Terms of Use

Last updated May 15, 2026

By installing or using GhostFingers Fish, you agree to these terms. Please read them.

The app, plainly

GhostFingers Fish is an iOS app that reads public weather, ocean, and regulatory data and displays a daily fishing intel verdict for spots in California. The app is free. There are no ads, no in-app purchases, no subscriptions, and no account.

Not for navigation, not for safety-of-life

Wave height, wind, tide, pressure, sea-surface temperature, current, and any rating value shown in GhostFingers Fish are model output or station observations. They are estimates and predictions, not real-time measurements of the water in front of you. Conditions on the ocean and inland waters change quickly. Do not use this app for marine navigation, search and rescue, commercial fishing decisions, charter operations, or any other use where being wrong about the water could hurt you or someone else.

Fish at your own risk

Fishing is a risk activity, particularly from a boat, kayak, paddleboard, or while wading or shore-casting in surf. The information in this app is provided to help you decide where and when to fish. It does not replace your own judgment, local knowledge, lifeguard advice, harbor patrol guidance, or first-hand observation of conditions at the spot. You alone are responsible for your decisions in and around the water, including assessment of marine hazards, weather, swell, currents, wildlife, and your own physical capability.

Follow the law

You agree to fish in accordance with all applicable federal, state, and local laws. This includes:

• Holding a current California sport fishing license (anglers 16 or older) and any required report cards, stamps, or special-area permits.
• Respecting CDFW size limits, bag limits, season closures, gear restrictions, and Marine Protected Area boundaries.
• Not entering private property without permission.
• Following local rules at piers, harbors, parks, and reserves.

The regulation overlay in the app is a paraphrased summary of CDFW rules, provided for convenience. The official source is wildlife.ca.gov/Regulations. Where the app and the CDFW source disagree, the CDFW source wins. Email [email protected] to flag any discrepancy.

Price

The app is free. It contains no ads, no in-app purchases, and no subscriptions. If a paid tier or sponsored content is introduced in a future version, these terms will be updated first and the change will be visible in the app before anything is charged or shown.

No warranty

GhostFingers Fish is provided "as is," without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. The app's data sources may change, fail, return inaccurate values, or become unavailable. The forecast may be wrong. The regulation overlay may be out of date between CDFW publication cycles.

Limitation of liability

To the extent permitted by law, Ghost Fingers and its developers are not liable for any damages, direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive, arising from your use of the app. This includes physical injury, property loss, lost catch opportunity, citations for fishing-rule violations, equipment loss, or any other harm related to fishing decisions made using the app.

Acceptable use

You agree not to:

• Reverse-engineer the app for the purpose of building a competing product.
• Misuse public data sources by routing them through the app to bypass their rate limits.
• Scrape or republish the spot, species, or regulation pages on this website without permission.
• Use the app to broadcast or publish catch locations of other anglers.
• Use the app in any way that violates the laws of your jurisdiction.

Third-party data

The app fetches publicly available data from government and public data services and various RSS feeds. Those services have their own terms and acceptable-use policies. By using the app you also accept the public-data terms of those services as they apply to you. The app does not control or endorse the accuracy of third-party data.

Catch Trophy image processing

Catch Trophy uses Apple's on-device Vision framework to blur the background of your catch photo. The image is processed entirely on your device and is not transmitted to any third party. See the Privacy page for full detail.

Changes

If these terms change, the updated version will be posted at this URL with a new revision date. Continued use of the app after a change means you accept the updated terms.

Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. Any dispute arising from these terms or your use of the app shall be resolved in the state or federal courts located in Santa Barbara County, California.

Contact

Questions about these terms: [email protected]