Why we’re building an honest fishing app
Read the reviews of the big fishing apps and the same three complaints come up again and again. The spots people downloaded the app for are locked behind a subscription. The “forecast” is a number with no explanation. And the billing is a trap: a free trial that quietly turns into an annual charge, and a cancel button that is hard to find.
We fish public water in Montana and Alabama, and we wanted an app that did the opposite. So we wrote the rules down before we wrote the code.
1. Public data stays free
Almost everything a fishing app knows about a river comes from public agencies: USGS stream gauges, National Weather Service forecasts, state fish and wildlife access sites and stocking records. Taxpayers already paid for that data. Charging anglers to see it again is the part of the industry we like least, so the map, every spot and every piece of government data in Wet That Line are free, permanently.
2. Show the reasons, not just a number
Our conditions score is a set of simple rules from published angling factors: flow stability, pressure trend, air and water temperature, clarity, wind, clouds and the solunar period. Every score lists the factors behind it, like “Flow stable (412 cfs)” or “Pressure falling, pre-front bite window”. If you disagree with the score, you can see exactly why it says what it says. That beats trusting a black box.
3. Only charge for what costs us money
Some features cost us real money every time they run. Identifying a fish from a photo means a call to an AI model; downloading a whole state’s map for offline use means bandwidth. Those are the only things the optional subscription covers, and the free tier still includes a monthly allowance of each. Before we put anything behind a paywall, it has to pass three questions: does it really cost us per use, does the free app still work for a real trip without it, and would a reasonable angler feel deceived? One “no” and it stays free.
4. No ads, no billing tricks
There are no ads in the app or on this site. There are no auto-rolling trials, we warn you before any renewal, and cancelling takes one tap from inside the app.
Where we are
Wet That Line covers Montana and Alabama today, with more states to come. The spot map and live conditions are already on this site, free and with no sign-in: open the map. The iPhone and Android apps are coming soon. Questions or a spot we’re missing? Email support@wetthatline.app.