Turn Your Phone Into A BOAT GPS on steroids
- By: Joseph Simonds
- on
Your phone already takes pictures, checks the tides, and probably distracts you more than it should.
But it can also record your fishing trips, organize your catches, save private spots, and help reveal the conditions that produce your best days on the water.
It is basically a fishing data cruncher in your back pocket.
Luke has been digging into these features and finding some amazing use cases.
Boat GPS on steroids?
Whatever we call it, this thing does some seriously cool stuff.
Here is how it works.
Featured Software:
What Are Routes in Smart Fishing Spots?
Routes help you map out a fishing trip before you hit the water.
Luke likes creating them on his computer because the larger screen makes it easy to study an area and mark the water he wants to explore.
As soon as he saves a route, it appears on his phone.
You can research an area from home, mark the zones you want to fish, and have that plan in your pocket when the trip begins.
What Are Fishing Tracks?
Routes show what you planned. Tracks show what you actually did.
Turn tracking on at the start of a trip, and Smart Fishing Spots records your movement throughout the day. Afterward, you can review the water you covered, compare your drifts, and see exactly where the action happened.
Luke recently used this while drift fishing for trout.
His track showed that most of the strikes came along the deeper outside edge of a grass flat, not on top of the shallow section. When he returned to the area, he could focus on the zone that had already produced fish.
That is much better than getting home and saying, “I think we caught them somewhere over there.”
What Information Does the Catch Log Save?
Every catch can become a private data point inside Smart Fishing Spots.
Depending on the information available with your photo, the app can organize catches using details such as:
- Date and time
- Tide cycle
- Wind direction and speed
- Temperature
- Barometric pressure
- Moon phase
- Lure and trip notes
You can upload catches directly to the tool or add photos through an Insider Community fishing report.
Either way, your personal catch pins stay private unless you deliberately share them.
Can Smart Fishing Spots Organize Older Fishing Photos?
Yes, and this is one of the coolest features.
If your old fishing photos contain time and location information, the app can place those catches on your private map. It can also retrieve the historical tides and weather from when each fish was caught.
Those forgotten photos sitting in your camera roll can suddenly become useful fishing information.
Instead of only remembering that you crushed the trout “a few summers ago,” you can see the month, tide, wind, conditions, and location associated with that trip.
How Does Your Catch History Help You Find Patterns?
Once you build a catch history, you can filter it by month, tide cycle, wind, temperature, pressure, moon phase, and other conditions.
That helps answer questions like:
- Where do I consistently catch redfish in August?
- Which areas produce during an incoming tide?
- What wind direction has been best for trout?
- Where have I caught fish under conditions similar to today?
Most anglers save spots.
This lets you save the story behind each spot.
A waypoint tells you where something happened. Your catch history helps explain when and why it may have happened.
Are Your Fishing Spots Private?
Yes.
Your routes, tracks, waypoints, and catch pins are private by default. Other members cannot see them unless you choose to share something.
Private member catches are also NOT used to generate the recommended Smart Spots inside the app.
Smart Spots are built separately using areas evaluated by fishing professionals. The system considers factors such as season, tide cycle, wind direction, and current conditions to highlight promising areas.
You get the benefit of Smart Spots while keeping your personal fishing history private.
Can You Access Your Fishing Data From Different Devices?
Yes. Your information is connected to your profile instead of being trapped on one piece of equipment.
You can study an area on your computer, save a route or waypoint, and access it from your phone. Your tracks and catches stay with you whether you are fishing from your boat, a friend’s boat, a kayak, a paddleboard, or from shore.
For Luke, that was a huge benefit. Instead of installing another expensive unit on his paddleboard, he can use the same fishing information he has already saved in Smart Fishing Spots.
Is Smart Fishing Spots Only for Beginners?
Not even close.
New anglers can use it to shorten the learning curve, but the trip planning and catch analysis tools are valuable for experienced fishermen, too.
Professional captains and highly accomplished anglers are already using the app to organize information, study patterns, and preserve what they learn from every trip.
It is not about whether you are a beginner or a pro.
It is about using better information to catch more fish consistently.
How Do You Start Using Routes and Tracks?
Try this on your next trip:
- Study the area inside Smart Fishing Spots.
- Create a route showing the water you want to explore.
- Add private waypoints to interesting areas.
- Turn on tracking when the trip begins.
- Save your catches.
- Review everything afterward.
Every trip adds more information to your private fishing history and makes the app even more valuable.
If you are already an Insider member, open Smart Fishing Spots and start playing around with routes and tracks.
If you are not a member yet, click here to learn more.
Final Thoughts
The best fishing tools are the ones that help you learn from every trip.
Smart Fishing Spots does more than save a few pins on a map. It helps you record where you fished, connect catches with real conditions, and recognize patterns you might otherwise miss.
The more you use routes, tracks, waypoints, and the catch log, the more valuable your personal fishing history becomes.
What Smart Fishing Spots feature should we break down next? Let us know in the comments!
Related categories:
STOP WASTING TIME ON THE WATER!
Do what the “SMART ANGLERS” are doing and join the Insider Club.
Here’s what you’ll receive today when you join:
- Weekly fishing reports and TRENDS revealing exactly where you should fish ever trip
- Weekly “spot dissection” videos that walk you through all the best spots in your area
- Exclusive fishing tips from the PROS you can’t find anywhere else
- Everything you need to start catching fish more consistently (regardless if you fish out of a boat, kayak, or land).
STOP WASTING TIME ON THE WATER!
Do what the “SMART ANGLERS” are doing and join the Insider Club.
Here’s what you’ll receive today when you join:
- Weekly fishing reports and TRENDS revealing exactly where you should fish every trip
- Weekly “spot dissection” videos that walk you through all the best spots in your area
- Exclusive fishing tips from the PROS you can’t find anywhere else
- Everything you need to start catching fish more consistently (regardless if you fish out of a boat, kayak, or land).
Any chance that the future may hold the use of your phone microphone to dictate inputs as opposed to typing?
Maybe i missed it. Your catch gets logged with pic and weather, tide, etc. In the filter section it shows the date and number on catches on that month.
Question: how do i go back into the data and say, pic a month and see what the weather and tides and moon were for that catch?
So, in future i can pick a date and or tide and see if that area produced
Does this system work for fishing for walleye in Kansas?
Thanks guys! This is an awesome feature on the Smart Fishing Spots !
Well unfortunatly just like I commented on this article i really don’t use smart spots app anymore because I fish the same locations year after year and have for going on 24 years now but was curious to see if the app had changed and even after the app requested me to upgrade it it still DOESN’T show my catch logs from 2024 and older it STILL cuts off my fishing reports mid sentence because like I also said before because the smart spots app wasn’t around 2 years ago or was still in the very beginning stages all ones older reports from 2024 and older are not complete yes the tide phases as well as the moon phases are all there my detailed fishing reports are not complete and only a few sentences are there and to me I use my detailed reports much more then the other things the app lists because I also mention ALL these important details in my very detailed report like I do with ALL my fishing reports I post in the community so inbreality I personally donot see how the app has really changed in the last few months when I had this trouble with it and reported it before just saying just goes to show you how much the computerized world we now live in is very flawed but thats why I rely on my old school thinking and not a computor or phone to tell me what’s right or wrong and yes it may not be even close to being as fast but its definatly more reliable and that works for me just fine enough said🤔
The drawback is being in an area of limited cell service. Where I fish the cell service is basically non existent. Ditto with using Smart Spots on the water.
My cardiologist said if I need 1000 waypoints ,that my life is too complicated lol
This is a great tool and it just gets better! Lots of thought and planning went into all this, thank you.
Thanks for providing great info and utilizing the APP
I guess I do things to much the old fashioned way because to me common sence tells me that NO I donot like steroids and would never use or even attempt to use them if I don’t know about them but I guess in todays world where common sense doesn’t exist anymore I guess people think its cool anyways just commenting on your beginning statement in this podcast you did but whatever you believe what you believe and I’ll stick with my old ways that have kept me safe from harm like my father taught me when I was growing up but my main comment is after talking to one of your smart spots app technician Edger jardens he told me that because alot of my old photos that were taken on fishing trips that were taken BEFORE smart spots app was invented that they would NOT show all of my report like I posted about this a while back because I was noticing that my reports from 2023 and older the report was cutoff mid sentence and the whole report could not be viewed so unless you changed this thats what I was told now since then which happened several months ago I haven’t even used the smart spots app because I don’t travel far to fish I know all my areas very well considering I have fished them for going on 24 years now and because unlike most of the saltstrong members that seem to love the heat and only fish during the daytime I exclusively fish the weekdays at night when everyone else is asleep until they have to get up and go to work unlike me again that’s 100 percent retired so in reality I really don’t need the app like other anglers do plus the fact that I have found that in alot of times its way off in showing productive areas to fish many of my trips in spots that the app marked excellent to hot these spots were void of bait birds and fish and vice versa as well in alot of areas marked poor I slayed the fish there to me your app is in reality a guideline good for very unskilled beginners but should not be relied on 100 percent accurate because anything man-made is flawed and NEVER perfect just like computors to me using common sense and more time on the water will in reality make anyone a better angler not fancy apps or even the best equipment think about it in any sport an professional athlete didnot become that way by reading or looking at info on how to be the best player in the sport they love it took practice practice and more practice along with learning from there mistakes and in fishing its no different sorry not trying to put down your app just being real and saying what I have found because I ONLY speak for myself and what others think and do is there buissness thanks for your input and all you do🤔😉👍