Fishing diary...???

[Shorty]

Hi everyone,

Does anyone on here keep a fishing diary of any kind? I've been thinking for a while of trying to track something down or doing up my own in Excel\Word but I thought I would just throw the question out there to everyone.

One thing I have noticed is that in a lot of the articles I read in mags, the people who tend to get good results seem to have something to refer back to in notes they have kept over the years and this has got me thinking of investing the time and effort to start something of my own along these lines.

If anyone here does it, how useful do you find it to refer back too...?? What sort of info do you keep in your diary? Do you break it down to moon phases and tidal flows or do you just put in what you caught (or didn't catch as the case may be). Has anyone seen any good diarys they think would be worthwhile checking out...??

Any help and advice greatly appreciated!!

Shorty

[Dazzamcgee]

Shorty yeah there is a free downloadable program called Fishing Buddy. It has all the spots to record the details and allows u to include a picture of your catch. Ive just started mine with only afew entries and it seems to be very user friendly.

Worth checking out if your after a fishing Diary...

[Dazzamcgee]

http://www.rb59.com/fishingb/index.html

give that a try....

[bogan]

if you're a pro fisherman maybe.

I only have limited space in my brain, so if i have to remember a diary/pen, i may forget more important things such as:

1. The beer

2. The fishing rods :ohmy:

3. Or in worst case scenario, the boat :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

[benno573]

i made one ages ago using excel - haven't used it for a few years now. too much effort and thinking to maintain!

[kreel]

I used Google maps to keep a record of my catches by date, time and location but have given up on it more recently. It became too much of a chore to keep up to date and I would often have to use the brain-box to remember a week after the event. :dry:

[reef_raider]

you can actually buy fishing diaries from BCF

[Gazza]

With all the changing weather patterns at different times of the year seasonal fishing is all up the putt

Gone are the days when you could read back in a diary and say yes this W/E will be good give or take a day or so IMO now you need to remember (GSP helps this bit out) this spot was really hot last year but we don't have the same water temps / the barometer readings are all wrong / the moon is not in it's right phase :woohoo: and most of all

Damm I don't recall this many boats out here last time we caught fish

The best diary is your GPS find spots that you know hold bait fish or could hold bait fish etc and find the fish

I think most important of all is keep away from other boats

mark your spots look at how many hopefulls are there and move on unless your sounder goes black with fish :woohoo:

fish move depends on alot of different things but the most common is where they go to get away from the things that scare them (boats) thats why early morning Yaker's are doing so well :woohoo: as do the guys who venture to the deep blue away from the crowds :woohoo:

Gaz

[noname]

i keep a diary, and it does help,but it takes a few years to figure out where and when the fish are active in the general areas you fished years prior, sometimes i put info in,eg i was fishing the b/ banks and heard radio chatter about some charter boat that caught 20 cobia and jotted it down, date , time, i hear you say fish have tails, true, but i know mackrel that go through the bay when migrating will always go through the bay and not outside, wheather other fish do this,i don't know, the BIG SECRET is to get out there as often as you can. i know what fish turn up when within a week of the dates in my diary

rob

[Dazzamcgee]

Rob Low wrote:

i keep a diary, and it does help,but it takes a few years to figure out where and when the fish are active in the general areas you fished years prior, sometimes i put info in,eg i was fishing the b/ banks and heard radio chatter about some charter boat that caught 20 cobia and jotted it down, date , time, i hear you say fish have tails, true, but i know mackrel that go through the bay when migrating will always go through the bay and not outside, wheather other fish do this,i don't know, the BIG SECRET is to get out there as often as you can. i know what fish turn up when within a week of the dates in my diary

rob

Spot on!

[Shorty]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I've downloaded the one suggested by Dazza and I'll have a crack at that for a while and see how it goes. I like the idea of having something to be able to refer back to so this looks like it might do the job for me.

Many thanks for the suggestion and link Dazza, I very much appreciate it!

Shorty

[Angus]

Yeah guys actually on this note I will be doing a front page peice about an interesting Fishing Diary program the DPI have set up.

Stay tuned!

Angus