Do you keep a fishing journal?

[McRiffle]

Off and on I've had the intention to keep a fishing journal but never actually started. That's going to change this season, I picked up one of Frank Amato's Journals like this Amazon.com: Fishing Journal: Angling Legacy (9781571882110): Frank W. Amato: Books.

Then it made me curious if others do.

 

[WBDluver]

in the beginning i do then as the season wears on i dont

 

[AKSkim]

Yeah.. I started with one of those ...


It was nice, but I wanted to add more information.


Then I found this journal.. better, able to log in more data, but still not good enough for me.


Then while my daughter was getting some art supplies I saw this...


I could take the best of the other two.


It enabled me to add more, to add more you have to think while out there


You start to watch more, then put it on paper.


When you travel to different streams, you watch, see, learn, and record.


The basic information can be printed out and pasted, or hand written.


You can get as detailed as you wish.


Or as basic.

I have always written on everything, books

Maps I bought.

Maps I made.

I tried everything, and still continue to jot down, scribble, and write.

To me it has always been the greatest thing....

A blank page and a pen.

 

[Dr. Gonzo]

I keep a journal but whether I write in it is another story......

 

[flyI4]

I like keeping one and have for the past 8 years or so.. at first it was styled like an information journal ,but I kinda got over that and just began writting in a story like fashion when something memorable happened during a days fishing. I find it more enjoyable to re-read my journal now that I write about the whole day rather than just the conditions and catch.

 

[AKSkim]

Or trips.

This is my book for the first three years of going down to The Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Little things that happened and add a photo and now you have a complete picture of the trip.

That is why it is important when on a trip to write everyday.

 

[Mike Valla]

Sure, I've kept a diary, For many years---

Here's a page from the past--the year was 1970. Now, what 16 year-old kid (with bad spelling, i.e "Willowemoc(K)--Ha!)--would be recording words like Paraleptophlebia adoptiva? Must have been a weirdo--in the eyes of my friends back then.



My weekends--taking a bus to Roscoe--alone.

>There I was--on the West Branch of the Delaware. May 10, 1970 Ephemerella subvaria--males and females. I'll say this: there we virtually NO fly fishers in that era, on the West Branch. Zero--None---it was a very young system.

 

[NJpatbee]

I haven't kept one for over 30 years and regret it.

 

[G Lech]

I keep one.
Helps plan trips for the following years.

 

[Andy]

In the very beginning as a young man only fishing three weekends a month I didn't keep one and in my mind it seemed like I caught several hundred trout each year. I was pretty cocky back then. After a few years passed and I actually started recording everything it was a rude awakening at how many I really did catch!

I've been keeping one for many, many years now and find it to be a great help in jogging my memory. It reminds me of when and where I've experienced exceptional hatches and helps me plan my trips by anticipation. The water heights and temperatures are helpful for comparisons and oftentimes help me figure out where I can wade to fish effectively. Sometimes my log reminds me of places I've neglected to fish in recent years but should revisit. Additionally, it allows me to compare my results with previous years and recall some of the phenonomal fish and fishing that seem to have faded into obscurity.

 

[AKSkim]

I also take a small sketch book out on the river so when I see,
or learn something new I have it right with me.


I keep the book and pen in a sealable plastic bag to keep everything dry.

 

[fishfinatic]

I've been keeping track of every fishing trip since 1964 Fresh and salt water. I enjoy checking back every know and then. I just wished I would have kept earlier records.

 

[CMoser]

Your a fool if you dont. When my fishing buddy passes, I am getting his log also. It will be over 40 years of fishing info. Maybe Ill sell the info.

 

[lightenup]

Great thread...I have been thinking about starting a journal, but I like surprises, and probably wouldn't be consisitent with it, and in the end it would probably confuse me. So I will continue to fly by the seat of my pants....I like exploring, so if I don't write it down, I will be fishing a new spot everyday.......

 

[MACFLY]

I don't keep one. I prefer there be no evidence.

 

[Trouser Trout]

I stopped keeping one years ago, when i realized every page had the same note, "caught my limit"........

 

[PRomano]

I don't keep a journal but I do have a log book issued by the NJDF&W. The purpose is to log your catch on the special regulations, TCA's and seasonal TCA's. I figure if future regulations are based on feedback from these logs, its worth keeping them. One interesting find was on the upper Flat Brook a few weeks ago. I caught what I believe to be 2 wild rainbow trout around 5 inches in length. I wish I had my camera because as far as I know, there are no documented catches of wild rainbow's in Flat Brook.

 

[flytire]

i'd rather fish a trout stream and let geirach write about one

i'm just too lazy to even start one

 

[Johnny Utah]

Lay off the dope and remember! Better write that one down.

 

[NJpatbee]

I started again this year after a 35 year lapse! I add a lot more editorial than I used to.

 

[Trouser Trout]

I don't keep a journal but I do have a log book issued by the NJDF&W. The purpose is to log your catch on the special regulations, TCA's and seasonal TCA's. I figure if future regulations are based on feedback from these logs, its worth keeping them. One interesting find was on the upper Flat Brook a few weeks ago. I caught what I believe to be 2 wild rainbow trout around 5 inches in length. I wish I had my camera because as far as I know, there are no documented catches of wild rainbow's in Flat Brook.

I have caught small very well colored rainbows as well on BFB. I just assumed they were wild.

 

[CTobias]

You guys probably have hello kitty journals. As Simms would say, you're all a bunch of wizard sleeves.

 

[PRomano]

I have caught small very well colored rainbows as well on BFB. I just assumed they were wild.

I checked with a few knowledgeable people who in turn contacted Pat Hamilton at the hatchery. According to Pat no wild rainbow trout population exist in Flat Brook. So it looks as if the hatchery placed those little ones in there. Thats not a bad idea considering the FB will be C&R. Those fish will be allowed to grow in the stream and become somewhat wild in time.

 

[Wbranch]

At one time I kept a journal but never added to it with any consistency. To be honest, and I'm not BS'ing, back in the summers of 1968 - 1972 I used to drive to Montana and fish there from June 01 to Labor Day. I fished many of the blue ribbon rivers before the onslaught of newbies who were attracted to FFing in the 1970's and 1980's. I fished Armstrong Spring Creek when it was free and Nelson's when there were two half day sessions. Each one costing a whopping $10.00. I caught so many big fish that I just wouldn't of had the time to keep an accurate journal day, after day, for ninety days.

Ditto for the Delaware system. It was very good and I often had days where I landed a dozen good trout. By the time I'd get back to the camper at dark I was too tired to want to make journal entries. All I wanted to do was drive to Hancock for dinner at the Circle E and hit the rack.

 

[dcabarle]

At one time I kept a journal but never added to it with any consistency. To be honest, and I'm not BS'ing, back in the summers of 1968 - 1972 I used to drive to Montana and fish there from June 01 to Labor Day. I fished many of the blue ribbon rivers before the onslaught of newbies who were attracted to FFing in the 1970's and 1980's. I fished Armstrong Spring Creek when it was free and Nelson's when there were two half day sessions. Each one costing a whopping $10.00. I caught so many big fish that I just wouldn't of had the time to keep an accurate journal day, after day, for ninety days.

Ditto for the Delaware system. It was very good and I often had days where I landed a dozen good trout. By the time I'd get back to the camper at dark I was too tired to want to make journal entries. All I wanted to do was drive to Hancock for dinner at the Circle E and hit the rack.

Must have been quite an adventure back in the day! Fishing when not a soul in sight!

 

[Wbranch]

Yes, most assuredly! I was fortunate to have met, on the Willowemoc, Ed Van Put who at the time was working for NYS DEC tallying catch rate census data on the Willowemoc. Ed would come around a couple of times a day. My buddy and I used to camp at the Power Lines and we got to know Ed and he saw that we were very serious about our fly fishing. Back then we were purely into the numbers game and fished nymphs all the time unless fish were actively rising.

Well he would come around and we'd say we caught a dozen, then he'd be back two hours later and we were up to twenty, then maybe at the end of the day we'd hit thirty browns. One important comment I want to make is back in the beginning of the No Kill water on the Willowemoc and Beaverkill is there were very few larger browns and virtually no rainbows. We caught lots of 9" - 13" browns, pretty good numbers of 14" browns, and once in awhile a 15" fish. It took me years to catch a 16" brown on the Willowemoc and it was behind the Rest Area on the Quickway.

Ditto for the Beaverkill although I do remember starting to catch bigger, 16" - 18" browns there long before the Willowemoc. Anyway I'm digressing from my point. Ed got to like us and he had started to fish the main stem a few years prior, possibly from hearing about it from Harry Darbee. After knowing Ed a year or two he told us to "go over the mountain" to Hankins and fish Kellam's Bridge for big and wild rainbows. So that is how I first learned of the main stem. I fished Kellam's for a couple of years until we learned about the Third Riff and how to get permission from the Adam's family to drive onto their property and park opposite about the lower end of the Riff. We fished there for years without hardly ever seeing anyone else. That is where I honed my nymphing skills and where I really got to see big fish rising.

It wasn't until much later, maybe ten years, that I got invited to fish what at that time could only have been considered a fly fisher's Shangri-La but that is another story.

I have some other journal entries that are, by today's catch rates, pretty embarrassing to publish for fear I'd either be labeled as the biggest BS'er of all time of suffering severe delusions of grander.