Do you keep a fishing journal 🤔: Hello stagers, I'm thinking of having a fishing journal to learn from my experiences while fishing .Weather conditions, Temperatures outside, times...

Commander Bell Loc: Lafayette Indiana

Hello stagers,
I'm thinking of having a fishing journal to learn from my experiences while fishing .Weather conditions, Temperatures outside, times fished and of course fish caught.
Have any of you done something similar and could give me some advice.
I have a relatively funny name that I wish to call my fishing journal that may be Inappropriate to post here. It's not really all that bad just ornery, and since I unsubcribed too the Attic I wish to keep it out of there.
If you're curious as to its title shoot me a PM and I'll be happy to share it with you ☺️
I don't think the title will offend anyone, just make you laugh
Commander Bell out

saw1 Loc: nor cal Windsor

Commander Bell wrote:

Hello stagers, br I'm thinking of having a fishing... (show quote)

I personally have never kept one but several of my fishin friends have.
Some of them wete very detailed.
They kept track of time of day, tide, weather conditions, where they fished, what they used, how many fish caught, what kind of fish, size of fish, how long they fished, moon phase, who they fished with, when the bite started, when the bite stopped.
It was all just too much for me to keep track of. Fishin like that would take the fun out of it for me.
However, lots of guys like that sort of thing.
To each his own.🤠👍

Flytier Loc: Wilmington Delaware

Ive tried many times to keep track of details . I tried keeping a log for running the boat. Minimal success on both. Always seem to forget after 2 or 3 entries.

Whitey Loc: Southeast ohio

Commander Bell wrote:

Hello stagers, br I'm thinking of having a fishing... (show quote)

I have not myself. I'd add the moon phase myself

Matt S. Loc: East Lansing Michigan

saw1 wrote:

I personally have never kept one but several of my... (show quote)

I’ll agree with you on that. Too much like work. Been there done that. Retirement is good.

OJdidit Loc: Oak Creek Wisconsin

Never did for fishing, but Mom and Dad had one for hunting. Daily reports regarding weather, locations, who was there, numbers of whatever species we bagged (ducks, geese, pheasants, grouse, deer and turkeys). Highlights involved first duck or whatever was bagged. Just simple notes bring back volumes of memories many years later.
Photos are so much easier to add nowadays. I wish I had kept up the tradition as there have been many successful (or downright hilarious) memories which will probably be forgotten. 5-10 minutes of work at the end of the day could be priceless for your kids and Grandkids!

Whitey Loc: Southeast ohio

OJdidit wrote:

Never did for fishing, but Mom and Dad had one for... (show quote)

We've been talking about do that for deer camp

ripogenu Loc: norfolk, MA

I keep 2, one for fresh water and one for salt. comes in handy when you are returning to a spot you haven't visited in a decade.

OldBassGuy Loc: Temecula, CA

Commander Bell wrote:

Hello stagers, br I'm thinking of having a fishing... (show quote)

I bought my boat 6 years ago and started a log at that time. I believe it has been very helpful over the years as I refer back to it all the time. Helps me decide where and when to go to a particular lake. It is actually fairly easy to do after I get home from a trip. I have a pretty good memory, so I jot down notes from the trip. The entries are not that long and I keep it pretty simple.

Date, Lake, who I am with. Time on & off lake, water temp. Then things like first fish time and who caught it and where on lake. Largest fish, total fish. What I caught it on (bigger fish). Anything special that happened. I did a post last year (#1000) that referred to the log. I personally think that it helps me catch more fish and quality fish. Good luck!

NJ219bands Loc: New Jersey

I have a fresh water fishing log, salt water fishing log and hunting log on paper where some of my entries are more than 70 years old. I started putting my entries online at http://MySpace.com/nj219bands in 2006. Some of my logs were used in environmental lawsuits.

GLA Loc: WA State

I use a simple Excel spreadsheet to log my fishing adventures. I track categories similar to those OldBassGuy listed above. Location, Date, weather, Technique, Types of fish, and Comments which is kind of a catchall category for details I think might be useful. Give it a try and see if there's value to you over time. It's minimal extra work and allows me to refer to past trips and details than may fade over time.

Andy B Loc: East Springfield PA

Commander Bell wrote:

Hello stagers, br I'm thinking of having a fishing... (show quote)

My thought on this,🤔 I take photos of every fish and with location enabled I'm able to go to a pic and swipe up and it gives me an exact location of where I caught it with long,& lat. plus a dot that if I touch a dot it shows me which fish represents that dot . You can magnify the pic to ascertain how many dots are really there because the get kinda blurred together.all the blue dots are catches That's all I really keep track of . Take their pic give em a kiss and send em back to the jungle,🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸🇺🇲🇺🇲🙏

NJ219bands Loc: New Jersey

Andy B wrote:

My thought on this,🤔 I take photos of every fish ... (show quote)

That probably wouldn’t work well for the > 3,000 fish 🐟 that I caught last year.

No one special

Commander Bell wrote:

Hello stagers, br I'm thinking of having a fishing... (show quote)

I suggested this on a previous topic. I'm too old and fish too seldom to consider it now but I see the benefits of such an endeavor and hope to teach my grandson the worth of such a log when he starts to fish.

OldBassGuy Loc: Temecula, CA

GLA wrote:

I use a simple Excel spreadsheet to log my fishing adventures. I track categories similar to those OldBassGuy listed above. Location, Date, weather, Technique, Types of fish, and Comments which is kind of a catchall category for details I think might be useful. Give it a try and see if there's value to you over time. It's minimal extra work and allows me to refer to past trips and details than may fade over time.

I think that the most useful is probably water temp if you have that capability. Technique and bait is next.