How much would you give me if I told you I had a book with all the details of every fishing day that produced on every lake in Ont, with location, time, day, temp, depth, size, lure, sure to put you on the big ones in minutes of your docking location? Well I don't, but the years have passed, I'm 41 and there is one thing for sure, youth is fleeting. I fished many many years with my good fishing buddy Erik, and I hope there are many more to come. Erik and I, owe a lot to the great ones who have come before us, they have helped increase our knowledge and catching ratio, however since the years have passed fishing has become more difficult for Erik due to his inability to maneuver as he did when he was not stricken with Multiple Sclerosis. As the saying goes, when we are out on the water "time is of the essence". Putting together what we have learned even from many here on the board the fishing itself is like waiting for the tide to come in, and its not as if we have`nt done our homework. I am writing this to pass on a great tradition that should be in every fisherman's arsenal. Here it comes,... you ready,...
The note book and pen,.....Ta Da!! Here is the one thing I have missed out on and therefore have missed out on some great opportunities. The secret to this game I believe is to write everything down throughout the day especially after the great catches. Even bad catches are to be logged, time of day, temp, of the air and water, depth, type of fish, size, GPS and or landmark locations, what lure was used and most of all how much time it was between catches.
Trust me, I regret never taking notes, in almost 20 years of fishing with Erik I never took a note, not one, aside from the usual mental note. As tedious as this may sound, boring and time consuming, this is the ticket for future big fish, and more of em! this will cut down on kill time and searching. I am sure many of you already do this, but I wish someone would have passed this tip to me 28 years ago. So for those who don't, I pass it to you, even in the age of technology a pen and a small book of paper can be worth a lot of dough ray me.
Good luck out there and be safe on the ice.