(The Shokuryoshi Experiment)
I always thought it was odd that people kept “fishing journals,” and I can’t quite recall what it was that inspired me to start one myself. But, without a journal to go through and look at information gathered in past outings, this series wouldn’t have been possible.
Even before I had the idea to start the series, I would occasionally notice patterns while on the water and look through records to see if my observations held true. To this day, this is still something I do. It has helped me to become a better angler, and I encourage anyone reading to start keeping track if they don’t already.
A few of the things that I like to record are location, air and water temperature, and over the last year, the CFS when fishing. I try to keep my information pretty short and easy to read through, with just enough detail of observations of anything that stood out that specific outing. Below is the general structure I use when filling out a new page in my journal…
Date:
Tributary:
Specific Location on Tributary:
Time Fished:
Weather Conditions (including air temperature, and wind):
Water Conditions (Including temperature, water clarity, relative water height, and CFS):
Rod(s) Used
Line(s) Used
Kebari Used
What follows is a brief description of how the session went, including fish species caught, how many, and estimated sizes. I also like to keep track of when I got strikes when I can - especially if it was a slow day of fishing. I will try to include how many strikes I got on each fly pattern I caught, which can help to identify what the trout are keying in on at certain times of the year. I also like to record the water characteristics and in which sections I get strikes or land fish.
Keeping track of all this information, as I said earlier, has helped me to become a better angler, and to better understand the waters I frequent - and, again, has made this series possible!