Of course I remember what happened on

May 19, 2002!  Why wouldn't I?

That was the day I caught a really nice crappie!  It was a windy day, with the wind howling straight out of the South at 20 miles an hour.  I caught several nice fish right off the rocks on the North side of the bridge. The lake was 4 feet up from normal levels and it was a fairly overcast day.  The fish were up shallow in stained water that looked like coffee with creamer in it, 8 feet to be exact.  There were lots of baitfish in the area and they were one to two feet off the slightly irregular bottom, and they were traveling East and West 25 feet off the rocky shore near the bridge.  I used four rods that day, a 7 footer, an 11 footer, and two 12's. (Legal limit in OK is 7 rods) That was the day I had 150 feet of anchor rope out, my anchor was sitting in the rocks near shore and I would start by letting out around 25 feet of rope over the front of the boat while my rods hung straight down over the side baited with jigs.  Since the wind was strong and I was just out of it's direct path as it whistled under the bridge, the boat would glide slowly towards the right, then after a short pause glide back towards the left. A large, half circular motion like a hypnotist slowly swinging a watch on a chain back and forth.  After each fish or two the action seemed to slow down, so I would let out another 10 feet of rope and work that area, then repeat the process until I had worked out to the end of the rope before starting all over again at 25 feet. I fished two locations that day, by the bridge as I mentioned, and at the mouth of a creek 2 1/2 miles away.  A neat thing happened at the mouth of the creek, I was working the area with my trolling motor and I watched a beaver for nearly 5 minutes before he swam away towards the creek.  He never even knew I was there!  While I fished that day I wore a ball cap, a gray T-shirt, and blue wind pants.  In the afternoon the sky cleared a little and the sun came out.  That's when I caught the big crappie, she was 15 1/2" long and weighed 2 pounds even on the digital scale.  Her mouth was as big as my own, and I even kissed her full on the lips! There was a big front moving through the area just as the sun started to set, a beautiful deep yellow sun surrounded by an orange colored sky and the wind had now diminished to around 10 miles an hour.  As I headed to the ramp the sky looked like a child had scribbled on the fading sunset with a neon yellow magic marker.  I put my boat on the trailer just before dark and headed home.  I brought 12 fish home with me that day, 11 white bass and that  nice crappie.......

OK, now that you have heard my story do you think your fishing might improve if you could remember details of all your fishing trips like that?  That was over 6 months ago and I've given you complete details of my whole trip down to water clarity and temperature and it's permanently attached to a date and conditions that roll around every year.  As I wrote this article I was looking back at the digital pictures I took during my 5-19-02 fishing trip.  I keep them on my computer and they are arranged by date and location. I have been taking these pictures with a digital camera for three years now, and this has become my "fishing log" I can refer to every time before I make the trip to the lake.  With a three year history at my fingertips, I can browse through and see what was going on at this time last year, and the year before.  What were the conditions that day?  How about a week or two later?  What was the water temp?  Was the water clear, stained?  Did I catch many fish?  How deep were they?  Were they on structure, or in the open?  What part of the lake?

Here's another example of good camera benefits to illustrate my point.  I returned to the same lake where I had watched the beaver near the post on the shoreline 12 days earlier.  A couple of things had changed since my last visit.  For one the only noticeable animal nearby was now a seagull instead of a beaver, in fact it was neatly perched on top of the post for the picture.    The other clue in the picture would make a BIG difference to my "fishing plan of the day" and actually made the difference between being skunked and catching some nice fish!    Can you spot what I'm talking about in this second picture?  Here is the FIRST picture, and here is the SECOND picture taken 12 days later.

The price for digital cameras has really come down over the last couple of years.  You don't need a "high dollar" camera to take fishing, almost any camera will get the details needed to start making your fishing log.  Do a search on the Internet for "How to buy Digital Cameras" and you will find lots of good information about the different features available on today's cameras and even the best prices.  Find one to suit your needs, then you can start your own fishing log book of memories from your own fishing trips!

Do you think a digital camera could make YOU a better fisherman?  The answer is YES, yes it can!  If you want to see the pictures I was looking at when I wrote this article, move your mouse over the words in my story that are underlined.  Your mouse cursor will turn into a hand and you can click to see the picture!  Have fun!