It's 6:30pm, 85 degrees and overcast, thunderstorm just rolled through. Your on a small lake fishing from a bank around overhanging brush and emergent grassbeds. Everything you do seems right, but nothing is working. Then you remember to check your fishing journal. You search through the pages until you come across a day just like today, may be from a year or two ago. You find out that you caught some nice fish on a certain bait, with a certain retrieve. So, you duplicate this and BAM! your on a fish! Has this happened to you?

Just interested to how many of you keep a fishing journal, and how successful, or unsuccessful it is for you.

I think it's a great idea!

everytime i go out!  ive been fishing one river inparticular, ive benn 18 times to the same one mile strech.  because of the log, ive been able to pick up on productive areas quickly and weather/lure trends.  one of the best tings ive done.

We keep pretty detailed journals and we track patters also. We use an excel spreadsheet that my ex-g/f (computer friggin genius) set up for us.   I've never had them hit on the head like that but they have certainly given us direction and a better look at the big picture when compared yr to yr

I keep a fishing record of what I do, and then at tournaments I make side notes to how the winner said he caught his fish.

There is a printable journal sheet that you can download on here in the tacklebox section at the top, if somebody wants try to start one.  

I just started bass fishing and one of the first things I did was start a fishing log.

I've been keeping Deer and Duck hunting logs for years and they work great.

i just started bass fishing too, but they have helped me tremendously with musky fishing.

good idea, i just started one and put all my recent times i have fished in the journal.  a couple days ago i also started to record every piece of tackle that i get. i dont have that much so it was easy to start it off