Match competitions

Match Formats

CatchMate supports two competition formats:

• 1v1 Match — You vs. one opponent (friend or bot)
• Multi-Angler Match — 3 to 16 anglers on a live shared leaderboard

For season-long competition across multiple matches, see the Leagues article.

Live vs. Retrospective Matches

Live Match

A live match runs in real time with a countdown clock. You set the duration before starting, and the app tracks every catch against the clock. Audio and haptic alerts fire at match start, half-time, and all-in. Once the clock expires the result is finalised.

Retrospective Match

A retrospective match lets you link a session you have already completed — useful if you forgot to set up a competition before fishing, or you want to compare a past session against a friend's past session at the same venue. You select the historical session when setting up the competition.

Creating a Match

1. Tap the Competitions tab (trophy icon) from any screen
2. Tap New Match
3. Choose your format: 1v1 or Multi-Angler
4. Fill in the match details:
   • Name — Optional label for the match
   • Venue — Choose from your saved venues or enter a location
   • Duration — Set match length (e.g. 3 hours, 5 hours). Required for live matches
   • Scoring Method — See Scoring Methods below
5. Add opponents:
   • Friend — Search by username. They receive an in-app invitation
   • Bot — Add an AI opponent at Easy, Medium, Hard, or Expert level. Bots simulate a realistic catch rate based on the venue type and scoring method
6. (Multi-Angler only) Assign peg numbers for a peg draw. The scoreboard can be sorted by peg or by position
7. Tap Create Match — the match appears as Pending until all invited friends have accepted

Scoring Methods

Choose your scoring method when creating the match. The live leaderboard, bot simulation, and final results all use the method you select. The scoring method cannot be changed after creation.

Weight

Total grams of all fish caught. Most common in club and NFA-style matches. Largest weight wins.

Points — Standard

Each fish scores 1 point regardless of species. Highest points total wins. Useful for commercial venues where high catch rates matter more than size.

Points — Banded

Different point values for different species groups — carp and F1s score higher points per fish than silverfish. Reflects venues where a carp is worth more than a handful of silvers.

Silverfish Only

Only silverfish species count — roach, bream, perch, tench, skimmer, rudd, dace, gudgeon, and hybrids. Carp, F1, pike, zander, catfish, and barbel are excluded entirely. Used for silverfish-only matches.

Heaviest Single Fish

The angler whose single biggest fish is the heaviest wins. All other catches are irrelevant. Often used as a side pool alongside a weight match.

Multi-Angler Matches — Live Leaderboard

In a multi-angler match every participant's catches feed into a shared live leaderboard, updated every 20 seconds. The board shows:

• Position (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.)
• Name and peg number (if a draw was set)
• Running weight or points total
• Number of fish caught
• Your row is highlighted in amber so you can find it instantly

A match countdown timer sits at the top of the scoreboard:

• "Match duration: 3:00:00" — before fishing starts, as a static reminder
• "Time remaining: 2:47:12" — once the session timer starts, counting live
• "Match over" in red — once time has elapsed

Bot opponents appear on the leaderboard in real time as the clock runs — their catches are simulated across the full match duration, not just posted at the end.

Peg Draw — If peg numbers are assigned the leaderboard can be sorted by peg or by position. Use peg view to check who is on which swim; use position view to track the match standing.

Invitations

When you invite a friend they receive a notification and an invitation card in their Competitions tab.

• Accept — They are added to the leaderboard. Their session is linked once they start fishing
• Decline — They are removed from the match. You can add another opponent or a bot in their place

A match stays in Pending status until the creator begins fishing. Other participants can join at any point before the match ends.

Starting Your Session in a Match

1. Open your active competition from the Competitions tab
2. Your session will be linked to the match automatically if you created the competition from within a session — or link an existing session from the competition detail screen
3. Tap Start Fishing on the session timer — this sets your official start time and begins the match countdown

The match countdown only starts once you tap Start Fishing — it does not count from when the session was created.

Match Alerts

CatchMate fires alerts at key moments in a live match:

• Match start — when the clock begins
• Half-time — at the halfway point of the match duration
• All-in (5 mins) — five minutes before the clock expires
• All-in — when time is up

Alerts use both sound and haptic feedback. Configure preferences in Settings → Notifications.

Finalising a Match

Once the match duration has elapsed:

1. The creator taps Finalise Match from the competition detail screen
2. Final positions are calculated and saved
3. Each participant's session is marked as complete
4. The result appears in your session history and statistics

For a retrospective match, finalise as soon as all linked sessions are confirmed — there is no countdown requirement.

Match Status

Status	Meaning
Pending	Match created, waiting for invited friends to accept
Active	Sessions are being fished
Completed	Result is finalised
Declined	An invited angler chose not to accept
Cancelled	Cancelled before completion
Expired	Match window passed without enough sessions to score

Bot Opponents — How They Work

When you add a bot, the app generates a realistic catch simulation based on:

• Venue type — Commercial, Stillwater, Canal, River. Commercial venues produce significantly higher catch rates
• Bot difficulty — Easy, Medium, Hard, Expert. Higher tiers produce more fish and heavier weights
• Scoring method — Bots fish to win: a bot in a silverfish match focuses on silvers; a bot in a weight match targets heavier fish
• Match duration — Catches are spread across the session time so the bot appears on the leaderboard naturally throughout

Bot names reflect their style (e.g. "Float Angler", "Feeder Angler", "Social Fisher") rather than a difficulty label, making the match feel more like fishing against real club peers.

Solunar Ratings in Matches

If you have Solunar enabled in settings, your active session displays a Solunar tile showing predicted feeding activity based on GPS location, date and time, and moon phase. Ratings run from 1 to 5 stars — New and Full Moon phases score highest. Bot opponents also catch more frequently during solunar peak windows, keeping the simulation realistic.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I add more opponents after creating a match? Yes — open the competition detail and use Add Opponent before the match is finalised.

What happens if a friend declines my invitation? They are removed from the match. You can invite someone else or add a bot to fill the slot.

The countdown timer shows "Match duration" but isn't counting down — why? The countdown only starts when you tap Start Fishing. Before that, the tile shows the configured match length as a reminder.

Can I run a league and a 1v1 match at the same time? Yes. Competitions are independent. A single session can only be linked to one competition, but you can have multiple competitions active simultaneously.

Do bot opponents count toward my statistics? Matches against bots are recorded in your competition history but are clearly flagged as AI opponents.