Record keeping

[rich66]

Hi who keeps records of their catch and to how much detail do people go into?
Ive been thinking of keeping a journal of my fishing catches etc. And wondered how best to do it. I’ve got iPad pc etc but I’d rather do this on paper I can add drawings etc if I wish.
Thanks

 

[John Keane]

Hi who keeps records of their catch and to how much detail do people go into?
Ive been thinking of keeping a journal of my fishing catches etc. And wondered how best to do it. I’ve got iPad pc etc but I’d rather do this on paper I can add drawings etc if I wish.
Thanks

Keep your records on iPad and photograph drawings to go with the notes.

 

[valetudoguy]

I fish for fun... not writing.

I once had to sort out a computer for a guy who had digitised every catch he had made for decades, with water temp, ambient temp blah blah blah. It must have seriously overtaken his fishing.

Go for it if you want, each to their own... personally, I couldn’t be arsed, it would detract from the joy of fishing for me.

 

[john step]

I have a notebook and use half a page for each trip. Not too much detail. Catch,size if big, bait used, diagram of swim location or peg number, wind direction and whether hot, cold , raining. Also whether a photo was taken.

 

[nottskev]

I generally put a brief report on here, on HDYGO, and cut and paste it into a different format to keep. I wouldn't say writing is a chore - thinking how to sum it up for someone else or extract something from the day adds to the enjoyment for me. I don't make systematic records, but I've met a few anglers, more results-driven than me by a long way, who have kept long-term diaries and even noted captures against weather, water temperatures and levels, even times in the daily and monthly cycle. Some of these spend a lot more time both fish and writing than I do, and their results show that it all feeds back into their fishing.

One other thing I do - I make a note in a book of details of swims on local waters I've fished/been pointed towards/seen anglers catching from. I used to forget lots of stuff before I did this.

All this takes no time really, but you find it adds up to something quite useful when you've been doing it for a while.

I'm glad other people like to write things up - reading about it is one more enjoyable side to fishing.

 

[108831]

Years ago,I used to just keep a note of how many barbel I caught and where,not how or on what,when barbel fishing became harder in my locale for several reasons,I stopped filling the catches in,it seemed pointless,as I went a year with perhaps an odd fish,then it was lost,I don't know if it was thrown away in a pile of junk,now I don't see the point,I know I've caught many barbel and can remember many very special days,but large amounts of fish from a lot of species have been caught over the years and all I want to do these days is enjoy my fishing days on methods I enjoy,on venues I like sitting beside,keeping catch records is an immaterial aside.

 

[peterjg]

I have fishing notes going back to the 1970s. I use hardback note pads and record date, venue, basic details of catches (and blanks), water temperature in winter and weather. I also record baits used and any new ideas tried out. It actually takes only a couple of minutes but at the time it is a pain to do - however sometimes I skip back through my 'diaries' and it brings back happy memories or cock ups! I keep a list of my PBs.

 

[Molehill]

No I don't bother, as a keen youngster (from the 60s - 70s) I kept a diary of every trip and still have them, but I was super keen then and fished a lot.

Now I am not that interested in size, numbers, details; I go fishing and adapt my methods to suit the conditions and how I feel. If I want to float fish then I will float fish, irrelevant of ledgering may produce more on the day, I don't think a diary/records would add anything to my enjoyment now. I sometimes take a photo, but can't even remember the sizes of fish I caught the previous season.
It doesn't really matter to me.

 

[no-one in particular]

Depends what you want, a nice diary with pictures etc to read in your old age, nothing wrong with that, I wish I had done that as well as keeping a digital record. I found a digital record best done on excel. Headings and date, weather, air and water temps, barometer readings, moon phases, water colour, wind, venue, bait, species etc. They can all be digitalized and build up into a useful help. The good thing with excel you can sort into whatever criteria you want for whatever, species, venue, time of year, bait, wind direction, etc -whatever you want, no end to what you can do with it.
Something useful or something artistic, both have their merits. And the idea that it takes over from the pleasure from fishing is not right, sorry to disagree with some but I found it took about 15-20 mins per trip and never missed a bite while doing it! Made fishing very interesting as well as a pleasure and lots to play with on a wet winters day which resulted in a useful guide. I would do both now, no problem at all so dont be put off. To be honest I dont understand why everyone doesn't do this. You have one fishing life, why waste it, make the most of it.

 

[theartist]

I used to go the whole hog but found myself spending too long doing it so it's tailored now, with write ups for those special days where something different happens. I do log and tally every single fish though which is weird but no different to using a keepnet I suppose. Plus a few paragraphs to describe the day in a scrapbook with photos - you can never take too many photos be it scenery, wildlife or the odd fish both big and small.

I sometimes read a whole season's diary on those wet days when stuck indoors and think how lucky I have been

 

[steve2]

Don't keep a diary of catches, apart from a few photos everything else is stored in my memory.

 

[nottskev]

I wouldn't say keeping records, of some sort, is immaterial. Maybe some people have much better memories than I do, but I find it practically useful, rather than an indulgence or a waste of time.

Just a few examples: before I began to note down the river level on one local Trent stretch, I hadn't realised how critical it was to a certain favourite stick float swim below a weir. A little too low, and the flow didn't come to the near bank; a little too high and it became turbulent and the roach didn't stay in it.

The track to another stretch of river becomes inaccessible if the level rises beyond a certain point.

Thanks to putting a date on brief diary entries, I've got a slightly better sense of when tench tend to start showing in spring on a couple of local lakes. Other details remind me what conditions tend to knock out the fishing on a little river I fish in winter. Or how much the main river has to rise to give the best roach fishing on a marina.

Aside from all that type of thing, and there's plenty of it, I like being able to see where I was fishing at this or that time last year or the year before, and what if anything I was catching.

I can't see an argument against it. If you don't want to, don't. No need to dismiss it if others do and you don't.

 

[S-Kippy]

I used to do a write up of every trite fishing trip I went on in a rather splendid hardback journal.....but never coarse trips. I filled the book, kept going on softback but it somehow lost the charm. I gave it up and dont bother now. I have pictures and that's good enough for me.

 

[Mark Wintle]

I've kept diaries for 50 years now, there are a few gaps and I don't put much detail but far better than my memory. I've often had people tell me fish of a certain type were stocked in so and so year but my diaries usually show their memories have shortened time. Nowadays I tend to put a bit more detail such as whether hot or cold, or river level. I have a spreadsheet of all the matches I ever weighed in.

 

[The Runner]

Used to keep a full hard copy record of all the matches I fished, peg, conditions, weight, what came from pegs around me etc etc, but stopped at around the time when I stopped match fishing seriously, 2008 or so, when the West Middx winter league finally folded.

Always had a very good memory so could quite possibly have got on just as well without it, but makes an interesting read now- e.g winning a club match on Broadwater Pit at Harefield in the late 80s with 31lb of roach and silver bream fishing 6m to hand ; Wouldn't get that there now if you used a trawler....

These days just about the only record I keep is on this thread, and even then miss a few out if getting too samey.

Should be another one later, off to dig some bait in half an hour.

 

[no-one in particular]

I wouldn't remember much, the blanks get fogotton very quickly and they are important, so are all fish but it is only the best catches that stay in the memory.
I know there are a lot of anglers that think it's a waste of time and a chore, I have found it neither but I suppose it's down to the we are "all different" thing
I think it is down to the fact that all those that tried it just got bored when they found little use for it. Try it on excel, its such a useful way of storing data.

 

[peterjg]

The Runner, you mentioning Broadwater at Harefield brought back memories - I sometimes fished there for pike (without much success!). That pit is huge. I carp fished the Cons and the Fisheries for many years - also the nearby North Harrow Waltonian pit and also pits 1, 2 and 3 and Savay. My favourite was the Fisheries Old Lake. Happy days.

 

[barbelboi]

The Runner, you mentioning Broadwater at Harefield brought back memories - I sometimes fished there for pike (without much success!). That pit is huge. I carp fished the Cons and the Fisheries for many years - also the nearby North Harrow Waltonian pit and also pits 1, 2 and 3 and Savay. My favourite was the Fisheries Old Lake. Happy days.

I've fished most of the Harefield pits over the years and remember when some were still working pits. Broadwater brings back happy memories as it's the only water I've taken a 4lb plus perch from (late 90's) - I also remember fishing Savay with my father in the mid fifties (not a carp water then) when it was two lakes (before they cut through to leave the islands).

PS In answer to the post - No I don't keep records as such, just memories and a few pics.....

 

[terry m]

I used to keep brief records but after several years it dawned on me that I never really reviewed them, so canned it overnight and have never regretted it.

A simple list of PBs and specimen fish is more than sufficient for me.

 

[rich66]

Thanks for all your replies, interesting how we all differ. Think I’ll give it a bash as I’m rubbish at remembering things I discover or tactic that worked 6 months ago