What depth of Ledges do Rock Fish like??

[baitball]

Not to downplay the useful of a journal, but I tend to agree here. Once you have a species really, really dialed in, the journal is more for story telling purposes. When I was learning to catch big reds on the ESVA, I would journal EVERYTHING....my failed trips, other anglers successful trips, and ANYTHING else I could in an attempt to learn that fishery. But now that I have it decently dialed in, the repetitive theme presents itself each year. Nonetheless, I keep on writing because I imagine one day it will be cool for my kids or someone else to read.

However, on some fish such as specks, I don't feel like I have them truly dialed in. I catch them often, but do not have the species understanding I do when it comes to reds. In this case, the journal is def used to establish a pattern and learn more.

Actually, I used to keep a fishing journal the old fashioned way. I wrote a summary of every outing for years in a notebook. I still have the notebooks -- probably a thousand hand-written pages. They're fun to look out because I detailed not only what I caught, where and how, but the interesting sights and people I met along the way. However, what I found with respect to fishing is that my journals were seasonally repetitive. I was catching the same kinds of fish in the same places in the same ways year after year. Also, something else happened...digital photography. I rarely venture out now without a camera. It's true that a photo is worth a thousand words. I photograph areas I fish more than the fish I catch. I believe that's why I am so tuned into visible structure and stress it often here.

In 2016 I tried to revive my journaling electronically. I created a continuing word document on my laptop for each trip inserting photos into the narrative. To be honest, I found it too unwieldy to continue. Part of the problem is that I was learning nothing new (i.e. the repetition monster appeared again) but the major problem was time. Like many people my age I am presently sandwiched between generations, caring for both parents and grandchildren. I have many demands on my time at the moment.

Nevertheless, I fully agree that documenting outings can be a major asset to a learning angler.

But I will also say that I've learned by pursuing various styles of fishing over the years that there are similarities in each of them. Once you have caught trout on a stream, smallmouth in a river, largemouth in ponds, white perch in tidal tributaries and stripers in the Bay you will see that there are patterns of sameness to the pursuit. That's why I say to don't overthink it. Learn to understand what you see on the water and you will catch fish. Their behaviors and preferences are remarkably similar across species from freshwater to tidal.

...this is one of the many reasons this is such a great forum.

Experienced anglers generously passing along years of experience, tips, and frankly, just plain 'ole story-telling to those that come behind them. Thank you both!