Journal/Notebook?

[rickyg]

Who keeps a journal or notebook and actually refers to it or reviews it?  Lemme guess, there's an app for that....  What did you find was the most helpful?  My memory ain't what it used to be and for a while I kept a flyfishing (trout) journal, but didn't keep at it and rarely referred to it.  I'm thinking about doing it for bass fishing and hope I'll be more diligent.

[Glenn]

Yup, I do.  No app.  This is what I designed back in the early '90s, and posted it here in '96.  First of it's kind on the web.

 

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

[Brew City Bass]

I put notes in my phone, same concept. 

I don't go into massive detail, and I don't do it for every bass. If I catch what I consider a decent bass for the body of water I am fishing I'll usually jot down the length, weight, water temp, time of day / day / month, and weather conditions. 

I haven't been doing this long enough to really "refer" back to my notes, but it takes such a short amount of time I figure it can't be worthless to do. Come next year I'm sure I'll be looking back on them and try to put together a pattern before I even hit that lake. 

[rickyg]

Thanks Glenn.  I did a search on "journal" but it didn't turn up any direct matches in the first ten or so returns.  Great site ya got!

[TOXIC]

Ahhh yes, all the pieces of the puzzle.  I have a saying......Fishing is like a 500 piece puzzle and whoever can put the most pieces together wins!!  Or catches fish...  I have a mental checklist of what I feel are the most important pieces of the puzzle I put together on the day I go out.  For me, what happened last year or the conditions on any specific day 2 years ago rarely apply to what I am going to do today.  BUT....If a journal can give you a reference point and help putting the puzzle together, then by all means use one.  I know guys that have 20 years of journals.  

[soflabasser]

Yes I keep several hand written journals where I write down some of my fishing trips. Some of the information I document is the following;

 

1. Location 

2. Date

3. Time

4. Temperature

5. Moonphase

6. Pressure 

7. What I caught 

8. What technique I used

9. Any other extra notes that are needed

 

 I feel that writing these fishing journals and reviewing the information I write has made me a better fisherman to the point where I have no need to hire a guide for bass and  I catch my own fish just fine.

[schplurg]

I have a computer in my boat and it's connected to my bow-mounted robotic arm (SuperCaster 3000) and my trolling motor. The computer analyzes the weather and other conditions, then searches for fishing reports from all of your apps (thanks for all the input!), and determines where people have caught fish. It drives the boat where it needs to be, then it selects an appropriate bait, scans the fish finder, and casts the bait all on it's own. I just take a nap and when I wake up I'm parked at the dock with a live-well full of fish!

 

 

I'm nowhere near organized enough for a journal. Perhaps after I get some years of fishing behind me I will find such a thing useful. Right now it sounds like homework, and I hate homework

 

I just fish the conditions that are presented to me. That is fun and challenging and that's how I learn. That's what I want to master. That's the whole point for me.

 

About Apps:

 

I don't think I'd rely on a phone app. Mobile app companies come and go (like mine did) and your data will go with it when they do. If you're going to fish for the next 30 years what are the odds that any given app will still exist at that time?

 

If I designed such an app I would collect all of your data and then sell it as a very expensive add-on to the app. Now I know where every fish has ever been caught, and so does everyone else who pays for it. I think there is such an app.

 

I'm still new to fishing so maybe it will make sense to me one day, but if I want to go fishing then I go fishing. I don't care where it is or when or what happened on this date two years ago, or even yesterday. The fish don't either.

 

 All in good fun, no offense intended 

Cheers!

[Catt]

Close to 50 years of information  ?

 

Started out hand written & then switch to Microsoft Word, the same information is in Excel so I can search any parameter.

[Harold Scoggins]

Old school here, I use leather bound journals that read more like daily journals. I do include hand drawn maps and pictures. I'm hoping my kids and grandchildren enjoy reading them someday.

[Spankey]

I use to do that when I was younger. Still have them. I enjoyed doing it. Fun to go back and read some of my scratch. I should have never stopped doing it. And I don't really know why I stopped doing that. 

[J.Vincent]

I keep a physical journal and often return to entries from years ago.

[sully420]

No