⚠ Fishbrain was acquired by a government licensing company — Nov 2023

Fishbrain sold
your spots.
Yours stay yours.

CastLog is the fishing journal that learns your patterns, keeps your spots private by default, and tells you exactly why you caught what you caught. Built by an angler — not a VC, not a licensing company.

247 anglers already waiting  ·  Free forever for core features
8:31🔋
Your Journal · DM Sans
Tight Lines, Wyatt!
47Catches
12lb 3ozPersonal Best
6Species
All
Bass
Walleye
Crappie
Pike
Largemouth Bass4 lb 2 oz
Lake Macatawa · Oct 14, 2023
🎣 Ned Rig ☁ Overcast 🌡 84°F
Smallmouth Bass2 lb 8 oz
Grand River · Oct 12, 2023
🎣 Drop Shot ☀ Sunny 🌡 81°F
Walleye3 lb 1 oz
Lake Macatawa · Oct 11, 2023
🎣 Crawler 🌥 Cloudy 🌡 58°F
8:31🔋
🔒 Private by Default
My Spots.
Tap a pin
Bridge Pilings🔒
Lake Macatawa · 7 catches
North Flat🔒
Muskegon Lake · 3 catches
8:31🔋
AI Identifier
Fish ID
Point your camera or upload a photo.
🐟
✓ Identified
94% match
Largemouth Bass
Micropterus salmoides
Freshwater Game Fish Common
📋 Local Regulations
Min Size14 inches
SeasonYear-round
Bag Limit5 per day
LocationW. Michigan
Always verify with MDNR before keeping
Log This Catch →
Release
↩ Not right? Try again

THE PROBLEM

Every fishing app is broken
in the same ways.

🔥

Spot Burning

Share a catch and your secret pond shows up on 14 million maps. Fishbrain even strips GPS from your photo metadata — even when you think you're posting privately.

"After 8 months of posting, strangers were approaching me at my spots. I burned 3 locations."
💸

Paywalled Basics

Log your own catches? That'll be $9.95/month. They locked features you already had behind subscriptions — not new ones. Your own data, held hostage.

"Why am I paying $120 a year to see my own data?" — App Store review
📱

Social Feed Nobody Wants

Serious anglers want a data tool, not Instagram for fish. Cluttered feeds full of ego posts designed to keep you scrolling — not to make you better.

"It's ego posts from beginners. I just want my own stats." — Reddit

Logging Takes Too Long

Wet hands, 8 fields to fill, fish flopping. By the time you've logged it, you've missed the next strike. Apps should disappear when you need them most.

"I gave up after three trips because logging felt like homework."

8:31🔋
Your Journal · DM Sans
Tight Lines, Wyatt!
47Catches
12lb 3ozPersonal Best
6Species
All
Bass
Walleye
Crappie
Pike
Largemouth Bass4 lb 2 oz
Lake Macatawa · Oct 14, 2023
🎣 Ned Rig☁ Overcast🌡 84°F
Smallmouth Bass2 lb 8 oz
Grand River · Oct 12, 2023
🎣 Drop Shot☀ Sunny🌡 81°F
Walleye3 lb 1 oz
Lake Macatawa · Oct 11, 2023
🎣 Crawler🌥 Cloudy🌡 58°F
Largemouth Bass5 lb 0 oz
Muskegon Lake · Oct 9, 2023
🎣 Spinnerbait☁ Overcast🌡 62°F
Screen 01 — Your Journal
THE DATA STORY

Your personal fishing
journal. Finally intelligent.

Every cast tells a story. CastLog records species, weight, bait, weather, water temp, and location — and over time learns what makes you specifically catch more fish.

Why this beats Fishbrain's logbook: Your data is private, yours forever, and the app actually learns from it — instead of feeding it into a corporate data pipeline.

Screen 02 — My Spots
THE PRIVACY STORY

Your honey holes.
Private by default.

The East Cove Weedline. Bridge Pilings. North Flat. Your spots took years to find. CastLog keeps them locked — not shared, not harvested, not fed into a government licensing data pipeline.

  • 🔒
    Private by default — not opt-in privacyEvery spot is locked unless you explicitly share it. No accidental exposure.
  • 🚫
    No GPS stripping from photo metadataFishbrain extracts coordinates from your photos automatically. CastLog never does this. Ever.
  • 📍
    Rich spot notes built over timeSpawning beds in May. Ned rig parallel to edge. Your knowledge compounds.
The Fishbrain betrayal: Acquired by Aspira — a company that sells fishing license data to state agencies. Your catch locations are now part of that conversation.
8:31🔋
🔒 Private by Default
My Spots.
Bridge Pilings🔒
North Flat🔒
8:31🔋
🔒 Private by Default
My Spots.
Tap a pin
Bridge Pilings🔒
North Flat🔒
8:31🔋
🔒 Private by Default
My Spots.
East Cove WeedlinePrivate
12 catches · Start date Apr 2023
Bridge Pilings🔒
7 catches
North Flat🔒
Muskegon Lake
8:31🔋
AI Identifier
Fish ID
Point camera or upload a photo.
🐟
✓ Identified
94% match
Largemouth Bass
Micropterus salmoides
FreshwaterGame FishCommon
📋 Local Regulations
Min Size14 inches
SeasonYear-round
Bag Limit5 per day
LocationW. Michigan
Always verify with MDNR before keeping
Log This Catch →
Release
↩ Not right? Try again
Screen 03 — Fish ID
THE SPEED STORY

Yes, other apps have
Fish ID. Not like this.

Fish ID is not new. But CastLog's is faster, more accurate, and connected to something actually useful: your exact local regulations, pulled by GPS — right when you need them.

The real differentiator: Fish ID connected to local regulations and a private catch log — not a public social feed that burns your spots.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Fishbrain betrayal,
year by year.

2018
SoftBank money enters the picture
Fishbrain raises $13.5M from B Capital & SoftBank. The app shifts from "community for anglers" to "product that needs to return VC money."
March 2021
$31M raise — paywalls begin immediately
Features users already had — statistics, private posts, catch zoom — get locked behind subscriptions. Not new features. Existing ones.
December 2021
Fish Rules acquired. Aspira partnership signed.
Fishbrain acquires Fish Rules and partners with Aspira — North America's largest fishing license software provider. Anglers are now a data pipeline.
November 2023
Fishbrain acquired by Aspira. Mission over.
The app built "for anglers" is owned by a B2B government licensing company in Dallas whose core business is selling hunting and fishing permits to state agencies.
THE HONEST COMPARISON

CastLog vs. Fishbrain

Feature
CastLog
Fishbrain (post-acquisition)
Private spots by default
No GPS harvesting from photos
Core logging — free forever
✗ ($9.95/mo)
Personal AI insights
Generic only
AI fish identification
✓ Faster
Inline local regs by GPS
Pro only
Owned by anglers, not a corp
✗ (acquired Nov 2023)
No social feed clutter
Personal stats — always free
✗ (locked)
"
"You learn more by not catching fish than catching them — but only if you've been keeping track."
— The CastLog Philosophy
JOIN THE WAITLIST

Stop leaving data
on the water.

Early access members get Pro Insights free for 3 months. No credit card. No spot burning. No corporate data pipeline.

Free forever for core features · No credit card · No spam, ever
Private spots by default
AI Fish ID included free
Local regs auto-pulled
3 months Pro Insights free