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Thread: Importance of a fishing log

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
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    shenandoah valley, va
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    Default Importance of a fishing log

    Recently I saw a post of a FAOL's pictorial of his first year back to FF. It reminded me of this past year and the little log I kept. I kept it on Google Documents, a simple little spreadsheet of the date, conditions (weather and river conditions including stream flow from the nearest USGS site if availble), where I fished, and what flys/techniques worked. Google docs allows you to access from any computer, so I can enter to it at work, at home, or on my laptop. In past years I tried to keep it on a spreadsheet on one computer but if you use multiple computers like I do, this allows you to keep it all in one place and it was more complete since it was easy to access. I have found this is more useful than I thought after having a year's worth of data. For example, I fished 19 different rivers/lakes in 2011 (trout in the winter and spring, largemouth in the spring, smallmouth in the summer and back to trout in the fall), and having the log helps me when I revisit them. Also, when it comes to my winter tie list, I can see exactly what worked last year and tie accordingly. I was surprized my memory did not match what the log said, esp the early spring, summer flies that worked best. Plus it gives me interesting info like: I was able to fish 42 times in 2011; and in every month except December; an olive BUB worked best on cloudy days for SM and a chartruse BUB on sunny days, but generally my best SM fly was a pine sq crayfish; my best smallie day was overcast, drizzlely 70 degree day in July. Excuse the rambling, but it may make a good new years resolution to take a couple seconds and make a quick entry after your trips this year, especially if you fish multiple places and species.....
    "Fishermen are born honest, but they get over it"
    Ed Zern

  2. #2

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    I enjoy keeping my yearly Fishing Logs. I like your idea about using Google Documents that are accessible from any computer. I may have to look into that. I've been using Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, starting in mid-2005. Before that I used a hand-written "Diary" type log book.
    I like the Excel spreadsheets, because I can insert all my fishing pictures in the entries as "comments". This means you don't see the picture until you run your cursor over one of the cells that has a red triangle in the upper right corner, like in the screen shot below:


    I started tallying up various metrics from my 2011 Fishing Log.
    My overall "feeling" was that 2011 was a fairly mediocre year. But in reviewing my log, I would have to say it was really pretty good.

    Here's a few items of interest (to me):
    -I made 150 fishing trips (in 126 days...meaning I may have visited more than one body of water on certain days).
    -Fished at total of 270.65 hours
    -I caught 2107 fish.
    -I caught 19 Freshwater Species, and 17 of those species were caught on fly-fishing gear (the only species NOT caught on fly gear this year were Freshwater Drum and Yellow Bass)
    -79+% of my fishing trips were Fly-Fishing trips.
    -My top 3 months for catching fish (quantity-wise) were May, June & October (in that order). I caught over 300 fish in each of those months.
    -I caught over 100 each of 7 species. In order from most to least of those: Bluegills, Crappies, "Sunfish" (lumped Hybrid Sunfish and Green Sunfish together), Walleye, Largemouth Bass, and a tie between Rainbow Trout and White Bass (ARE YOU KIDDING????...this is IOWA!)
    -This was my 2nd WORST year ever for White Bass. 2009 was my worst year for those.
    -Each of the last 2 years I caught more crappies than bluegills, but that trend did not continue this year.
    -I fished 23 different waters this year (22 in Iowa).
    -I added 6 new species to my "fly rod life-list", including Walleye, N. Pike, Y. Perch, Brown Trout, Brook Trout, and Redear Sunfish.
    -I fished with at least 18 other anglers throughout the year.
    -I got new "Fly Rod Personal Bests" for 10 species in 2011.

    All that said...Pillcaster..what does your "Pine Squirrel Crayfish" look like?
    Last edited by FishnDave; 01-06-2012 at 09:08 PM.
    David Merical
    St. Louis, MO

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Portage, PA
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    2,895

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    I've been keeping a written journal for many years. I really enjoy looking at it and the end of each year and as a reference for years to come. I never thought of storing a journal on my computer. I'm afraid I'd have a crash and lose it. Maybe I can keep both.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    shenandoah valley, va
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    Default

    Nice dave, pics a great idea; of course, if someone wanted to go even more minimal, just a simple entry that takes a few seconds is still very useful.

    And for the pine sq crayfish....



    I plagiarized (er borrowed) from some other fly patterns for this, a zonker crawfish pattern I saw on youtube, the clawdad and kreel craw (for the legs), and I
    tie the squirrel strip body like John Scotts' pine sq cheater, cept I use 2 "tails" (claws) and tied on each side of the hook instead of on top - I tie a small clump of bucktail in the hook bend to make a "head" and also keep the claws separated. Also use a 1/32oz or 1/64 size 4 jig hook. The last step is to add some legs, i use the skirting material that has some flash on it. This rides hook up, but the round head seems to get caught in the rock crevices less than a clouser type. The pine sq is naturally bouyant so the claw end floats up, giving it a natural look in the water. The sq zonker is easier to cast and takes on less water than rabbit. It is also smaller, and overall is 1 3/4", which I read somewhere (I think Fly Fish Ohio) is the preferred size for smallies. It takes fish in the sculpin olive color, but the orange seems to be the sm fav.
    I fish it like a wet fly, down and across, and most strikes come on the swing. If no fish takes on the swing, I then strip it in in short quick strips and get many strikes on the retrieve.

    It is fun to fish and tie
    "Fishermen are born honest, but they get over it"
    Ed Zern

  5. #5

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    Fishing logs are a great asset, for the many reasons listed by pillcaster and fishndave. I use this one that is internet based so I dont have to worry about computer crashes and I can accsess it from any computer. It is pretty basic but alows you to ad/save entries of river names, and flies. You can add pictures. You can also search your log by, river,month, insect, or even by year. I used to only make entries on good days now I make them for every trip, including my still water trips. And its free

    http://www.mydailyfishinglog.com/default.asp

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