Writing Down Information on Salmon Catches

[KilliansRed]

Just wondering if anyone keeps a log of their salmon and trout catches. I keep one as a reference point for upcoming seasons. Some of my buddies think its odd but I think its nice to have something to refer too. I take info such as water depth, surface temp, time of day, downrigger depth, dipsy length, speed and lure used. It was nice to look at the document and see that 2015 has been my best year for numbers but the size of fish is lacking.

[tlr426]

I keep a log too. Not sure yet if if helps me catch fish. But I know over the winter it's nice to look through and plan for next spring. I have a small sample size of lake ontario fishing so I can't really tell of it works yet. But anything that helps you build a pattern to chatch fish is a good thing. I am sure it takes many years to develop a pattern I have fished 4 years and every year is different. I hope in the next few years building a book with my success and failure in it will help me be a better salmon fisherman. . . If not I at least passed the time when they aren't bitting.

Edited September 8, 2015 by tlr426

[dukhnter8]

I have both a hunting and fishing log. The fishing one I have started again after not keeping one for a while. I keep depth, temp, wind, fish caught, etc. I think it helps like tlr426 said helps to pattern fish. The more I hunt and fish the more patterns I see. I'm a duck and goose hunter and the geese seem to always be in certain fields consistently in the early season. I'm hoping fishing will be the same, hoping that the perch on Erie are in the same areas next spring.

[Sk8man]

Keeping that log information is probably one of the smartest and most productive uses of time spent not actually fishing. I did it for many years until many of those patterns became embedded in my brain. It is especially useful for the perch fishing. What you find is that they travel the same areas year after year and once you know these routes and structures, and have examined their stomach contents over time you can tap into the patterns and you just travel along it and they will most often be within a hundred yards or less from where they were the previous year and in roughly the same depth and there are times of the year when they appear totally absent and then you find them way out deep gorging themselves on fresh water shrimp or baby crayfish in shallow. The trout patterning is a bit different and seems more reliant on water temperatures and depth and varies quite greatly by species and is more affected by particular weather conditions of a particular year and warming/cooling of the water layers. I eventually gave up on recording the particular lures or spoons or their color for that matter because I found that it didn't seem to pattern much but the size of the spoons and sticks did matter a lot as the size of the bait they feed on changes and it can be helpful to try to match it as the season goes along. It is often very instructive looking at the information over the span of several years so it is worth the patience and consistent effort involved in collecting the data. Salmon patterning is a whole different matter as the last couple years have aptly pointed out

Edited September 8, 2015 by Sk8man