feel like i was there! i don't keep a log yet but i'm sure its a great way to re-live the memory if you document it right. http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/115139-its-a-start/ Yes! Paul's (Dr Reelgood) really on top of his fish and fishing. His trip reports are just great. He's also done some wonderful narratives. They give a sense of the water, season, the day, the fish, and what was going through the mind of the fisherman. Here are a few of my "interpretive narrative" type reports: www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/115075-boom-spring-or-is-it http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/116606-searching-out-those-zones-of-carnage/ http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/69619-some-more-fishing-crankin%C2%92-and-finessin%C2%92/ http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/69568-some-fishing/ http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/69867-best-layed-plans-and-%C2%93cinder-blocks-with-fins%C2%94/ http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/70336-small-ponds-ice-out-and-bloody-fingers/ Quote
macmichael Posted May 12, 2014 Posted May 12, 2014 I try to keep a log but only after I finish fishing. Too much work, like a job, like I used to do most of my life, I don't like work anymore and I don't want a job. I am retired and enjoying just the fishing and being with others who enjoy fishing and don't take it so seriously. Then again I don't catch a lot of fish so maybe I should keep a log!!!!! Nah. 1 Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.