My 2006 Fishing Ledger...

[N.E.T.O.]

Hey all,

If you are into stats and record keeping, this might be an interesting read for you.

For 2006 (1/1 thru 12/31) I was part of a small fishing contest between a few guys at work. To win each sub-contest, everything had to be documented either by camera or witness and record keeping was required. There was a "big fish" contest of each species, and there was also a "most species" contest based on a chart with a point value assigned to each species. (Cutthroat Trout=1 point, Tiger Muskie=10 points, etc.). Anyway, I kept track of every single fish I caught during 2006. (I'm OCD and Anal retentive...) I logged the number of species, my biggest fish of each species, locations, dates, times, conditions, temps, moonphase, etc. From that spreadsheet, here are a few interesting statistics from my 2006 fishing year. I think you will find it interesting...I found it humbling!

From 1/1/06 thru 12/31/06:
- I went on 49 fishing trips. (A trip was 1 or more lakes or destinations)
- I was SKUNKED (zero fish!) 8 of those 49 trips.
- I only caught 1 fish on 6 of those 49 trips.
- I caught only 2 to 5 fish on 8 of those 49 trips.
- I caught 17 different species of fish.
- Most species in 1 trip was 5 (2 times).
- My MOST fish day was 57 at Strawberry. (Sore wrist!)
- I caught 435 fish TOTAL the whole year, which averages out to be only 8.8 fish average per trip.
- I fished at only 14 different lakes the whole year:
Strawberry, Huntington, Electric Lake, Jordanelle, 9-Mile, Palies, Joes Valley, Lake Powell, Willard Bay, Pineview, Utah Lake, Pelican Lake, Mantua and a few ponds and streams here and there.

Here are my fish counts with the biggest fish of each species:
- Brown Trout: 9 total. Biggest was 21" from Jordanelle.
- Rainbow Trout: 17 total. Biggest was 23" from Strawberry.
- Cutthroat Trout: 313 total. Biggest was 24 3/4" from Strawberry.
- Tiger Trout: 3 total. Biggest was 16 1/4" from Huntington.
- Crappie: 1 total. It was 5 1/2" from Lake Powell.
- Perch: 22 total. Biggest was 9" from Jordanelle.
- Bluegill: 7 total. Biggest was 7 1/4" from Mantua.
- White Bass: 8 total. Biggest was 10" from Utah Lake.
- Wiper: 12 total. Biggest was 21" from Willard Bay.
- SmallMouth Bass: 7 total. Biggest was 15 1/4" Lake Powell.
- LargeMouth Bass: 8 total. Biggest was 14" at Pelican Lake.
- Walleye: 6 total. Biggest was 19" form Willard Bay.
- Catfish (Channel) 1 total. It was 16 1/4" at Lake Powell.
- Striped Bass: 9 total. Biggest was 29" at Lake Powell.
- Carp: 1 total. It was from Lake Powell at was at least 24".
- Tiger Muskie: 6 total. Biggest was 33" at Pineview.
- Chub: 5 total. Biggest was 13" at Jordanelle.
- Total 435 fish.

If I take out the 313 Cutthroats (Almost all from Strawberry) I only caught a little over 100 fish of other species the whole year! Some of those species I only targeted until I caught 1 and then didn't target them again as they were for contest purposes only. (Carp, Catfish, Crappie, etc.) But others I REALLY TRIED for and just didn't catch that many! (Smallmouth, Largemouth, etc.) Also, on some trips, everybody else in the boat (family members, friends, etc.) all caught lots of fish and I didn't. I really enjoy putting others into the fish sometimes and I just sit back (yeah right, untangling lines, baiting hooks, netting and releasing fish, etc.!) and enjoy the reaction of others catching fish.

I enjoyed the record keeping and in spreadsheet format I can see which times of the year and locations to target certain species of fish, etc. I will probably continue to do this the rest of my fishing life and will target certain species at certain lakes during specific times of the year.

Knowing how many fish I caught and also knowing the time and effort and cash that I put into my own fishing habit, I casually asked a few acquantances how many fish they thought they caught the whole year. The answer was usually "At least 500 or more" or "At least 1000 or more". I think most people (including myself!) would be humbled by how many fish they REALLY caught if they kept track!

My goal for 2007 is to try and average at least 10 fish per trip and really try to get better at the warm water species, such as Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass. Also, the Wipers really kicked my butt in 2006. I plan on ending that bad streak.
Just thought the numbers would be interesting. Attached is a picture of the spreadsheet I used.
Edit: I guess the picture didn't work out, so I attached the actual spreadsheet. On each "outing" cell, I had a "comment" where I described the conditions, times, moonphase, journal of the trip, personal feelings, blah, blah. Kindof like journal entries for each trip. I deleted them before attaching the spreadsheet...didn't want to really bore anyone!

Randy
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[lunkerhunter2]

Awesome!
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[FishingWaters]

I thought I did a lot of fishing. I have kept track in the past. It is interesting how many fish you have caught in a year and the number of species. It is hard to catch over 17 species in Utah. I have caught 11 species through the ice in the 2004-2005 ice fishing season in 21 trips on 15 lakes. I also caught several other species in the summer. Thanks for sharing. You have to love the 50+ fish days at Strawberry.


N.E.T.O.= Not Enough Time Off! From what fishing?
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[BignFish]

That list is awsome.. i really think i will do something like that this year just to see how many i really do catch and the different kinds i can catch as well. Thanks for the good idea and hope you do even better this year..
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[Habs_Fan]

What a great idea. I assume as you analyze your notes you could possibly see some trends that could help improve your odds of success on future trips. At the very least you'd remember some of the things that worked for the species you don't target all that often.
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[Fishhound]

[black][size 3]Hey N.E.T.O,[/size][/black]
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[black][size 3]Great note keeping ! You humble bragger ! LOL ![/size][/black]
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[black][size 3]For me, the 2006 fishing year was really unremarkable in comparison to your's, and my previous years - I spent most of 2006 on the east coast working and not fishing at all. But, in 2005, I fished pretty much every body of water in Utah several times - some quite successful, and some not so.[/size][/black]
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[black][size 3]Great ledger - may 2007 be even better for you ![/size][/black]
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[HighLakesDrifter]

Randy, I do the same thing! I mean, I use an Excel spreadsheet too, and it is similar to yours, only I list the waters down the side and the species on the top. I list the waters by Trip and also by Water (like July 1 might be a "trip" consisting of three different bodies of water). I've done this for several years now. I fished more this year than any other year in my life. I've noticed that if I want to really raise my fish count, I should go to certain places. Some places, I don't care about fish count and focus on a big one/exotic species.

Daren
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[N.E.T.O.]

I do keep a "journal" that is attached to each trip in the spreadsheet (I removed each entry before I attached it as it contains personal reflections as well...didn't want to put any of you to sleep...) and contains all details such a temp, weather, moon, what I used, etc. etc. It does help me to remember certain patterns and I do refer to it often.
I also agree that sometimes if I can spend a whole day catching one example of an exotic species, such as a Tiger Muskie, I feel that I've had a lot better day than if caught a dozen "regular" fish somewhere else!
Randy
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