I'm going to try something

[Siebert Outdoors]

in september. After reading "Am I a bad Angler?" topic it got me thinking. "How many days do I get skunked or just catch a few fish?" So in September, I am going to keep a log of every bass I catch and how many hours I fish. The lengths and weights will be estimated on smaller fish but the bigger ones I will keep track of. At the end of Sept. I will make a post in the Outings about it. I cant keep track in Aug. because I will have alot of OT at work. It might not be a ton of days fished but it will give me an idea of what I can do.

That topic brought a few ideas in my head.

Days fished

Fish/hr avg

Size & #'s

lure used per fish.

water temp

Location

I think it might be interesting. Do you guys think this is a good idea? Am I missing anything else that I should keep track off?

[Chug Bug]

Great idea.  I've often wanted to keep some sort of log to look back on so I would know what worked and what didn't for a particular place.  The only thing I would add to your list would be where caught and weather conditions.

[Bassassasin12]

Alot of people keep logs and there is even won up in the top of the page under tackle box premade. I have always kept one and find it good to look back to if you are going to a body of water you haven't fished in a while or just want to see how you did... good luck.

[roadwarrior]

Great idea.

We'll compare notes.

It would sure be fun if EVERYONE here would do this so we would have a great sample of September fishing around the country.

I'm in.

[Bassassasin12]

I'll do it considering I already do it anyways , good idea RW

[gettinbreezy]

I kind of keep a log right now. I have my fishing camera (fiances' "old" digital cause God forbid I buy a new one for "fishing"). I take a pic of all fish over ten inches and when I save them on the computer I simply save as ..where i caught them/length/#/lure. Its fun to look back at what you have caught and where. Only been doing it since last june so its relatively new but its still a blast to look back at how I was doing this time last year.

[volman33]

great idea man.

[Guest the_muddy_man]

GOOD IDEA GMAN ;)And what RW says too!! I keep logs anyway and can seperate and fine tune for these questions in SEPT  Since Im starting school It will reflect a lot less time but Ill give you guys the info IM IN

[dink]

GMAN,

After keeping a detailed log for the last six years for our area (St. Louis), my only other suggestion is to make sure you pay particular attention to wind velocities and directions each day you go fish.  That one point seems to be crucial when I look back at my old logs to get an idea for the present.  I don't concern myself too much with details about actual baits and their respective sizes as much as weather, water conditions and presentations.

[dwhite]

I log every trip and also try to take as many pics as i can with the digital camera

I also log lures used, depth fished, water clarity etc..

you can keep is short and sweet

example

lake  lilly lake  

time of day evening trip 6:30 to 10 pm

weather 96 deg humid

water clarity stained

fish 1 LM 2.3 lbs

depth 8 feet

lure drop shot 4" senko

simple location creek channel by louies dock ( dock had a sliding board attached to it)

fish 2 depth

lure

simple location

etc.. etc..

[lavelanet]

I hope this helps. I keep a log online for free at http://www.fishing-logs.com/

and I also keep on in my palm pilot with a free program that can be found at  http://www.3store.com/isofishing/freeware.html

And no I'm not affiliate with either of these sites I'm just posting them to make it easier for others to keep track of things like this.  I particularly like the palm pilot program because it's easy to modify and allows you to keep track of what kind of lure, attractant, method is working and click a button to analize the results of which fishing spot is the best and which lure works best etc.  Over time I'm really interested to see the patterns.

[Gorgebassman]

I have been keeping log book for years. The last few years I made up my own form but since I joined this forum I found the one on the site and I like it even better.

[Siebert Outdoors]

I think I am on the right track. Here is what I just made in an excel file

Date and Time of fishing trip      Date      Hours fished      

                 

Fishing Location                  

                 

Water color                  

Water Level                  

Water Temp                  

Weather conditions                  

Weather Temp                  

Wind direction                  

Wind speed                  

Barameter                  

Moon phase                  

                 

Bass      Length      Weight      Lure     Location

                 

                 

                 

What do you think?

[Bankbeater]

Did you add cover and structure to it?

[tennsopher]

When I lived in Tennessee,I used to keep notebooks with the fishing reports cut out from the sportspage.I also clipped the weather reports for that time frame from the paper.This information is sometimes after the fact,but by keeping a record of it,you can flip to it the next year and be ahead of the game.I also kept my own log,but wanted to know who was catching what and from where.The information in the paper is usually of the bigger catches.This proved to be very valuable to me and was simple to do.

[Siebert Outdoors]

Did you add cover and structure to it?

Done

Anything else?