I found it on the "late March" archive - see below... but to tell the truth, you might not
get what you are looking for from my post; I started out talking about how a computer nerd like
me used Sybase to analyze minute aspects of fishing variables to extract reports later. Then
I decided to ramble about an the entertaining episodes with a micro recorder in the vest instead
of being serious.
In truth I usually annotate more knowledge on a DeLorme Atlas than on any computer program I've
ever played with. As a matter of fact, a client who will go un-named and I hope is reading this
borrowed my Cape Cod Atlas which was covered with proven fishin' notes because he was unsure
how to get home one day from an out-of-the-way spot on the Cape. R & G - I need that back!
Conclusion - as a shore guide I prefer a large format atlas as a log. Why? I actually use it.
------------------- attached original -----------------------
Re: Fishing Log Software
juro (juro@bluenorthern.com)
Mon Mar 29 19:18:44 EST 1999
I used to use PC versions of relational databases to set up tables, forms and queries. The hardest
thing about it was to fill in the data when you get home. I could format and print matrices of what
fish I had caught when the river was between a given range of CFS and the visibility (turbidity) of a
certain grade, time of year, yada yada - and if it were voice-controlled and usable in the truck on
the ride home while I sucked down a frosty Hefferweissen, I'd use it. In fact, I bought one of those
cheap micro recorders because of the usability issues of writing or typing after a hard day on the
water. Also, after traveling somewhere to fish a computer didn't do me much good.
The recorder worked out well until my kids rented that movie where the goofy dude uses one ala "note to
self...". I decided that was the end of that for a while, my kids were already thinking I had more of
an eye for roadkill (tying materials) than style points. Yeah, we might not be the most exciting bunch
at a party afterall, but then again you can't party forever without losing your mind whereas you can fish
for a lifetime and become more sane with the amount of time on the water you get.
A funny soundbyte I recorded was on the Snoqualmie River in Washington State, where the reel is singing behind
a mint bright summer steelhead and I and am yippie-tie-yaying about the "chromer, K-romer" on the line like
I'm riding a horse or something. An even funnier one was the brute steelhead on the Cowlitz that I am doing
a stupid play-by-play on before losing it due to the lack of using two hands at critical moments. The obscenities
had to be erased before my kids heard it.
Now it sits in the truck, and for the ride home it's not a bad way to reflect on the day. Every once in a while I
play parts of it and it's become more of an amusement than anything else.
My experience has been that although it takes more time, thinking about the big picture gets you more success in the
end. Microanalysis of a particular estuarine system over a decade will get you a very intimate knowledge of one tidal
zone, macro-understanding of winds, seasons, tide interactions with land structures, forage, fish habits, etc - gets
you a widely applicable intuition that can be used wherever you feel the urge to go.
As I so often did out in the pacific northwest, I sometimes leave the cottage in the darkness of early morning and when
I get to the crossroads, I can't decide whether to go left / right / west or east. It's a choice I always want to have
to make.
Juro