Fishing log - worth the effort? Pics speak a 1000 words

[Spoonminnow]

Once upon a time I used to keep a detailed logbook of every outing in order to help me remember certain facts that might be useful and that I would be sure to forget. Entered per body of water was: date, lures used to catch fish, lures that didn't catch fish, fish locations, water temp, depth fish caught, species, weather and a few other bits of info that might come in handy in the future. At the time I started the log, personal computers weren't available and taking photos a bit expensive considering developing cost. So I stopped. The photo's date tells me the season.

Enter the digital age of information storage and cameras. Each outing of photos has its own folder and date. Each picture is dated with time taken. All of the above information is included in the photos. Take these shots for example taken today:



They tell me it was overcast, the area fish were caught was in the north end, the location caught was a shallow flat per sonar, the water temp had gone down to 67 degrees (per sonar), the lure and jig head weight and the species caught in the area. (Pictures of crappie, sunfish and perch caught weren't entered above.) Fish size is sometimes recorded if a lunker is placed on a ruler such as this 13" perch and the lure that caught it and four other species in the area:



I make my own lures and this tells me that the soft cone-tail grub, 2" in length (color not important), was one to always take along as confirmed by many other fish caught on the same design recorded all summer long from other lakes.

The folder of this lake has other daily log photos entered and the number of fish caught is included for each folder's title along with water's name and date taken. The folder name looks like this:
Frederic L 9-28-16 37 fish.

A lot more interesting and informative looking at nice shots than reading a bunch of dry facts wondering ,"what did I leave out?" or "never heard of that (written) lure's name!"