Purpose of Fly Fishing Apps
Fly fishing apps, like hunting and hiking apps are meant to serve a specific purpose. That purpose can be varied depending on the producer of the app. The trend within Outdoor apps like hunting and fishing, is to help you explore much more easily and with less hassle. Here we will touch on several of these apps and compare them to the intended purpose of the FlyFishFinder app.
If you’re a visual person like me and want to get straight to it, we’ve got a 3 minute teaser video on the purpose of our app. Check it out here!
Fishing Apps
SPOILER: If you’re content watching other people catch fish through social media scrolling then this app isn’t for you. On the other hand, if you want to go fish it for yourself then our app is a good fit.
This has been an emerging industry over the past couple of years. Names like DIY Fly Fishing, onX, onWater and even Fishbrain are all gaining notoriety within the industry. They all put their own twist on the purpose of their apps, and Fishbrain isn’t known to be an effective fly fishing app. Fly Fishing is a unique sport of its own, and anglers in this sport prefer things a certain way. As fly anglers ourselves we understand that these places we fish are sacred, and protecting their integrity is vital. At FlyFishFinder we place great importance on this fact. We simply provide as many options to anglers as we can, and allow for them to make decisions on where they opt to fish.
onX Hunt is focused on helping hunters specifically by providing tools in a mobile app, and their big claim to fame is the private boundaries maps. These can be useful in keeping yourself in ‘legal’ areas while out exploring, but this data is subject to change as often as land sells and turnover is high, which can make it prone to become out of date. onWater placed emphasis on helping anglers who do float trips navigate water easily with hazards and various put-ins around the area. With the FlyFishFinder app, you gain instant access to premium map data specific to fly anglers needs. Several thousand hours have been put in researching and updating data, as well as creating proprietary data spanning all 50 states. We release our data as soon as we have it available, rather than on a state by state approach. This way you always have the latest and greatest data inside the app. FlyFishFinder is intended for versatile anglers and is truly a multi-species app spanning both cold water and warm water fisheries, and touching on Saltwater as well. The secret behind the versatility of the app lies within the engaged Angler Community. Within this feature, you would have access to insights from local experts across the country and gain realtime insights and info on various waterbodies and areas you want to explore.
Finding both solace on a stream or out fishing with new friends is a great way to spend a day on the water. All this and more can be yours within the app.
Differentiators for the FlyFishFinder Fly Fishing App
Fly fishing apps all have their pros and cons, as with anything in life. Here we will expand upon a few key differentiators within the design and execution of the FlyFishFinder app. We are building a full scale Fly Fishing Hub in your pocket, and will continue to add more features as we develop the app. The iOS and Android versions of the app are the most complete platforms, and the desktop/browser version is undergoing some major enhancements and updates to bring it up to speed. We are a very small team that has been entirely self funded to date so making updates and addressing all the business needs at once is just not possible at this time.
Key Features
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Multi Species – for anglers willing to chase anything that swims, we have an app for you. As mentioned the FlyFishFinder app is multi-species focused, and it calls out the ‘Known Fish’ available in each stream where available. Not all 225,000 rivers have details for species, nor do all the 55,000 existing trout streams but every single week we are adding more data. This information on specific fish is only from trusted resources as well as our own team. Bass, Musky, Steelhead, Carp and more are all rapidly expanding in fly fishing and we don’t want to be exclusive to just trout fishing. Currently we have over 100 species mapped in the app, spanning nearly 40,000 rivers helping you fish more prepared as you plan your trips.
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Community – the #1 differentiator setting the app apart is the inbuilt community so you can network fast and take more trips. All members will have the ability for in-app messaging. Of the handful of fly fishing apps, we are the industry’s only app offering you a chance to join the community. Why is this crucial? Apps will grow stale over time as no new data will get added, leaving little reason to continue using the app. But the people that you can interact with and share your fishing experiences with, will ultimately keep you engaged. The best fly anglers we know have also built the biggest networks, and fish all over the world because of this network. You can find the same experiences through the FFF app, gain local insights when trip planning, fish with new people and learn and share knowledge on the water all while finding more success. At the end of the day, its about continued growth in the sport and catching fish in cool places. The app is only limited by you and how far you’re willing to go with it.
- Guides/Outfitters – we work with top tier guides to give them a prominent place within the app. In the next major release after 1.0, there will be the option to locate guides within the app for getting in touch with to setup a booking. The app doesn’t handle bookings directly, but we’ll make it easy to connect with the guide in the app. There will be some useful data flowing into the app on various fisheries from these top ranked guides to provide fresh data as you’re trip planning.
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UI/UX – we have placed a high level of importance on creating a great user experience down to each small detail, cause you deserve an app that goes farther. From the insightful Dashboard you hit after successful account creation and login, to navigating through to the maps and various map styles, community, filters and even your private messages, it will be seamless. This is intended to save you hours on researching new areas, and provide a powerful experience in the app to grow your network. Previously it would take a lifetime to build these types of connections, now it’s at your fingertips.
Outdoor Apps
Outdoor apps such as hiking, cycling and hunting all have many similarities to the FlyFishFinder app and other fishing apps. These are considered adjacent industries but instrumental in the overall expansion of apps in fly fishing. Previously, it was thought of as taboo to map areas for fly fishing but those days are long gone. As anglers ourselves, we are very sensitive to this concern with the sport of fly fishing and fly fishing apps. We do not want to see these amazing places overfished.
We have spoken with fly shops that have recommended we make public pinning on our maps an available feature. The thought being they, and others could drop pins to share experiences while fishing. We don’t fully agree though, and believe your data should always be PRIVATE. If you specifically want to share a pin with a buddy, we make that a capability in the app, but we do not have a way to drop pins for the world to see and don’t ever plan for that.
We are laying out 225,000 river options, actively adding data on thousands of lakes and alpine lakes, and transitioning into some saltwater fishing info over the coming months and years. There is more data here than one person could possibly have time to fish in their life. This will only open up the options for a person instead of having to fish those same old spots we always seem to end up at (that was our problem at least). Also for the Weekend Warrior anglers who have little time to research and explore, the FlyFishFinder app will take care of the grunt work and allow you time to hone in on those key areas and simply go enjoy fishing.
Save Money
Another key goal from the get go of our fly fishing app has been to not only save time and hassle, but money. There will no longer be the need to hire a fishing guide every new place you roam. Simply open the app, scan the map and find someone in your desired area, and reach out for advice, tips on gear and flies or plan a meet up to hit the water together. This will be the most effective option at gaining insights, growing your network and developing faster in the sport.
Again, the best anglers we know that catch a ton of fish, are also those same people with massive fishing networks. Seems like they know someone in every state. That was a huge part of the inspiration for the app.
Fly vs Traditional Angling
Fly fishermen and women are a different breed typically. Personally, most of us come from the traditional angling side and know many people who still strictly practice catch and release. But as fly anglers, we have never met someone in the sport who doesn’t practice catch and release. It’s in our blood and engrained in the sport from the moment you start.
We are building an app specifically dedicated to the sport and people in fly fishing because they are doing the most good for the world and the fish we love. We want to allow you to have a voice in the sport and use our platform to get your message and name out there. This is a spot for anglers to come and feel welcome regardless of experience, or skill level. The best way to grow is to learn from others. You need to find anglers to get connected with and go fish together. Hands down this is the most effective method for growing in the sport, and that’s where our app can really benefit you.
Fly Fishing Guide
We designed the app to give you access to anglers all across the country. Wherever your next trip takes you, plan it with confidence. Making the right connections in the sport of fly fishing will take you places. The FlyFishFinder app is intended to do just that. We are average fishermen ourselves, but we had a vision to build an app that could take anglers to the next level. This would involve more time for fishing, less time for researching. It would allow for easy connections, and a way to get out on the water faster. It would also allow for taking trips to some awesome fly fishing areas without the need to spend a ton of money every time.
Fly Fishing Apps Conclusion
We get it, there will always be some resistant to this idea of apps in fly fishing, but the thing to keep in mind is that you can’t stop progress. If not us, someone else will develop a similar app and they won’t have been so careful these past five years developing and engaging with the fly community to build something useful. We have been careful not to expose fly fishing, and especially not cause harm to the fish.
We hope to get to a point where users of our app can help benefit Trout Unlimited, Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership and other organizations to protect our beloved fisheries. Having a growing userbase, could provide boots on the ground feedback and sampling to these organizations that they otherwise wouldn’t have access to. Things like species and size sampling in various streams across the country. We are giving back to these organizations, and focused on leaving our waters better than when we found them. We have kids and want the legacy in the sport to carry on for them to enjoy these wild and sacred places as much as we did.
Check out our app user guide to get a sense of the functionality and how it can be of use to you!
For additional reading on methods for finding the best spots, check out this article
