What Makes A Good Report?

[cprince]

I put up a report last night, and I got to wondering about what makes a good report or a bad one. What is too much?

A report after a successful fishing outing is, after all, a brag of sorts.

When does it get distasteful?

I know there are people who fish in different places that might not have the bass population density that the lakes I fish have and might find my reports about a sick number of good bass in very little time distasteful bragging, hard to believe or out and out think I am lying. That is kind of something I weigh against while authoring a report. I also don't post all the photos, nor do I post a report every time I fish.

I am wondering... would a report be as interesting if I posted 50 pictures of all the bass we caught in an outing? Would it be diluted and boring after the 10th pic?

Would it lend credence?
How many pictures is enough?
How many are too much?

I know a lot of this is very subjective. But I wonder if we can come up with a consensus.

I am using my bass outing as an example... but this can apply to an amazing musky or trout outing...

Craig

[Yannick Loranger]

good post Craig!

I think a good report has to have some eye candy and/or at the very least either a location or a presentation. A report about 200 3lbs bass caught from lake X with a secret lure benefits only the poster's ego IMO. A dozen photos could be cool as long as their not redundant or distasteful. I could read a 50 photo Moosebunk essay without losing interest, however, 20 pictures of 3lbs bass gets old.

In the end, as long as the "poster" is posting out of pride, not spite, reports are all good!

[cprince]

In the end, as long as the "poster" is posting out of pride, not spite, reports are all good!

My next report from the Miss may yet fall into that spite category...



Craig

[Yannick Loranger]

yeah but your spite is entertaining and humurous Craig, it's hard to take you seriously....

[cprince]

yeah but your spite is entertaining and humurous Craig, it's hard to take you seriously....

MMmmm... thanks?


.... I think...?

Craig

[Bobber]

Hey Cprince,

That's actually a very good question....so much that I'm moving this post to the Fishing Talk forum for other to see and comment on....

For me, a "report" should be fairly quick and to the point of how you did, focusing on any interesting events that happened during the outing and of course show a few of the fish you caught...but you don't need all of them. As you notice, I don't post many reports....I catch a lot of fish, but only when something out of the norm happens is when I post it really.

For outings with lots of interesting, yet different types of pictures, and lots of interesting yet different types of events that happen....perhaps over a few days, I would classify those as "Stories" which are meant to entertain other anglers when they read them, almost making them feel that they were their themselves.

You will notice that Fish-Hawk has a <a href="http://www.fish-hawk.net/hawktalk/viewf ... "Community Stories Forum"</a>. This is for those entertaining adventure stories which are much more than simple fishing reports. What I try to do is move these "stories" into that forum after a while, so that we have an archive of them, and make them more formal so to speak.

Great discussion question and something for all to think about.


That's just my take on it.

[JustinHoffman]

Good post, Craig.....here are my thoughts:

I like to see a nice variety of photos in a report. Not a redundant batch of "identical" shots, but a good assortment of images that tell the story. An example of this would be a pic launching the boat early in the morning, a shot of a prime piece of cover or shoreline that you whacked a load of fish on, a few shots holding fish (but shot creatively from different angles, etc.), and a close-up of the lucky bait or lure. Put those all together and it "reads" like a story - that to me is the most interesting.

In terms of the report itself, I like a bit of substance that documents the day. What were the weather conditions like, water temps., magic depth fish were found, what you did to find them (or didn't do). To me a report should give the reader a bit of information that they can add to their fishing arsenal, and hopefully learn a thing or two upon reading it. For me, if I'm out on that same day and on a similar "type" of lake and I really skunk it up, I can take the information from the report I've just read and apply it the next time I hit the water - especially if facing the same conditions. Case in point - my latest outing had Christine put the biggest fish and more numbers in the boat than me. She was tossing a creature bait, while I stuck with a flipping jig. I learned something valuable that day, and will be making some adjustments next time I'm out if faced with the same situation.....yes, it was my own report, but if I was reading that a light bulb of sorts would have went on...

Bottom line is - a report should entertain and educate......and have some neat images within to tie it all together.

Good Fishing,

Justin

[dead_weight]

I too like the reports that read a bit like a story ... although this might be hard to do if you were only on the water for 2 hrs some evening. In any case I like to see a few pics of fish, larger ones preferably, different species, perhaps even a scenery shot ... but I agree to see bass after bass gets boring. Still being far from a pro fisherman I also appreciate the author giving away a bit of info from their trip like what worked for them, depth of water, time of day, etc Some people when posting won't tell anything about how or where they got fish ... I understand not posting where you were fishing but I don't think mentioning that you used berkly power crayfish really hurts your chances of getting fish the next time out ... to me this info just rounds out a fishing report and might help a fellow fisherman catch some next time out.

My 2 cents worth ... i'm out ...

[nips]

Good topic. Like the other guys said a few pictures of the better fish of the day is a good start. We all no what a 2lber looks like and we don't need to see 50 pics of them. I like to read what they where biting on and the type of location the fish were caught around. i know some guys don't want to post where the fish were caught and thats cool too. I myself dont take pictures of pike or even net them unless it's a trophy but hammer handles I just try to shake them off at the boat . I got a thing about a snot rocket going into the KAHUNA, bad luck, like the whole banana in the boat thing......which is true by the way.......

[Fishing 24/7]

we used to post every fish we caught.

from .8 once to what ever.

then we got bashed to bits.

then i was like WHOA.

and i had to sit back and learn.

justin... moosebunk... and all the quick yet informative reports.

then i knew.

its not about location...

its about what you can teach to another angler.

whats been working in your waters....

where are the fish this time of the year.. and what works best?

The E.A.P 's and the HANDS FULL.

well thats just to give you some '' eye candy''

to me its keeping it simple and POSITIVE!

[dead_weight]

Ok i have to ask ... nips ... I've never hear the "banana in the boat thing .." ... I have a vague idea whats involved but can't cay as I hear the real story ... is it something you can post ??

[OBD]

Good thread! I think what helps a lot in a report is the originality of the shots taken. Love to see unique shots (underwater shots, a la Hoffman style etc... ) And of course a great story!

[nips]

Ok i have to ask ... nips ... I've never hear the "banana in the boat thing .." ... I have a vague idea whats involved but can't cay as I hear the real story ... is it something you can post ??

I thought everybody new about that....Well I learned about it a few years ago. I take a friend of mine from delaware musky fishing twice a year and he does alot of tuna fishing and crabbing, well I guess down there its almost law not to bring a banana on the boat, its bad luck. So I didn't know this yet and me and him are musky fishing all day without a sniff, so I dig into the cooler, im hungry and a little pee pee off and I pull out a banana and start eating it, well he freaks out telling me to throw that f--ing thing overboard and thats why we haven't caught a fish yet. Ever since that day I havn't brought a banana on board. Whats funny is that on tuesday one of my friends that loves to fish (flyfish) bought a musky set up and we went out to the river, we fished for 5 hours and had a bunch of follows but nothing was eating..he digs into his loot bag and pulls out a banana and starts eating it well I told him what I just told you.....no bananas in the boat

[JustinHoffman]

For those looking to improve their range of photography skills while out fishing, or simply looking for ways to get more creative, check out this article I wrote on "fish photography":

http://www.fish-hawk.net/hawktalk/viewtopic.php?t=28455

Good Fishing,

Justin

[Bobber]

Thanks Justin, I was just about to point people to that one, but you beat me to it.