fishing log - in excel or other

[RIJIMMY]

I'm sort of an excel geek and I'm thinking of creating a fishing log on the pc. Each column would be for criteria such as date, tide, wind, time, weather, location, conditions, lure selection, etc. I figured this would give me a databse of fishing conditions to search. once i have a bunch of things collected over a period of time, I can search for condtions and target future fishing spots.
has anyone ever attempted this? Is it too dorky?

[tynan19]

Sounds like a very easy way to keep orgainized. Good thinking in my opinion.

[Rob Rockcrawler]

never tried it but it sounds like a really good idea. If ya have logs already it will be something perfect to do during the winter and ya can plan your first trips of the year. But we dont want to talk about winter yet.

[Mr. Sandman]

RIJ,

I read about this on off another site (noreast?) and did a basic one last year but never followed really used it. I am not an excell geek but it is pretty easy to do a basic layout.
I also looked into commerical products and found a couple that I bought and tried. One was called "fishnet" ...lots of interesting data entry options. I used this for a while and it was more advanced then what I had done with excell but sort of lost interest in it. I think it cost 15 bucks.
http://www.fishnetsoftware.com/features.htm

I encourage you do it and check out the others too... Sounds like a good winter project

[fishweewee]

I created my own in Microsoft Access. It's a simple flat-file database.

[JohnR]

I've been hoping for the time to put together a web based one on MySQL that people could log into and store all that info (no, other people would not be able to read it). I have not had the time to do more than an exploratory search but it is something on the table...

[rwilhelm]

I just use one of those compostion books from CVS. I find it easier to just jot down quickly rather than do it on the computer.

[Fish On]

I love the excel idea. Easy to do/maintain and the sorting options are very nice. So you could sort by location, etc. and see what the best conditions are at that spot.

[RIJIMMY]

RW, the thing with a pc based log, you can search conditions. For example, if you have a few years worth of data, you can search for October, high tide at 9:30, Sw winds,...etc. an then see what location with similar conditions you caught fish at. It would be easier thans flipping through notbook pages and you could do a lot of sorting.

[rwilhelm]

Yeah that is a good idea I am just lazy about even doing it in a log book so I know I would not bother doing it on the computer.

[bloocrab]

The important thing is creating the hard copy. Be honest, who's really going to feel like entering this stuff into a spreadsheet after fishing for 6 hours in the middle of the night? By the time you get around to it..(a few days later) some of the facts may be blurred. You can't beat a hard copy. People generally ONLY log good trips...the best information is the freshest info- like when you get back to the truck, reach into the glove box and write it all down....tide/water temp/clarity/wind/etc......whatever YOU think is important.

quoting JohnR - (no, other people would not be able to read it)

You gotta be nutz....I can see it now, all the S.B. moderators at our favorite spots at the right tides....

[JohnR]

Originally posted by bloocrab
You gotta be nutz....I can see it now, all the S.B. moderators at our favorite spots at the right tides....

Just YOU Bubba

[capesams]

I did that for three years running,,writing everything down,,then it became kinda second hat cause by then you should know when an where the fish will be.Or should I say should be...all that info. held true up till about 3 years ago...then the bait left and the seals moved in...an put the crapper on that.

[Iwannakeeper]

Originally posted by bloocrab
The important thing is creating the hard copy. Be honest, who's really going to feel like entering this stuff into a spreadsheet after fishing for 6 hours in the middle of the night? By the time you get around to it..(a few days later) some of the facts may be blurred. You can't beat a hard copy. People generally ONLY log good trips...the best information is the freshest info- like when you get back to the truck, reach into the glove box and write it all down....tide/water temp/clarity/wind/etc......whatever YOU think is important.




You gotta be nutz....I can see it now, all the S.B. moderators at our favorite spots at the right tides....

I think a combination of hard and soft copy is the key. have a printout with empty columns/rows. Fill those rows/colums in, out of the glove box, then during some down time, do the data entry into the computer, so you can search,etc.



FWW - what advantage does the databae have over a spreadsheet? While I am a techy - haven't done a lot with Databases and was wondering why you'd select a database, my assumption is search capabilities are more comprehensive in a database

[JohnR]

The nice thing about being digital is that nobody works anyway so you can fill out your spreadsheet at work sometime between paying your bills, getting your bets in, booking your vacation, and surfing S-B (Just kidding)

Actually, running in a DB will allow you to customize some search strings and print out little reports. Someone skilled with PHP and say MySQL could wirte a script that e-mails you your last 3 years of say a week long stretch of results before every week begins plus you could still search it

[Got Stripers]

My logs in my head, so when I start to loose my mind (no comments please), my fishing will start to go downhill. But by that time other things will be to, so I might as well let them all slide down that slippery slope together.

[Nebe]

Goosefish has a great log keeping system. I know because I read it when he wasnt looking