Fishing apps can make a huge difference in your success on the water. They help by providing detailed information about:
- Best fishing spots
- Ideal fishing times
- What lure to use, at what depth and speed (trolling)
- Tide times, weather and water conditions
- Fishing knots & techniques
- Local fishing regulations
We’ve put together this list of our favorite fishing apps grouped in categories to help you find the perfect match for your needs.
Fishing Forecast Apps
Fishing forecast apps use weather data, solunar patterns, as well as historical information in order to give you an accurate prediction of when fish will be active.
Plus, you often get insight from other anglers who share their favorite spots, photos and experiences.
1. Fishing Points
Rating: 4.4 Downloads: 5M+
The Fishing Points app allows users to save their favorite fishing locations, hotspots, and waypoints and provides GPS navigation to these saved locations.
The app also features:
- fish activity forecast
- current weather conditions
- hourly weather forecast
- tide prediction charts
[Fishing Points] is clever and accurate, finding the best fishing bite times using tide prediction, lunar and weather forecasts. It also has a full range of location and weather-related functions.
Price: FREE
2. Fish Angler
Play Store Rating: 4.6 Downloads: 1M+
Fish Angler is a mapping, social networking, and weather app all in one.
You get detailed maps of the best fishing spots, including underwater topography, satellite imagery, and up-to-date weather updates.
It also lets you to keep a fishing journal to track your catches and connect with other anglers to share tips, advice, and stories.
I’m glad I found it, because it brings together in one place so many of the things I need when planning a fishing trip.
Price: FREE
3. Fishing Forecast
Downloads: 100K+
Fishing Forecast offers lots of features to make your angling experience successful, including current pressure, wind speed, humidity and cloudiness up to five days ahead.
The app also includes bite times tailored to each fish species so you know when the best time is for catching. There is also a large educational section where you can learn about fishing rods, knots and hooks to take your fishing game up a notch.
Price: FREE
Fishing Forecast in Google Play
Fishing Social Networks
4. FishBrain
Rating: 3.8 Downloads: 5M+
Fishbrain is very useful for identifying what other fishermen are reeling in, the techniques they’re using and who might be fishing your local waters. To improve your chances even more, you can upgrade to Fishbrain Premium which includes access to real-time fishing forecasts featuring heat maps that detail where fish will likely bite based on water depth and atmospheric conditions.
Price: FREE
5. Fishsurfing
Rating: 4.6 Downloads: 500K+
Fishsurfing is a global fishing community where you can post pictures or clips from your past catches, all organized by country/region, fish species and type of fishing.
It has a dedicated blog section with 18 language translations for more accessible world-wide content-sharing.
And lastly an interactive map that guides you towards private spots & resources such as local professionals, and shops with fishing gear.
Bass Fishing Apps
6. BassForecast
Rating: 4.5 Downloads: 100K+
With BassForecast, you can quickly find the ideal days and times for fishing in your exact location. It even provides advice on which lures to use so that you get the most out of each day.
It’s pretty accurate, which surprised me.
It accurately predicted the winning patterns of recent tournaments.
Thanks to this app, planning ahead has never been easier – all it takes is one glance at your calendar before deciding when best to hit the water!
Price: FREE
7. Major League Fishing
Downloads: 50K+
With the Major League Fishing app, you can watch top-tier live coverage both in and out of the water during Bass Pro Tour events and at each MLF BIG5 event.
Price: FREE
Download: Google Play | App Store
Fly Fishing Apps
8. Fly Fishing Encyclopedia
Rating: 4.5 Downloads: 50K+
This great app is the result of over five years of work to compile Dick Wildblood’s vast knowledge and experience.
Despite its slightly dated looks, we find it very easy to navigate and extremely useful whether you’re new to fly fishing or a pro.
Price: FREE
Download: Google Play | App Store
Saltwater Fishing Apps
9. Fish Rules
Downloads: 100K+ Price: FREE
Fish Rules lets you understand all of the recreational saltwater fishing regulations from Maine, New York and Florida, right up through Texas, California, Hawaii and even overseas in the Bahamas or Caribbean.
It tells you whether that particular fish is currently in season; how many can be kept; minimum size requirements – everything!
Very helpful for bottom fishing when you have aggregate limits for various bottom species.
Remember to check for new regulations from time to time to keep your app up-to-date.
10. FishTrack – Fishing Charts
Downloads: 50K+
FishTrack offers detailed charts of the main offshore fishing regions.
They include:
- High-resolution sea surface temperature (SST)
- Chlorophyll imagery
- Oceanographic data
The SST charts are updated several times a day for maximum accuracy.
Price: $79.99/year or $14.99/month
Download FishTrack – Fishing Charts
Fishing Knot Apps
11. Fishing Knots
Rating: 4.8 Downloads: 1M+
Fishing Knots is a great app with a wide selection of knots for any fishing need.
Highly recommended for anyone looking to master the art and science of knotting!
The ads can be a little annoying, but you can disable them when you buy the PRO version.
Price: FREE
Download: Google Play | App Store
12. Useful Fishing Knots
Rating: 4.5 Downloads: 500K+
If you have an Android phone, this is another great app for fishing knots.
Price: FREE
Get Useful Fishing Knots for Android
Trolling Fishing Apps
13. Precision Trolling Data
Downloads: 50K+
By utilizing a scuba diver to make passes, Precision Trolling Data guarantees the most reliable and precise data possible – instead of relying on “calculated” numbers.
Clearly this process is incredibly labor-intensive, so each lure’s information comes at an extra cost.
Easy to use, gobs of lures included. I trust all the crankbait info.
Price: 1 lure FREE, Pay for more lures
Download Precision Trolling Data
14. Troll Master Depth Calculator
Downloads: 10K+
The Troll Master Depth Calculator app uses an algorithm that takes real-world testing and physics into account covering a wide selection of saltwater and freshwater lures.
New lures are added regularly.
Price: $49.99
Download Troll Master Depth Calculator
Ice Fishing Apps
15. Ice Report
Downloads: 10K+ Price: FREE
With Ice Report, you can share the ice conditions of your current location to other anglers in real-time.
The app keeps you up-to-date on lake ice thicknesses during winter fishing in colder climates.
Trout Fishing Apps
16. TroutRoutes
Rating: 4.2 Downloads: 10K+
The app helps you find trout streams.
It works offline, which is very useful when you have no service.
Price: FREE
Crappie Fishing Apps
17. Crappie Fishing – Crappie.com
Rating: 4.8 Downloads: 10K+
The Crappie Fishing app provides incredibly valuable information that helps crappie fishermen.
With limited time available for fishing trips, this resource can help you avoid unproductive areas and optimize your time on the water.
Price: FREE
Download: Google Play | App Store
Boating Apps
18. Navionics
Rating: 3.7 Downloads: 5M+
The Navionics Boating App is free to download, but you need to buy the charts of the specific area:
- USA – $14.99
- US & Canada – $21.99
- UK, Ireland & the Netherlands – $35.99
- Australia & New Zealand – $21.99
Once bought, these will unlock all features across all devices logged in with one shared Navionics account
The app is very user-friendly design, it takes only minutes for you to start plotting routes for navigation, and when out at sea you can easily follow them.
Price: Pay for individual charts
19. savvy navvy
Rating: 4.4 Downloads: 100K+
Although I don’t find it as user-friendly as Navionics, it’s also a solid app with good charts.
One unique feature is that it’s routing feature accounts for current and wind, which means a more accurate course-to-steer information.
Weather Apps
20. Windy
Rating: 4.8 Downloads: 10M+
Windy.com is an exceptional weather forecasting visualization tool that stands out for its speed and accessibility.
It has been recognized as one of the most accurate weather applications available today and can be downloaded free of charge on both iOS and Android platforms.
Don’t confuse Windy (windy.com) with Windy App (windy.app), which is also an excellent weather forecast app.
Price: FREE, $18.99 Premium
Download: Google Play | App Store
21. Windfinder
Rating: 4.4 Downloads: 100K+
It’s an excellent app for sea conditions and weather forecast.
It offers, among other features:
- accurate 10 day forecasts for over 150,000 locations
- an animated wind speed and direction map
- real-time weather reports
- a good selection of webcams (we love it!)
Price: FREE, $7.99 Pro
Conclusion
With these great tools, you’ll be able to plan smarter, catch more fish, and share your experiences with other anglers around the world.
Good luck out there!
