No black box — here's the exact, plain-English rules behind every 1–5 score, in the order they're applied.
Every time a forecast loads, ReelSpots pulls live hourly pressure, wind speed and direction, temperature, and rainfall for that spot's exact coordinates, plus the real sunrise and sunset for that day — all from the Open-Meteo weather service. Nothing in the score is a generic regional average.
3 out of 5 is the neutral baseline: an ordinary day, no strong signal pushing the bite up or down. From there, each condition below nudges the score up or down by one point. The final number just reflects how many good or bad signals stacked up that day.
These are checked for whichever window — dawn or dusk — looks better that day, so the score reflects your actual best chance, not just a snapshot of right now.
Pressure trend compares the current reading to 3 hours earlier — falling pressure ahead of a front tends to trigger a strong, aggressive bite, while a sharp rise afterward usually shuts it down for a day or so.
Moon phase gets a bonus when the day falls within roughly two days of a new or full moon, when tidal and light-cycle effects are strongest.
Wind over about 30 km/h costs a point regardless of direction — it's simply too gusty for comfortable casting or boat control. Wind direction itself doesn't change the score, but the forecast still tells you which shore it's pushing baitfish toward.
Water clarity is estimated from the trailing 48 hours of rainfall at that spot — 15mm or more usually means runoff has clouded the water.
Once you've tagged a handful of catches with ReelSpots Pro, the forecast compares today's moon phase and water temperature against the exact conditions you personally catch the most in. A match on moon phase adds a point; a match on temperature range adds another — on top of the generic score everyone else sees.
Whatever the running total comes to after every adjustment, it's clamped to a 1–5 range so the score always maps to one clear label: 1 Slow, 2 Tough, 3 Fair, 4 Good, 5 Prime.
It's a heuristic built from well-known angling patterns — the same rules of thumb experienced anglers already use, applied consistently every day. It isn't a guarantee: local structure, angling pressure, water level, and plenty of luck all matter too, and none of those are in the model. Treat a high score as a good reason to go, not a promise you'll catch fish.
Today's forecast, the full spot map, catch logging, and catch analytics — all in one subscription, no free tier.