Whether you are a fisherman who prefers fishing out on open waters or sitting back and relaxing on the shore, a good fishing watch can simplify your time in nature. They come with water resistance, GPS features, warn you when temperatures are dropping or getting higher, tide-showing functionality, pressure barometers, and other features. Some of them are so smart they can even tell you if the day is good for fishing or not.
Everyone from seasoned fishermen to novices can reap the benefits of such a watch. The fishing community often overlooks them as a tool, but they can improve your time in nature tremendously. If you want to get one, have a look at these 12 best fishing watches.
Suunto Traverse Alpha Hunting & Fishing Watch
As a well-established brand in the outdoor industry, a list of outdoor-related watches is not complete without Suunto. Their Traverse Alpha Hunting & Fishing Watch was made for fishermen who need to rely on their watch in various weather conditions. That’s also why it made it to the top of our list.
This watch comes with an anti-reflective surface along with an excellent resolution, allowing you great readability when the sun prevents you from getting the information you want from it. Moreover, pressing the three crown buttons will illuminate the case, letting you fish without the risk of scaring the fish by using a lantern.
This watch is also equipped with a barometer pressure detector and a built-in digital thermostat. This feature will come handy when the fish won’t bite because it will give you all the necessary information to determine if you are in waters with low-activity underwater life. Move around and let your watch help you find the best spot for fishing.
The Suunto Traverse Alpha Hunting & Fishing Watch is stylish as well. You can wear it with any type of wardrobe. It is a low-profile watch that can fit various styles. Just put it on and relax. You don’t have to think about how it looks like because it rocks.
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Garmin Fenix 5
The Garmin Fenix 5 is as fancy as it can be. The design is classy and will appeal to fishermen that take style into account. It is made of high-quality stainless steel, while the QuickFit straps come in metal, leather, and silicone. The LED full-color display will never cause you visibility issues and adds to the overall style.
Regarding technology, fishermen will love its GPS and GLONASS satellite reception. A barometric altimeter and a triple-axis compass are also included, making for a package that will satisfy any outdoor enthusiast, including fishermen. You can also connect it to your smartphone and receive notifications about anything you need from it.
The Garmin Fenix 5 doesn’t sport a whole slew of features, but everything it provides is of top-notch quality. It is definitely worth the price – not because of the Garmin brand, but due to the overall quality and style.
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Casio ProTrek PRW2500
Casio is known as an inexpensive brand that many people can afford. That’s the main reason why this watch is such a great deal. It is not overpriced and comes with many features to make your fishing an adventure while keeping you safe at the same time.
The Casio ProTrek PRW2500 will keep you out of trouble by updating you on tide levels at a date and time of your choice. Aside from this feature, it comes with a built-in thermometer, barometer, and altimeter. They’ll give you all the information you need on whether a storm or any other kind of danger is approaching you.
Another great asset of this watch is its battery life. It will last up to 23 hours on full charge, but if it is dying and you have no charger around, no need to worry. The watch has a built-in system for charging from solar energy, so you’re covered for some time.
SunRoad Outdoor Fishing Watch
The SunRoad Outdoor Fishing Watch doesn’t feature anything that we haven’t seen somewhere else. Moreover, other watches on this list have significantly more impressive features, but it deserves to be considered as one of the best fishing watches out there due to the value you get for the money you pay.
You can’t beat this watch in that category. It doesn’t have it all, but it has a little bit of everything. It provides fishers with weather information, barometric pressure, and altitude. You can light only the back for better readability during the night. It is also resistant to some scratching, but you shouldn’t push it to the limits.
The SunRoad Outdoor Fishing Watch is a great gift for the fishermen in your life. That’s not only because it’s available for such a good price, but also because of the lovely gift box it comes in.
Suunto Traverse Alpha Fishing Watch
Using the Suunto Traverse Alpha Fishing Watch is similar to having an assistant taking care of feeding you with useful information related to your fishing adventures. If you want to fish at night, it has a full moon phase calendar at your service. If you want to walk a little further to find the best fishing spot, it has you covered with a GPS tracking system. You don’t know how soon the sun will rise or set? The watch will send you an alert. You just focus on fishing and relaxing.
Aside from that, the Suunto Traverse Alpha Fishing Watch is a good choice due to its scratch-resistant display and bacteria-resistant straps. Whatever you’re going through in the outdoors, the watch will remain durable and germ-free.
Last but not least, the battery of this watch can last for an incredible 14 days without recharging. Using some of the features will decrease the battery life significantly, but still, you can rely on it for a few days. It’s the perfect companion for your week-long fishing trip.
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Suunto Core All Black Military Model
The Suunto Core is hands down one of the best fishing watches out there. It is equipped with a weather trend detector, providing you with the most accurate weather information you could get. Sure, you can check the forecast before leaving home, but it will never be as accurate as the information this watch provides.
Also, the Suunto Core has pre-installed hundreds of maps. The GPS tracking system can help you navigate the outdoors easily, but if you want to add a bit more adventure, get around by reading maps on your wristwatch.
As usual, Suunto created yet another stylish watch that you’ll want to show off. Don’t let the plastic straps deter you from trying it. They are much more comfortable than any other plastic straps you’ve worn before. You can’t go wrong with them.
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Timex Expedition Shock XL Watch
Timex is yet another watch brand that brings more value than the price suggests. They use the usual inexpensive brand formula: check out what the expensive brands offer, put together just enough of those features, and offer them for an affordable price.
The features you can enjoy in this model include a display with a more than decent resolution, an anti-scratch acrylic dial window, and a backlight for better early morning visibility. It is also equipped with a calendar, chronograph, alarm, and timer, and features water resistance down to 660 feet.
The Timex Expedition Shock XL Watch doesn’t stand out compared to other fishing watches on this list, but still, it is a very good watch available to the minimalist fisherman at an affordable price.
Casio Men’s Outgear Watch
Just like Timex, Casio makes amazing watches and sells them at an insanely affordable price. The Casio Men’s Outgear Watch usually costs less than $80, but it doesn’t deprive you of the features that make a great fishing watch.
This watch wasn’t made to stand out. It was made to provide what a fisherman needs. Everything is here: battery with two years of life, electroluminescent backlight for better visibility, quartz movement, mineral dial window, moon-phase calendar, 330-foot water resistance, stylish look, and other features.
Some fishermen and outdoor enthusiast watch wearers don’t want to pay for features they may not need. If you are one of them, check out the Casio Men’s Outgear Watch. It may be the right product for you.
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Rip Curl A1119
The Rip Curls A1119 watch was designed with an aquatic environment in mind. Originally aimed for canoeing and surfing, the features make for an amazing fishing watch as well. Fishermen may not find a way to use the built-in timer and stopwatch intended for athlete’s use, but the chronograph, the digital compass, and the tide tracker certainly find applications in the fishing world.
The Rip Curl A1119 allows you to effortlessly track the weather and tides in locations around the world. If you are fishing by boat, it will guard you against making bad decisions.
This is not the fanciest watch, but it is durable and provides the most important functions at a price you can’t beat.
Victorinox Airboss
This is the most visually appealing watch on this list. At first sight, you wouldn’t think that it is designed for adventurists. The stainless steel bezel, case, and bracelet were designed to stand out. That’s the way Victorinox tries to be different. They take the features attractive to fishermen and put them in a visually stunning package.
The classy look is what makes this minimalist watch more expensive. The features do not impress as much. Aside from the anti-reflective sapphire dial window, Swiss-automatic movement, chronograph, and 330-foot water resistance, there is not much technology integrated into it.
The Victorinox Airboss doesn’t cater to tech fans among fishermen. It is a rather simple watch that appeals to those who value style over functionality. If you want a package full of features, you may want to have a look at other watches on this list.
However, don’t let the focus on looks fool you. The Victornix Airboss has features that any outdoor enthusiast could use. Minimalists among them who don’t rely too much on tech will find it useful enough.
Casio Men’s AQW101-1AV
The Casio Men’s AQW101-1AV is yet another inexpensive option for outdoor enthusiasts who don’t want to break the bank for an expensive fishing watch. It comes for a price well under $100, which is a real bargain when you consider the value you get from it.
It sports everything you’ll find in the most expensive watches. You can freely drop it in the water, and it will stand the pressure down to 660 feet. If you prefer fishing early in the morning before dawn or later in the day while the sun sets, the electroluminescent backlight will allow you to read the needed information without any problem. If the weather makes you uncertain about whether you should go fishing or not, and check out the tide charts and temperature graphs on your watch.
Unlike other watches, the Casio Men’s AQW101-1AV comes with a preset fishing mode. Just one click will define all the settings as per your fishing needs. It will even give you a score from one to five judging how good the day is for fishing. It can’t get more customized than that.
This watch under $100 has enough features to simplify your days in nature even more. It was made with fishermen in mind, and it does cater to their needs at a very good price.
Garmin Epix
Garmin makes some of the best fishing watches out there. This one was not particularly intended to cater to the fishing industry, but its features nonetheless fit what every avid fisherman needs from a watch.
Like any other Garmin watch, it is equipped with a GPS tracking system. You can load hundreds of maps into the 8 GB internal memory. If you use the GPS system extensively, the battery life is limited to 20 hours. If you use the GPS occasionally, one charge can last for up to three weeks.
On the other hand, this is the least stylish watch on this list. It makes for a very useful tool in every adventurer’s hands, but this is not the watch you’ll want to wear when you get home.
Its performance features, however, make up for its lack of style. The top-notch GPS system, the built-in barometer, altimeter, and compass, as well as the notifications it sends to your smartphone, are good enough reasons for it to be included on the list of the 12 best fishing watches. The Garmin Epix is simply a performance beast.