Picture this, you’re on your favorite river, you spot a nice trout sipping off the surface. After careful observation, you tie on a fly you think matches. Then you watch this fish for a few more minutes, cast, land your fly just ahead of the sipper, and much to your delight, it raises its head, opens its mouth and inhales your fly.
After a brief tussle, the beauty comes to the net, and you admire the spots and colors.
Maybe, you think to yourself, just maybe you’ve caught this fish before. Maybe last year or the year before, but you’re unsure, so you snap a photo to compare to previous catch photos from this river in your photo library and continue fishing upstream.
A science-worthy picture
That photo now has the chance to become a valuable tool for science thanks to the TroutSpotter program.
TroutSpotter is a fisheries management tool developed by Trout Unlimited, Conservation X Labs and onWater Fish. By harnessing the power of angler catch data, it uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to identify individual fish from angler-submitted photos.
By keeping a journal of fish caught with the onWater app and opting in to the TroutSpotter program, users contribute valuable data that supports conservation while connecting more deeply with their home waters. Every submission helps train TroutSpotter, improving future efforts to understand fish migrations, recapture frequency and population numbers to inform fisheries management and conservation strategy.
Participation by everyday anglers supports real-world restoration work and opens the door to deeper involvement in TU’s work.
The what and how
TroutSpotter is a free, first-of-its-kind angler science tool, and every angler who participates, helps improve its accuracy, supports expansion to additional watersheds and contributes valuable data that furthers TU’s mission to restore coldwater fish habitats.
To help, download the onWater Fish app, create a free account, navigate to the journal feature and opt in to the TroutSpotter program. Take photos once you’ve caught a fish, even if offline, and then create a journal entry. The AI system learns the spot pattern and other identifying characteristics and assigns the fish a number.
Catch data remains private and is shared only with conservation and restoration agencies and organizations.
Log your catches and support science
So now all you must do is go fishing, catch fish and responsibly take photos to minimize handling, exposure and stress. (i.e. keep your hands wet, keep the fish in your rubber-bagged net, lift quickly for a photo of its left flank and return to the water).
Every fish submitted to TroutSpotter helps improve the tool’s accuracy giving researchers more information to advance conservation and habitat protections.
Tell your friends and family you’re fishing for science, and just maybe they’ll want to help out as well.