When we decided to work on California as the third extension of FishExplorer.com I was eager to discover some new fishy places among the amazingly diverse waters from way up north to way down south. I have not been disappointed.
Welcome California anglers! FishExplorer.com is new to the Golden State but not new on the screens of avid anglers in Colorado, Texas, and Florida. The website began 5 years ago and has grown both in features and in community. It is a locally-focused freshwater resource, simply designed to help you get out and go fishing.
A bit of the back story: When I got my first boat I knew a few places close to home that I could take it, but knew very few beyond that. I wanted to catch wiper (hybrid stripers to most) and tiger muskie on a fly rod from the Whaler, and again knew of places close to home where I could hunt them down but little elsewhere. So my buddy Brian and I did a ton of research with the various managing agencies across the state and decided that all that legwork could be simplified in a website. Thus, FishExplorer.com was born.
We're about exploring the waters - finding new places to fish and new species to catch. We're about contributing core information updates such as water temperature and water levels so we can all get out and fish smarter without wasting time chatting on phones and Googling old forum posts. We're a catalog of information, a constantly updated resource, and most of all a community of ethical anglers.
I encourage you to get involved. The 50 or so lakes we have activated now in California are a fraction of what we could have. But we don't want things to get stale. It requires help keeping information and conditions updated. The answer? We have a position for you to get involved and help - what we call "
Skippers".
Skippers commit to keeping a lake or a few lakes up to date by posting conditions updates and reviewing those submitted by other members. If we get enough Skippers to keep things current, we can activate more lakes. So if you often fish or live near a lake we feature,
sign up to help. If your lake is not listed on FishExplorer.com, apply as a
Skipper anyway and let us know which lake you want activated. Together we can stay on top of those elements that matter most - what seasonal phase the fish are in and whether or not you can launch a boat.
Special thanks to Tim, Brian A., Dave C., Brian L., David M., and Joshua for all your help in getting the foundation of FishExplorer.com California built. It has been a big chunk to bite off, and I think you've done a superb job. Also I want to thank our core set of field editors, Mike, Joe, and Tod, that are embarking on this journey with us. It is all about the journey anyway, and what better way than to explore all that Cali fishing has to offer!
