Outdoor & Fly Fishing
A sport worth billions, still planned by phone call and forum thread.
Recreational fishing contributes more than $230 billion a year to the US economy, and nearly eight million Americans fly fish. Yet the trip itself — where to go, what the water is doing, which guide, what to bring — is still assembled by hand. The opportunity is the place that plans it.
- $230.5B
- Annual contribution of US recreational fishing to the economy, supporting 1.1 million jobsSportfishing in America, published March 2025 · American Sportfishing Association
- 7.9M
- Americans who fly fished in 2025, taking 83 million fly-fishing trips2026 Special Report on Fishing, July 2026 · American Sportfishing Association, via SGB Media
- 57M
- Americans who went fishing in 2025 — about 18% of the population2026 Special Report on Fishing, July 2026 · American Sportfishing Association, via SGB Media
How the market is structured
Fly fishing is a high-intent, high-spend corner of a very large sport: fly anglers travel for it, hire guides for it, and buy specialist gear for it. The supply side is small and local — independent guides, outfitters and fly shops, most with a thin web presence and no booking system.
Information is scattered across public sources that were never built for trip planning: state agency regulations, federal flow gauges, access maps and fishing reports. An angler stitches them together by hand, and a guide is found by word of mouth.
Where the opportunity is
The unserved join is the trip: destination, conditions, guide, gear and budget in one place, with the guide or shop able to claim and keep its own page current rather than paying to be found.
Participation is broad but churn is high — the ASA counted a record number of people leaving the sport in 2025. Making it easier to plan a good day on the water, and more welcoming to the people who are new to it, is the growth lever.
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