Conservation

An app that finds fish owes the fish something.

RiseCast makes trout easier to find. That is the point, and it is also the problem. These guardrails are built into the product, not printed on a page and forgotten.

An angler easing a rainbow trout back into clear water, hands wet, fish still in the current. — Kept wet, released fast, back in the current it came from.

Score caps in warm water

Above the thermal stress threshold the Fishability Score is capped and the warning replaces the number. A great August hatch does not get to read as a great day.

Windows shift to cool hours

As water warms, best-hours guidance moves toward early morning rather than pointing you at the warmest, most lethal part of the day.

Sensitive-water flags

Spawning closures, recovering populations, tribal and protected waters can be flagged. Flagged water cannot be shared through any RiseCast feature.

Location private by default

Nothing about your water is public unless you deliberately make it so, and aggregate views are snapped to a coarse grid.

The full stance

RiseCast Conservation Stance

Last updated 2026-08-03

RiseCast makes it easier to find fish. That carries responsibility, and these are the guardrails built into the product, not just words on a page.

Temperature stress

Trout caught in warm water often die after release even when handled well. RiseCast:

Shows a prominent warning on any stream where water temperature is at or above stress thresholds for the resident species (starting around 65 F for most trout, hard warning at 68 F).
Caps the Fishability Score during thermal stress. A warm afternoon in August will not score as "great fishing" no matter how good the hatch looks, and the app says why.
Best-hours guidance shifts toward cooler windows (early morning) as temperatures climb.

Sensitive water guard

Any user can propose, and RiseCast staff can set, a sensitive-water flag on specific streams or reaches (spawning closures, recovering populations, tribal or protected waters). Flagged waters cannot be shared through any RiseCast feature, and the app surfaces the reason.

Location fuzzing by default

Exact coordinates are private by default everywhere in the product. Shared and aggregate views (heat maps, circle sharing) use coordinates snapped to a coarse grid. Publishing exact locations is always an explicit, deliberate act by the person who owns them.

We do not sell spot access

RiseCast has no marketplace for spot access, and selling spots is not part of the product. We considered building one, on the reasoning that spot information already changes hands in guide fees, books, forums, and bar conversations, and that a market with rules is more accountable than a whisper network with none.

We decided against it. Putting a price on water applies exactly the kind of pressure this page exists to limit, and it sits badly next to a promise that your spots are yours. Sharing in RiseCast happens one way: you choose specific people, in a private circle, and nothing moves beyond them.

Catch and release norms

The journal and community features encourage, without policing: barbless hooks where appropriate, keeping fish wet, quick releases, and respecting harvest regulations where anglers choose to keep fish legally. Verified catch flows are designed to work with in-water measurement.

Questions or proposals for sensitive-water flags: conservation@risecast.fish

Know a reach that should be flagged? Write to conservation@risecast.fish.