One of the consequences of having four distinct seasons is that we slot various activities during certain times of year. Spring is big for graduations and a few weddings, while in summer we cram and squeeze in vacations, long weekends and more weddings, along with family and class reunions.

This year it’s my turn for a class reunion, but this column isn’t about which classmates are living across the globe or who has lost the most hair or weight. I’m thinking back to how our North Dakota outdoors has changed since I graduated from Valley City High School in May of 1990.

First and foremost, a few years after high school the North Dakota Game and Fish Department removed the traditional May fishing opener and provided open fishing 24/7/365. The switch to year-round fishing was then, and remains today, grounded in biology, as fisheries surveys monitor the health of our fisheries. Can anyone argue that fishing today isn’t better than it was two decades ago?

Twenty years ago North Dakota was praying for rain. That dry cycle wouldn’t lose its grip until 1993.

In 1990, Devils Lake was dealing with a Lake Emergency Management Council to keep water in the lake. Game and Fish biologists began to worry that a significant winterkill was imminent if the water level continued to recede.
You read correct.Devils Lake did not have an outlet then. In fact, state officials were pondering the feasibility of a channel or pipeline to bring Missouri River water in to Devils Lake.

Today, the expansion of Devils Lake that began in 1993 is well documented. The swelling of the lake has provided excellent habitat and fishing for pike, walleye and white bass. The challenge now is not how to keep water in, but dealing with the excess. From a fishing and fishery standpoint the issue is keeping boat ramps high and dry enough to provide access.

This fall North Dakota will have significantly fewer deer licenses for the first time in years. I can remember when the late Game and Fish Director Dean Hildebrand hammered home to hunters at various advisory board and department staff meetings that North Daktoa wildlife was in the middle of the good old days. That’s evident now as even with fewer deer licenses in 2010, it’s still about 50,000 more than the 66,000 licenses offered 20 years ago.
So when the drawing is held and some hunters don’t get a buck license in the unit they want, remember that the North Dakota deer herd remains strong.

One last note. Twenty years ago in the fall of 1990, North Dakota hunters bagged 174,000 roosters, or more than twice as many as in 1980. While the statewide bag for 2009 is not yet finalized, it will likely be less than 2008, but will still look awful good compared to 20 years ago.

As I set off for my reunion, I’ll be the guy wearing a baseball cap to keep from burning the exposed scalp, which has lost some of its cover since 1990. But I’ll also have a smile on my face now and this fall, as my wife, kids, and the fish and wildlife in North Dakota are all in pretty good shape.

Leier is a biologist with the North Dakota Game and Fish Department. He can be reached by email:dleier@nd.gov

Rather than wholesale changes on a yearly basis, the bulk of North Dakota’s fishing rules and regulations are implemented every two years, and 2010 is one of the years when we get a new fishing proclamation. The new regulations begin April 1 and are in place until March 31, 2012.

By no means does this mean the face of fishing is overhauled every couple of years. That’s not the case at all. It’s just different than most states where season adjustments are made yearly.

While new regulations are implemented every two years, the State Game and Fish Department, through governor’s proclamation, can make adjustments if emergency situations arise. Otherwise, anglers have a couple of years to get used to the new rules, and fisheries biologists have a longer period of time to consider potential law changes and assess their need.

From Game and Fish Director Terry Steinwand, who previously served as fisheries division chief, to current fisheries chief Greg Power the philosophy is to make fishing regulations as user-friendly and biologically and socially responsible as possible. Essentially, rules for the sake of rules aren’t on the table or in the books for long.

Of course, North Dakota does add and subtract from regulations from time to time, and not every rule change is simple. Even streamlined regulations such as those for Red River border water fishing, or reducing the number of lakes with live bait or fish size restrictions, are still more complicated than having no special rules.

Sometimes, however, special rules like bait restrictions or measures to prevent movement of aquatic nuisance species are jnecessary. Game and Fish biologists follow the same philosophy when anglers suggest some type of fish size restriction. If the regulation doesn’t meet the appropriate biological criteria, then the Department’s philoslophy is to not add a restriction simply because some anglers want it.

This year’s edition of the fishing proclamation contains a few new restrictions of regulations, and also removal of previous rules. Here’s a synopsis of the additions and subtractions you’ll find in the new fishing guide.

*Added Harmon Lake and Crown Butte Dam, both in Morton County, to the list of lakes where cannot use live baitfish.

* The State Fair Pond in Ward County is added to the list of waters closed to all fishing from November 1 through March 31.

* Several new lakes were added to the list of those open for darkhouse spear fishing. They are: North and South Carlson lakes in Ward County; Gravel Lake, Rolette County, West Napoleon Lake, Logan County, and all waters open to public fishing in Ramsey County. On the other hand, Patterson Reservoir in Stark County is now closed to darkhouse spearfishing following a major kill of game fish last winter.

* Lake Metigoshe, Bottineau County, now has a daily and possession limit for bluegill of 10 and 20 respectively. The statewide bluegill limit is 20 daily and 80 in possession. The 10 and 20 special regulation is designed to protect the lake’s population of quality sized adult bluegill.

* The 14-inch-minimum walleye size limit on Spiritwood Lake in Stutsman County and Lake Ashtabula in Barnes County has been eliminated. After years of evaluation, fisheries biologists found no evidence that these length restrictions provided any benefits to walleye populations in these waters.

While not new for this year, anglers and boaters should also remember the regulations established two years ago designed to prevent the spread of aquatic nuisance species. Remove all vegetation from boats, motors, trailers and other equipment when leaving the water, and also drain bilges, livewells, baitwells and other water.

For more information on fishing in North Dakota, visit the Game and Fish Department website at gf.nd.gov.

A controversy has erupted in the sport fishing community over a new federal management plan for oceans and Great Lakes waters. Recent opinion pieces circulating on the internet and reported on numerous radio stations have stoked the flames through revelations that the policy, if implemented, would prohibit recreational fishing within vast areas of public water.

It has also been reported that many organizations with a history of being against fishing access played large roles in its formation and that the plan could be finalized by the end of March with President Obama able to implement it through Executive Order.

Despite the firestorm, it should be pointed out that the plan is not currently finalized and, according to a Department of the Interior fact sheet, the Administration denies any intent to restrict fishing access. However, there remain causes for concern.

The U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance (USSA) reported on the draft plan in October, 2009. At the time a combination of factors raised concern with the USSA and other pro-fishing organizations that plan could result in restrictions on sport anglers.

First, there was a lack of any reference in the report to the positive impact recreational anglers have on aquatic conservation. In turn, this raised an alarm as to what the framework for zoning in these waters will be when the final report is issued.

Other factors included a history of anti-fishing interests that have been pushing the creation of “Marine Protected Areas” where angling would be prevented. Several of these areas already exist off theCalifornia and Florida coasts.

Additionally, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce that guides the use and protection of ocean and coastal resources, has also imposed restrictions on sport anglers in Alaska, the Gulf of Mexico and the South Atlantic. Finally, there is a general concern related to some of the key anti-hunting regulatory appointees made by the Obama Administration such as Cass Sunstein.

When looked at comprehensively, these factors made it necessary that the USSA and other groups ensure that the voice of recreational anglers be heard by the Administration during the formation of its policy. According to several leading recreational fishing groups, this has not happened and those groups have urged supporters to make their concerns known to their members of Congress.

For example, the American Sportfishing Association has stated “It is important that the administration recognizes and promotes the economic and conservation contributions of outdoor recreation, including recreational fishing and boating.”

Jim Donofrio, the Executive Director of the Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA) said in a recent press release that “I don’t think this president would consider banning recreational fishing outright, but it’s clear to us that the Obama Administration would like to severely restrict recreational fishing.”

Additionally, the U.S. House of Representatives Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus leadership, with the support of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, has also sent a letter to President Obama stating that recreational fishing deserves “full consideration and incorporation” in the proposed plan.

The USSA joins these pro-fishing organizations, legislators and others in urging sportsmen to contact their U.S. Representatives and Senators about this proposed policy. It is essential that the Obama Administration appreciates the importance of recreational fishing to conservation and local economies.

“Recreational anglers provide the bulk of the funding for fisheries and aquatic conservation,” said Bud Pidgeon, USSA president and CEO. “Their voice should be heard before any policy is enacted limiting access and causing a decline in resources for conservation, not to mention job losses in areas supported by fishing.”

Take Action! Sportsmen are urged to contact their U.S. Representative and two U.S. Senators and urge them to include recreational fishing protections in any federal management plan for the oceans and Great Lakes.

To find your members of Congress, visit the Legislative Action Center at www.ussportsmen.org/lac.

It was hard to hear the beep of the cash register as I stood in line with the few items that my wife requested I pick up from the grocery store. Behind me, a four-year old girl screamed bloody murder each time her mother pried the candy bar from her hands and placed it back on the shelf. While the group ahead of me struggled with the credit card reader and the lady behind me tried to drag the kicking, screaming ball of blonde fury across the supermarket floor, I could only stare out into the sunshine at the first day of spring and regret that I had left my ear protection in my shooting vest. When my turn came up, I nodded and said good morning to the cashier, zipped my card through the scanner, bagged my things and headed with all due haste out of the store and into the sunshine.

As if on cue, the doors sealed shut behind me and I heard a new cacophony, which rivaled the volume of the screaming child but was a hundred times more pleasant to the ear. Taking a few steps into the store’s parking lot, I looked up into the crisp blue sky and squinted against the yellow-white beams of the morning sun. Thousands of Canada geese streamed over the southern horizon. Their joyful honking heralded winter’s demise and the turning of the season. I stood there and watched the birds cross a good majority of the sky before the hum of an engine caught my ear. I looked behind me and a lady in a Pontiac gave me a dirty look and mouthed something along the lines of “get moving, kid.”
She was right; it was indeed time to get moving. Here I am on spring’s doorstep, and I’m still way behind on all those winter projects I thought I’d have done by now. I could blame the two weeks in February I spent watching Olympic curling on the DVR after work each night. It could be because the late-season ice fishing trips were so successful that recent weekends were actually spent fishing instead of just dreaming about it. Whatever excuses I can come up with are no justification for an empty fly box, unfinished lures and a tacklebox that is as bare as it was at the end of last summer.
I chased the geese north through town toward my house and thought of all the things I still needed to get done to get ready for spring fishing which will probably start next week, if all goes well back home. So much to do, so little time.
I’m about halfway through a set of 15 muskie spinners, and I’m surprised I was even able to pull away from my desk with the amount of epoxy I spilled on my hands in the last few days. Though that opener is still three months away, the big shiny blades and flashy skirts have drawn my attention, though other angling opportunities are much closer on the calendar.

With the never-closed fishing season in North Dakota, a return trip home in the coming weeks for staging walleye will coincide with my wife’s shopping trip. Gunnar and I will wade the waters of our home river (if they go down in time), in search of those golden fish making their first foray toward one of the many dams. Upon preparing for the upcoming trip, I learned that last season left me with a shortage of 1/8-ounce jigs and curly-tailed grubs. But such a problem is an easy fix for an experienced online tackle shopper like myself.

Flowing water opportunities aren’t the only chance at early season fishing. With winter success on multiple new panfish lakes, and a predicted early-ice out throughout Minnesota this year, my friends and I are set for some spring trips after slab crappies. The problem is, more than half of the jig heads I have ordered are missing their dressing; and the marabou, krystal flash and chenille will be flying in the coming weeks as I struggle to catch up to this spring’s frantic pace.

Finally, joining the mounting reminders of the projects that are ahead of me, my fly boxes are in a sorry state of empty. Excluding a box full of glo bugs for steelhead, I’m short on stream trout patterns. The various flows on the north shore and outings on a local stream for stocked browns and rainbows in April require variations of many popular patterns – PTNs, GRHEs, BWOs, EHCs and an alphabet soup of other flies. That’s not to mention my plans to get my wife hooked on trout fishing. I’ve ordered her a small spinning rod for the stream fish and tied some small jigs to look like woolly buggers, nymphs and muddlers for her to try.

I finished this mental list as I parked in the driveway, closed the door to my truck and took the back steps in a single bound. I handed my wife the bag full of baking ingredients and she handed me a sample of the first round of cookies she had baked while I was out.

“Do you want some milk with that,” she asked.

I kissed her cheek, chewed a couple times and stated through bits of cookie, “Nah…I gotta get moving,” and bolted up the stairs to my desk, because the spring – like the northbound geese or a lady in a Pontiac searching for a parking spot – waits for no one…in our outdoors.

Of angling’s many positive elements, near the top of the list is that it is a great way to spend time with friends that are so close they might as well be family. My buddies and I try to make it a regular thing to meet up at the cabin, at someone’s house, back home or even just somewhere that is rumored to be on a run for whatever the season allows. It doesn’t matter what’s biting; walleyes in the springtime, bass in the summer, or panfish through the winter ice – fishing is a common bond that brings us together, no matter how different we are or the distance that separates us.

This weekend, undoubtedly our last of the hardwater season, was another of our meet ups. But it was unique, not for just the successful crappie fishing, but also for the combination of anglers. With my usual fishing buddy, Holmes, an old friend new to the sport of angling, Marty, and my brother in law, Adam, I hit the rapidly-deteriorating ice in search of slabs and some more memories, with each of my friends bringing their unique characteristics along for the trip.
Holmes has been my buddy since high school and my frequent partner-in-fish for the better part of the last decade. From smallies on the Sheyenne River, to largemouth in Minnesota on Memorial Day weekend, you’d find Holmes’ picture next to the definition of fishing buddy. He’s an all-business angler, a walleye-centric outdoorsman and one heck of a camp cook. Underneath his gruff exterior is a friendly grin – when I threaten him with multiple after-catch pictures if he doesn’t smile – and a library’s worth of knowledge and bulletin board wisdom. Quick on the hookset, and light on the chatter, he tempers my outlandish excitement over just about any fish with a stoic nod.

Marty’s younger brother and my younger brother played basketball together, and when we’d travel to watch their tourneys we’d often talk about our shared interests while the game played out. We’re hockey fans, particularly of the late 1990s Detroit Red Wing teams led by Sergei Fedorov and we have a shared appreciation for Metallica’s music. The one thing we didn’t have in common was fishing. That is, up until this summer when I threw my big book of bassin’ tips at him and the rest was history. In an even quicker transition, Marty became a full-gear ice angler in just under a month after his first outing at our meet up in February. Ten days later I received a text message from him saying he’d bought a Vexilar. Proof positive that 13-inch crappies can change the world.

My brother-in-law Adam, who was my friend well before I was engaged to his sister, has been a faithful comrade in arms and rods, accompanying me on my do-it-yourself wild goose chases into the woods of Superior National Forest and the streams of the north shore of Lake Superior. When a bolt needs cutting, an engine needs fixing or something mechanical needs engineering, he’s the guy I call. I hope the misguided service I provide is a suitable payment for his friendship, because I know he knows that many times I don’t know what I’m doing, but I’m glad he lets me do it anyway. Then, when I try to whip the water into a froth with my fly rod, he’s content to catch fish after fish with his spinning gear. I’m sure I add some notes to his mental checklist of what not to do, but hopefully every now and again, I provide a tip that helps him out.

With rain, fog and one brief glimpse of sun for the first time in more than eight days setting the backdrop for our weekend, we chased eater-sized crappies and some serious slabs over four different lakes, sleeping a total of ten hours over the two days. We swapped stories, electronics, lures, jokes and curses at missed hooksets in our twenty hours on ice, filling the weekend with as much fishing time as we could.

In the end, as we digested a fryer full of crappie fillets and shook hands in the driveway at my grandma’s cabin, it wasn’t so much the great late-ice angling that made the weekend a success as it was the people I was fishing with. We planned for our next meeting in May and bid each other good fishing until that time.

Holmes headed back to Valley City, a place where we terrorized the fish from March to ice-up every year. Adam returned to his studies and his impending graduation with honors in Chemical Engineering at the University of Minnesota-Duluth in May and promised me he’d keep an ear out for the first booming ruffed grouse. Marty fired up his Jeep and headed a couple of miles away to his new home in Detroit Lakes, a drive we all envied not only for its shortness but also for its proximity to the lakes we had found recent success on. And I fired up the blue Ranger and headed down the highway, replaying the weekend in my head and my fond memories of my time spent with these fishing buddies…in our outdoors.

With the possible exception of a first driver’s license, few people spin a nostalgic tale about buying a license “back in the day.”

In fact, I struggle trying to come up with any story associated renewal of my North Dakota driver’s license. Same goes for my fishing license, except perhaps buying a trout stamp when they were required, pasting it to the back of my hunting and fishing certificate, then heading off to Moon Lake where trout were abundant and sometimes large.

Nowadays, a lot of anglers and hunters are bypassing the rather unremarkable stops for licenses at bait shops, sporting goods outlets or convenience stores and purchasing their licenses in even less memorable fashion at the home or office computer.

Since April 1 marks the new licensing season for angling, general game, habitat, small game and furbearer licenses, it’s a good time to promote the benefits of buying online at the Game and Fish Department’s website, gf.nd.gov.

It’s been nearly 10 years since Game and Fish first offered license sales over its website. While I had always enjoyed a sort of nostalgic connection with the annual ritual of filling out the paper form, the reality is that a couple of times I had to struggle to find a license vendor conveniently located on the way to the water. Who hasn’t found themselves on a bright spring day when the stars align and an afternoon opens up for that first outing, but you spend more time looking to buy the license than actually fishing.

A few years ago one of those day’s materialized, not just for me, but for my wife and kids as well. While my wife was organizing the snacks, hats and jackets, I sat down at the computer and bought our fishing licenses in a matter of minutes, printed them off, and we were out the door and on our way.

Shopping online for licenses doesn’t prevent me from stopping at gas stations, hardware stores and sporting goods retailers. While for several years now I have purchased my licenses at the Game and Fish website, I still need bait and bobbers, a soda and my pork rinds. It’s just that having a license in my pocket already when I head out the door for that first trip of the year, means I don’t have to spend any time searching for a license vendor if one is not located on the direct route to my fishing destination.

These days, I should also note that some places that sell paper licenses also provide electronic licensing. It just takes an Internet connection and a printer. In fact, any business that has a computer is a potential license vendor.

In addition to convenience, the choice to purchase license online has a practical side. If you wash, lose or misplace the old yellow fishing license, you have to apply for a duplicate, which costs a few dollars, in addition to the few days it takes to get a new license back in your hands.

Now, if I lose my license I just go back online and print another one. Some people I know print several to start with, so they have a license in their tackle box, vehicle and wallet.

Do I miss some of the connections to fishing routines of the past? Sure, but given the choices available now, I’ll trade those for the convenience modern technology allows. And I’d venture to guess that anyone who switches to buying licenses or filling out applications online will never want to go back to the paper way.

Leier is a biologist with the Game and Fish Department. He can be reached by email:dleier@nd.gov

Since the late 1990s a number of North Dakota lakes have lost their fisheries because of declining water levels. Now, after near-record snows last winter and abundant rain this summer and fall, many of them are “topped off” again and have the potential to support fish.

This is part of the natural cycle of the prairies and we don’t know whether next year will keep adding to the potential, or take water off with heat waves that evaporate the potential before it ever really gets started.

Salmon being re-stocked into Lake Sakakawea

Last spring, North Dakota Game and Fish Department biologists jump-started many of these recharged lakes with stocked fish. But not all of them are ready. Several months from now they’ll get another look when the ice goes off, to determine if it’s yet worth the investment of time and money to try to rebuild the fishery.

In the meantime, Game and Fish biologists are concerned about the potential for well-meaning anglers to try to speed up the process by illegally dumping in a few fish on their own.

Living in North Dakota my entire life, I’ve been involved in a conversation or two when the fish are biting–almost jumping into the bucket– when someone suggests ”why not take some fish from here, bring them with and just dump them into that slough and see what happens?”

It would be easy enough for me to simply state that such a practice is illegal – kind of like a parent saying ”because I said so,” when questioned as to why one child can’t put their sister’s dolly in the microwave.

But I’d like explain a little more. Good-willed fish stockers need to understand the hazards of “bucket biology” and the examples can be downright scary. Who would like to be the first person to accidentally put carp into Devils Lake, transport spiny water fleas into the Missouri River System, or introduce a zebra mussel into North Dakota?

While some anglers might say what’s the harm with dropping a few perch or walleye into a new waterway, I ask, where do you draw the line? In my college fisheries courses, I proudly earned a “C” in classes identifying minnow-sized fish. As an angler I would rarther put my trust in the biologists who pushed the “A” category when determining what lakes should hold fish and what needs to be stocked.

Fisheries Division Chief Greg Power explains this phenomenon is nothing new, either. ”In the early 1990s we were trying to increase public awareness about the problems of illegal baitfish. We had invested resources and money in eradicating rough fish in many lakes and at the same time stressed the need to understand the differences in baitfish. and it helped.

“Years later I do think the collective efforts are working. However, the problem has evolved away from illegal bait or rough fish and toward game fish. In some cases, even though the introduction was illegal, we can make the best of it and live with it, but most of the time it has caused us some real problems, compromising a fishery.”

I know of countless requests in the past by anglers to have a favorite fishing hole stocked, and our fisheries biologists respond with integrity. They will look into the potential, but we also need to understand that not every lake or slough is capable of becoming a strong fishery.

Water quaity issues, habitat, forage availability and other issues will be taken into account, and if criteria are met, the Department has a strong history of working with local fishing enthusiasts and groups to determine how fishing and area waters can better meet the expectations and needs of anglers.

Even then, some stocked fisheries take off and thrive for a few years, only to face a future drought that dries up water and the fishery. It’s the cycle of nature and in the coming year we’ll find out if 2009 was just a temporary blip on the upside, or the start of another positive trend.

Leier is a biologist with the Game and Fish Department. He can be reached by email:dleier@nd.gov

Shortly, hardwater will change to open water

Did you feel that? It felt like spring.

Yesterday was that first warm day of the year, reminding us that winter can’t last forever and that there is a lot of work to be done, and a lot of work left undone.

Arsenal inspection

Days like yesterday have me doing two things; checking my tackle situation and surveying the earliest fishing spots to see if any fishable open water is available. Doing both, I realized that I’m not quite ready to hit the water, but then again, the water isn’t quite ready for me either. Bit by bit, from Christmas on, I’ve loaded up on soft plastics for bass, yet neglected the basics of tackle, especially for spring walleye fishing.

The drought of 1/8-ounce jigs and three-inch curlytail grubs in my tacklebox has me concerned. These two components, when connected, have more power than Voltron when it comes to early season fishing. An angler should not be without these prime lures as the river opens.

Another item on the agenda that must be addressed is new line. Two new reels to spool, and two old reels to spool makes for a lot of Fireline.

Cleaning the ratty gray color off of all my combos is important entering spring, when new line busters such as fallen trees, washdowns, and ice are prevalent on the still-frozen shores of the river.

The remainder of the tackle can wait, I won’t be throwing spinnerbaits until June, and larger soft plastics will come in May, right now simple tackle additions and some new line are needed; but it is always a good idea to plan ahead!

Flying feathers

The first four Canada geese have landed at the hospital bridge, well before the ice has opened up. Certainly, these living fly-tying material dispensers are a reminder that I didn’t get all the tying in that I had hoped for this winter. I’ve made a quick list, especially with new fly fishing opportunities around Valley City, for those essential fishing patterns that need to be completed. Some more woolly buggers, a few more wet flies and nymphs, leech patterns and some worm patterns are needed.

Hopefully, that will be enough, I guess it depends on how the bite goes at ice-off. I’m pretty sure I will not get the dry flies in that I had hoped for. Needless to say, any cold nights or rainy evenings will be spent filling up the fly boxes once March nears completion.

Some other beginning’s end

There seems to be about a million things that I wish I could do, and a thousand things I have to do in order to be ready for spring; the first of which is bringing this year’s ice fishing chapter to a close. The ice fishing gear must be prepped and stowed, as all my weekends until the end of the month are booked with weddings, conventions and reunions.

Despite what is looking like an excellent time for late-ice pike; sadly, I must bid farewell to one of the most exciting ice fishing seasons that I have ever had. I learned so much, from spring bobbers to tip-up riggings, and have many pictures to remember this season. Seven species, and never a skunk made for an entertaining and rewarding year on the hardwater, where I broke through the ice twice (four times if you count late-season pheasant hunting) and learned the value of a good pair of boots!

As the water washes down the streets during this first warming trend of spring, I think of the natural gutters in the hills – the rills and gullies funneling water toward the river, or to the back areas of our local lakes, slowly eating away at the ice – and say to myself what I’ve been saying since February 1, “it won’t be long now.”

And if the last few years are any indication, it really won’t be long until my friends and I stand shivering in the twilight after work, casting after the first walleyes of the year…in our outdoors.

“Putting together the fishing pieces of the puzzle”

Use a fishing log to keep track of your fishing memories

Fishing, no matter how good a person gets at it, is still the grandest puzzle of all. There are so many elements that have to be put into place such as weather, season, bait, lures, and so on. When looked at in hindsight, these puzzle pieces provide a picture of past successes and give the angler a chance to take black-and-white facts, as opposed to blurry season-to-season memories and apply them on the water. To help put the pieces together, a fishing log can be an impressive tool.

Written Record – Printable Fishing Log

The primary benefit of having a fishing journal is based on the fact that ink on paper is always clearer than sifting through memories on the shoreline. Sure, you could remember that those late-March walleyes you caught two years ago were slow biters and needed some real work to catch, but having it written down for review in a fishing log for the seasons to come will help jog your memory with greater ease.

For me, that benefit of having things in writing seems to be the biggest downfall of my fishing logs. I tend to get verbose, and looking back at my old incomplete fishing records, I see they don’t make it much further than May. Adding pictures and drawings turned fifteen entries into 20 pages of rambling. Something simpler is definitely needed that won’t take up a whole lot of time.

So to help myself, and hopefully to help you, through researching log making on the internet and elsewhere, I have created a free fishing log page that can be downloaded here (Click for a Printable Fishing Log) and re-printed or copied to make more entries for a fishing log that is concise and organized. My plan is to use a three-ring binder to store not only the fishing log entries, but at the end of the season, pictures of those same outings.

In putting together my first page of the year (a successful March 12 outing where I landed five walleye and a perch on the recently-ice free Sheyenne River) it took me all of five minutes to get the information transferred from brain to paper. A quick three-hole punch and my new journal is now underway.

Fishing Log Basics

Use our free fishing log to help you track patterns which will improve your fishing

In doing some research, I realized that I do not need to tell a story with every outing, but rather just get the basic information written down so that I can use it in seasons to come. The fishing journal form starts with a highlighted area, with date, time and location information. Added to that is a box that helps me keep track of who my fishing buddies were that day. These primers help set up the rest of the fishing log page.

Next in line on the form are the “Weather” fields that help set the stage for the record. Was it hot, cold, windy, in the middle of a cold front, or during a full moon? All of these questions can be answered, and when coupled with the results of the outing, they help establish how fish bite in certain conditions. Information such as water temperature, moon phase, and barometer readings might not always be available to the angler standing streamside, but when they are, these pieces of the puzzle help make for better fishing decisions in the future.

Get Catching

Next on the log page are entries that tell the tale of the tape. What was biting? What was being angled for, how many were caught, how big were they, and how was it done? The “Results” area lists the target species being fished for along with a secondary entry for other fish that are being caught. As it is not uncommon to catch other fish while angling for your primary quarry, these fields further add to the in-depth review of the process. I have also drawn in the fields of “Memorable Fish,” and Hatches/Baitfish” to flesh out what was being caught and seen. If mayflies are hatching, or there are minnows or crayfish present, these are just more pieces of the puzzle to put into place. Fields dealing with terminal tackle, presentation, bait and depth round out this area of the journal page.

The final two fields are for a more personal touch. There’s a small area for notes as to what was observed and to add some information to the bare-bones workings of the fishing log page. To the right of that is an area for drawing maps of where fish were being caught. Test your artistic skills if possible, as every bit of information helps. The drawings can be tailored to a small section of a river or a whole lake or pond, whatever works for you.

Remember that fishing logs are not completed overnight, and one entry does not make for a pattern. A fishing log is an ongoing process, and similar to a fishing diary, is designed to show growth and knowledge of the past with each piece of knowledge helping to complete the grand puzzle.

Try making your own record using these forms this season, or draw one up for hunting next fall or ice fishing in the winter. You’ll find they are very adaptable to whatever activity you pursue, and will help bring things into focus… in our outdoors.