Journal?

CVangler

CVangler

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Joined
Apr 28, 2016
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94
Who keeps a journal record of every outing? How is your journal set up? Really want to start keeping one but not sure which format I should use.
 
I've kept a journal in some past years going back to the early 1980s, and some of those old journals have sketches I did and many old fish photos. I consider them valuable fly fishing artifacts (at least for me).

In more recent years I rarely bother to keep a journal. 2009 was the last year for me. We've discussed journals in past threads.

When I've done this, I prefer hard copy papers in a ring binder. Print up a bunch of template forms that cover stream, date, water temp, air temp/conditions, and a short section for comments or notes. I record each fish caught, size, species (using abbreviations), and fly. If it was a day with a lot of fish caught, I might make an entry such as: "50-60 sunfish up to 8 inches on nymphs today" or something like this.
I paste photos into the form and print 'em for the binder, or cut and tape hard copies.

You can set up your journal anyway you like, obviously. Many folks these days keep their journal on a blog or social media.
 
Yeah, I keep a journal. Sometimes the entries are just short with just the basic descriptors - Stream name, location, flies, fish caught, how, weather. Other times, they take on more of a narrative. Depends on the outing :)
 
I use a simple weekly planner/calendar to keep track of activities. Fishing, bike rides, volunteer hours, it's more of a general journal than just fishing specific.
 
Have a nice journal book. I tried a couple times but it just became a hassle cause I would miss a trip or too then it would just get away from me.


I understand it but just didn't work for me. Might be easier to just dictate a note into my phone the transfer it to something later tho.
 
Ive been keeping journals on and off for 40 years. I keep notes on stream in a 3x5 ringed notebook on about 75% of my outings. For the last 5-6 years, I have been transferring the data onto a journal form I developed on my iPad when I Return home. I also paste pictures taken during the outing Into the document. Much easier to find information (hatch dates, successful patterns, etc.) thatn digging through a box of notebooks.
 
acristickid wrote:
Have a nice journal book. I tried a couple times but it just became a hassle cause I would miss a trip or too then it would just get away from me.


I understand it but just didn't work for me. Might be easier to just dictate a note into my phone the transfer it to something later tho.
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When I first started to fish with Lestrout I begin to doubt if it was a good idea to fish with him.

Whenever I approached him on the stream, I would hear him talking. I wasn't sure if he was talking to the himself or to the fish!

Anyway, I finally got up the courage to ask him about it and he pulled out a voice recorder. He would document his entire day on the stream on his recorder and play it back when he got home. Whew!

I was was really glad to here I wasn't fishing with a madman! Far from it, though. Les is one the nicest guys you will ever meet, both on and off the stream. And one heck of a FFer and caster.
 
I've been keeping a journal for the last few years. Not every outing, but most. The journal I use was a gift that I really enjoy. Rustico

My journal entries include date/time of day, types/size of fish caught and numbers, rod/flies used, water conditions/flow/temp, hatches, details on where I parked my car, specific areas fished, and other info that can help me in the future if I return to a place i've been before.
 
Since 1967. Record each trip when I come home after fishing. I include location, water temp and conditions, # of fish caught and released, note size of nice ones, note which flies I have used, note hatch (if any) encountered, and may even note significant sightings of wildlife when I remember to (like an eagle).

I like to look back through old entries during cold winter nights -- disadvantage of which is seeing trout I have landed might be smaller than I remember them.
 
rrt wrote:
Since 1967. Record each trip when I come home after fishing. I include location, water temp and conditions, # of fish caught and released, note size of nice ones, note which flies I have used, note hatch (if any) encountered, and may even note significant sightings of wildlife when I remember to (like an eagle).

I like to look back through old entries during cold winter nights -- disadvantage of which is seeing trout I have landed might be smaller than I remember them.
Click to expand...


Interesting. In general, how different is fishing now from 50 years ago when comparing numbers of fish, size of fish, hatches, wild vs stocked fish in streams, etc.

 
I just keep a crappy little blog nobody reads. It's a free site and they host your pictures. I haven't entered anything in a while but I think you can limit who can even see it, potentially to the point nobody can see it other than yourself.
 
Fishing diaries? For real guys? Just wait til the spincasters hear this one! :p

I've kept one at times, but haven't been faithful to it. I found I didn't use it much for trip planning. I use flow data, precip maps, and just what I'm in the mood for on any given day way more than historical data. Although I do think a journal can be very useful for some things...correlating hatch timing to flows and temps in years past, etc.

On those cold winter nights I look back through my photos, "wish list" trip plan for the next year, or hang out on PAFF. Or better yet, I make a pot roast, watch NFL or NHL, and have a few good beers.
 
I have a 3x5 spiral bound notebook that I keep some notes in. I got a pack of 5 for about $3 at Staples. They are pretty handy.

I don't record every trip, normally just the first few times to a stream so I can have a reference of conditions for future trips. After that I will make additional entries for that stream when I have something new to add to my ''data base'' such as new conditions, a new access point, or a standout day. Things I normally record include: Stream and spots, weather, flows, insect activity, flies that caught fish, and number of fish caught. I should also begin taking water temps too.

Overall, It's definitely a useful tool to have!

I also maintain a separate collection of pictures, that I keep noted with date and location.
 
Hey pocketwater, nice blog! When I finally get organized, I will start one.
 
STONEMAN wrote:
Hey pocketwater, nice blog! When I finally get organized, I will start one.
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Oh wow. Thanks. It's really easy to do on that Wordpress site, and like I said, free.
 
For Afish, etc. -- Fishing is generally better on most streams I fish today than it was when I started, much due to Operation Future that ceased the stocking on a number of creeks I favor and the trout populations increased dramatically on these. Catch-and-release fishing has generally improved things, too. When I started, 80% of fishermen killed everything they caught. I'd guess that today that figure is reversed.

Negatives include the loss of fly hatches on several streams I frequent. Most recently, a manure spill pretty much wiped out the sulphurs on the lower 6 miles of Clover Creek, a small wild trout stream. It doesn't look like these flies are going to come back any time soon.

Another negative is the increased crowding on many streams. It is often difficult to find places to fish, especially during the hatches of May, except on obscure sections of obscure streams. I don't think this is good for the trout either, as they get pretty beat up in some places. My bro-in-law totally gave up fly-fishing because of the mobs on Spring Creek, and it is a stream I no longer visit for the same reason. The last time I fished there, it was evident that the average size of the trout had decreased dramatically over the past 20 seasons.

Another negative is a noticeable decrease in stream flows and a rise in water temps over time, too. It has not -- yet -- seemed to have had a deleterious affect on trout populations, but it likely will if things continue.

(Another negative: Some fish I remember as being 18 or 19 inches turn out to be somewhat smaller in my notebooks when I read about them!)

Anyhow, I'd say my notebooks indicate better overall fishing for wild trout in many places and a positive change in fishing ethics to release most trout that are caught.
 
I write down notes after fishing on my computer.

Rather than putting down the notes in a time sequence, I organize things by location.

I have files for individual streams, such as "Cross Fork Cr - Potter", and that's in a folder called "NCPA"

After fishing that stream, I open the file and write my notes. That way I can just open a file on a particular stream, and all notes for that stream are in one place.

That works well. But I also do wish I had a way to search for all my notes for a particular year.

There is probably a way to organize things to allow that, but I haven't figured it out. Probably it would require a separate file for each trip, with the date as part of the file name.

What I actually write isn't just "data" oriented towards maximizing number of fish caught on future trips. It's more descriptive, not a "data sheet."

I write down anything interesting that happened or that I saw during the day. It includes conversations with people, wildlife spottings, historical stuff like old logging railroad grades and splash dam remains, trees along the streams, geology stuff, stream habitat, etc.



 
rrt wrote:
For Afish, etc. -- Fishing is generally better on most streams I fish today than it was when I started, much due to Operation Future that ceased the stocking on a number of creeks I favor and the trout populations increased dramatically on these. Catch-and-release fishing has generally improved things, too. When I started, 80% of fishermen killed everything they caught. I'd guess that today that figure is reversed.

Negatives include the loss of fly hatches on several streams I frequent. Most recently, a manure spill pretty much wiped out the sulphurs on the lower 6 miles of Clover Creek, a small wild trout stream. It doesn't look like these flies are going to come back any time soon.

Another negative is the increased crowding on many streams. It is often difficult to find places to fish, especially during the hatches of May, except on obscure sections of obscure streams. I don't think this is good for the trout either, as they get pretty beat up in some places. My bro-in-law totally gave up fly-fishing because of the mobs on Spring Creek, and it is a stream I no longer visit for the same reason. The last time I fished there, it was evident that the average size of the trout had decreased dramatically over the past 20 seasons.

Another negative is a noticeable decrease in stream flows and a rise in water temps over time, too. It has not -- yet -- seemed to have had a deleterious affect on trout populations, but it likely will if things continue.

(Another negative: Some fish I remember as being 18 or 19 inches turn out to be somewhat smaller in my notebooks when I read about them!)

Anyhow, I'd say my notebooks indicate better overall fishing for wild trout in many places and a positive change in fishing ethics to release most trout that are caught.
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Thanks for the info, Rich.

I don't keep a journal and the places I now fish have changed from back-in-the-day, but I would agree overall with your observations:

=Less stocked trout.

=More wild trout streams and wild trout to fish for

=More crowding of the well-known trout streams

=Much more C&R fishing

Most of the above is good, but as with anything, it could be better.
 
Swattie, I do a ton of spincasting for trout in addition to flyfishing and Ive been keeping a journal for years LOL LOL! I always say I'm a finesse spincast fisherman that thinks like a flyfisherman LOL.

Seriously though, I have kept a notebook for 20 years or so, since Ive been like 15 years old. I've devoted a huge amount of my life and time to trout fishing. I mainly record where I found larger fish and dates that a outing is of particular interest, so that the information can be used going forward.
 
troutbert wrote:

That works well. But I also do wish I had a way to search for all my notes for a particular year.

There is probably a way to organize things to allow that, but I haven't figured it out. Probably it would require a separate file for each trip, with the date as part of the file name.
Click to expand...

They call those searchable things "databases" ;-)

You could probably do some rudimentary searching using Windows Search or Mac OS Spotlight, restricting your search to the top folder that holds all your data. But anything more sophisticated probably begs a database (or at least the poor person's version of a database - Excel).

That's one thing I like about using an app on my phone - all the data is stored in a SQLite database, which I can copy off and run queries against.

 
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