The board
117 species badges.
Every one of them needs a photo a moderator has looked at.
You have 0 of 117.
Badges are how GuidedFloats keeps score on the water. Anglers and guides earn the same ones. Every badge needs photo evidence, and every submission is reviewed.
Waterway completion
Log a trip on any water page with one to five photos. If the photo carries location and time data, we check it against the water and approve faster. After five approved logs, submissions that check out are approved automatically. One badge per water, and the water shows on your profile map.
Species
There is a badge for every fish species we cover, and there is no way to earn one without a photo. Tick up to three species when you log a trip, and a moderator looks at your photos and confirms the fish before the badge lands.
Species badges are never awarded automatically. The trusted-account fast path that speeds up waterway badges is switched off the moment you claim a species. A GPS tag proves where you were and a timestamp proves when. Neither one proves what you caught, so a person does. That is slower, and it is the only reason the badge means anything.
A few things worth knowing before you claim one:
- One of your photos has to show the fish clearly enough to identify. A tailgate shot of a cooler is not a species claim.
- If a moderator cannot tell what it is, you do not get that badge. Your waterway badge is unaffected.
- Regional names map to one badge. Bream is bluegill, goggle-eye is rock bass, musky is muskellunge, wiper and sunshine bass are both hybrid striped bass.
- Subspecies count separately where states manage them separately, so a Westslope, a Yellowstone and a Lahontan cutthroat are three badges, not one.
- Hybrids you can legally catch count: cuttbow, tiger trout, splake, saugeye, tiger musky.
- Some species we deliberately do not badge. They are listed at the bottom of the board below, with the reason.
Trout & Char 0 of 23
Arizona only, limited open water.
Threatened in the lower 48. Legal to target in only a few places - check the state rules before you fish, and release it in the water.
High-elevation Sierra water. Plan the hike.
Includes sea-run fish.
Rainbow x cutthroat hybrid.
Recovering species. A few permitted streams in NM and AZ, barbless and often catch and release.
Threatened. Only a handful of Colorado waters are open, all catch and release.
Stocked brook x lake trout hybrid.
Brown x brook hybrid, usually stocked.
Salmon & Steelhead 0 of 9
Wild US runs are endangered. This badge is for legal fisheries only.
Landlocked sockeye.
Odd-year runs in most of the range.
Summer and winter runs both count.
Black Bass 0 of 8
Texas state fish, Hill Country only.
Apalachicola basin only.
Suwannee and Ochlockonee drainages only.
Sunfish & Panfish 0 of 13
White River drainage in Arkansas and Missouri only.
The only cichlid native to the United States.
Pike & Pickerel 0 of 5
Perch & Walleye 0 of 4
Catfish & Bullhead 0 of 7
Temperate Bass 0 of 5
Wiper and sunshine bass are the same badge.
Whitefish & Grayling 0 of 7
Also called lake herring or tullibee.
Alaska and the far north.
Alaska only. Also called inconnu.
Shad & Herring 0 of 2
Ancient & Rough Fish 0 of 15
Tag or permit required in several states.
Tightly regulated. Only a few states run a season, most are catch and release.
Snagging seasons only, permit required in most states.
Keep it in the water. Most of the range is catch and release with a no-lift rule.
Carp, Suckers & Buffalo 0 of 8
Inshore & Tidal 0 of 7
Over 40 inches it stays in the water in Florida.
Invasive & Introduced 0 of 4
South Florida canals.
Invasive. Do not release it alive, and check your state rules on transport.
Invasive. Bowfishing and snagging fisheries.
Species we do not badge, on purpose
A badge is a reason to go looking for a fish. These are protected, so we will not give you one.
- Green Sturgeon Acipenser medirostris — Southern population is threatened and it is illegal to target. No badge, on purpose.
- Humpback Chub Gila cypha — Federally protected Colorado basin native. Incidental catches go straight back. No badge, on purpose.
State tiers
Bronze at 5 waters in a state, silver at 10, gold at 25. Awarded automatically as your completions are approved.
River Keeper
Log a litter cleanup with before and after photos and a bag count. Tiers at 1, 5, 10, and 25 cleanups, plus an annual tier for the year’s most active cleaners. This is the badge we care about most: GuidedFloats is on a mission to leave our waterways cleaner for our children, and the people doing that work get promoted across the site.
Alabama 0 / 19
Alaska 0 / 16
Arizona 0 / 19
Arkansas 0 / 24
California 0 / 33
Colorado 0 / 22
Connecticut 0 / 18
Delaware 0 / 18
Florida 0 / 25
Georgia 0 / 20
Hawaii 0 / 10
Idaho 0 / 30
Illinois 0 / 20
Indiana 0 / 20
Iowa 0 / 20
Kansas 0 / 20
Kentucky 0 / 19
Louisiana 0 / 77
Maine 0 / 19
Maryland 0 / 20
Massachusetts 0 / 21
Michigan 0 / 20
Minnesota 0 / 20
Mississippi 0 / 18
Missouri 0 / 33
Montana 0 / 22
Nebraska 0 / 20
Nevada 0 / 19
New Hampshire 0 / 20
New Jersey 0 / 27
New Mexico 0 / 20
New York 0 / 32
North Carolina 0 / 24
North Dakota 0 / 20
Ohio 0 / 23
Oklahoma 0 / 20
Oregon 0 / 21
Pennsylvania 0 / 37
Rhode Island 0 / 12
South Carolina 0 / 23
South Dakota 0 / 22
Tennessee 0 / 20
Texas 0 / 53
Utah 0 / 18
Vermont 0 / 20
Virginia 0 / 25
Washington 0 / 21
West Virginia 0 / 20
Wisconsin 0 / 29
Wyoming 0 / 20
Program progress
State programs like the Missouri Blue Ribbon Trout Slam count specific waters. When you log one of those waters here, your progress on the program page updates. The official award still comes from the agency; we link you to the entry form.
Rules
- Photos must be yours and from the trip you are logging. Everything you submit is published under the reader photo license. Reused or stock photos get the submission rejected and repeat offenders lose badge privileges.
- Ten submissions per day per account.
- Follow the regulations for the water. A badge is never worth a citation.
- We do not badge species it is illegal to target. If you catch one by accident, photograph it in the water and put it back.
- Handle anything you are releasing accordingly: wet hands, out of the water for as little time as the photo takes, and back it goes. A badge is not worth a dead fish.
- Anyone can report a suspicious log from the water page.