Setting up CatchMate before your first session

1 — App Settings

Open Profile → App Settings. Work through each section below.

Appearance

• Theme — Choose Light, Dark, or System (follows your phone). Dark mode is recommended for early mornings and low-light conditions and uses less battery on OLED screens during long sessions.
• Weight Unit — Set this before you log a single catch. Choose lb / oz or kg / g to match how you weigh fish. This affects every weight entry screen, every stat, and every historical chart. If you change it later, existing catches display in the unit they were originally entered in, so getting this right from the start keeps your data consistent.

Session Features

These toggles control what appears during a live session. Enable only what you actually use — a leaner session screen is quicker to operate at the waterside.

• Species Recording — Records the species for every catch. Enables the species breakdown chart, species personal bests, and per-species weight analysis across all sessions. Recommended on for all anglers.
• Weight Entry — Prompts you to enter the weight of every fish in lb/oz or kg/g. Without this, only fish counts are recorded. Essential if you want weight-based statistics, keepnet totals, or personal best tracking. Recommended on.
• Keepnet Tracking — Tracks the running total of fish in your keepnet during a session. When enabled you can set a default keepnet count from 1 to 8 in App Settings — useful for matches where fish need to be distributed across multiple nets. Produces a live net weight display during the session and an end-of-session keepnet summary.
• Cast Tracking — Times each cast. When you cast out the stopwatch starts; when you reel in it stops. The app records how long each cast lasted and whether a fish was caught on it. Over time this builds a picture of your average cast duration and your catch-per-cast rate across sessions and venues. Recommended on if you want any cast-related analytics.
• Recast Alarm — Sets a recurring timer that alerts you when it is time to act — whether that is recasting a method or groundbait feeder, firing out a pouch of bait with a catapult, or topping up your swim with groundbait. Set a default interval (5 minutes through to 30 minutes) and choose your preferred alarm tone and volume in App Settings. The alarm repeats automatically until you dismiss it or end the session.
• Quick Log — Adds a one-tap species row at the top of the session screen. Tap a species name to log a fish without opening the full catch entry form, enter the weight in lb/oz or kg/g, and tap Log. Fastest option for match anglers logging fish quickly. Recommended on.
• Catch Timeline — Shows a live running list of every catch logged during the session, in chronological order, with time, species, weight, and rod (if using Rod Roost). Recommended on for a full session log.
• Photo Upload — Allows you to attach a photo to any catch entry. Photos are stored against the catch record and viewable in your catch history. Enable if you like to keep a visual record of notable fish.
• Voice Entry — Enables the Voice button during sessions. Tap and speak to log a catch — for example "Roach 1lb 4oz" — without touching the catch entry form. Also supports voice commands for cast timers and multi-rod line attribution. Recommended on if you want hands-free logging.

Rod & Tackle

• Rod Roost — Enables a tackle management system within each session. Add multiple rod setups, name each one, and switch between them during the session. Every catch is attributed to the rod that caught it, unlocking a rod-by-rod breakdown in your session stats. Required if you use more than one rod or rig during a session and want to know which setup performed best.
• Multi Rods — Enables the simultaneous rod count selector when creating a session (requires Rod Roost to also be enabled). When set to 2 or 3, each active line gets its own catch button and its own cast timer. Recommended for pleasure anglers fishing multiple rods at the same time.
• Tackle Profiles — Enables pre-saved tackle configurations (tackle type, hook size, hook length, hook length strength, line) that can be applied to a rod setup with a single tap. Saves time when starting a session and ensures your hook size and setup data is recorded accurately against every catch.
• Elastic Rating — Adds an elastic rating field to each rod setup. Useful for pole anglers who want to record which elastic they were using and compare performance across sessions.
• Max Rod Setups per Session — Sets the upper limit for how many rod setups can be added to a single session. Default is 8. Reduce this if you want to keep the rod selection screen tidy.

Bait & Feeding

• Bait Tracking — Adds a bait field to each catch entry so you can record what hookbait you were using when you caught the fish. Enables bait performance analysis across sessions — showing which baits catch the most fish, the heaviest fish, and produce the best results at specific venues.
• Groundbaiting — Adds a feeding log to each session. Record when and how much groundbait you cupped or threw in. Enables analysis of whether feeding activity correlates with catch rate.
• Bait Consumption — Records how much of a hookbait you used across a session. Useful for tracking cost-per-fish or monitoring bait efficiency over time.

Community

• Share to Feed and Leaderboard Opt-in — Control whether your session results appear on the CatchMate community feed and leaderboards. Set these according to your preference — they have no effect on your personal statistics.

2 — Build Your Library Before You Fish

The more you pre-populate the app, the faster session setup becomes and the more detailed your statistics will be.

Venues

Go to Venues and add every water you fish regularly. When you start a session and select a saved venue, your statistics are automatically grouped by water — so you can see your best days at each fishery, compare your catch rate across different venues, and track personal bests per location.

Adding a venue takes thirty seconds. Doing it before your session means you are not typing a venue name from a cold phone at the car park.

Tackle Profiles

Go to App Settings → Tackle Profiles and create a profile for every rig or rod setup you fish regularly. A profile stores:

• Tackle type (e.g. Method Feeder, Pole, Float)
• Hook type
• Hook size
• Hook length and strength
• Line name

When you start a session and add a rod setup, you can apply a saved tackle profile to that rod in one tap. All the hook and line details are pre-filled. This means every catch is logged with an accurate tackle record — unlocking tackle performance analysis in your session stats without any extra effort at the waterside.

Bait Presets

If you have Bait Tracking enabled, go to App Settings → Bait Presets and add your regular hookbaits (e.g. Pellet, Corn, Maggot, Worm, Meat). These appear as selectable options during catch entry rather than requiring manual typing every time. The more consistently you name baits the more useful the bait performance data becomes over time.

Groundbait Presets

If you have Groundbaiting enabled, go to App Settings → Groundbait Presets and add the mixes you use regularly. These appear in the feeding log during a session, making it quick to record each feed without typing.

3 — Use a Practice Session Before Your Stats Count

Before your first real session, it is worth running one or two dummy sessions to get comfortable with the layout, the buttons, and how the session screen is organised.

What to explore in a practice session

• Tap through the catch entry flow for different species and weights
• Test the Quick Log bar if it is enabled
• Try the cast timer — cast out and tap, reel in and tap
• If you have Rod Roost enabled, add a couple of rod setups and try switching between them
• Try the Voice Entry button and say a catch out loud

Customising the session layout

The order of tiles on your session screen — catch buttons, cast timer, timeline, keepnet display and so on — is fully configurable. To change the layout, go to App Settings → Session Layout. Here you can drag tiles into your preferred order and hide any tiles you do not use. Your saved order applies to every future session.

Do this before your first real session so the sections you reach for most are at the top of the screen. Many anglers prefer catch buttons first, cast timer second, and catch timeline below.

Species order

The order of species shown on your catch buttons and Quick Log bar can also be adjusted. In App Settings, find the Species Order option and drag your most-caught species to the top for the fastest possible logging at the waterside.

Deleting practice sessions

Once you are happy with the app and ready to start your real session history, delete any dummy sessions to restore your statistics to zero. To delete a session, open it from the Sessions list and tap the bin icon in the top-right corner. Deleting a session removes all its catches, cast records, and feeding logs from your statistics permanently.

Start your first real session with a clean slate.

Quick-Start Checklist

Before your first real session, tick off the following:

• Weight unit set correctly (lb/oz or kg/g)
• Species Recording on
• Weight Entry on
• Keepnet Tracking configured (if you fish matches or want net totals)
• Cast Tracking on (if you want cast duration analytics)
• Recast Alarm configured (if you fish feeders or regularly catapult bait)
• Voice Entry on (recommended)
• Rod Roost on (if you use more than one rod or rig)
• Tackle Profiles created for your main setups
• Bait Presets added (if Bait Tracking is on)
• Home venue saved in Venues
• Session Layout ordered to your preference in App Settings
• Practice session run and deleted

Once your settings are in place and your library is built, every session becomes faster to start and richer in data — giving you more useful insights into your fishing over time.