Diary.........

Just out of curiosity - who keeps a diary of their catches? And I don't just mean weight and venue - I'm talking all the details - you know the sort of thing, weight and venue, yes, but also location (island, bar, plateu, etc), weedy or not, temperature, depth fished, air pressure, method used, rig details, bait used, etc etc, etc.......

Personally, I no longer bother, if I do - if I'm fishing a new venue - I'll just stick with, venue, fish caught, bait used and weight (approx if nothing decent). This is because I tend to stick with the same few rigs and can normally remember what I have used.

However, I know of others that record all manner of details.

It must be very interesting to look back and compare and so on, but unless you fish perhaps 3 or 4 times a week, I reckon its possible to remember what rigs are working for you and which bait etc., when you fish so often. So to me, its a waste of time and effort - but then, that's just my opinion - I'd love to hear yours?

I used to keep details diaries for many years with all sorts of information, little drawings of rigs weather conditions, locations, swims, catches weights and notes , tackle used, baits used baits worth trying and other anglers catches on the day, I`d also map waters and record where all fish had been caught by anyone, surprising how the how spots show up when you do this over a period, sometimes not the spots everyone thinks are hot spots, over the years it did build up patterns although on difficult waters the blanks could look a bit grim

Interesting Monk. I had never noted where others had caught from, silly not to really I suppose.

many moons ago i used to keep a diary now i rely on memory which is why i know nothing

Like it Cakey.

I think I should add to the above:

I said "I had never noted where others had caught from" - well of course I did, but it was a mental note, I had never written it down.

It definitely would pay dividends Malc but even more so if you pool your knowledge. I remember reading an article by a match angler a few years back.

The team (I can't remember which but I think it was either Tricast Highfield or more probably Essex VDE) he fished for had a rule whereby the manager insisted that they had to not only give specific detailed info regarding their own pegs species, rigs, snags, depth, etc but also the immediate pegs either side.

The dossier thus built had an in depth breakdown on virtually every peg on virtually every fishery that held matches.

Makes sense really, I tend to do a bit of a mental evaluation, but rarely if ever record my thoughts.

However I think the speci group approach will certainly pay dividends especially for larger or more difficult waters.

I keep a Diary with all the things you said above species, tactic used,weight or size, bait, what peg, venue, weather.
But I have never thought of recording where every on else is picking fish up from it makes sense to but if I keep adding things to record I wont get any fishing done lol.

No diary for me ---I always forgot to take a pencil/pen, and then by the time I got home I'd forgotten where I'd been


And if the diary got into the wrong hands it could be used against you for blackmail !!

i always rely on memory because i forget to write things down.

I keep saying i will keep a diary at the start of next season. Then don't bother. Would be nice to look back at sometimes though.

i used to years ago, now dont bother - dont fish the same lakes often enough.