TroutRoutes: Fly Fishing Maps 4+

Absolutely hate this update. It’s impossible to zoom in without changing the angle you’re viewing at (why would anyone want to view the map at an angle anyway??) and it always rotates so north isn’t at the top when you don’t want it to. Worst of all, the stream gauges are all gone. They still show in the legend, but you can’t actually use them on the map, and especially this time of year that’s a major feature!

Update: I should say that I figured out how to get the gauges back again, so that’s good at least, still a wonderful app but man, it’s way more difficult to use now.

Woofta. We will work on this.

After using trout routes for a couple weeks now (buying the subscription and all), I am mostly pleased with how this app operates. I’ve discovered streams and rivers across my state, and surrounding states, and it has assisted me in my journey hunting down the best streams and spots to go for trout. However, the entire time I’ve used the app, I only have a limited amount of time before it starts crashing. And when it crashes once, it doesn’t stop. I won’t know if it will only crash one time, or continue to crash when I open the app back up and try to select ANYTHING or move the map AT ALL. I’m sad that I have to give it such a low review, but I’m forced to do so after also not getting ANY response from the complaint I sent through the app/website. Overall, I’m sad I spent the money on this app to have nothing but disappointment most of the time after I have limited time actually being able to be inside the app without it crashing. I’d be glad to rate this app 5 stars if this issue can be fixed. I hope it does, because I don’t want to use Fishbrain. It just sounds stupid. Rant over

We’d love to try to figure out what’s going wrong with the crashes/freezing you are experiencing. Please contact us with details at support@troutroutes.com so we can help!

I used TroutRoutes premium as a primary way to plan my last fly-fishing trip. Here are some of the pros and cons.

Pros:
- a good starting place to highlight campgrounds, hikes, streams, creeks, and rivers
- good information on water levels if a dam is further up river
- multiple layer maps to help you determine the difficulty of accessing a point in the river

Now the bad:
- inaccurate stream info. At one point the River I was fishing— Watauga in western North Carolina— went way farther than the map suggested. Further up there was a public park that you could access the river that locals said was amazing to fish— wasn’t even included on the app. This leads me to…
- The parking suggestions are a joke. You CANNOT rely on this information. I probably wasted 2-3 hours PER DAY driving to a “parking spot” that had signs everywhere saying you couldn’t park there.
- inaccurate class information. Different classes were given than my state wildlife gave
- contains little information, tips, suggestions, or locations that quick google search couldn’t give you.

Ultimately, you’re better off using the free version to start your trip, but only if you’d like to find smaller, less popular streams— double edged sword may be that they are unpopular for a reason. Even popular rivers contain missing or inaccurate information on an area.

Save your money and buy a few flies at a local fly shop. Get tips and info from them.

Hi Ty,
Appreciate this thorough feedback here. Sounds like you had a poor first impression using the parking layers, and for that alone I’d be happy to offer a refund if you reach out to our support team.

But let’s dive into some specifics. We have the Watauga starting off in Inver Lochy Lake just above Hwy 185, which I think is correct. We have it ending on Hwy 321 based on NC Wildlife data, perhaps this is what you’re referring to? There are two fly shops on that river with probably 10-15 parking locations, most of which seem very legit in designated parks or pull-offs. I will say there is a prominent access point/park we have missing right on HWY321 (Watauga Gorge), which could be the park your referring to as well? Based on some of these findings our team is actively working on revamping the whole NC state for new access opportunities.

Lastly, I do want to mention we *do* have all of the NC regulations and classifications correctly in the app; this is an important feature that can be very valuable if you know where to look. When you tap on any river in the U.S., we display special regulations and local classifications. For the Watauga, you’ll see its Wild Trout Waters with special Delayed Harvest regs detailed in the stream card in the app. To visually see all of the regulations and classifications, we have a regulations layer mode that color codes them all based on local color schemes.

Hope all this helps, and thanks for the feedback. We continue to refine and improve our base layers based on helpful user feedback like this. -Zach