Fishing log - worth the effort? Pics speak a 1000 words

[Spoonminnow]

Once upon a time I used to keep a detailed logbook of every outing in order to help me remember certain facts that might be useful and that I would be sure to forget. Entered per body of water was: date, lures used to catch fish, lures that didn't catch fish, fish locations, water temp, depth fish caught, species, weather and a few other bits of info that might come in handy in the future. At the time I started the log, personal computers weren't available and taking photos a bit expensive considering developing cost. So I stopped. The photo's date tells me the season.

Enter the digital age of information storage and cameras. Each outing of photos has its own folder and date. Each picture is dated with time taken. All of the above information is included in the photos. Take these shots for example taken today:



They tell me it was overcast, the area fish were caught was in the north end, the location caught was a shallow flat per sonar, the water temp had gone down to 67 degrees (per sonar), the lure and jig head weight and the species caught in the area. (Pictures of crappie, sunfish and perch caught weren't entered above.) Fish size is sometimes recorded if a lunker is placed on a ruler such as this 13" perch and the lure that caught it and four other species in the area:



I make my own lures and this tells me that the soft cone-tail grub, 2" in length (color not important), was one to always take along as confirmed by many other fish caught on the same design recorded all summer long from other lakes.

The folder of this lake has other daily log photos entered and the number of fish caught is included for each folder's title along with water's name and date taken. The folder name looks like this:
Frederic L 9-28-16 37 fish.

A lot more interesting and informative looking at nice shots than reading a bunch of dry facts wondering ,"what did I leave out?" or "never heard of that (written) lure's name!"

[hugastump]

Great system ! I just know I will have the digital camera in the lake .....

[flintcreek]

Good system...I may try to go back and build one myself. I take pictures and they have the date and time with my cell phone so I might be able to go back and build a pretty good log for this year.

[deathb4disco]

My log is in one big Excel spreadsheet. I've got ten years of data in there, and I can sort and filter it any way I want. For me, it's perfect.

[Spoonminnow]

Nice thing are some other facts-to-go-by such as health of lake's fish population by species. This lake has few legal size bass, most being 13" or less, but excellent panfish by size. As long as decent numbers are caught, it's worth going back. Seasonality is another. The example tells me late fall had fish all over the place and in water structure related. Some were recorded on the flat; some were under overhangs; some were in shallow water of 3-4'; some related to deep water, vertical rock walls; a few were caught near a long floating dock. The south rip rap dam and west shore held few fish (similar to summer).

The log will tell me that tying directly to a jig without a 6# test leader worked just as well, though still needed when using braid which is more buoyant. (I use 8# test Suffix mono and a light leader so the lure reacts better to rod twitches. Spinning reels have 10# test braid and the leader.)

Lures that are photographed must have caught at least 10 fish to be qualified as favorites. This way I have comparison data between lures and between waters, knowing how universal and reliable each design is. Three in particular out-fished others such as curl tail grubs. A new surface design debuted yesterday and it got slammed by bass in 4', though no hook-ups because of generally smaller bass, no cover on the shallow flat it got hit three separate times and because it was midday. Seasonally it may not be a fall bait though now it will always be kept in the tackle box for use on other waters with pads and cover and water over 70 degrees.

I take shots of my watch when fishing excels, telling me am/pm fishing success as a whole and pre- and post-frontal activity. Most important is to dispel misinformation about a water or lures that haven't been used for quite a long time. Proof is in the catching and in recorded images.

[Blackhawk19]

Nice idea!

[Ketchn]

Phone photos tell the tale ......if one has his or hers phone set up with the geotag on .....then when one saves it to a computer it then provides date time and location of the photo .....when they are put in folders it's easy to go back years and research what the deal was where .
Folks think I am photo crazy , but there is a method to my madness .......lol

[huntinslabs]

My log is in one big Excel spreadsheet. I've got ten years of data in there, and I can sort and filter it any way I want. For me, it's perfect.

I have been threatening to do this myself. Any chance you could paste in your headers? Curious what all information you keep.

[Spoonminnow]

Next project will be depth maps of the lakes I fish most that are over 20' deep. Shallow lakes and ponds are pretty much uniform in depth and remembering mid-lake structure by triangulation is easy. Bing maps online offer beautiful detailed shorelines per satellite imaging and once saved, I can cut out the water part (always in black) and start mapping depth lines. Of course this won't happen until next year after my wife buys me a range finder on-line so I know exact distances from shore.

A map will be copied to each day of photos with marks made to show locations fish were caught as well as to add text comments.

[INTIMIDATOR]

Spoon
I agree with your system....every time I go out, I snap a pic of the weather page on my phone...it tells temp, time, pressure/etc, wind, etc,...then I add the photos of where I fished, fish caught, water depth, conditions, other info, and lures used also!
You can then set up a yearly fish log (CJ Fishing 2016) and have sub folders for Winter, spring, summer, fall.
It is amazing when you go back through the years and see the Patterns that exist!