Journal of a Minnesota Angler

I started this blog as a fishing log of sorts to record where I fish, what I fished with, and what I caught. A few months afterward, I stumbled upon an article about fishing logs. The article said I should just do a web search for ‘fishing log’ (now why didn’t I think of that) to find free logs on the web. The first entry from Google was Fish Swami.

I was very impressed with how well the site was put together. It was intuitive and easy to use. Within minutes, I was entering fishing trips I had gone on during the year. Most of the variables I talked about in my previous post are included, and then some. The site was developed by a fly fisherman, so it has a severe fly fishing bent, but it is still very useable by other anglers.

As with a basic spreadsheet log, what you enter is up to you. You can get into as little or as much detail as you want. But the more detail you provide, the better you will be at predicting future patterns for future success.

The best part of the site is its reporting. It has an annual summary report and also allows you to do searches like, “Which pattern produces the largest average fish size for me?” and “What pattern has worked best for me on sunny days?” You can also search any member’s log that has made their entries to be public so you can benefit from others’ experiences.

I like having a log online because I can get to it anywhere I am fishing (and I’m also a techno-dweeb). And for those occasional places without an Internet connection (like the Gunflint Trail), the site provides a printable log that you can take with you. You can fill it out off-line and enter it later.

Overall, I really like Fish Swami. The only things it’s really missing is a way to see other member’s profiles, a way to export the log entries, and a way to enter the catches of a fishing buddy. Many of my fishing buddies aren’t avid technology users and it would be nice to enter their results for a fishing outing so as not to contaminate my own records. These are very minor issues, however.

I’ve actually exchanged emails with the developer and he is very open to ideas. However, he mainly does development when he’s not fishing, and most of the time he’s fishing. Frankly, I don’t know where he found the time to write the site in the first place.

Fish Swami is a great place to keep fishing logs and I intend to keep using the site for years to come. Check it out and let me know what you think.