Whether we like it or not, technology is making its way into fishing and we can either embrace it like many other sports do or neglect it. While I'm not advocating technology advancements in every aspect of angling, especially those that give anglers an unfair advantage, there are certainly ways to improve things many do every session by adopting advancements in tech.
I recently came across an awesome new fishing app called Tight Lines, which after using it once I was completely sold on. I received no financial reward for this review, I just had to share my thoughts on it. I really do believe it could improve your fishing sessions to help to catch you more fish, which is the main reason I originally took up my role at the Angling Times.
The Tight Lines app will be particularly useful for those anglers who like to make a record of their sessions. Think of it as a fishing assistant, once you log a catch report, the app will automatically complete the work for you, by taking down information such as moon phases, tide state, air pressure and location so you can create a full breakdown of exactly what went into the capture.
While it won't guarantee fish on the bank (and we are all waiting for that app) it helps you build a complete picture of any capture, allowing you to analyse and see if any patters emerge. I have always kept a log, especially for my sea fishing, and it is amazing how a certain tide around favourable weather conditions can drastically improve your chances of catching.
How it works
There are definitely times I have wished I recorded sessions I have forgotten about, but this app all but eliminates that happening as a quick snap does all the hard work for you!
The process really couldn't be any simpler, and thanks to its user-friendly nature, even if you aren't particularly tech savvy you can still use the app to its full potential. By simply taking a photo of your fish, or anything you else like a particular peg or swim, and then uploading it onto the app, as long as you have the location enabled on your phone the app automatically logs exactly where you caught and then uses data from weather outlets to record the conditions you caught it in, instantly.
If you don't happen to have signal or forget to upload the capture, the app will use the timestamp on the photo from your phone to collate the information regarding the conditions, which is incredibly helpful!
Don't worry about your reports being seen by other anglers or your data being used by third parties either, as it is all private to you!
Use it to improve it!
While noting down your fishing sessions is nothing new, the difficulty comes when you try to find information on past outings, before attempting to notice any patterns that saw an improvement in your catch rates. The Tight Lines app makes light work of this, and the more catch reports you log into the app, the better it works as the more data it has to analyse, the better it can start to build picture of what went into catching that fish. You can quickly navigate between months or years to find whatever information you might need in seconds.
After a while, the app can even make suggestions based on weather, tides or moon phases coming up that would be perfect to get out after certain species based on your previous sessions, allowing you to make the most of certain fishing windows that might be the most productive that week.
While you won't be able to take advantage of every session it suggests, it takes the legwork out of planning and looking on various apps to decide when to go, which, if you are short on time, can help you plan to utilise your time on the bank when the fishing could be at its peak for that week or month. This will help put more fish on the bank for you, as if nothing else, it really does improve your confidence while fishing which makes you fish better as a result.
Availability
The app is available on both Apple IOS and Android devices and comes with a 7-day free trial to allow you to get used to the app with no obligation to continue your subscription. If you do want to advance using the app, there is a £3.99 monthly fee or you can opt to pay annually for £29.99 which I think is very reasonable considering the time it saves you!
I would definitely advise you to take advantage of the free trial as using the app will help you decide if it is useful to you and how your angling can benefit from it. You can find out more information here...