User Guide

Welcome to AnyGivenFishday. This guide covers everything you need, whether you compete as an angler or run events as an organizer.

For Anglers

Getting Started

Registration: When signing up, make sure your phone number is valid — only digits, spaces and + are allowed. You must also pick your Country from the searchable dropdown.
Logging In: Your account is active as soon as you register — there is nothing to confirm first. If a login fails, only the field that caused it is highlighted: an unrecognised address marks the E-mail field, while a bad password marks the Password field. The message under the field tells you which one to correct.
Forgotten Password: Click "Forgot your password?" under the password field. Enter your registered address and we email you a link to set a new one. The form carries the same quick "are you human?" check as registration — it usually passes on its own without you doing anything. The link works once and expires after 60 minutes — request a fresh one if it lapses. You can only ask for a new link once a minute, and only a few in any one hour; if you hit that, wait a moment and try again. Your new password must be at least 8 characters. If the email does not arrive, check your spam folder.
Profile: Once you log in, go to Profile to manage your team details and licence info.
- Profile images must be under 10MB. The system will tell you if the file is too large.
- Email: Click "Change" (pencil icon), enter your new address, then click "Update Profile" at the bottom to save. Leave it disabled and your current address is kept automatically.
- Password: Click "Change Password" to reveal the "New Password" and "Confirm Password" fields. Enter your new password (minimum 8 characters) in both, then click "Update Profile". Your password is encrypted before it is saved.
- Gear Preferences: List your favourite equipment (Rods, Reels, Lines). Click the rotating "+" button to add as many items as you like.
- Angler Profile: Competitors get an "Angler Profile" button linking to their public page with tournament stats and performance charts.
Competitions: Open Competitions in the main menu to see upcoming events. If you are entered in an event you will see a "Participate" button next to it — that is your way into the game.
Mobile Menu: On a phone, tap the burger icon (☰) at the top right for your Profile, Notifications, Language and Logout.
Stats Centre: Visit any Angler Profile to see deep-dive analytics — Win Rate, Average Fish and Gear & Equipment — plus a history of recent competitions with sector and date detail. (You must be logged in to view profiles.)
Install the App: On Android/Chrome you may see a prompt to "Install App". We recommend it for the best full-screen experience. This prompt is mobile-only and will not appear on desktop.

Installing on iOS (iPhone / iPad)

Apple restricts automatic install prompts, so this one is manual:

Open in Safari — visit the site on your iPhone.
Share — tap the Share icon at the bottom of the screen.
Add — scroll down and tap "Add to Home Screen".
Launch — open the app from your Home Screen.
Notifications — when asked to "Turn on Notifications", tap "Turn On" and "Allow" to receive match updates.

Joining a Competition

Some competitions are open for public registration.

Apply: If you see a blue "Request Participation" button on the competition page, click it.
Message: You can add a short note to the organizer (optional).
Status:
- Processing — a spinner confirms your request is being sent.
- Pending — your request is in. You'll see an "Application Pending" card.
- Approved — you're in. You'll get an email with a link to the competition, and it will appear in your competitions list.
- Rejected — the organizer declined your request. You'll receive an email.
- Reserved — the competition is full, so you've joined the waitlist instead. You'll see a card showing your place in line (e.g. "You are reserve #2"). Nothing more to do — if a confirmed angler drops out, reserves are added automatically in order, and you'll get an email the moment it's your turn.

If the competition has reached its capacity, applying still works — you'll simply join the reserve list rather than being turned away.

Changing your mind: If you're approved and can no longer attend, use the "Withdraw" button on the competition page to give up your spot — this immediately opens it up for the next reserve. Withdrawal is only available before the organizer has generated the match schedule; after that, contact the organizer directly.

The Game Screen (Scoring)

When the tournament starts, go to the Games page — your "Cockpit".

You are always on the left: The app always puts your name and score input on the left (labelled "You"), and your opponent on the right — whichever way round the draw was made.

On mobile: the layout compacts. Your name sits on the left and your score box on the right of the same row.
Entering a score:
1. Catch a fish.
2. Type the number of fish into your box.
3. Click the blue "Save" button.
4. Done — your opponent instantly gets a notification to verify it.

Verifying Your Opponent's Score

Transparency is the point: every score is confirmed by the other angler.

The notification: When your opponent submits, a dark popup appears saying "Opponent Claimed X Fish".
Verify (green): Click if you agree. The popup closes and a green tick appears on the scorecard.
Reject (red): Click only if the score is wrong.
- For your opponent: their box turns red ("REJECTED") and their input unlocks so they can correct it.
- For you: your card stays active (blue), with a red border around your opponent's score box as a reminder that it still needs fixing.
Missed the popup? No problem — a green "Verify" button (and a red "Reject") waits for you directly on the game card.

Game Over (The Lock)

When both of you have verified:

The game card turns green and shows a "Locked" label.
No further changes are possible.
Auto-filing: A few seconds later the card slides itself out of your active matches into the "Completed Rounds" history — no refresh needed. It fades out and lands in the history with a soft blue glow so you can see where it went. The history counter and your progress bar update at the same moment.

Your Cockpit — Themes, History and Progress

Light or Dark: Use the theme switch to flip between Light and Dark mode. Your choice is saved to your account, not just the device — set it to Light on your phone and it will be Light on your tablet too. The app starts in Light Mode by default so it stays readable in the field.
Completed Rounds: Finished matches collapse into a "Completed Rounds" section. Tap "View All" to expand and "Hide" to collapse. The badge shows how many rounds are inside.
Progress Bar: The bar at the top updates instantly as scores are verified — no refreshing. It stays visible for the whole competition, even after you've submitted everything, so you can watch the event fill up to 100%. Organizers and admins see it too.

Viewing the Full Field (Notations)

The card: On the competition page, look for the "Notations" card — a blurred preview of the real table.
Open it: Click the card for the full-screen table.
Controls: Drag the table around like a map, or use the zoom buttons for the big picture. On mobile, use the sticky toolbar at the top to zoom or close.

Notifications Centre

Access: Tap the bell icon in the header, or "Notifications" in the mobile menu.
Mark All Read: Clears your backlog in one tap.
Delete: Tap the trash icon to remove old notifications.
Open: Tap any notification for a detail view, from which you can verify scores or jump straight to the game.
Real-time: New alerts appear at the top instantly — no refresh needed.

Loading and Feedback

Mobile: A "water bubbles" animation appears while the app is working (generating games, switching language). It blocks the screen to prevent accidental taps.
Desktop: The screen stays visible, your cursor becomes a wait spinner, and buttons are briefly blocked until the action finishes.
Numeric keypad: Entering Sectors, Rounds or Groups on a phone opens the numeric keypad (without a decimal point) so whole numbers are quick and accurate.
Language: When you switch language, the loading screen greets you in the new language to confirm the change.

On Android: You may see a persistent "Tap to copy the URL" notification in your status bar while the app runs. That is a standard Google Chrome security feature for apps not installed from the Play Store — it lets you verify the site address. It cannot be disabled, and it does not indicate a problem.

For Organizers

Creating a Competition

Go to Competitions → Create.

Angler Type:
- Registration — anglers apply publicly and you approve them.
- Manual — pick registered users from the database yourself.
- Generated — create virtual placeholders ("A-1", "B-2") when you only need a schedule to print.
Date & Time: Both are required. Participants see it in their own language format.
Sectors: Make sure you have enough — at least one sector per pair of anglers.
Auto-Rounds: Change the Sectors, Groups or Schedule Mode and the required number of Rounds is calculated for you automatically, in both Create and Edit.
Scoring Mode (multi-group events only):
- Standard — everyone competes for the same first place in one table.
- Separate per Group — each group has its own winner, and the standings page shows a separate table per group.
Emojis: The smiley button opens the emoji picker. It stays open so you can pick several at once.
Missing fields: The form will not submit. It scrolls to the first missing field and highlights it with a red border — no popups.
Edit warning: If a competition already has games and scores, changing game-critical settings (Sectors, Rounds, Groups, Mode or Type) shows a "Yes, Save and Delete" confirmation, so you can't wipe tournament progress by accident. Simple changes like Name or Location don't trigger it.

Generating Games

Open the competition, scroll down and click "Generate Games". Anglers are paired and sectors assigned fairly.

Random — a secure shuffle, checked across many candidate schedules for the fairest sector spread.
Smooth — anglers rotate spots evenly, suited to Trout Area rules.
Group — detected automatically when your generated anglers have groups (A, B…). Anglers only ever play within their own group.

Manual Results (Generated Competitions)

For printed scoring events:

Open the Competition Details page and click "Edit Results" (pencil icon).
Enter Total Fish, Wins and Points for each angler. Values must be whole numbers.
The standings rank automatically from those values.
Finals: For multi-group competitions you can enter the top 4 finalists — Start Number, Name and Fish. The Grand Final (1st/2nd) and Small Final (3rd/4th) are calculated and shown in their own table on the competition page.
Group headers: In split-group events the roster is separated by bold Group A / Group B headers, so you can follow along while typing from paper sheets.
Auto-save: Your typing is saved locally as you go and sent to the server when you leave a field or press Enter — so no "Saving…" popups interrupt you.

Printing Materials

Print Scorecards — paper cards for backup scoring. The print dialog opens directly over your current screen rather than in a new tab, keeping you inside the app. For generated competitions the cards show the angler code ("A-1") only, for a clean layout on paper.
Print Rounds — the whole schedule as a "Marshal Sheet" so you can call out names and sectors.
Both show the competition's Start Date as day.month.year (e.g. 01.04.2026).
On the scorecard, the "Opponent Totals" squares are marked with diagonal grey hatching — those fields do not need to be filled in.

Managing Participation Requests

If you enabled "Allow Public Registration":

A yellow "View Requests" button appears on the Competition Details page when you have pending applicants.
Click it to Approve (adds them to the competition) or Reject each angler. Every action is confirmed by a dialog in your own language.
You receive an email when someone applies, and they receive one when you decide.
Reserve List: below the pending requests, this page also lists everyone currently on the waitlist, in order. You can Reject a reserve to drop them from the queue, but there's usually nothing to do here — reserves are promoted automatically, in order, the moment a spot opens.
If you click Approve once the competition is already full (for example, two approvals submitted at the same moment), that angler is placed on the reserve list instead of being blocked.
A spot opens up — and the next reserve is promoted automatically — whenever an approved angler withdraws themselves, you reject someone who was already approved, you remove someone from the roster on the Edit Competition page, or you raise the planned capacity.
You're notified when someone withdraws, with the full picture in one message: a self-withdrawal isn't silent — you get an e-mail and a push/dashboard notification the moment it happens, the same way you're notified when someone first applies, and it tells you right away whether the spot was automatically refilled from the reserve list or is still open.
Removing an angler who already has a submitted score is blocked. If you try to remove someone from the roster on the Edit Competition page after they've already played and submitted a result, the save is rejected and you're told who — removing them would hide their result without deleting it. Anyone who hasn't submitted a score yet can still be removed freely.
Full audit trail: every apply, approve, reject, reserve, promotion, and withdrawal is logged — searchable by the angler who did it or the angler it happened to. Admins can browse and filter the complete history at /admin/competition-logs.

Handling a Missing or Injured Angler (Once Fishing Has Started)

Trout Area competitions are strict 1-vs-1 — every group needs an even number of anglers so everyone always has an opponent. If someone doesn't show up, or has to stop partway through, and the match schedule has already been generated, use "Report Angler Issue" (next to Generate Games and Marshal Sheets on the competition page):

Pick the angler and a reason: No Show, Unable to Continue (injury, equipment, had to leave), Suspended / Disqualified, or Other.
Whichever reason you pick, that angler's remaining games are automatically filled by BOT — a built-in placeholder opponent, not a real competitor. Their scheduled opponents still get a real game instead of one that never happens: catch anything at all and you win; catch nothing and it's a scoreless draw — you can never lose to BOT. If an opponent had already submitted their catch and was waiting on a confirmation that was never coming, this resolves it immediately.
Rounds that angler already fished for real are untouched — their results stand exactly as recorded.
Suspended/Disqualified is the one exception: it also removes that angler's already-played results from the standings (their opponents' results are corrected fairly, since they may have legitimately caught more than a since-disqualified rival). Their real catch stays on record for anyone auditing it later — it just stops counting.
This never changes anyone else's sector or pairing — only the flagged angler's own seat.

Before the schedule is generated, none of this applies — just remove the angler from the roster on the Edit Competition page as usual (see above); if the resulting number of anglers is odd, BOT is automatically added to whichever group needs it when you generate games.

Managing Issues

Reset Results: Wipes the scores so anglers can start over. It also resets the "submitted" status, so the "Save" button reappears for them. For Generated competitions you also get a "Reset Angler Names" option. Resetting clears any manually entered Finals data too.
- Safety net: Before anything is wiped, the current standings (Fish, Wins, Points) are snapshotted into the activity log. If a reset was a mistake, an admin can recover the exact scores from there.
Ownership: You can only manage competitions you created. You cannot edit events created by other organizers.
User roles: To promote an angler to organizer, ask an admin to change their "Type" in the Users section.
Alerts: Watch your dashboard — games with disputed or unverified scores appear in the Action Required box at the top.

Troubleshooting Push Notifications

If notifications aren't arriving:

Permissions — check you granted permission in your browser (click the lock icon in the address bar).
Profile — visit your profile and switch "Enable Notifications" on.
HTTPS — make sure you're on https://. Push notifications cannot work otherwise.
iOS — you must install the app to your Home Screen first; Safari does not support web push in a normal browser tab.

Admin Panel Tips

News & Pages: Title, Image and Date are all required. Miss one and the form reloads with the missing field highlighted in red.
Users: The list shows each User ID in a rounded square beside the name, with the email in grey underneath.
Top Menu: Drag items with the "☰" handle to reorder the navigation bar.
Competition images: Click the red "Clear Image" (X) button to remove one, then Save at the bottom to make it permanent. Images can be up to 10MB. Note that the competitions list always shows the standard logo — your custom photo appears inside the competition as a hero header.
Error alerts: If a system error occurs, an email with the technical detail goes to the administrator automatically. No screenshots needed unless asked.

Good luck, and tight lines.