We’ve done the research and built the ultimate list of fishing apps for you. Anglers of all kinds can use this list to discover and select which apps to use. Piece together your ultimate fishing app stack for catching more fish. Browse fishing apps based on the type of fishing you’re doing and the jobs you need done on and off the water.
A group of software tools a person uses to accomplish a certain goal or manage a task is commonly referred to as a “stack.” There are marketing stacks, HR stacks, health stacks and many others.
This guide is going to help you find and discover fishing apps that you can use to build your ultimate fishing stack to help you catch more fish.
Can fishing apps help you catch more fish?
We wanted to find out the true answer to this question. Which fishing apps really help you catch more fish?
In our research we discovered not only do anglers use apps to catch more fish, but they commonly combine different types of apps to make them more effective when used together in a “stack.”
No matter what type of fishing you’re doing, the answer we found was, “yes.”
Fishing apps can help you catch more fish. These tools are used outside of time spent on the water, too. There are apps that help you catch more fish in the planning stages before you’re actually fishing. There are apps that help you log your fishing and then review your fishing after your trips to identify patterns and trends to make better future decisions.
Use this guide to build the perfect combination of apps to help you catch more fish. Time to get nerdy in order to get bent.
Let’s make sure one thing is crystal clear; we are the creators of a fishing app called ANGLR, a fishing intelligence app. Our success depends on whether our app is valuable to avid anglers so we do this type of research daily to learn how our app and others can be more useful.
Today, there are hundreds of useful fishing apps available to anglers. ANGLR happens to be one of them.
Our mission is to help avid anglers constantly improve.
Many of our “competitors” are included. Why? Because of our mission. We think they’ve created some useful tools for helping anglers improve, too!
We hope this resource introduces you to some fishing apps that help you catch more fish and build your own custom fishing stack. Every app in this guide has their own unique strengths that we will attempt to highlight. Try the ones that look most relevant to you and create your own personal stack of fishing apps to help you improve on and off the water.
Enjoy and tight lines! – ANGLR Team
A Brief History of Fishing Apps
Before we dive into listing the apps, let’s talk about some history. What’s feeding this fishing app frenzy??
Past
It all started with Smartphones. These devices were a new small, portable, and powerful tool that could fit in your pocket. As the market became more competitive, these devices became more affordable. Naturally, more outdoor enthusiasts began to bring them along and use them to enhance their experiences. The demand for apps related to outdoor and sports activities exploded. This led to the rapid development of outdoor and recreational applications. Anglers are just one group of sportsmen who have benefited from this explosion. The fishing app market was born.
Present
Before smartphones were in the hands of every angler, there was the grandfather of fishing tech — the fish finder. These consoles have also continued to evolve. They have become more powerful, portable, affordable, and specialized because of increased competition from the mobile app side. Rapid technology advancements have caused these worlds to collide. There are now fishing apps that turn your handheld electronic into a device more powerful than these dedicated units once were. And, they are constantly connected to the world wide web and, in some cases, to each other. There are now new categories of cast-able fish finders and other apps relying on bluetooth technology where the only hardware required is your phone and a connected device.
Future
It’s now a race towards doing more with less from a hardware and software standpoint. Usability and simplicity are king as consumer expectations continue to rise based on what they experience in other areas of their lives and technology. New advancements are made every day. Fishing technology will continue finding new ways to help anglers catch more, be more productive on the water, have more enjoyable experiences, share these experiences, and strengthen their connection with nature and each other. All of these experiences can now be enhanced by apps that operate on devices that fit inside your pocket.
This fishing app category is new and rapidly developing. These apps aim to simplify and centralize the fishing stack of the avid angler by doing more in one app. They are the closest to being an all-in-one tool for an angler wielding a smartphone. They are comprehensive and can often be used for a variety of methods of fishing for a variety of species. All apps in this section include features that span five areas:
1. Pre-fishing data like reports and forecasting.
2. Maps, spot tracking, and waypoints.
3. On-the-water catch and waypoint data logging and tracking.
4. Post-fishing analytics, trends, and data dashboard analysis.
5. Social features to connect, compete, or collaborate with other anglers.
Here are some of the best fishing apps in this category today and their unique strengths that will help you catch more fish.
Price: Free plan and premium memberships ranging from $9.99-$49.99
Fishidy is an all-in-one social network based fishing app that centers around specific waterways. With premium, you can use Fishidy to catch more fish by accessing “fishing hot spots” which have been crowdsourced within the app. Fishidy also provides time saving features like auto-capturing weather variables for logged catches, but you’ll primarily find it useful for browsing fishing report information and spots on waterways as you’re planning to fish them.
1. Store your fishing spots privately or share them with your buddies. 2. Connect with and follow local anglers to improve. 3. Compared to the rest of the apps in this category this app is weakest in the areas of fishing analytics and making use of your own fishing data. 4. Take photos of what you catch in each spot and share them with friends and other users. 5. Paying for a premium membership unlocks additional features like underwater maps and advanced tips and tricks.
Unique strengths:
Auto capturing weather variables at catch logDepth contour and crowdsourced fishing “hot spots” (premium upgrade required)
Price: Free plan and $49.99/yr premium subscription that adds private land maps.
Fishwise offers fish prediction data called “FishCast” to help you understand forecasts for the best times and locations to fish for various species as you’re planning trips. This could save you time and increase your chances of catching fish.
1. Offers a robust gear section where you can use their community to find the right gear to catch more fish. 2. Use their maps tool to save your hot spots, share locations with friends, and they will also provide a FishCast prediction for your spots. 2. One pro feature that is unique adds ownership lines to your maps so you can understand properties you’re fishing and assist you in getting permission you need to fish certain spots.
Unique strengths:
Fishing forecast and planning features surrounding your personal spots and property ownership feature in premium plan.
Fishing points helps you save your spots and discover new ones to catch more fish. This app is especially useful for trotlines and trolling angers. With premium subscription they include prediction data based on solunar theory and tides to help you better plan your trips.
1. Track current weather conditions and forecasts. 2. Tide prediction charts available.Log catches and save details around them. 3. Weather, solunar, and tide information is added automatically for further analysis. 4. Analyze certain catches, but it is lacking when it comes to overall analysis and building higher level fishing intelligence related to patterns and trends. 5. High fish activity notifications to help get you on the water at the right time. 6. In-app purchases allow you to upgrade to basic and advanced premium versions, which remove ads, add offline nautical charts for the US, add unlimited fishing locations, and introduce more advanced forecast data. 7. Weakest area is related to community, sharing, and social features from within the app.
Unique strengths:
1. Prediction of weather and tide for your spots and trotlines. 2. Auto-tracking of weather and water conditions during catch logs and GPS routes. 3. Analysis and dashboards to find patterns using your own data.
Price: Free with premium at $40 annual subscription
This fishing app from Sweden is referred to as the Facebook for fishing by the fishing community. Fishbrain has the most robust social and sharing features out of this group. This app can help you discover new places to fish near you.
1. Aggregated fishing spots from their users to help you discover new locations. 2. Very strong social features and a large user base. 3. Forecast data and more robust tracking and reporting than most other fishing apps.
Above all, Fishbrain is for anglers who are interested in participating in a good ‘ol fashioned brag board to share their latest trophy fish. We recommend you follow bodies of water and use for the community and planning stages. It’s not the strongest when it comes to tracking and fishing analytics. As passionate fishermen, it’s hard getting past the fact that Fishbrain’s Premium is comprised of selling user catch locations off to paying customers. But if that’s your style, this is one of the highest quality applications we’ve seen. If you look beyond all the fishing selfies there’s certainly some features here that could help the serious angler and it can play a valuable role in your stack.
Unique strengths:
1. The social features 2. Species recognition 3. Enormous size of the community
Price: Free with ANGLR PRO available with 14 maps and overlays and a Bullseye at $30.00 annual subscription
ANGLR is a fishing intelligence app that is focused on helping avid anglers plan, record and improve their fishing.
1. ANGLR works with optional tracking accessories for hands-free/phone-free tracking on the water. 2. Automatic tracking of weather, water, and location of entire trips and during catches and waypoints. 3. Robust fishing analytics and reports that allow users to quickly uncover patterns and trends to catch more fish using their own data. 4. Explore mode allows anglers to explore satellite images of waterways and drop different types of waypoints to breakdown the body of water and plan their fishing. 5. In Fish Mode, you press start and ANGLR begins tracking your exact GPS route on the water. 6. Quickly log catches with image, details, and auto-logged weather and water conditions. You can also mark custom waypoints with the same auto-logged details. 7. All your data, catches, waypoints, and trip reports are securely stored in your free profile. 8. Reports dashboard is available via free included web app that provides high-level trends and patterns of your fishing to make better future decisions.
Unique strengths:
1. Privacy, ANGLR provides the highest level of control of your data. 2. Optional tracking accessories. Auto-track weather and water conditions for catches and GPS waypoints without having to touch your phone. 3. Functional features included in free plan and no ads. 4. Strong fishing analytics and dashboards to analyze your own data. 5. ANGLR PRO offers 14 more ways to improve. Contour, weather forecasting, and water data all available in one app.
This app reminded us of Instagram, but for fishing. Standard local / global feed of recorded catches with the addition of local guide reports. In tools, you can access tide, solunar charts, and coastal forecasts from each reporting NOAA location. The app had some technical issues for us in trying to log a catch and seemed sub-par as far as paired statistics or conditions with catch details. Granted we were fishing with FishHawk in freshwater when it may have more of a gear for saltwater anglers.
Unique strengths:
1. Engaging social feed 2. Compelling NOAA integration
Always chasing that next PB smallie or bucket-mouth? Here’s a few bass fishing apps for the true bass-heads! These apps range from forecast apps, to tournament apps, to trolling motor controllers.
ANGLR also helps bass fishermen pattern fish, identify trends for tournament practice, track tackle performance, auto-log catches, and save their spots.
Price: FREE and Premium Yearly Subscription for $9.99
When are your best odds to catch some bass? This is the question that BassForecast can help you answer. Get 10 day forecast ratings. They rate each day on a 1-10 scale based on any location you’re planning to fish in the United States. This app will help you catch more bass by planning your trips around high rated days, and provides tips based on when and where you are fishing right within the app. You’ll appreciate their data-based forecasts. Premium plan offers 10 days in advance BFR data, receive push alerts, track your favorite spots, and much more.
Unique strengths: If you’re a bass-head and interested in an app that helps you predict the best time to go fishing, this app nails it.
Price: Free, $12.99/mo club membership, and $9.99 waypoint purchases.
Fatsack app is for Bass anglers that are looking for an app to help them quickly log catches, track their tackle, and organize tournaments in one app. The app allows you to compete with other app users in a variety of tournament types for prizes. Fishing news, gear reviews, and tutorial videos are available in the app as well. Their analytics dashboard allows you to see high level trends and patterns to help you make better decisions on the water as you search for that next personal best.
Unique strengths: Strong analytics dashboard, quick logging, and a community to compete and connect with.
If you’re a bass angler who mostly fishes on a powered boat with a trolling motor, ProNav provides a whole new way to control your trolling motor. Using GPS autopilot add-on you can use ProNav to automatically follow precise routes on your favorite bodies of water, anchor at a certain spot, or keep your boat on a straight course in the midst of wind, waves, or currents. There is also a manual control mode for manually controlling your troll motor using your phone. See where you are at in a live map views on your routes. Visit ProNav to see if your motor is compatible.
Unique strengths: Trolling motor auto-drive features and Navionics integration, automatic backup, and unlimited waypoints and routes.
Price: Free plan with $4.99 tournament fishing subscription option.
iCatch is one of the most useful apps for creating, finding, and joining fishing tournaments. We love healthy competition and believe it helps many avid anglers improve. This app allows you to create your own casual fishing tournaments and invite your friends. Or, you can use to create, manage, and join professional tournaments. Besides promoting good ‘ol healthy competition on the water, iCatch can help you catch more fish by quickly adding catches on the water with a photo, and see leaderboard in real-time on the water.
Unique strengths: Tournament organization, real-time leaderboards, and catch logging.
This tournament app is useful for all types of tournaments, but it fits best in the Bass category. More specifically, it’s perfect for kayak Bass fishing tournaments. This app serves as a comprehensive system for the operation and management of fishing tournaments. You can Register and live feed on tournament day. iAngler can help you catch more fish on tournament day by allowing you to submit your catches more quickly, adjust strategy based on live tournament leaderboard while on the water, and check weather forecasts and tide information before tournaments to aid planning. We also appreciate that the app takes the data gathered on fish caught and sends it to scientific research and stock management, with organizations such as the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission using the data in stock assessments and habitat mapping.
Unique strengths: Ideal for kayak bass fishing tournament organizing and tracking, real-time tournament updates, and forecasting.
For the modern fly fisherman, there’s so much more to a day on the water than checking the weather forecast, bringing the right flies and remembering which holes have produced fish for you in the past. Changes in flows, height, water clarity, and temperature can put an end to your fishing trip before you even set foot in the water, so knowing what the flows are doing is imperative. There’s an app for that. Keep a journal to track what stretches of water produced fish? Luckily, there are fly fishing apps for you, too.
Fly fishermen love using ANGLRfor tracking and analyzing their time on the water. With ANGLR Premium Maps like 7-Day Streamflow and USGS gages, it’s easier than ever to monitor the height and flows of the best fly fishing waters near you!
Created with river Kayakers in mind, this app is actually pretty handy for river anglers. A super simple app that allows you to see current level, flow, and temperature of rivers. You can also see data history up to several years back.
Unique Strengths: Set custom level alarms. Works in over 15 countries, great for quick checks of river levels, flows, and temps.
If CFS is the name of your game, we suggest you strongly consider including RiverFlows in your fishing app stack. RiverFlows only does one thing. Nothing fancy, rarely updated, and tech support seems non-existent. The data in this app is supported by the USGS, NOAA, Army COE and many other agencies. Many fly anglers we interact with daily refer to this as the definitive app for real time CFS and gauge height tracking. Great for the planning phase of your trip and for updates if you run into weather while fishing. Available on android only.
Unique Strengths: Comprehensive CFS and gauge height tracking for planning your next fly fishing trip. Very easy to navigate the no-frills interface on Android or iOS.
A reference oriented app designed for fly fishermen. Have access to information you need while on the water or planning your next trip. Flywise will give you access to detailed topographic maps and stream information, local fishing regulations, creel limits and license requirements. Current and forecasted weather conditions are included in the app. The app also provides information about things like boat ramps, local campgrounds and other things that may prove useful to anglers. You can also do some basic manual journaling within the app. It is currently only available for iOS devices.
Unique strengths: Weather, regulations, license info, maps, for anglers planning trips in the western half of the United States.
Price: Free, and premium from $3.99 for month, $9.99 for 3 months, $38.99 for one year.
Large fly fishing content library with photos, articles, and how-to videos. You can also check out current weather forecasts for trips you’re planning. You’ll need to purchase a subscription to access the entire content library. It is available for both Android and iOS devices.
Unique strengths: Works without cell phone coverage.
For planning and scouting your next fly fishing trip. Data comes from state fishing and wildlife centers and from users. Map/GPS app where you can see fishing locations, featured destinations, access locations, and boat launches. You can also add and save your own markers. The app allows you to select stream gauges on the maps and data from the last 7 days is available. Toggle on and off various types of markers on the map location you are viewing. Save favorite markers to favorites. User interface is super basic, but the app is functional.
Unique strengths: Terrain view on android is unique. Scout 50 mile radius at a time.
This resource app for fly fishermen provides access to animated knot tying guides, fly fishing video, articles, and podcast content library for techniques and basics. You will also get photos, usage tips, and other information for about 150 various flies and discover them by season, hook size, or region. Browse fishing reports with flow, tide charts and hatch dates for more than 300 fly fishing destinations across North America, Central America and the UK.
Unique strengths: Quick access to high-quality, informative and instructional fly fishing content of all kinds.
Are you a saltwater sport fisherman? Check out these saltwater fishing apps to help you discover new spots, keep track of your spots, accurately track and predict tides and weather, learn from other anglers, and keep tabs on regulations.
Saltwater fishermen appreciate ANGLR’s robust waypoint features, quick catch logging with the Bullseye tracking accessory, and identifying trends using their personal fishing analytics dashboard. With ANGLR Premium Maps like Coastal Contours, Ocean Bathymetry, Eastern NOAA Tide stations, and USGS Gages, it has never been easier to enjoy saltwater sport fishing with the ANGLR App!
This app is well suited for saltwater anglers who are trying to plan their next trip and connect with other saltwater anglers. This app is designed to help sport fishing anglers explore and discover new waters. You can do this by finding and following anglers, species, or bodies of water around you and seeing their catches and locations. You can also use their map mode to explore bodies of water, see catch locations and other waypoints to plan trips. The Body of Water tool in their discover category is useful for exploring new bodies of water and finding new places to fish. This app allows you to show global feeds, local feeds, and feeds of anglers you follow to see catches, locations, and news that might help you learn and catch more fish. The logging inside this app allows you to mark a fishing spot, take a photo, or log a catch. You will be able to use real-time forecasts and 7-day marine and land weather data. Tap into their solunar fishing forecast data to find the best times to fish. This app has stronger tidal and wave data.
Unique Strengths: Tidal and wave data. Discovering new waters and connecting with other anglers. Unique global, local, and following feeds.
Pro Angler is a saltwater fishing app which covers the basics without going into too much detail. With thousands of fishing spots to explore, you’ll never be without a good place to drop anchor. Learn from the hand-picked advice from their team of veteran captains. If you reel something in you don’t recognize, you can check their database with hundreds of saltwater species so you can know if it’s a legal catch! It even includes recipes for different fish you may encounter. Pro Angler is also helpful for following along with licensing and regulations. Their handy guide makes sure you’re always updated, and the app even includes a spot for you to keep an image of all your licenses.
Unique strengths: Hand-curated content stream from veteran captains. Regulation data. Recipes included. Spot to keep all your licenses
A powerful tool for the serious coastal angler. FishTrack offers tide charts, lunar tables, weather, and more. The user interface is much better on iOS than Android and can be a bit clunky, but overall it’s a solid option for the ocean goer or serious tide fisherman. No river flows or many features in the way of anything an inland fisherman might find very useful. Offline viewing options, ability to drop waypoints, satellite imagery.
Unique Strengths: Track satellite imagery, sea-surface heights, and water temperatures. FishTrack also provides unique chlorophyll imagery to help you find clean blue water.
Fish Rules app is a fishing-regulations app made for saltwater anglers. Fish Rules helps you know what you’re legally allowed to catch and keep based on your current location! All fishermen know the kind of trouble you can get into for breaking federal regulations and Fish Rules believes that most anglers try their best to follow the law. Sometimes, it’s hard to know and breaking a rule can be an accident. Take away all of the chances and guess work by simply reviewing your catch in an easy to find menu of species and Fish Rules will give you up to date regulations for your location. It uses GPS to determine where you are and lets you know what’s in season. It also tells you any other relevant regulations regarding each species. This app is free, easy to use, and built for the responsible angler.
Unique strengths: Most comprehensive resource for fishing regulations for saltwater anglers.
Follow the ebb and flow of the tide near you. Discover and track tides anywhere in the world by simply choosing a preferred location on the map. Tides Near Me has fully automated tables & charts that tell you everything you want to know about the tide near you. With over 5,000 tidal stations, they’ll always have you covered. Receive precise and timely information from stations around the globe… all for free.
Unique Strengths: Reliable, simple, no frills, detailed and comprehensive tide data.
Tide Chart is for tracking tide with ease. Find out when a high or low tide will be with pinpoint accuracy and get exact measurements with a tap. Their monthly calendar makes it quick and easy to discover when the sun rises and sets. If you’re looking for the nearest tide stations, simply open the map to receive a chart of all the stations in your surrounding area.
Unique Strengths: Simple resource for tracking tidal, sunrise, and sunset data.
Tide Clock was made for the easiest and most efficient way to find the current state of the tide and maximum or minimum height with a quick glance. Get all the necessary data you need, color coded. You can pick your preferred display unit and then easily switch between imperial and metric units.
Unique Strengths: Critical tide timing at a glance.
Tide Table is an app for reading tide data obtained from the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Get on-the-spot info automatically. Updates based on your location are constant so you’ll always know what’s happening in your area. Create a “personal location list” for easy referencing of tides in your favorite areas.
Unique Strengths: Tide updates based on your location.
Another no-nonsense tidal app. This app allows you to quickly identify NOAA buoys in an area you’re in or are planning to fish in. Get up to 45 day historical data.
Unique Strengths: Use the today widget to quickly keep tabs on your favorite spots.
These specialized apps are focused on navigation, maps, and seeing your bodies of water more clearly to help you break them down and catch more fish.
With the ANGLR app, you can plan and track your waypoints with ease. With PRO Map overlays like USGS maps, NOAA Nautical Charts, USGS Paper Contours, Great Lakes Bathymetry, and In-shore 3D depths, it’s easier than every to break down a waterway!
The detailed satellite imagery of this app is hard to beat. 3D terrain imagery of the entire globe is available in this app and it can be incredibly useful for planning your fishing trips. Drop and save pins.
Unique Strengths: Detailed satellite imagery of the entire world for exploring bodies of water.
Navionics works in both saltwater and freshwater locations. This app has contour lines, buoys, and other nautical charts for pretty much any large body of water! The charts, maps, and tools in this navigational fishing app are truly unrivaled. With features like nautical charts, tools to help you pick your route, and up-to-date weather info, managing a day on the water is just easier. Managing it all in one place reduces risk in your boating navigation and makes it easy to enjoy a day on the water. Some additional features include sonar charts and updates to ensure accuracy. Something to keep in mind when using this app is to make sure you kill the app when not in use or it will kill your phone battery fairly rapidly.
Unique Strengths: Comprehensive for both saltwater and freshwater. Having contour, sonar, nautical charts, and maps all in one place.
For centuries savvy anglers have tried to keep track of where, when, and how they were catching fish in journals. For centuries this has been a giant pain in the ass. Now, we have access to modern fishing apps that help make this more effortless so you can stay focused on fishing while on the water.
Keep a log of your catches that you can sort by lure, location, date or a combination of key factors. Track date, time, locations, and the current weather conditions of catches. Sort catches by body of water and tackle.
Unique Strengths: Detailed lure tracking and tackle performance.
This free app allows you to track your catches, flies/bait, and conditions without having to share it with the whole world. However, that’s pretty much the whole shebang. No weather, CFS data or any other pertinent details you’d need for planning a trip. If you’re searching for a straightforward app for logging catches without any automatic tracking or other bells and whistles, this might be the one to include in your fishing stack.
Unique Strengths – Super simple logging, you don’t have to share with whole world, great community and clean interface.
This is another logging app that offers automatic weather recording and quick catch logging. The app will save the GPS location of your catches automatically as well. Finygo offers some useful patterning and charting to identify which tactics are working better for you.
Unique Strengths: Create private groups for sharing spots with. You decide who can see your spots. After using Finygo on a few trips on the same body of water the app will automatically identify hot spots for you based on your logging history.
Simple app that allows you to manually enter in all details around your catches. Attach images to catches. View your fishing spots on an interactive map. Your entries can be analyzed from a high level on a statistics page. Share catches on your favorite social media site if you’d like.
Unique Strengths: See all your fishing trophy pics in one gallery.
This app is centered on keeping a photo log of your catches. The unique part of this app is that it allows you to take a pic of a fish and get an idea of length using the app. The app includes sharing options and a scoreboard. You will mark a rod or net at 10 inches before you go fishing. The app uses this mark to calculate your fish in images as a comparison.
Unique Strengths: Includes free web app. Capture species, time, location, and length of fish with a picture of your catch.
Weather and water conditions can make or break your day on the water. Browse the apps in this section to find the perfect forecast app for your needs. Some feature complex algorithms that help you predict which days you should fish where fish are most likely to bite.
The ANGLR app offers a 12-hour forecast along with the ability to check water gages near you for free in the FishMode Toolkit. With ANGLR PRO, you can chose overlays like Doppler Weather radar, 72-hour wind forecast, and a METAR wind map, predicting which days to fish is easier than ever!
Features for the My Fishing Forecast App include best fishing times, simple and easy to read graphs and charts, incredibly accurate fishing times, GPS technology for your exact location, a combination of Solunar and weather info imported directly into your fishing report, and planetary data powered by NASA! Some extended features include weather conditions in a 5 day forecast that shows conditions, temperatures, and wind speeds. You will also have access to unlimited location selection outside of your current location to allow for planning of fishing trips to fishing spots with a better fishing forecast!
Unique strengths: The My Fishing Forecast app provides users with an idea of when to go fishing. It offers accurate times, GPS locations and extended forecasts to help you plan a fishing trip!
This app helps you know when to go on your outdoors adventure. With this app, it’s easier to make your time spent wisely in the outdoors. The app uses the solunar tables theory application which allows you to determine the feeding time or movement times of all types of fish and wildlife. It bases these times on the position of the moon, phases of the moon, and the position of the sun. You can plan your trips fishing or hunting in order to maximize your success. You can also save your favorite places for easy access to solunar forecasts.
Unique strengths: This app is built for the avid outdoorsmen. It maximizes Solunar data to optimize the best time to hit the water or head for the woods! Plan out your time in the outdoors easily by knowing when the fish should be eating, or when the deer will be moving!
Price: $6.99 per month or $29.99 for 6 months or $35.99 per year
Fishbox allows you to plan your trips by giving a prediction on specific days and times that have a high probability of success for any location. By analyzing the weather, tides, sun and moon position, moon phase, and many other factors, Fishbox makes it easier to determine where fish will be located, and how active they will be. Beyond forecasting, Fishbox also offers fishing spot tracking, location data, an overview calendar, tide data, weather data, a catch log, and social media sharing.
Unique Strengths: Solid forecasting with quite a few other features included make this a heavy hitter in this category.
This iPhone fishing app provides a variety of detailed information about fish activity. You can access daily, weekly, and monthly Solunar tables paired with weather forecasts to plan your next fishing trip! With data including the best feeding times, it’s easy to plan a trip on the water for a successful day of catching!
Unique Strengths: This is an app made specifically for IOS. With easy to read and access daily, weekly, or monthly solunar charts, it’s easy to find the best time to hit the water!
This app predicts the most opportunistic times to fish your location based on solunar calendar and forecasted conditions. A quick glance at the prediction calendar shows upcoming efficiency scores and breaks down most opportunistic times of the day based on Fishing Calendar’s predictive algorithms. Additional features such as catch logging and tidal data are available in a paid version.
Unique strengths: Fishing Calendar lays it all out in an easy to read and understand formatted calendar view that helps you know when to go fishing.
Price: $3.99 initial download and one year support in three tiers ($.99, $1.99, $4.99)
Wind, waves, weather and tides anywhere in the world. OK, so they say Windfinder is for surfers and sailors, but as fishermen, we couldn’t help but include this app on this page. This app hands-down has the most compelling visual forecast information with animated weather maps that include a wide range of developing weather patterns. Check live measurements from reporting local stations.
Unique strengths: Most beautifully animated forecasting app. We really enjoyed the home-screen widgets available for Android for quick glances at local wind & wave activity.
This section will feature a variety of specific apps for specific jobs that you need done on or off the water. Checkout the connected device section, ice fishing section, and trolling sections. Sometimes the difference between you catching more fish is all about efficiency and speed. Sometimes it’s all about knowing the perfect lure to throw. Sometimes a different knot will make all the difference. These apps can help!
Apps Featuring Connected Devices
There are a few unique fishing apps that work with connected devices. We have special appreciation for these guys since ANGLR also pairs with optional tracking accessories.
The ConnectScale app provides users with a Smart Digital Scale and Fishing App created to be a solution to weighing and tracking catch data. Catch it, weigh it, and then the app logs it. ConnectScale uses low energy technology that transmits weight and weather data to your iOS or Android mobile device. When weighing your catches, you are able to log weight, air temperature, date, time, and GPS location directly in the app. With an easy to use interface, the app allows you to easily capture data of your catches and save them to your database. Later, you can view a Catch Log and Summary reports to find historical data on previous catches! The app also allows you to share your catches on a variety of social media platforms!
Unique Strengths: This app is not only a digital scale on your phone, but it also logs weather information and helps you create a log of your catches in a quick and easy manner.
Price: Free app and optional sonar accessories available
Deeper is best-known for their castable fish finders. This optional device works very well and we highly recommend checking it out if you often find yourself fishing from dock, the bank, or other shallow water situations where a boat mounted fish finder is not an option. Great for kayak fishing and ice fishing! You can use this app with or without their connected devices. Beyond the live sonar on your phone features with the castable fish finders there are few other features worth noting. You can use it to determine the best days and times to go fishing using its Solunar Forecast Calendar. Other functions include social media sharing, photo shoot, and note-taking. Deeper works in online or offline mode.
Unique Strengths – The most unique thing about the Deeper app is that you can combine it with the Deeper Smart Fishfinder to provide you with various underwater details. This sonar device scans the underwater and relays information such as the bottom structure, depth of the site, underlying vegetation, location of fish, and water temperatures, among other details, to your phone or tablet via Bluetooth.
iBobber is another castable fish finder worth checking out. The iBobber app in conjunction with the iBobber bobber enables you to locate fish up to 135’ under water. Use GPS feature to tag favorite hotspots, map the contour of waterbeds, and measure water temperature. Save basic fish log data in the log area and share on social media. iBobber also offers a lunar calendar and weather sync.
Unique strengths: Pairs with Bluetooth connected castable fish finder accessories. The Fish Alarm and Strike Alarm are also unique.
Netfish is a product of ReelSonar, the makers of the iBobber Sonar. This app breaks down major waterways with aggregated details for locations and opportunistic times for catching fish. The social feed allowing users to post and share catches is one of the less-exciting of other apps we’ve seen. We earned points, “Reelwards” while exploring the app, a unique concept even though we fell short of the minimum threshold for earning some free gear. The app also features related fishing content, “Netfish TV” and a fishing forum where we spent most of our time.
Unique strengths: Reelwards system for earning gear. Great fishing forums baked into a handy resource app.
The Fishing Lures app is designed to help you select a bait to use for the specific fish species you are fishing for. Find lure based on type, technique, and species. Then read full description and information about lure.
Unique strengths: Comprehensive fishing lures catalog and finder.
This app is the official app of the International Game Fish Association. It contains a database of species of game fish. This database contains colorful photos and information about these game fish. This app even has data regarding the current world records for the biggest catches and where to take one if you think you’ve landed a potential record breaker. It’s an extremely good reference for identifying and studying up, and you can rest easy knowing it’s all official.
Unique Strengths: The official IGFA app is one of the best resources containing nearly every species of game fish, how to identify it, and where to take your potential record breaking fish!
Ikijime is a technique for dispatching legal caught fish with a spike to the brain. It’s said to be quick and humane, minimizing stress on the fish. The Ikijime Tool app (Android, iOS) provides a mobile guide for this technique. It contains diagrams for over 50 different North American fish species, and a variety of others worldwide! The Ikijime tool app also contains a database of fish species for quick and easy reference on or off the water.
Unique Strengths: The Ikijime Tool app might be one of the strangest apps to make our list, but it does provide a great reference for species of fish, how to identify and if you chose, dispatch them.
Fishing Knot Apps
Sometimes you just need to know how to tie the right knot! Land more fish and lose less tackle by knowing the right knots for the right situation.
Fishing Knots Lite serves as a free app for Android users that contains detailed instructions on how to tie a variety of fishing knots. These instructions even include pictures to help describe and walk you through tying some of those tricky knots! The knots instructional pages cover everything from attaching flies, hooks, and any other bait or lure! Each knot page contains a short description, and a guide on tying it. On a tablet, you have the option of showing a list of all knots and providing how-to instructions side by side on the same screen.
Unique Strengths: The Fishing Knots Lite app contains everything you need to know when tying your flies, hooks, or baits and lures! With pictograms and detailed descriptions, this is a must have for someone wanting to learn plenty of knots.
Provides users with detailed information about more than 100 knots. Knots are organized into over fifteen categories, including binding, climbing and sailing knots, and yes, fishing knots. Users can explore knots by name or category. Each knot even includes a description of how to use it, and a visual guide to tying the knot. You can save your favorite knots, read up on knot-tying lingo, and share their knot-tying work with others who use the app.
Unique Strengths: The Knot Guide app allows you to learn more than just fishing knots, even though their fishing knots section is very in-depth. As a fishermen, you may find yourself on a boat, knowing boating knots and sailing knots can be equally as important, and with the Knot Guide app, you’ll have access to these knots at the tip of your fingers.
Have you ever been able to tie a knot from a written description? It’s not as easy as it sounds… EVER! Trying to remember them all can be a nightmare! Lucky for you, there’s an app for that. The Animated Fishing Knots app comes packed with a boatload of useful fishing knots along with how to best use each one. Each knot is accompanied by an instructional video that makes it easy to learn, and relearn whenever necessary.
Unique Strengths: The Animated Fishing Knots app is full of fishing knots and instructional videos to walk you through each one. This app makes it easy to tie knots no matter who you are!
Is the ice thick enough, safe enough? Where are other ice anglers catching fish in your area? This app will help you answer this question and fish on the ice more confidently. Ice thickness is updated and reported on from other users using the app. Newer reports show up darker in color. After three days a report turns lighter to indicate it might be out of date. It’s very simple, just click plus sign to add an ice thickness report and it will auto-mark your location. Be safe out there!
Unique Strengths: Ice fishing specific, crowdsourced data. Very simple and easy to use.
Price: Free download, in app purchases ranging from $1.99-2.99 and lifetime package of $109.99
This is the Troller’s bible in an app. Use the information in this app to target fish at specific depths. This app will help you accurately predict the running depths of your favorite lures and diving devices. Better target fish you are seeing on your sonar while avoiding costly snagged lures. Once an angler has determined that a particular lure and lead length are effective at catching fish, you can search for other lures that achieve similar depths. The “Dive Curves” data made popular in the Precision Trolling book are incorporated to target fish at a certain depth that you are seeing on your sonar unit.
Unique Strengths: Helps trollers put more lures in the strike zone.
A straightforward barometric pressure app to help you track barometric pressure on the water or wherever you are. See trend charts of the last 30 days. Note that the fishing barometer is only available after the pro upgrade. Uses the barometric pressure sensor found in many of the newer iPhones and iPads from Apple.
Unique Strengths: Simple and accurate. Works without cell service.
