Fishing enthusiasts in the region and across the country can now benefit from a new app from Anglr Labs.
The Pittsburgh-based company created the Anglr mobile app, which allows fishing enthusiasts to automatically track and log relevant information such as cast locations, bait or tackled used, weather conditions and number of catches. The app will work in conjunction with the first-ever rod-mounted tracking device, an innovation Anglr Labs also developed and plans to unveil next month.
Avid fishermen and co-founders Nic Wilson, Landon Bloomer and TJ Corbett came up with the idea for the connected technology last summer during a fishing trip on the Allegheny River.
“When you’re reflecting on a fishing trip, it’s often extremely difficult to recall the number of fish you caught throughout the day, let alone the other factors that are important to fishermen,” says Wilson. “We thought, how can we quantify fishing activities in order to provide fishermen with information about their behavior and the environment in such a way that they could make smarter fishing decisions?”
To create their products, Anglr Labs partnered with a team of developers, including the Johnstown-based custom software development company Problem Solutions, the Erie-based electronic manufacturing solutions provider Sunburst Electronics and the engineering design company PiMios.
They also recently secured seed funding from the Pittsburgh venture capital firm BlueTree Allied Angels.
Wilson, who formerly worked for the wearable fitness monitor company BodyMedia Inc. (now known as Jawbone), believes employing tracking technology for fishing makes sense, as many sports have already adopted similar devices.
“You already have wearables for golf, tennis and baseball,” says Wilson, who cites the local company Diamond Kinetics as an example. “We wanted to be the first to carry connected technologies into fishing.”
Beyond helping fishing enthusiasts hook the next big one, Anglr Labs will also promote sustainability within the fishing industry. Their technology platform will deliver crowd-sourced metadata to wildlife and conservation experts, allowing them to track trends in water conditions and fish populations, and recognize problems such as overfishing or polluted waterways.
Wilson stresses that, while the fishing industry will have access to the data, all user information will remain safely guarded.
“Fishermen are extremely private about their favorite fishing spots,” says Wilson. “It’s our responsibility to maintain that as we’re collecting data from users.”
A beta test version of the Anglr app launched today on Google Play. The rod-mounted device will officially debut next month in Orlando, FL at ICAST, the world’s largest sportfishing trade show.
