THE FISHINGBOOKER ALTERNATIVE
Stop renting your own clients back at 30%.
FishingBooker is great at sending you a stranger once. But its commission runs as high as 30% a trip, and its own policy bars you from taking that client direct next time. Timber & Tackle flips it: a flat monthly fee, zero commission, and the angler is yours from the first booking.
FishingBooker works as a marketplace — captains set a commission between 10% and 30%, and that cut comes out of every booking the platform sends. For a first-time customer who found you there, that's fair enough: it's a finder's fee.
The problem is the second trip. FishingBooker's Platform Bypass Policy prohibits asking a customer to book directly, sharing your contact info to avoid the commission, or redirecting them to your own site or socials — and it says it monitors messages and escalates to removing you from the platform. So the regular who fishes with you every fall never becomes your client. You re-rent them, at commission, forever.
Timber & Tackle isn't a marketplace and takes no commission — ever. You get your own booking site on your own domain, one flat monthly fee, and the customer's details are yours to keep, email, and re-book direct. Keep your FishingBooker listing for new discovery if you like; send your repeats to your own site and keep the cut.
FishingBooker vs. Timber & Tackle
Commission and policy facts are from FishingBooker's own help docs and Platform Bypass Policy.
| FishingBooker | Timber & Tackle | |
|---|---|---|
| Commission per booking | Up to 30% (captain-set 10–30%) | $0 — flat fee only |
| Booking a client direct next time | Against their bypass policy | yes — that's the point |
| Sharing your phone / site to book | Can trigger removal | It's your own site |
| Who owns the client list | ||
| Your own domain & SEO | ||
| A repeat customer re-books | Commission again | Free — they're your client |
| Walk away with your data | One-click export, anytime |
Zero commission
One flat monthly fee, no per-trip cut. A captain doing $80k of trips keeps thousands more a year than at a 10–30% commission.
The client is yours
Their contact details land in your dashboard. Email them, text them, re-book them direct — no policy says you can't, because it's your site.
Run both, keep the cut
Keep your marketplace listing for new discovery. Send your regulars to your own site to re-book. Watch where the money actually comes from.
Do the math on your own trips.
Set your real numbers — trips a year, average price, and the commission you're set to. The orange line is what stays in your pocket on a flat fee instead.
What are you on now?
50 trips= $28,650 a year
FishingBooker at 15%
$4,298
Timber & Tackle flat
$1,200
You keep $3,098 more a year.
Only guide part of the year? Pause the rest.
Run your seasons, then pause your bill in the off-months — $0 while you're off the water, and your site stays live, still booking next season. You only pay the months you're actually fishing.
FishingBooker commission is captain-set between 10–30% per their help center, charged on every trip. We assume your same trips book elsewhere.
Straight answers.
Does Timber & Tackle take a commission like FishingBooker?
No — never. Trip money goes from the client straight to your own Stripe account. Our only revenue is the flat monthly subscription. There is no per-booking cut.
Should I quit FishingBooker to use Timber & Tackle?
Not necessarily. Keep your listing as long as it sends you new strangers — that's lead-gen. But send the regulars who already know you to your own Timber & Tackle site, so re-booking them costs you a flat fee instead of another 10–30%.
Isn't FishingBooker's commission set by the captain?
Yes — you choose a rate between 10% and 30%, and it doubles as your deposit. Even at the low end it's a recurring cut on every booking, including repeat customers who'd have come back to you anyway.
What about FishingBooker Direct?
FishingBooker Direct drops the commission for a payment-processing fee (2.65% + $0.03). It's a step in the right direction, but it's still their system and their platform. Timber & Tackle gives you your own site, your own domain, and your own client list — that you can leave with anytime.
How hard is it to switch?
You don't build anything. Send us your trips or your existing website and we build your whole booking site for free, then send you a link to approve. Setup is a phone call and a tap.
Your clients. Your money. Booked direct.
We build your whole site free and send you a link. Look it over. If the math doesn't move you, you've lost nothing.
Get your site built — free$0 today · keep every listing you have · built before you decide