Adding a New Fishing Log Entry
The Add a New Fishing Log Entry page is used to save information about a fishing trip into your fishing log. The page is divided into several logical sections for data input. Many of the fields are optional but are there to allow a detailed fishing log to be saved. The organization of the fishing log allows for detailed analysis to be performed on all of your fishing logs.
Click on one of the links below to read more detailed help information about that section. The required fishing log fields are marked like this.
- Trip Information
- Location
- Outing Information
- Fish Entries
- Other Patterns Tried
- Fishing Partners
- Outing Waypoints
- Hatches and Insect Seining
- Weather
- Notes
Trip Information
You can choose whether or not you wish to add this fishing log entry to a trip. Adding the fishing log to a trip allows you to group multiple fishing logs together, add pictures to the trip as a whole, and view overall fish catch statistics for the trip. This feature is recommended when several fishing logs are related: for example, if you made a weekend camping trip to Yellowstone, you might want to group the 3 or 4 weekend fishing logs from the together.
Location
The Location section fields describe where you fished.
Water
If you are fishing a location for the first time, click on the Create a New Water link to the right of the Water drop-down list. A dialog box will appear for you to enter in information about the water. The required fields are water name, state, and country. Optionally, you can enter in the county the body of water is located in as well as a map or image to associate with the water. Once the fishing spot information is entered, click the button and the water will be automatically saved and selected for you in the Water drop-down list.
If you are fishing a location that you have previously entered in, simply select that location from the Water drop-down list.
Specific Location
The Specific Location input box allows you to enter in more detailed information about where you fished at your body of water. The following are useful examples:
- between mile markers 45 and 46
- SE side of lake
- first 100 yards below dam
Outing Information
The outing information section is used to store general information about your outing.
Date
The Date field specifies the date that your fishing trip occurred on. Clicking on the input box or the calendar icon to the right of the input box will bring up an interactive calendar that can be used to select a date.
Hours Fished
For the Hours Fished field, two input boxes allow you to enter in the start time, the end time, or both. If you enter both a start time and an end time, enter the start time in the left input box and the end time in the right input box. Example time values to represent 2:30 PM are:
- 2:30 PM
- 2:30PM
- 2:30 P.M.
- 2:30P.M.
- 14:30
- 1430
Best Hours Fished
The Best Hours Fished field lets you specify when the best fishing occurred during your fishing outing. The valid time values are the same as for the Hours Fished field.
Air Temp High/Low
For the Air Temp High/Low field, two input boxes allow you to enter in the day's high temperature and low temperature. The values can be specified in Celsius or Fahrenheit by selecting either the °Fahrenheit or °Celsius radio button.
Water Temp
The Water Temp field is used to save a water temperature reading from your fishing trip. The value can be specified in Celsius or Fahrenheit by selecting either the °Fahrenheit or °Celsius radio button.
Water Clarity
The Water Clarity drop-down list lets you select how clear or murky the body of water you fished was.
Water Level
The Water Level field lets you specify what the water level was for the body of water you fished. Sample values are:
- 1200 CFS
- 3.2 feet
- 200' below full pool
- low
Barometer
The Barometer field allows you to save a barometer reading or barometer trend from your fishing trip. Sample values are:
- 30.21"
- rising
- steady
Pictures
The Pictures field is used to save images from your fishing trip with your fishing log. To save an image, click on the button to the right of the input box. Use the dialog box to find your image file, select the image, then hit the button on the dialog box.
One input field is initially displayed; as you enter in images, additional input fields will automatically be displayed. Up to 10 images can be saved with your fishing log. Valid image types are .jpg, .gif, and .png. Image sizes are limited to 300KB per image.
Classification
The Classification radio buttons allow you to specify whether or not your fishing log is viewable by your fishing partners or the public. The available fishing log classifications are:
- Public: Other users can see my results and read my notes for this entry. Use this classification when the water you fished is a publicly-known spot.
- Protected: Only my fishing partners can see my results for this entry. This classification is useful for most log entries where you want your friends to be able to view your fishing log, but not the general public.
- Private: Only I can view this log entry. Use this classification when the water you fished is top secret - not even your friends should know about this spot.
Rating
The Rating radio buttons are there for you to give a general, arbitrary rating to the fishing trip. When you are viewing your fishing logs or you do a search for fishing logs, the rating for each log is displayed as stars (1 through 4) next to the log to give you a general idea of how fishing was for that trip.
Fish Entries
The Fish Entries section is for entering in the catch information for a fishing trip. The catch information is grouped by fish species; multiple fish species can be saved for each fishing log.
Fish Species
The Fish Species fields specify the type of fish caught on a fishing trip. Initially only the First Fish Species field is displayed. Once a fish type is selected, a form is displayed that allows you to enter in fish catch totals for that species of fish. Additionally, a Second Fish Species field is displayed, allowing you to specify a second type of fish. Up to five fish species can be saved in the same fishing log.
If you do not see the species of fish you caught in the Fish Species drop-down list, you can create a new fish species by clicking the create a new fish species link. A dialog box will appear to allow you to enter in fish-related information. Once the form is completed, click the button to create the new fish type. The fish is added to the bottom of the Fish Species drop-down list.
Number and Avg Size
The Number and Avg Size fields are used to enter in the number of fish caught and their average size for a given pattern. The format gives you flexibility on how you want to enter your fish catch totals. For instance, if you want to input each fish that you caught individually, enter 1 in the Number input box on each row, and enter the exact fish size for each fish in the Avg Size input box. If you want to group all of your fish together on one line, enter the total number of fish in the Number input box and enter the average size of the fish in the Avg Size input box.
As you enter in fish catch totals, more input boxes will automatically appear.
Pattern
The Pattern fields allow you to optionally specify what fly, lure, or bait you caught your fish on. To change the type of pattern used, click on one of the Fly Fishing, Lure, or Bait links next to the Pattern header. Once the pattern type has been selected, used the drop-down lists to select the pattern size, pattern, and pattern color.
If the fly, lure, or bait you used isn't listed, you can create a new pattern by clicking on the create a custom pattern link. This will open up a dialog box for you to choose the pattern name, pattern type, and to upload an image of the pattern. After you click the button, the new pattern will be added to the bottom of all of the pattern drop-down lists on the page.
If the pattern color you used is not listed in the pattern color drop-down list, you can create a new pattern color by clicking on the create a new color link. This will open up a dialog box for you to specify the new pattern color and also optionally pick the color from a palette. After you click the button, the new pattern color will be added to the bottom of all of the pattern color drop-down lists on the page.
You can change the default pattern type that is displayed on your fishing logs by editing your profile.
Optional Fields
Additional information about where each fish was located and how it was caught can be specified by clicking the show optional fields link. This displays several optional fields:
- Notable fish sizes
- Kept / Released
- Picture
- Time caught
- Water depth
- Fish depth
- Water type
- Tippet/Leader
- Retrieve
- Waypoint
- Notes
Other Patterns Tried
The Other Patterns Tried section allows you to specify additional patterns that were used during your fishing trip, but that did not result in any fish caught. It is often useful to not only remember what patterns worked under certain conditions, but what patterns did not work.
To change the type of pattern used, click on one of the Fly Fishing, Lure, or Bait links next to the Pattern header. Once the pattern type has been selected, used the drop-down lists to select the pattern size, pattern, and pattern color. See the help information under Patterns for Fish Entries for more information on creating custom patterns and custom pattern colors.
To add multiple patterns to the Other Patterns Tried section, click the input another pattern link. Additional pattern input boxes will appear.
Fishing Partners
The Fishing Partners section allows you to specify one or more people that you fished with on this fishing trip. A useful feature related to this is when you view your fishing partner's main pages (found by clicking on the main menu link "My Fishing Info" > "My Fishing Partners"), there is a section that lists all of the fishing logs that your friend has included you in, and a section that lists all of the fishing logs that you have included your friend in. In short, it allows you to quickly find all fishing logs that involve a particular friend.
To add a fishing partner to your fishing log, select one of the names in the scroll list. To add multiple partners to your log, hold down the control key (Windows) or command key (Apple) while selecting names. To add a new fishing partner, click the Add Other New Fishing Partners link. This will bring up a dialog box where you can search for an existing Fish Swami account to add as a user, or you can manually enter in information about your fishing partner. Onced added, the new fishing parter will appear at the bottom of the fishing partners list on the main page.
Outing Waypoints
The Outing Waypoints section is used to save GPS waypoints with your fishing log. When you save the fishing log and view it later, Fish Swami provides links to Google Maps and TopoZone with your waypoints so you can quickly review exactly where you fished.
To add a new waypoint, enter in latitude and longitude values in the appropriate text boxes. You can specify an additional note to make the waypoint more meaningful. As you enter in waypoints, more text boxes will automatically appear to allow you to enter multiple waypoints. When you save your fishing log, your waypoints are saved in your Waypoint Manager. This allows quick access to all of your entered waypoints at a future time.
To assign an existing waypoint to this fishing log, click the open my waypoint list link. Your waypoint manager will open in a dialog box. Select the waypoint or waypoints that you wish to assign to this fishing log and click the button. The selected waypoints will be filled in automatically on the fishing log form.
Hatches and Insect Seining
The Hatches and Insect Seining section allows you to note any insects you saw hatching or flying around as well as any insects you seined for in the river or lake. To save hatch information with your fishing log, scroll through the list of insects in the Hatch scroll list. Click on the insect to select it. This will also display two input boxes for entering in insect size and insect color. The method for saving any Insect Seining information is the same as for Hatch information.
If you do not see an insect listed in the Hatch or Insect Seining scroll lists, click on the Create a New Insect link. This will bring up a dialog box for entering in insect information. Once the form is completed, click the button and the new insect will be added to the bottom of the Hatch and Insect Seining scroll lists.
Weather
The Weather section is used to denote various weather conditions throughout the day. The section is divided into three parts: Skies, Precipitation, and Wind. The table is organized so that more than one value can be associated with a time of day for each section. For instance, in the afternoon of your fishing trip, the wind was gusty - occasionally it was blowing quite heavily, then it would die down and be peaceful for a few minutes. In this case, you could note this in the Wind section by checking the boxes in the Afternoon column for rows None and Medium.
Notes
The Notes section is a large text field where you can optionally write any additional information about your fishing trip.