Do you keep a Journal?

[fishcrazy]

I have tried my best to keep notes everytime I go fishing.

This is how I do it.

I now have seperate note books for every river I fish. the ones that I don't fish much are all in one note book.
For notes I keep track of the date, Weather conditions, Water conditions, Flows And Temp. I will even keep track of who fished with me and how many each person hooked. I also keep track of what I use for bait, lures or new stuff I might be experimenting with on bait or lures.

How do you do it?

Kris

[Thefisherman83]

I'm planning on getting a good waterproof camera soon and logging every fish I catch with some info under each. 

[tomy salami]

If a guy fishes many rivers, a journal is helpful.

I did the river hopping thing for years. Narrowed it down to about five rivers that I can consistently hang fish, and get the space I want.

From there, I narrowed down to about 8 plugs..........3 drift bobber/jig combos for steelhead. This covers just about all the water conditions/flows I tend to encounter.

Salmon is about the same: 6-8 plugs, 3 different drift bobbers?spinners, no jigs.  Four different rivers.

I would rather fish my same five rivers, good or bad, establishing patterns, than trying to dial in a new river off of hearsay.

Cutting down on clutter (huge tackle boxes) in my boat is a fine byproduct of this system.

Fishing the same river over and over almost establishes a relationship with it. You know certain patterns like x-flow + x-visibility + xmonth of the year should = this plug, this drift bobber. After awhile it becomes a mental notebook. I do not enjoy going to a river that I have not been on in years, and trying to find the winning combo, or second guessing myself. Some do, and kudos to them. I dig knowing that the lures I am using may not be the exact combo the fish want, but the are usually a very  close baseline of where to start.

Sometimes I just get this feeling of De Ja Vue......that familiarity that comes from hitting a river so many times, that I can predict what holes to skip, and what holes to stay on.

It all did start with a notebook at one time, though. Years spent on select spots was more productive to me.

[BigGoonTuna]

i kept a notebook of every steelhead trip i made in 2007.  was a pretty crappy winter season, and an even worse summer.

i stopped after that... it's a kind of sobering reminder of how much more "fishing" you do than "catching"!

i've made some vast strides in improving my fishing ability the last few years.  until then, i fished only about a half dozen rivers, mostly using the same techniques regardless.  in 2006 i made a big list of new places to try and fished every single one of them.  in 2007, i branched out to trying a lot of new techniques.  in '08, my situation with my job changed(had to commute to work) leaving me less able to travel whenever i felt like it, so i really focused on becoming as efficient as i could when i had time to fish.

when i stop improving my fishing ability, it'll be time to hang up my gear and quit.  that's half the fun right there.

[fishcrazy]

when i stop improving my fishing ability, it'll be time to hang up my gear and quit.  that's half the fun right there.

I couldn't have said it any better!!!


I have found that looking back at notes has reminded me of things I had forgot. But I also feel that all the notes do nothing without experience and hrs spent on the river. I also have a few rivers I fish hard and occassionally do fish new water with friends. I know where I will be this winter along about Febuary-March. Same river every year. Park the sled and get out the drift boat!!

Kris

[10Key]

I tried my best to start and keep updated a fishing journal back in the spring of 2007...the first few entries were fun, but then it became too much of a chore for me, especially when I was making several trips in a week. For now, my journal is in my head. More power to the folks that keep and update a fishing journal on a regular basis.

[steeleywhopper]

I photo copy my catch card and keep them in a file. I can then look back on them to see when I started catching fish on each river. I would hate to catch myself telling fisherman's lie's to myself in the journal.

[trout-n-salmon]

I have kept a journal for the past 10 years.  Every time I go fishing, whether I catch a fish or not, I log river flows and water color, weather conditions, what I used, and what I caught (if anything).  It is amazing to see the trends from year to year.  Worth doing for sure

[Dicko Bob]

My bro and I kept journals of 95% of our fishin trips all over the east side of the state chasin' bass for three years.   I made a original that I could fill in the info on photo copies.  It was very helpful and really fun to read the memories that were made several years later, quite the conversation piece!

Rich

[duckmen1]

my journal is in my head
it is a helpful thing though

[bowtech721]

I havent but i think im gonna start... sounds pretty cool