User Guide

Everything you need to get started with FishON! Pro and make the most of your fishing data.

Getting Started

FishON! Pro is a private fishing journal that aggregates real-time environmental data from five U.S. federal agencies. Everything you enter is stored on your device and visible only to you.

  1. Download FishON! Pro from the App Store. No account is required. Android coming soon.
  2. Grant location access when prompted (optional but recommended — helps center the map and find nearby weather stations).
  3. Create your first River — this is the top level of your hierarchy (e.g., “Deschutes River”).
  4. Add a Section under that river — a distinct stretch of water you fish (e.g., “Lower Deschutes - Maupin”).
  5. Drop a Location pin within the section — your specific fishing spot. FishON! Pro will discover nearby gauges and weather stations to link.
Tip

You can also long-press the map to drop a location pin directly, then assign it to a river and section.

Adding Locations

FishON! Pro organizes your water using a three-tier hierarchy that mirrors how anglers think about their spots:

River

The top-level container. Can represent a river, lake, bay, estuary, or any body of water. You create and name these yourself — there's no pre-built list. Most anglers have 3–8 rivers.

Section

A distinct stretch within a river. Each section can have its own regulations, access notes, permit info, and fishing report links. Sections contain one or more locations.

Location

Your specific fishing spot with GPS coordinates. Each location is linked to nearby data sources:

  • USGS stream gauges — flow (CFS), gage height, water temperature
  • NWS weather stations — air temp, wind, humidity, barometric pressure
  • NOAA tide stations — tide height, trend, next high/low
  • Bureau of Reclamation sites — reservoir releases, outflow temp
  • NDBC buoys — wave height, water temp, wind

When you add a location, FishON! Pro automatically discovers available data sources within range. Select the ones relevant to your spot, and live data starts flowing immediately.

Location Types

River
Freshwater river — USGS gauges + NWS weather
Tidal River
Tidal influence — USGS + NOAA tides + NWS
Estuary
Mixed water — NOAA tides + NWS + NDBC
Coastal Bay
Saltwater — NOAA tides + NDBC buoys + NWS

Live Conditions

Each location card displays real-time conditions from all linked data sources. Data updates automatically — pull to refresh for the latest readings.

What Each Metric Means

Flow (CFS)
Cubic feet per second — volume of water passing the gauge. Higher = more water.
Gage Height (ft)
Water level at the gauge. Useful for wadeability and drift boat decisions.
Water Temp (°F)
From USGS gauge or Bureau of Reclamation sensor. Critical for fish activity.
Flow Trend
Rising, falling, or steady — shown as arrows. Calculated from recent readings.
Barometric Pressure
From NWS. Falling pressure often triggers fish activity.
Tide Height / Trend
Current tide level and whether it's incoming or outgoing. From NOAA CO-OPS.

5-Day Flow Chart

Each location with a linked USGS gauge shows a 5-day flow history chart. This helps you see trends — is the river rising from snowmelt? Dropping after a rain event? The chart gives context that a single number can't.

Catch Logging

When you log a catch, FishON! Pro automatically captures a complete conditions snapshot — fetching current data from every linked source at that exact moment. This snapshot is permanently attached to your catch record.

What Gets Captured

  • Species, method (fly/spin/bait), lure or fly pattern, notes
  • Up to 5 photos per catch
  • River data: flow, gage height, water temp, flow trend
  • Weather: air temp, wind, humidity, barometric pressure, cloud cover
  • Tide data: height, trend, next high/low (if applicable)
  • Timestamp and location

Offline Logging

No cell service? No problem. FishON! Pro saves your catch immediately with a “needs backfill” flag. When your phone reconnects, conditions data is automatically fetched and attached. Weather data is available up to 7 days back.

Backdated Catches

You can set a custom date and time when logging. FishON! Pro will attempt to fetch historical conditions for that timestamp.

Other Log Types

  • Field Observations — sightings, water conditions, or behavior notes without a catch. Great for tracking rising fish, baitfish activity, or unusual conditions.
  • Trip Reports — longer-form session summaries covering a full outing. Includes fish count, duration, quality rating, and notes.

Activity Log

Your complete fishing record in one searchable timeline. Every catch, field observation, and trip report across all locations.

View Modes

  • List — chronological feed of all activity
  • Calendar — see which days you fished at a glance
  • Map — all activity plotted geographically

Filtering

Filter by activity type (catches, observations, trips), species, location, date range, or search by keyword across all entries.

Rankings & Scoring

The “Where to Fish Today” screen scores every location on a 0–100 scale and ranks them from best to worst. Each score comes with a plain-language narrative explaining why.

How Scores Are Calculated

  • Preference Match (0–40 points) — How well current conditions match your stated ideal ranges: flow vs. ideal range (20 pts), water temp vs. ideal (10 pts), flow trend preference (10 pts).
  • Catch Correlation (0–30 points) — Activates after 3+ catches at a location. Compares current conditions to conditions when you've actually caught fish.
  • Data Confidence (0–30 points) — Is the primary gauge online? Is data fresh? Are readings complete? Penalizes locations with stale or missing data.

Score Ranges

80–100
Prime — conditions are dialed
60–79
Good — worth the drive
40–59
Fair — manageable but not ideal
20–39
Poor — consider other options
0–19
Not Recommended — skip today
Tip

Set your ideal flow ranges and water temp preferences for each location. This immediately improves scoring accuracy, even before you've logged any catches.

Golden Conditions

As you log catches, FishON! Pro correlates your success with the environmental conditions captured in each snapshot. Over time, it discovers your personal golden conditions — the exact combination of flow, water temp, weather, and barometric pressure that puts fish on your line at each specific location.

This isn't a generic algorithm. It's built from your catches, at your spots, under your conditions. The more you fish and log, the smarter it gets.

How It Works

  1. Log catches consistently — the conditions snapshot is captured automatically every time.
  2. After 3+ catches at a location, the catch correlation engine activates.
  3. FishON! Pro compares current conditions against the conditions present during your successful catches.
  4. Locations where current conditions closely match your historical catch conditions score higher in the daily rankings.

Per-Species Profiles

Golden conditions are tracked per species at each location. If you fish for both steelhead and trout at the same spot, FishON! Pro learns separate condition profiles for each.

Offline Maps

FishON! Pro lets you download USGS National Map satellite imagery for offline use. Essential for backcountry water with no cell service.

How to Download

  • Navigate to a section and tap the offline maps option
  • Choose the area to download — by section bounds or custom region
  • Tiles are downloaded at zoom levels 10–16 for detailed coverage
  • No size cap — limited only by your device storage

Managing Storage

View storage usage per section in Settings → Storage. You can delete individual section tiles or clear all cached tiles to free space. Tiles are stored locally in the app's Documents directory.

Data Management

iCloud Sync

Available with Angler and Guide tiers. Syncs your data across your Apple devices via your personal iCloud account. We never have access to your synced data.

Export

Available with Angler and Guide tiers. Export your entire fishing journal — locations, catches, observations, trip reports, and preferences — as a single JSON backup file for full data archival or device migration.

Privacy & Telemetry

FishON! Pro is a private fishing journal. Everything you enter is visible only to you. There is no social feed, no leaderboards, and no data sharing.

For full details, see the Privacy Policy.