Terms of service

1. What FishSplit is

FishSplit is a booking platform. We let a group who have booked a fishing charter sell the seats they aren’t using, and we let other anglers buy those seats.

We do not operate charters. We own no boats, employ no captains and take nobody fishing. Every trip is run by an independent, licensed captain who is responsible for the vessel, for safety, and for whether it is fit to sail.

2. Who is responsible for the trip

The captain. They hold the licence and the insurance for their vessel, they decide whether conditions are safe, and their decision on the water is final.

Fishing from a small boat carries real risk. By booking a seat you accept that risk, agree to follow the captain’s instructions, and accept that FishSplit is not liable for injury, loss or damage arising from a trip. If you are unsure about a boat or a captain, do not book the seat.

We ask every captain to confirm a trip is real before any seat is sold, and their payout account is verified through Stripe. That verification is about making sure money only ever reaches a real charter operation. It is not an inspection of their vessel, their licence or their seamanship, and we do not represent it as one.

3. Money

• You pay the price shown on the trip page. There is no booking fee added at the end.
• We hold your payment until the trip runs, then release it to the captain minus our fee of 8%.
• If a trip is cancelled you are refunded in full and we keep nothing. Full detail on the cancellations page, which forms part of these terms.
• Seat money never passes to the group who posted the seat. Their benefit is a smaller bill at the dock.

4. Your account

• Be truthful in your profile. Organisers decide who comes aboard by reading it, and lying to get on a boat is grounds for removal.
• One account per person. Don’t share it.
• You must be 18 or over to book a seat. Under-18s can come as guests on a trip that allows it, in the care of a responsible adult.
• We can suspend an account for abuse, repeated no-shows, misdescribing a trip, or behaviour that makes other people unsafe or unwelcome.

5. If you post a trip

• Only post a charter you have actually booked. Posting a trip that doesn’t exist is fraud, and our design exists to catch it.
• Describe it accurately, including the house rules. If your boat is a dry boat, say so; if it isn’t, say that too.
• You are responsible for your arrangement with your captain. We ask them to confirm the trip, but the booking is yours.
• You choose who joins you and you may decline anyone. You may not decline people on the basis of race, sex, religion, disability, age or any other protected characteristic.

6. Ranking and listings

Trips are ordered by departure date, and captains and organisers are never ranked by what they pay us. We do not sell placement, and we do not intend to. If that ever changes we will say so plainly here, on this page, before it does.

7. Content you post

Your trip descriptions, photos and profile stay yours. You give us permission to display them on FishSplit so the site can work. We can remove anything that breaks these terms.

8. Changes, and the boring bits

• We may change these terms. Material changes will be announced by email to members before they take effect.
• These terms are governed by the law of the State of Ohio.
• Nothing here limits rights you have that cannot be limited by law.