User trips can be created by any member of the site. They allow users to plot and share their fishing trips, such as an afternoon at the local lake or a week long canoe float. User trips provide a great way for anglers like yourself to keep track of fish caught, share with friends and family, and gain insight from other members.

Fishing locations, on the other hand, are predefined lakes, rivers, and streams from around the state. They provide a great starting point for anglers to find the major fishing areas around the state without having to sift through lots of user trips. If we are missing a fishing location that you know about, you are now able to go to the Map View and add the location yourself.

Members are able to review and add comments to both "User Trips" and "Fishing Locations". This dialog provides a great way to share and learn about all the great fishing the state has to offer.

The map is set up to show at most 100 fishing locations at a given time. This is because some states have over 3000 fish locations plotted, so to show them all on the map at once would cause major memory and performance issues. To solve this issue, we have an event handler that will fetch the next 100 fishing locations that are within your map extent as you zoom and pan around. So for example, if you are at a state wide view, you will only see the first 100 locations that are within the state. As you zoom down to a particular area, however, we will grab next 100 locations that are within that area. This solves the problem of memory and performance issues while at the same time showing only those locations that are within your area of interest.

The ranking score is used to determine how "popular" a trip or location is. It is calculated based off of a weighted average of the number of reviews and the user ratings. For example, a trip with 2 reviews and an average rating of 5 will have a lower "ranking score" than one with 10 reviews and an average rating of 4. This is because even though the first trip has a better average rating, it has not been reviewed as much as the second trip, so it is not as "popular". In the future we may modify the ranking score to take in additional factors, such as the number of views, comments, and photos.

Trips are a great way to keep track and share your fishing adventures with others. It can be an afternoon at the lake, a week long canoe float, a day on the ocean, or any other fishing expedition you want to remember. Trips provide a one stop shop for all the fishing outtings you make throughout the season. Share with friends and family, get feedback from fellow anglers, plot pictures and hotspots...the possibilities are endless. Below are the basic steps for creating a trip. You can also watch this video on how to create a trip.

Step 1: Go to the "My Trips" tab.

Step 2: Enter the trip name, a description, its location, the date you went, and who you want to be able to view your trip.

Step 3: Add locations, photos, fishing hotspots, and additional information about your trip to the interactive map. You can do this by using the tools that are located in the "Tackle Box" next to the map. As you hover over each tool, a "tooltip" will explain how to use them.

Step 4: After you plot your locations on the map, you can return to the My Trips tab to share your trip with friends, family, or other Fish Finder members. You can also keep the trip private for your own personal journal. We strongly believe the real power of this site, however, comes from users like yourself sharing fishing trips with other users. It allows you to find fishing holes you never knew existed and get feedback on your trips from fellow avid fisherman.

Step 5: Edit your trip at anytime to add new photos or hotspots by visiting the My Trips tab.

Follow the steps below to add your favorite YouTube video into your profile.

1. Visit YouTube and search for a video you want to add to your profile.
2. After you find a video on YouTube, you should see two text fields to the right of the video called URL and Embed.
3. Copy (CTRL+C) the text out of either one of these fields.
4. Paste (CTRL+V) the text into the YouTube Video field found in your profile.
5. Click Update Profile and you're all set.

On the bottom of the map, there is a link called "Map Permalink". This permalink is updated everytime you zoom, change layers, or pan around on the map. Whenever you are at your area of interest, all you need to do is right-click the link and select "Copy Shortcut". Next, paste (CTRL+V) the link in either your email, IM, or message board to share with others. When your friend opens this link in his or her web browser, they will automatically be zoomed to your area of interest.

Occassionally your browser's cookies may become corrupted and prevent you from posting to the message board correctly. Try the following steps to delete your browser's cookies:

1. In Internet Explorer, go to Tools-->Internet Options-->Browsing History-->Delete-->Cookies.

2. After you delete your cookies, try logging out and back into the site.

3. If you are using a different browser, you may have slightly different steps to delete your cookies.

My Tackle Box Is a powerful new section on the site that allows you to easily keep track of and share gear that you currently own with other members on the site. It can also be used as a wish list to keep track of items you might want to purchase in the future.

Next to each item on the Find Gear page, you will see a button labeled "Add to My Tackle Box". These buttons add the item to your Tackle Box. It does not mean you are purchasing the item at all. If you are interested in buying an item on the page, you can click the Purchase button to be brought to Bass Pro Shops or Cabelas to order the item through their online store.