Keeping your fishing spots private
A spot gets out three ways: an app that shows your catch on a map, location data saved in your photos, and landmarks in the background. Check each app's catch privacy before you log, share photos without their location, and keep landmarks out of the frame. Global Fishing League never shows your catch locations to other anglers.
Check the app
Before you log a catch, find out who can see where it was made.
- Fishbrain lists "Exact catch locations" as a Pro feature: Pro members see the exact position of catches logged as public. Each catch has a privacy level; Fishbrain describes Public as showing "your exact catch position". Choose a more private level for a catch you want to keep to yourself.
- iNaturalist observations are public by default. You can set an observation's location to obscured or private.
- Global Fishing League never shows your catch locations to other anglers, never pools them into a hot-spot map and never sells them on. A league entry carries the fish and its proof, never the spot.
Location data in photos
Phones save the position in each photo file. Posting the original file can share it. On iPhone and Android you can share a photo without its location: look for the location setting in the share options or the photo's details, or turn off location for the camera.
What the background gives away
A distinctive dock, bridge, sign, building or skyline can place a photo as well as GPS can. Frame the fish against the boat, the bank or the water instead.
Questions and answers
What is spot burning?
Sharing a fishing spot, on purpose or not, so that other anglers find it and the pressure ruins it. Catch maps in apps and posted photos are the usual ways it happens.
Sources for this entry
- Fishbrain Pro "Exact catch locations", checked 5 November 2026.
- Fishbrain blog: the spot burner app Its catch privacy levels.
- iNaturalist: what is geoprivacy?
Keep reading
Cite this entry
Global Fishing League. “Keeping your fishing spots private.” Best Fish Identification, updated 9 November 2026.https://bestfishidentification.com/keeping-spots-private/