I am very haphazard about it.  I have a friend who is a biologist who does a lot of fisheries research, so I tend to txt him any interesting fish I catch, so I can go through my txt archives and see what I caught on what day.  But I don't bother to photograph the average fish so I don't have a good idea other than broad strokes about what I am catching. 

Every waypoint i drop where i caught a fish i mark it with an abbreviation of the lure/date. So for instance, Dropshot on May the 4th, DS504.

Whenever I travel to tournaments I have a book that when I get home I write down the conditions and go back through and take notes on each waypoint, so if I ever go back I'll know if that spot will be a player or not. 

I can actually remember specific CASTS on certain docks on Kentucky Lake, verbatim, because of the log. So they definitely work!

I made a fishing log last year. I like to keep record with pen and paper. It's how we do it when we troll lake Michigan. I do spend less time at the log when I bass fish, but I try to jot something down. It stays pretty dry in a 3 ring binder stashed somewhere.

This is the log that I made.

FISHING LOG.pdf

I think fishing logs are great for other people .   I've never did them . Bass are so predictable and unpredictable at the same time , that I think a log would be a waste of time for me .But  I would like to know how many fish I have caught .

I'm really glad this topic came up.  for years I kept a fishing diary as part of a bass research project for fish and game in new York state.  I would record the date, time, air temp, weather, exact location of catch, lure used and size of the bass caught.

Not all the information was needed for the research but it was useful to me.  In those days I would start fishing as soon as the ice left the water, usually end of February or early March.  Before ice out as part of my pre season ritual I would go over the logs.   I can't tell you how useful these were to improving my catch rate and size of bass caught.  I can honestly say it was the best thing I ever did to improve my success.

so for any of you who are considering keeping a log, journal or what have you. all I can say is DO IT

 

 

Started on paper yesterday... A pocket sized pad for jotting down notes on the water.. And a spiral note book for organizing afterward

May make a spread sheet later 

Anyone try printing copies of the lake map and marking fish by location?.. Maybe with a number for reference, and notes listed with each number on the back...... Kinda like saving waypoints if you dont have electronics

Started on paper yesterday... A pocket sized pad for jotting down notes on the water.. And a spiral note book for organizing afterward

May make a spread sheet later 

Anyone try printing copies of the lake map and marking fish by location?.. Maybe with a number for reference, and notes listed with each number on the back...... Kinda like saving waypoints if you dont have electronics

Don't think anyone's mentioned this before, but if you search up 1rod1reel on the App Store (if you have an Apple product) there's a great app called Fishie that lets you take pictures of your catch, and also saves information regarding when you caught it - location, weather, time of day, and you can add on fish weight, lure used, water temp., and any other notes. 

Also, it's free!