Should You BUY Fishing Spots on Facebook? (The Truth)
- By: Joseph Simonds
- on
Heeellloooo Salt Strong Nation!
Did you know people are actually buying fishing spots on Facebook Marketplace?
Yep. You can literally pay a stranger a few bucks to send you GPS pins and “secret” locations to fish. Sounds crazy, right?
Recently, a guy posted a video in our big Salt Strong Facebook group (over 110,000 anglers strong) about his experience with it. He bought 11 spots for about $50 and actually caught a few fish. Luke and I watched the whole thing, and it got us thinking…
👇 Is buying fishing spots really worth it?
Why Buying Spots Rarely Works in Saltwater
Here’s the deal: in saltwater fishing, spots are only a small part of the equation.
Unlike freshwater lakes (where fish don’t move much), saltwater fish have tails and no fences. They’re constantly shifting based on tides, current, wind, dissolved oxygen, and bait.
That means a “hot spot” one day might be a dead zone the next.
Luke and I both wasted years chasing pins and maps, thinking the key to catching more fish was just finding more “spots.” But the truth is, if you don’t understand the conditions that make a spot productive, you’ll never be consistent.
👉 Start learning the essentials with our FREE Fishing School
What Matters More Than Spots
- The 90/10 Zone: At any given time, 90% of the feeding fish are in just 10% of the water. If you’re not in that 10%, you’re wasting time.
- Trends Over Pins: Wind direction, current flow, and seasonal patterns matter far more than a GPS coordinate.
- Education: Knowing how to read a map, rig your bait, and adjust to conditions will always out-fish someone who just bought a “secret spot.”
This is exactly why we built the Salt Strong Fishing School (free for everyone) and our Smart Fishing Spots App. They’re designed to shorten your learning curve so you never have to waste money on random pins from strangers.
👉 Find oyster bars, contour lines, and 90/10 zones instantly with Smart Fishing Spots
When Buying Spots Might Make Sense
Now, could there be rare cases where buying a spot is worth it? Maybe.
If you’re on vacation in South Florida and want to catch something exotic like a clown knife fish or peacock bass in a retention pond, sure, paying a few bucks for access could make sense.
But for saltwater inshore fishing? Save your money. Education + trends will beat purchased spots every single time.
Final Thoughts
If you really want to catch more fish consistently, stop chasing GPS pins and start focusing on why fish are in certain areas.
That’s what Luke and I discuss in detail in this video, and it’s why over 65,000 anglers have joined our Insider Club.
Inside you’ll get:
- Full access to Smart Fishing Spots (thousands of updated, condition-based locations)
- Weekly game plans showing you where to fish and what to use
- 20–30% off all tackle in our shop
- Access to local chapters, live Q&As, and monthly tackle testers
👉 Click here to join the Salt Strong Insider Club today
Tight lines,
Joe Simonds
Salt Strong Cofounder
Related categories:
STOP WASTING TIME ON THE WATER!
Do what the “SMART ANGLERS” are doing and join the Insider Club.
Here’s what you’ll receive today when you join:
- Weekly fishing reports and TRENDS revealing exactly where you should fish ever trip
- Weekly “spot dissection” videos that walk you through all the best spots in your area
- Exclusive fishing tips from the PROS you can’t find anywhere else
- Everything you need to start catching fish more consistently (regardless if you fish out of a boat, kayak, or land).
STOP WASTING TIME ON THE WATER!
Do what the “SMART ANGLERS” are doing and join the Insider Club.
Here’s what you’ll receive today when you join:
- Weekly fishing reports and TRENDS revealing exactly where you should fish every trip
- Weekly “spot dissection” videos that walk you through all the best spots in your area
- Exclusive fishing tips from the PROS you can’t find anywhere else
- Everything you need to start catching fish more consistently (regardless if you fish out of a boat, kayak, or land).
Never heard of them or seen them
Switching to 65,000 have JOINED your Insider Club, how many are actually current members? There’s been discussions which you joined in about the member directory not being clean by having members with duplicate accounts and those who are no longer members.
People will try to sell anything, even a bridge in Brooklyn! Thanks fof the insite!
Everything you just said I believe is so true… thank you Salt Strong for all your hard work and insite
Anyone have experience with those companies that sell the offshore numbers? Fish On, Strike Lines, etc.
I think selling spots is a disgrace 🙁
I say “Shame on them!” It is a low-life who will try to profit on the backs of others who have worked so hard to perfect a fishing system the clearly will work in any inshore setting.
For all we know, they could be “selling spots” that have been provided by our own fishing communities. Which, by the way, are composed of fishermen who are living in the same areas as the others in that community. This is a way to establish networking with people who are on the water for hundreds of hours per year and actually enjoy sharing their success with others in that community. What could be better?
You guys already mentioned this in your podcast about how fishfinders really are not needed for inshore saltwater fishing?! But like I said in my comment about this to me while your smartspots app is good its certainly not perfect I have found many of the areas during a certain tidal phase that say are supposed to be great to be dead zones either there was no bait in the area or some other factor and speaking of bait your smart spots app WILL NOT show active live bait movement because like you have stated bait always like the fish move but a fishfinder will find bait also I use mine for trolling in the winter to cover more water and stay on track working the dropouts and staying in the certain depths while also maintaining the correct speed sometging your smart spots app can’t do but I know you guys don’t troll and your area is different usually much shallower and grassy while my area is deeper with no seagrass but lots of oysters anyways just saying what I experience and have done in the last 22 going on 23 years in the salt what you have done is totally different but my conditions are not yours and vice versa everyone is different so also they fish differently as well because of this if everybody fished exactly like you guys say you should I think there would be alot of dissapointments we all have to adapt to our conditions and I know alot of the tactics I use wouldn’t work in your environments and alot of yours I have found donot work for me because simply nothing is the same but as far as selling spots in Facebook in todays greedy money hungry world people will do anything for a buck amd because common sence is not used in this scene people today will believe anything they read on social media because if the masses say its true to them it must be so even though alot of times the ones writing this and posting it donot know there rear from a hole in the ground but thats the new millenium world’s way of thinking something this old 61 year old common sence using baby boomer will NEVER do the way I have done things have worked for me for many decades now so why would I conform to the new way of thinking? after all it even says in the Bible for Christian’s to not follow or conform to the worlds way of thinking thanks for the info but nothing rediculous and stupid in todays world surprises me🤔😉
Never knew this was even a thing. No need, but especially not with SS.
I think many are missing the point of enjoying the outdoors. This concept of paying for success, circumvents a true and enjoyable learning process.
I understand today’s society revolves around no patience , greed and technology, but to put one’s time in to gain real knowledge is the true reward
There are many gifts to be had out there , to not use one’s real instincts with a helping hand not a full dependence on technology, is a much greater reward in the long run