fish and mark record book

Has anyone keept a record book of when ,were and what tide and fish taken.

was it any use

Have kept one since 1991. Sometimes I wonder if I do learn anything but it makes for enjoyable reading after a few years. What I have learnt is that it is very easy to forget factual points, good thing about the journal is that it doesn't lie and it is easy to reference. It takes a few years of really constant fishing to find patterns starting to show, times when fish arrive and depart has been the thing that stood out most.

Pete

I don't, but I have a fairly good memory for what I've caught where, when and on what. So far, what I remember seems reliable enough. Mostly.

I think though for a record to be of any practical use you would need to fish each mark at all stages of the tide, lunar cycle, in all weathers, with all possible baits/lures every day for a number of years.

When you think about how most of us fish (a bit here, a bit there) trying to draw any valid, reliable, repeatable conclusions from a very incomplete data set is mad.

It's like trying to predict next weeks lottery numbers. Shows how desperate we can get, though :lol:

I use an access database to log my fishing reports (mostly freshwater)
I find it really useful being able to filter out venues, species, dates, baits etc.

I am in the [slow] process of updating it so that it has a decent interface as at the moment its thrown together but when I finally get something presentable I'll post a copy of it for any that want it.

-Patrick.