The season of a lifetime........

[Dylan33]

Stiffwater, all I can say is, Wow! Honestly, it sounds like you could write a book about your experiences this winter...seriously! It could be the next "Sand County Almanac". Your post was the best I've read in a while. Thanks

[Acemac]

great post!

Note to anyone that ever does this type of thing keep a journal I would pay to read it!

[jwmiller33]

Very cool post! thanks for sharing! I started to keep a very detailed fishing journal last open water season starting in March. I kept at it for a good month or so before I for some reason stopped doing it. This year I am making a point to make sure I follow thru with the entire years journal because I really wish I had all the data from last year to look at

[MN BassFisher]

I started to keep a very detailed fishing journal last open water season starting in March. I kept at it for a good month or so before I for some reason stopped doing it. This year I am making a point to make sure I follow thru with the entire years journal because I really wish I had all the data from last year to look at

What kind of data do ya'll track down? I began writing down each time I went ice fishing this season, which lake, rough estimates of times, species I caught (and some notable catches). Just kind of curious as to what others keep track of and how detailed people get.

[jwmiller33]

date, body of water, spots I fished on that body of water, air temp, water temp, barometer, moon phase, wind conditions, overcast/clear skies, how many fish caught and on what presentations, and a spot for any other miscellanous notes.

[MN BassFisher]

Now that is detailed!!!

[FBMH]

Holy awesome story sir,

That was amazing!

Thanks for posting,

Cody

[jwmiller33]

I will also add I did my journal in Microsoft Word and imported into my journal any pictures I would take from each outing. It is very cool to look back on and takes less than 5 minutes to do after each day on the water

[DR_FISH]

Very inspiring,

life is not the breath you take, but the moments that take your breath away- George Straight

[Zelmsdawg]

I'd like to thank you for sharing too. I enjoyed reading about your adventure and wish you would have kept a journal too. Maybe one day you could have turned it into a book. It reminded me a lot of 'Time on the Water'

Zelmsdawg

[DooWap]

I had a season much like this one myself. I was laid off in May of '09 and decided that instead of getting down on myself to take advantage of the situation. I spent a lot of time that summer camping and fishing, especially in the BWCA. Then got to spend that entire fall in the woods bowhunting. Even with all the uncertainty I had at the time of whether or not I was going to find work again, it was still the lowest stress I've ever had!!

[Jeremy airjer W]

I used to spend a lot of time in longeville, turtle race capital of the world!

Great story thanks for sharing it and of course thanks for rubbing it in a little!

[MN BassFisher]

I will also add I did my journal in Microsoft Word and imported into my journal any pictures I would take from each outing. It is very cool to look back on and takes less than 5 minutes to do after each day on the water

Yeah, I was thinking about doing it in Microsoft Excel but Word is probably a little better! Is there a HSOforum that you prefer that tells you air temp, wind speed, and barometric pressure?

[Slabasaurus]

date, body of water, spots I fished on that body of water, air temp, water temp, barometer, moon phase, wind conditions, overcast/clear skies, how many fish caught and on what presentations, and a spot for any other miscellanous notes.

Add precip within 6-12-24 hours to this and monthly graphs, and remove the spot on water, I don't track that detail on its own, I put that in the misc notes.

I did a once over on the data that I do have for the winter 2010-2011 season and can see an obvious correlation to low pressure and success.

[Slabasaurus]

weather underground... i use the historical data by location and customize the date ranges. At the bottom there is a jpg created with graphical representation of the data.

I use excel for it all, as it's easy to import/export into different aps, and easy to make a quick graph if needed.

[TooTallTom]

Stiffwater, thanks for the post. If I said I was a little jealous, I'd be lying--I'm a lot jealous! Spending an entire season (or two) "in pursuit" is definitely something to strive for. Count yourself among the lucky few, in this day and age, at least.

For you guys that are thinking about a journal/ trip data, Excel would probably be better for sorting/ tabulating (I.e., "What kind of success did I have for XX species on days with a full moon, and XX barometric pressure?) but Word would be better for narratives and photos. You can use both by creating a seperate Word document for each day/ trip in a folder and putting a hyperlink to that .doc right alongside of the rest of the data for that day/ trip in an Excel file. Then, if you want to read your narrative/ look at photos after seeing the data, you can just click on the hyperlink and the .doc will open.

[JP Z]

Great story, thanks for sharing!

[Tom Buckles]

Awesome story! I plan on doing the same thing once I retire from the Navy. 8 more years and I will finally be able to move back to hard water country. I cant wait!!

[lungdeflator]

Great post Welcome to life in the North Country! Sounds like my fall...Living at my hunting cabin for 5 months. 200+ hours of bowhunting and 40 or so more hours of rifle and muzzy hunting. Only 6 hours of bear hunting though....shot my first one the second night with my bow!!

[Rockin Randy]

Great Post! I WILL try harder on keeping a journal this year.

Rockin Randy

[BartmanMN]

Good read. Sounds like you had yourself a nice Winter.

[Slabasaurus]

Livin the dream right there... excellent post

[LipRipper!!]

stiffwater nice read...

[Northlander]

Very cool post! thanks for sharing! I started to keep a very detailed fishing journal last open water season starting in March. I kept at it for a good month or so before I for some reason stopped doing it. This year I am making a point to make sure I follow thru with the entire years journal because I really wish I had all the data from last year to look at

Miller I did this for a few years and then stopped because I found out that very little transfered from year to year that I couldnt remember in my head. I found good dated pictures to be just as good for me. Now I take less and less pictures. I guess I have come almost 360 back to when I just went fishing for fun most of the time.

[Beege]

I had a similar winter here in Upper Michigan a few winters back. Being laid off for 6 months wasn't all that bad after all. I learned a ton about jigging and had plenty of time to enjoy the little things.