ENHAN ® CING
fishing
Summer 2021
YOUR SUCCESS
WITH A
By Marc Marcantonio
log
page
32
L
ogs go hand in hand with bass fishing. Who
passes by a log laying perpendicular to the
shoreline without casting a spinnerbait or square bill to run alongside it?
But when is a log not a log? When it is the kind of log
that documents your fishing trip. Both logs will produce
bass, so why are you only fishing those in the water?
Your computer log will likely produce far more bass
once you understand its value and how to employ it.
A LOOK BACK
When I started keeping a log in the 1970’s, it was handwritten and placed in a notebook. The notebook had 12 dividers, one for each month. After the first year of logging all my fishing trips, I made my first discovery.
I had joined a bass club in southern California named the San Fernando Bassmasters. We had a tournament every month, and I diligently wrote down how I caught every bass in each monthly tournament.
What stood out at the end of the year was that I caught and weighed-in a bass every single month of the year on a crankbait. Even though in the winter months most of my bass were caught in 40- to 50-feet deep on jigging spoons, and doodle worms, I still weighed bass fishing crankbaits shallow.
The lesson-learned was that some bass stay shallow year-round, and others stay deep, and others move between deep and shallow depending on their food availability. I also won the coveted Angler of the Year trophy.
Unfortunately, most anglers never keep a fishing log or journal. Others start with good intentions, but then cease for whatever reason.
Time is always short, and after a long day of fishing and the work involved with a boat and tackle, it is easy to put off taking notes. But today it is much easier than when I started 50 years ago, and the reward exceeds all effort.
For the past 25 years I have been using a software program developed by a former tournament partner called Fish-N-Log Professional Suite by Taysys Software.