On January 19, 1985, I made my first entry into a fishing log.

Forty years, and a pile of notebooks later, the habit is still going strong.

The inspiration to start documenting my fishing trips has been lost over the years. Was it something that I saw on a fishing show or read in a fishing magazine? Perhaps it was a concept offered up by an early idol, “The Bass Professor” Doug Hannon? Maybe it was a fondness for stats derived from being a sports fan? I suppose it could have been a combination of all the above but whatever it was, the habit stuck.

It is fitting that the initial entry was a fishing trip with Dad at Lake Bracken. While Dad had already been fishing “forever”, the early 1980s were when I got bit by the fishing bug. The rest is history as we could write quite a book of our fish stories over the years. Lake Bracken was a great classroom and in those days we generally had the place to ourselves whether walking, rowing, or trolling around the private fishing hole in search of some bites.

And funny enough, this log entry represents one of the few times that we failed to get a bite at Bracken. The spot was chock full of small bluegills, crappie, and green sunfish. None of the above showed up through the ice on this day but there was plenty of catching to come in 1985 and beyond.

AS 2025 progresses, I intend to revisit some of the log entries in that old green notebook. It’s a fun ride looking back on the days of limited angling knowledge, meager tackle, free time, fresh air, and a good batch of fishing partners.

Talk to you later. Troy