Fishing Log / Tracker

[Aridhol]

What, if anything does everyone use to track or log their fishing?

i.e. depths, fish type/size, lures, area, tides etc....

Pen&Paper journal? Software? Spreadsheet? Notes on a plotter? Nothing at all that's what your memory is for?

 

[Barnacle Bill]

Years ago while guiding I kept a hand written journal, area, tide, method ,and number of fish to the boat.

 

[Kildonan]

I just use the notes app in my smartphone. I have a few years worth of info in there now, it's fun to look back on previous years.

 

[Franko Manini]

Microsoft OneNote. For every day I fish, I start by creating a new "page" in the Fishing Log tab in my "Fishing and Boating" notebook. I title the page with the date I fished. At the top of the page, I paste in a copy if the tide graph for that day and the weather report. Then I detail fishing methods, gear used, and my results. It's also easy to add pictures if I saw something neat, or there was a notable catch, or whatever. very easy to use, and it's all saved on Microsoft's cloud so all my devices are updated simultaneously. All my info and data shows up on the home PM, work laptop, iPhone, and iPad and I can use any of those devices to update the log.

FYI, I also have a tab where I can dump good fishing tips or ideas from this forum. It's a simple cut and paste exercise. I'g glad I did that because of all the data lost when this forum went down. I now have my own copy of that information at my fingertips.

There are lots of great OneNote tutorials on YouTube. Check the app out. oh yeah... it's FREE too!

 

[Aridhol]

Franko that sounds like a pretty awesome system!
Are you able to look at any trends or group together days?

I use a spreadsheet currently and I can see what % of fish were caught on what lure etc... I have to say though that it's not terribly useful just yet as it's only a couple years of data.

 

[salmon slayer]

I use one note as well. I even created pages of all of my tackle for insurance purposes

 

[Big Green Machine]

If you want to keep a public log, there are features on this site that will allow that, you can blog it from your phone. Let's be honest, there are no secrets when it come to Salmon on the chuck. Steelhead on rivers, yes. Halibut and prawns, yes, but for Salmon in the great wide open, why not share info?

 

[Aridhol]

No problem with sharing info, I want it for my own reference

Sorry I have no idea what features this site supports that would fit the bill, can you elaborate?
I do try to post what, where and when if I go out (see Sooke and vic report threads) I am pro sharing

 

[Big Green Machine]

No problem with sharing info, I want it for my own reference

Sorry I have no idea what features this site supports that would fit the bill, can you elaborate?
I do try to post what, where and when if I go out (see Sooke and vic report threads) I am pro sharing

Sorry you're right I can't find the blog link, that feature looks to be disabled. The Xenforo site I visit has it enabled and it's basically a digital journal.

 

[Bait&Sea]

I print the tide chart for the day and make all my notes on that, and keep em in a binder

 

[Aridhol]

I am going to try out OneNote
I'm capturing:
Fish Size
Rigger depth
Water depth
Lure
Area (navionics map marker / screenshot)
Time of catch

Weather comments
Tide chart from tides4fishing

Thanks for the suggestions all!

 

[Franko Manini]

Franko that sounds like a pretty awesome system!
Are you able to look at any trends or group together days?

I use a spreadsheet currently and I can see what % of fish were caught on what lure etc... I have to say though that it's not terribly useful just yet as it's only a couple years of data.

It would take a long time to gather enough data to be statistically significant given the variables of location, tide, weather, time of day, season, type of fishing, etc. What most people don't realize is that data is not "statistically significant" until you gather 25 or more data points. Now, consider the variables I listed above. If you change ONE variable, you start a whole new data set with one data point. For example, let's say you're fishing In Sooke, during the summer run for Chinook. The tide is a weak ebb, and it's at first light. It's a bright day, with little cloud and no rain. You catch a nice fish at the tide change, on bait at 60 feet deep. If you do that three time, in the same short window that day, you've got three data points. now, change any ONE of those variables, and you have to start a new data set.

Let's say you create a log and use it religiously to determine general trends and you make decisions of when and where to fish based on the log. You wake up one morning and consult your log for where you've caught the most fish on an ebb tide for example. You review and see that Secretary Island has been good to you. So you go there and nail a couple big smilies. you run home and put them in your log. now, you gotta ask yourself... if you've done this before, did you make your decision to fish Secretary based on good data? Probably not. You likely established your own pattern. All your fish come from Secretary on ebb tides because somewhere along the line you had a good day there and kept going back. You've caught all your good fish on ebb tides at Secretary, because that's where you go during ebb tides!

Experimental design is a science on it's own and it shows us how we can effectively use data, and how we can fall into traps. Because fishing logs are generally created and used by a single person, there is rarely enough data to support good decisions, and they are not created in a way that will limit outside influences (such as "Spring Fever"). I view my personal fishing log as a record of the good times I have had on the water as much as I view it as a data source. It will take many years to develop anything that could be truly meaningful, but I do it anyway!

All that being said Aridhol, I created a "form" layout in OneNote so that all my data could be parsed and aggregated to look for patterns. now, will any of them be legitimate, I doubt it. I have favourite places and favourite gear and that skews my results right out of the gate. I also like to fish one side of the boat over the other! I'm a superstitious science guy!

 

[Aridhol]

hahah all valid points! I will try to think of it like a log of good times on the water and leave it at that!

I'll try to anyway...

 

[searun]

Fill out my guide log for DFO at the end of each day. Just have to make a steady habit and once you get in the routine it becomes more or less autogomagic.

 

[bones]

i've been using waypoint marks off my lowrance then saved to insight planner software. in the end its all on one global chart or overlaid map of choice.

it also has a spot to record your location, depth, temp, comments, link a picture, date and description. its up to the user to input some info but the waypoint mark does some of it.

it will also record or track your routes and tracks