About River & Run

Who's behind it

River & Run is a small, angler-run project, not a media company. The river notes (seasons, hatches, access) are pulled from widely published fishing information for each water, the kind of thing you'd hear in a shop's report. Send a correction and we check it against the source before it goes live. You can reach us at hello@riverandrun.com. We read everything.

How we source our data

Every listing here comes from public information: business listings, mapping data, and the shops' own websites and social profiles. The star ratings are Google's, and we link back so you can read the reviews yourself. We list everyone we can find. The independent shop with three employees and the Orvis-endorsed outfitter both earn a spot.

The trouble with public data is that it ages. Shops close, move, change hands, swap phone numbers. If you catch something wrong, tell us below. Reader corrections are how this stays honest.

No shop pays to be here

And no shop pays to rank higher. The main list runs on Google rating and review count. No fee moves it. When we highlight a few shops in a state, we go on quality, not money: how their reviews hold up, the depth of what they actually offer, whether they stay active online. The display ads we run are clearly labeled and kept off to the side. An ad can buy attention. It can't buy a place in the rankings. The order reflects what anglers said, not who wrote a check.

How we make money

When you buy gear through our partner links, we may earn a small commission, at no cost to you. A few pages also carry display ads. That's the money that keeps the lights on, and none of it touches the listings or the rankings. Shops don't pay us. Our retail partners do when you actually buy something, and advertisers do for clearly marked space.

Planning a trip and not sure who to call? Email us at hello@riverandrun.com with the water you're headed to. We'll point you at a shop or two.