Rather, they provide an array of information for anglers to plan their trips and to aid them on the water with current stream flow readings, lake contours, traditional fishing holes, site-specific fishing regulations and personal GPS waypoints saved from the user’s previous outings, among other data.
Pope said TroutRoutes has already improved under onX’s ownership. Greater detail achieved by onX Maps can better instruct fly anglers on how to follow public land to lesser-used trout waters and shores. Even in remote valleys, the app provides reliable route guidance if the user downloads a map of the area while still in range of an internet signal.
TroutRoutes was the first fly angling app to map every trout stream in the U.S., Pope said. The app assigns fishing ratings to each one, from Gold or Blue Medal (elite) to Class 3 (least productive).
Now, with added tech and financial muscle supplied by onX, the app is being adapted for Apple’s CarPlay device. Pope said there are lots of other ways TroutRoutes will improve. His goal is to add features making the app top-rated in three ways: Where to go, when to go and how to fish when you get there. For now, the pricing for subscribers is straightforward: $60 a year for the whole plan. A minimalist version of the app can be downloaded for free.
“There’s lots of ways we can get there faster because onX has way more experience, way more capital,” Pope said.
For now, TroutRoutes is installed on about 500,000 phones, but only a fraction of the downloads are paid subscriptions, Pope said. The largest customer bases are in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Colorado, Montana and the Northeast, particularly Pennsylvania and New York.