10 Best Fishing Apps 2023 – Fishing Apps Review
Fishing apps are becoming very important for anglers. Gone are days when you had to rely on tv weather reports to learn about the weather. Besides the weather, there are tons of other services that you can use from your cellphone. A lot of older people would argue that technology ruined a lot of fun, but not in this scenario. They are designed in such a way that they will not only enhance the experience of fishing but they will also act as a safety tool. I will be sharing some of the best apps for anglers on the market, which can be used on different types of fishing needs. Most of these apps are available for free, and some may need you to shell out a small amount of money to use them. Most of these apps are available on both Android and iOS.
Best Fishing Apps 2023
1. Fishbrain – local fishing map and Fishing forecast app
Fishbrain is a popular app used by millions of anglers. By using this app, anglers can share their fishing activity with other anglers, making it a giant social app for anglers. Over five million users use Fishbrain. This can be used as a fishing diary, map, forecast, social app, and more. You can use Fishbrain to find new places to fish around you. About three million catches are logged into the app, meaning you already have a massive list of places where plenty of fishes are there to be caught.
The fishing forecast and calendar feature can be used to determine the best time for fishing. This app covers over 130 species, including bass, trout, catfish, carp, and more. It can also provide recommendations about live bait, thanks to the real-life catches in the app. Besides discovering numerous fishing points, you can also join the conversation with your fellow anglers from the Fishbrain community. You can get a lot of pro fishing tips like choosing fishing tides, hooks, and other gears. In a nutshell, tons of features can be used to step up your fishing game. In a nutshell, this is one of the best fishing forecast apps on the market.
- Millions of anglers in the community
- Share your fishing activity
- Connect with like-minded anglers
- Three million caches logged
- Share fishing points
- Explore exact catch positions
- Connect and get angler friends
- Fishing forecast and calendar
- 130 plus species including common fishes like bass, trout, catfish, and more
- Personal statistics of your catches and more
- Discover hot fishing points
2. AccuWeather: Weather Alerts & Live Storm Radar
Every angler needs to know the condition of the weather before hitting the water. It is important to know the weather so you can be prepared for the weather. Different types of weather require you to prepare differently. For example, on a rainy day, you may need to wear a rain jacket. Accuweather is a great app to check the temperature, weather forecasts, accurate storms, and more. Accuweather also provides severe weather forecasts that will keep you safe. It has live weather 24/7, and you can check up to 15 days of weather in advance to prepare yourself properly. You can also add several places in the app to check the weather. It’s a top weather forecast app for anglers.
- Live weather forecasts
- Temperature in detail
- Severe weather warnings
- RealFeelTemperature technology
- Get local forecasts
- Check up to 15 days of temperature in advance
3. Fishidy: Fishing Hot Spot Maps, Reports & Tips
Fishidy is a great premium quality app for anglers. Just like the Fishbrain, Fishidy is also equipped with tons of features to make life easier for anglers. Fishidy is powered by Fishing Hot Spots, a trusted name for over 40 years, which offers comprehensive and reliable fishing maps. Using Fishidy, you will get access to extensively researched fishing tips and techniques that will help you step up your game. Fishidy is used by over one million users who can share their catches with community members. Besides taking a peek at the hotspots, you can also see which baits are working when and where. You can also log catches both privately and publicly. It allows you to track your most successful patterns — the researched waterway info like the fishery details, shoreline and stocking info, and more. The local fishing reports will help you know the fish are biting, customizable waterway activity alerts, and connect with others who are fishing nearby. It also comes with a premium option where you can unlock a lot of new features. To conclude, this is a great app for finding fishing locations.
- Discover the best fishing spots to cast a line
- Over 1 million Fishidy members
- Get access to publicly-shared catches and spots
- You can log catches and spots
- Track your most successful patterns
- Fisher details and insights
- Auto-capture weather conditions
- Local fishing reports
4. FishAngler – Fishing Maps, Forecast & Logbook App
FishAngler is considered one of the top apps available on the market for anglers. Once installed, you get instant access to fishing hotspots, nearby caches, and real-time fishing forecasts. Unlike some other apps, this is completely free with no hidden charges. You can explore GPS maps with millions of existing data points. The GPS map allows you to explore fishing maps that offer location, fish species, and detailed information about the catch. You can also save the GPS coordinate as waypoints and add photos or descriptions.
Besides that, you can also find the best possible time to catch fish with the robust fishing forecast designed by the FishAngler app. It comes with real-time 7-day marine forecasts with wind, wave, tide, and water temperatures. Just like most other apps provided in this list, you can also log and track your catches with over 45 catch attributes, including the real-time weather conditions. As previously mentioned, you can connect with other fellow anglers to get fishing tips, track or share your catches. This encourages and makes you feel good about fishing. The social news feed can be filtered easily to see the activity that matters most important to you. You can filter the activity by anglers, fish species, and bodies of water. You can also create or join fishing groups with anglers with the same interest. In a nutshell, this is a super powerful fishing app that can significantly change the game for you in a better way.
Besides this, you can also connect with other fellow anglers, chat with them, share fishing tips, share your catches, and do more. If you don’t own a fish finder that may have an advanced GPS feature, you can take advantage of FishAngler’s GPS fishing map feature. They have invested heavily to make it easier for anglers to check the fish locations, and shared fish species with detailed catch information. You can access the fishing spots, fishing reports, etc. You can also save GPS coordinates as waypoints to make it easier for you to navigate. If you want, you can even add photos, videos, and descriptions to these points.
If you are new to fishing, you should take advantage of their baits and lures suggestion. They have a feature that helps you discover the best baits and lures that are used to catch specific fish species near you. It just helps you stop the guesswork and see the aggregates catch while providing gear recommendations.
- Explore GPS maps which come with millions of data points
- Access fishing hotspots
- Fishing reports, photos, and more
- Save the GPS coordinates as waypoints with photos
- Fishing forecast: check the best to fish with hourly forecasts
- Share the catches and connect with like-minded anglers like you
- Get professional tips from fellow anglers
- Social newsfeed: several filters to filter information
- Create or join fishing groups with other anglers
- 33,000 fish species in the FishAngler database
- Completely free without any hidden charge
5. Google Maps
Where would we be without Google maps (or any digital map service)? In this era of modern technology, the navigation system has become more accessible and allows us to travel alone, even without knowing the route. A big thanks go to Google Maps as it will enable us to navigate faster and easier. Google map is enriched with over 200 countries and territories mapped with hundreds of millions of places on the map. If you are going to fish in the local pond, then you may not need the app as you already know the place. However, if you are planning to go to a remote lake, pond, or river to fish, you will definitely appreciate all the help you can get from Google maps. Technically, this is not a fishing app, but it suits the need of an angler. You can use Google maps to discover places and explore like a local. If you are going to a remote area where there is no mobile connection, you can download an offline map before heading out, and still use the GPS without the internet. That is a great feature that can come in very handy in remote areas. This service from Google is completely free and supports most smartphones, including Apple devices.
- Navigate faster and quicker
- Over 200 countries and territories mapped in google map
- Explore with ease
- Discover remote places
- Offline map: Use GPS even without internet
- Create a list of your favorite places and share with your friends
6. Navionics : Boating HD Marine & Lakes
Navionics is a trusted name when it comes to marine charts. Navionics Srl developed this Boating HD marine and Lakes app which comes with amazing features a true angler would love to use. Before we start, this is not a totally free app. They provide two weeks trial, and after that, you will have to purchase a subscription. You will be able to find charts for fishing, cruising, diving, and other water activities. The subscription provides access to chart layers for offline use, nautical chart, sonar chart, community edits, Active Captain community, and more. This app also provides a recommended route from a real starting point to a real ending point based on chart data and navigation aids. It offers route planning with ETA, distance to arrival, heading to waypoint, fuel consumption, and more. The advanced map feature allows you to have a customizable chart view to change overlay and highlight shallow areas. There are some other features like the weather & tides, plotter sync, and timeline. There are also other free features like creating your own 1’ (0.5 m) HD bathymetry maps. It works on both Android and iOS devices.
- Great for fishing, cruising, sailing, and diving
- Chart layers for offline use
- Sonarchart: 1’ (0.5 m) HD bathymetry map
- Community edits and activecaptain® community
- U.S. Government Charts (NOAA)
- Daily chart updates
- dock-to-dock autorouting
- Advanced map options: customize chart views to change overlay, highlight shallow areas, target multiple fishing ranges, and more
- Water and tides real-time data
- Free trial of two weeks
7. Fishing Calendar
Fishing is fun, but it can become boring if you are not catching enough fish. One of the reasons would be if you are not acting smart. This is where this fishing calendar app comes into play. This is an advanced Solunar prediction calendar that shows you the best fishing times for any location of your choice at any time. We all know that the best bite time is typically at dusk and dawn. In other words, during the fish feeding time. However, there are some other factors that can also determine when to cast to catch fish. The fishing calendar is designed in such a way that it is capable of helping you catch more fish with lesser effort. You will also get information about moonrise, moonset, moon overhead times, sunrise, sunrise times, and more. It is one of my favorite fishing apps on the AppStore.
- Prediction of the best fishing times
- Moonrise, moonset, and overhead moon times
- Moon phase
- Day and month view of fishing efficiency
- Prediction of the best fishing times
- Worldwide calendar for almost any location
- Both imperial and metric units
8. Fishing Points: GPS, Tides & Fishing Forecast
If you are not using a fish finder, you may still want to save and find your favorite fishing locations. This app is designed to help you save and favorite fishing locations, trolling paths, and trotlines. If you are connected to the internet, you can use Google Maps to navigate. However, if you don’t have internet, you can still use it via the offline map. No matter the types of fishing you do, you can still get benefitted from this app.
You can use this app to save fishing locations, hotspots, and waypoints. You can also record the trolling paths and trotlines. The GPS navigation system can be used to find the saved location. It also comes with a daily fish activity forecast, hourly waves forecast, sea temperature, sea currents, and more.
- Save and find your favorite fishing spots/locations
- Get the view from Google maps
- Offline maps
- Create fishing logs and save with photos, weight, and length of catches
- Weather, solunar, and tide information included
- Record trolling paths and trotlines
- Daily fish activity
- Sea temperature
- Sea current
- Feeding times (both major and minor times)
9. Fishing Knots
Besides knowing how to cast a line, it is also vital to know the fishing knots. Using the proper knot is very essential to keep your bait, lure, or fish on the line. You can learn how to tie a know using the traditional way: by taking help from a seasoned angler. If that is not the case, you can try learning it from youtube, internet sites, or from this app. This fishing app teaches you to tie the most important fishing knots like bimini twist knot, blood knot, clinch knot, and more. Since you will be taking your smartphone with you all the time, it becomes a pocket teacher and you can always pull up the date if you forget how to tie these fishing knots. Once installed, you will see that this fishing app uses both images and text to provide clear instructions. A lot of the knots are free to learn, but some of them have to be bought via in-app purchase. It has been optimized to be used in both smartphones and tablets.
- Learn fishing knots
- Visual illustrations of how to tie the knots
- Optimized for both smartphone and tablet
10. Fish|Hunt FL
If you are a resident of Florida, this app can come very handy to you. No matter if you are into fishing or hunting, you can reap the benefits of this app. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission allows anglers an hunters to purchase their fishing and hunting licenses online. You can access regulations, and pull up a copy of your current license if needed.Besides that, this free fishing app allows you to determine sunrise and sunset time based on the GPS location, access NOAA seas, weather information, and more. Unfortunately, this app does not work outside of Florida.
- Buy fishing and hunting license for Florida
- Pull up a copy of the current license
- Determine sunrise and sunset time
- Access NOAA seas and weather information
11. Fishing forecast
The fishing forecast is an android app designed to help the anglers be informed about the weather forecast and suitable weather conditions for fishing. You will find detailed weather and fishing forecast for the coming five days. On top of that, the forecast biting for more than 50 species of fish is a great option for most anglers. Besides the fishing forecasts, it also offers a lot of other cool features. There are three weather services to choose from in its collection. You will also find graphs of changes in weather characteristics, an RSS feed with fishing news, geomagnetic activity data, a lunar calendar, and more.
- Geomagnetic activity data
- RSS feed with fishing and hunting news
- Detailed weather and fishing forecast for five days
- The map can be labeled with routes
- Graphs of changes in weather characteristics
- Lunar calendar with the ability to take notes
12. Catfish Tactics and Secret Baits
If you are trying to catch catfishes, you need to check this android app. Catfish Tactics & Secret Baits is an android app designed to help anglers catch catfishes. Adeptures, the developer of this app, claims it to be the best app for anglers who want to know the tactics to catch catfishes. You will find a lot of information, including catfish types, catfish identification, tackle selection, secret baits, and catfish recipes. Besides these cool features, it also tells you where to look for the catfishes. Please note that this app is designed to help both the newbies and seasoned anglers. Check the best catfish rods.
13. Fishing Spots – Local Fishing Maps & Forecast
If you are looking for a fishing app that will help you with finding the local fishing spots, you are in luck! Fish Angler’s Fishing Spot is designed to help people find local fishing maps and also forecasts for the next seven days. It has been designed in such a way that it tells you the best times to fish. Thanks to their robust fishing forecast system, I have managed to catch a lot of fish in a short time. You can create a personal logbook with this app and keep a note of the details of every fishing trip. You can save the fishing spots as hotspots and waypoints as locations, log GPS coordinates, photos, and descriptions. You can use their advanced map filtering by catches, reports, spots, photos, etc.
The fishing forecast feature provides seven-day marine and land weather with hourly forecasts. You can also learn about water temperature, precipitation, humidity, barometric pressure, and more. Few fishing apps will provide detailed data like the real-time NOAA Marine buoy and USGS inland station monitoring wind, wave, tide, and water level flow rates. If you want to take advantage of the solunar forecast, you can do that with this app too! It includes the sun & moon forecast, moon positions, and astronomical phases.
If you are looking for a social network that caters to anglers only, this would probably be the best option available for you. They have a global news feed that gets posts from all of the anglers around the world. The local news fees focus on the anglers that reside in a radius of 10-500 miles around you. If I continue writing about this fishing app, I can go on forever, so I will just share the top features: virtual tackle box, fishing clubs & groups, fish species, etc.
These apps are designed to make life easier for anglers. Try to take a good look at the mentioned apps and see if they will help you with your type of fishing. Sometimes, a single app won’t be able to do all the tricks for you. In such cases, you may need to use several apps at the same time. Some of the apps listed in this article come with in-app purchases to unlock more premium features.
