By Mike Malone
Over the years and with as much fishing as I do, I've forgotten many important facts and much information that could help turn a fair days fishing into an outstanding piscatorial experience. Just last night I was expounding with a gentleman friend on the fine art of trolling the weed beds of a productive lake in a float tube versus trolling with a canoe and trying to feel the soft take of a large fish down deep and paddling at the same time. His questions dealt with not only the how of this technique but also the when and what pattern to use. It's a good thing I've kept a fishing log for the past 10 years because as I go back in my records I can determine when still water rainbows are moving out of the shallows after spring break-up and into oxygen enriched deeper water where the sun light has started weeds growing and aquatic bugs regenerating.
This is just an example of how a fishing log can help you be more successful in your fishing adventures. Another use for your fishing log is to help you plan future trips to favorite locations when damsels are hatching or salmon are spawning and the extra family economy size rainbows and dollies are laying just off the bottom of the river pretending they are vacuum cleaners, sucking up all the eggs that come drifting down their feeding lane.
Some of the important data you want to record on your trips is the air and surface water temperature, time of day, whether the barometer is rising or falling and the stage of the moon. Once you start comparing data from different fishing locations, you will start to see some similarities you have never noticed before. As an example, you might find that fish at your favorite spot will move to a particular fly when the sky is overcast because there is a storm coming and the barometric pressure is falling. On the other hand, maybe you will find that when the surface water temp reaches 65 degrees F, a good caddis hatch is sure to occur in the early evening and the trout will be sipping emergers before they can escape the surface film. You could fish caddis dry all afternoon and evening without a strike, all the while fish are rising all around you. This situation can very frustrating, but if you can review your log, you'll find what the fish are really feeding on and your chance for good results are much improved.
Some additional information I like to keep is a listing of the fly patterns used at a particular site and how fish reacted to them as they are presented in different situations. Don't forget things like fishing depth, water conditions, rod and line size, species of fish caught, additional weather conditions and miscellaneous information pertinent to each fishing trip.
Maintaining a fishing log may not be something every fly fisher may want to do, but I can guarantee the information recorded and reviewed prior to returning to a fishing location can improve the average angler's fishing success. Maybe not the very next time out , but soon, enough information will be observed and recorded to start establishing patterns of fish behavior. That's when you can plan your strategy to increase your fishing success.
Anyway----it's a good thing I noticed I was hooking up with more fish when float tubing through weed beds than when using my canoe. If it hadn't been for my fishing log I'd probably still be paddling and grabbing my fly rod every time the tip twitched rather than feeling the soft take on those slow moving bugs.
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