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Posts: 49
Location: Waconia, MN | Does anyone write in journals or daily log books of fishing while out on the water? I have been thinking of doing this both summer and winter. I was thinking it would be pretty cool to look down the road 10 or 20 years from now and see how fish patterns, numbers, lures, structure, weather, etc. have changed within each year of fishing. |
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Posts: 535
| I have had pros tell me that I should be doing it, but I havent yet! |
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Posts: 1284
Location: WI | I do. It's fun to read them during the winter. There's a lot that you end up forgetting until you read it again later on. An avg entry looks like this;
7/4 (2.25) Fished XXX island spot and XX. Had 4 strikes by XXX, one was a mid 30's that jumped over the Weagle, one was a short one that hit the Creeptonite, had another hit on the Creeptonite, and had something hit a DCG. Water temp 66, clear skies, hot, dead calm.
The 2.25 is the amount of time I was out. |
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Posts: 422
| I haven't been doing it, but there is no reason I shouldn't be. Just another way to collect data and increase your odds. |
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Location: Contrarian Island | the last 2 seasons I have kept track...last year I used a Journal that Andy Grimm makes..before that just a small notebook... it is interesting to look back thru and figure out how your season went and dissect how many fish you contacted, caught, lost etc etc, and looked at the hours it took to get fish in the net, and by size..it can be quite surprising and let you know where and when you should be fishing more often... ie. it takes me less time to get a 50"er in the boat in MN than it does to get a 45"+ in WI..(you guys in MN have it made!) .interesting to also see how many fish you contacted over the course of a season...I originally had thought it had to be over 1000..but it has been just under the last 2 seasons...
Edited by BNelson 5/13/2010 8:39 AM
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Posts: 7010
Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | Blogs: http://muskie.outdoorsfirst.com/blogs
MuskieFIRST is MORE than just a message board: MatchFISHING, Videos, Audio, Blogs, Chats, Articles!!!! |
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Location: SE Wisconsin | I, too, keep a log. Never stop learning. |
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Posts: 1202
Location: Money, PA | I used to....ran outta pages and ink! LOL Learned exactly what I needed to know....you'll never figure out these fish completely, like some may lead you to believe; Its not rocket science; And just put your time in and learn from your mistakes. 
Edited by ShutUpNFish 5/13/2010 10:24 AM
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Posts: 8719
| I keep a pretty detailed log. Date, time, lake, location, type of structure, depth, air temp, water temp, wind direction/speed, moon phase, moon rise/set times, major/minor; and of course the type and color of lure. I've got it all on a template that I made a bunch of copies of, so all I have to do is fill in the blanks on the water. There's also a place for notes, so you can write down anything unusual.
I used to put it all in an Excel spreadsheet at the end of the year, but I've gotten lazy these past few years, and haven't fished enough for a log to really tell me much.
I think its a good idea, if for no other reason than to make you pay attention to the conditions where you are catching fish.
Never really thought about logging follows. Seems like you'd spend more time writing than fishing on some days. |
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Location: Contrarian Island | uhhhhhhh I don't keep track on the water...you do it after you are done fishing... not hard to keep track of ...EA when you only get 1 follow it's not hard to remember is it?? 
Edited by BNelson 5/13/2010 3:39 PM
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Posts: 96
Location: Eau Claire | I started keeping a log last year. I know a couple of people that have been doing it for years and have a couple of favorite days and places to fish now. |
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Posts: 294
Location: Bloomer, Wi | I also have been keeping a detailed fishing log since 1998, there fishing logs from B.A.S.S. they are leather bound and have the year on them, very cool. But I wait to write in them til I get home, or I think I would write an entire book while I was out there. |
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Posts: 8719
| BNelson - 5/13/2010 3:28 PM
uhhhhhhh I don't keep track on the water...you do it after you are done fishing... not hard to keep track of ...EA when you only get 1 follow it's not hard to remember is it?? ;-)
You'd be surprised! I write stuff down and I STILL forget it! If I didn't take notes on the water, I'd be lucky to remember where I fished that day...
Edited by esoxaddict 5/13/2010 4:59 PM
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Posts: 272
| Mine reads more like a short story in the back of a magazine or something. I usually weave in the times, people involved, water temp, current conditions, prior day's conditions, general fishing trends, etc.
The best stuff in my journal, as I go back and reread previous years, is the anecdotal stuff. I always try to write snippets about which trees are flowering right now, general wildlife observations, what type a year is it (hot, dry, cold, etc) what the price of gas is, what's in the news, etc. Just a word or to or a phrase.
Honestly, my entries get wordy, much like my posts sometimes do here. But its neat to go back and read and discover........ oh yeah, Johnny Carson died today and gas was $2.41 a gallon.
I do a hunting journal too. Different though. Since I now only gun hunt, my MIL got me a tiny little journal/notebook for Xmas a few years ago. I've been bringing it and a pen with me in my backpack to the deer stand every day. As I see deer, or as "stuff" happens, I get out my pen and jot it down. REALLY neat to see how many (or how few) deer you saw last year compared to your memory, times, who got/saw what, where you went, any interesting things that happened, etc. You really realize how poor your memory is when you read a dated post that tells you what happened when it was fresh in your mind and the way you remember it now is totally different.
Edited by muskie-addict 5/13/2010 9:26 PM
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Posts: 2228
Location: SE, WI. | I started a log in the early 80's. I threw out the logs from the early 80's, but have kept track of the #'s and now have been logging fish and conditions religously since 93. Logged close to 2,800 ski's over 30". I too have a template that all you need to do is make copies and fill in the blanks. Majority of the fish are caught on the same style Of baits...year in and year out! What a great way to have a reference volume of your own to go out yearly and catch musky.
Edited by jdsplasher 5/13/2010 10:02 PM
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Posts: 1449
Location: Kronenwetter, WI | I'll get an idea of water temp on a lake then check my logs to see what worked with that water temp during that time of year on a given body of water. Example, opening weekend on a given lake I have logs for a number of years. For example, I just checked another website for the water temps on the lake I'll be fishing for the opener it is 53-55 degrees. I'll go back and find out what worked in past years under similar conditions and begin my attempts on those spots and presentations.
Edited by Cowboyhannah 5/13/2010 9:43 PM
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Posts: 47
Location: Bonduel WI | Writing and recording are ways of learning and you should never stop learning! I write everything down can never have enough info
Edited by sledneck68 5/14/2010 12:04 AM
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Posts: 143
Location: Lake of The Woods | I was fortunate enough to have logged all my fish except 1 lazy year since 04. My logs have now more detail in them and i only log follows in fish that are upper 40's and larger.
One piece of usefull information i can contribute is to stop writing down the info as you fish, as it takes up to much time and it sucks to have your partner nail a pig while your in a book. Go buy a pocket recorder and listen and write at the end of the day! |
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Posts: 433
Location: Cedarburg, Wisconsin | I'm a fisherman not a bookkeepper. That said I do write down fish info on my weekly or longer vacation trips. It is relevant to the time I'm there as feeding windows may become apparent if the weather is stable enough. Once the vacation is over, the info is tossed.
In one of my books there are interviews with bigtime guides, some that had guided for 50 years or more. One said he kept meticulous records for five years fishing every day during the season. Spent part of the winter going over them and then threw them in the fire as they had nothing that showed anything useful.
If you like to do it, go for it. If not, don't worry about missing the boat because you aren't.
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Posts: 1996
Location: Pelican Lake/Three Lakes Chain | I used to keep a very detailed log...used to.
I haven't for about five years now, my log became nothing more than a place for me to find out how many I caught, average size, and fish per hours. A scorecard if you will. It was neat to go through if you were interested in that type of thing, but it never really helped me up my catches. I know this is not the popular stance in the musky fishing world, everyone says you have to keep a log, I think its a bunch of hype. On a tough day when some of that info may have been useful, it was safely tucked away at my house, of no use to me on the water.
I know I may be a bit of an exception because I am on the water continuosly all year long. Daily trends and current conditions are way more important to me than what happened 12 years ago. If you want to keep logs feel free to do so, I found them to be of little use to me except for reminiscing.
Edited by nwild 5/14/2010 8:09 AM
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Posts: 55
Location: Arena WI | I never seem to have the time on the water for writing, so I use a mini recorder to state the facts and conditions of the day. When I get home and get a little time I then put in my log. |
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Posts: 535
| Just started one tonight for the first time, muskie opener is'nt till june 5 here but I hit up a lake that does'nt have ski but some big pike, thought I would log this stuff down tonight! |
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| I take this one step further. I produce a digital scrapbook that includes both my notes and also my digital pictures. It is pretty easy to do, and you don't have to be creative. |
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| I keep a log. I keep it on an Excel spreadsheet. The template has slots for all kinds of information. If I know when I am heading out ahead of time, I will type in the sunrise and sunset and moonrise and moonset for each day. I know one Club member who keeps an audio record and transcribes it later. With pre-printed templates, it is easy and takes very little time to keep track of information. It pays off every year. |
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Posts: 6
| Oops, I need to read more closely. I see that our Club member Ryan Marlowe already noted above that he uses a recorder. First time I saw him use it was at our Minaki outing. Very cool. Seems like a good idea. |
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Posts: 1425
Location: St. Lawrence River | i keep one for whitetails muskies and ice fishing |
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Location: Green Bay, WI | I keep a log as well, with dates, fish sizes, lures, speed trolled, water depth, depth fished, weather conditions, and water temps. I even try to record the GPS coordinates, but sometimes I forget to get those. But I generally mark the spot with an icon on the Lowrance unit.
Someday I will need to transfer it all to a spreadsheet.
TB |
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