Data Sources

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC)

Some Florida listings are derived from datasets published by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and its Fish and Wildlife Research Institute (FWRI) on the FWC GIS open data site. Source: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission – Fish and Wildlife Research Institute (FWC-FWRI).

• Public fishing piers, including their names and locations: Marinas Florida (metadata).
• Lakes, ponds and rivers managed as Fish Management Areas, including their names and locations: Fish Management Areas Florida (metadata).

Each dataset’s metadata record describes how the data was collected and its limitations. FWC provides the data as-is and makes no guarantee of its completeness or accuracy; FWC is not responsible for how it is used on this site.

State Fish and Wildlife Agencies

Public fishing piers, boat launches, shore fishing sites and public fishing waters in these states come from datasets published by each state’s fish and wildlife agency:

• Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) — fishing and boating access areas, and the fish PFBC lists for each water and its stocked and wild trout waters (PFBC boating access).
• Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources (KDFWR) — fishing access sites (KDFWR where to fish).
• Indiana Department of Natural Resources — fishing access sites (Fishing Access Sites).
• Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) — boating and fishing access sites (TWRA boating access areas).
• Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC) — public fishing waterbodies (AGFC where to fish).
• Minnesota Department of Natural Resources — public fishing sites (Minnesota Geospatial Commons), and the fish found in each lake from LakeFinder.
• West Virginia Division of Natural Resources (Wildlife Resources Section, GIS Unit) — public fishing access sites, public fishing lakes and stocked trout streams (WVDNR fishing).
• New Mexico Department of Game and Fish — fishing access sites and the sport fish listed for each (NMDGF fishing).
• Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks — fishing access sites, and fish distribution data from the Montana Fisheries Information System (MFISH) (FWP fishing access sites).
• North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission — public fishing areas, boating access areas and public mountain trout waters (NCWRC where to fish).
• Massachusetts Office of Fishing and Boating Access (Department of Fish and Game), via MassGIS — public access sites and the fish listed for each (MassGIS).
• Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC), via FirstMap — fishing access areas, small fishing ponds and designated trout streams (DNREC fishing).
• Idaho Department of Fish and Game — fishing and boating access sites, and the recommended fish for each water from the IDFG Fishing Planner (Fishing Planner).
• South Carolina Department of Natural Resources — public water access sites and the fish listed for each (SCDNR).
• Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife Resources Division — water access points and the fish listed for each (Georgia WRD where to fish).
• New York State Department of Environmental Conservation — recommended fishing lakes, ponds, rivers and streams and their fish, via data.ny.gov.
• Maryland Department of Natural Resources — public fishing angler access sites and their fish (Maryland DNR Fishing and Boating Services).
• North Dakota Game and Fish Department — managed fishing waters and their sport fish (NDGF where to fish).
• Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources — public fishing piers (Virginia DWR fishing).

How we use this data: we take each site’s name, location, water body and listed facilities (shore fishing, fishing pier, boat ramp) and, where the agency lists them, the fish found there. Where an agency publishes fish by water body rather than by site, we match a site to its water only when the match is unambiguous, and we record the fish exactly as specifically as the agency does (“trout” stays trout). We lightly clean names (for example, a site named only for its town becomes “Town Access”), assign each spot to the nearest sensible city, and write the short descriptions ourselves. Closed, private and unclear sites are left out. These changes are ours; the agencies have not reviewed or endorsed them.

Other Location Data

We also use these sources to place fishing spots on the map and in the right city:

• U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) for the locations of named lakes, rivers, bays and other water features.
• U.S. Census Bureau Gazetteer Files for city and town locations, and U.S. Census Bureau TIGERweb boundaries to place spots in the right city and state.
• Location data from © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the Open Database License, found through Nominatim.

Accuracy

Conditions change: piers close, access rules change and data can be out of date. Always check local regulations and current conditions before you go. See our Terms of Use for more. If you spot something wrong, please let us know.