How Bight & Bite makes money
Last updated: 2026-09-21. This policy is published as written — no hidden exceptions.
The short version
Bight & Bite may earn a commission when you buy tackle through links on this site. That money never buys a verdict. Rankings, reviews, and "avoid" calls are not for sale, and a commission never appears on a product we tell you to skip.
Current status: no affiliate programs are signed up yet, so you won't see buy links anywhere on the site right now. When programs are wired in, the disclosure below will appear directly above the buy links on each page — and products with "avoid" verdicts will never carry them.
Affiliate links
Some pages link to online tackle retailers. If you buy through those links, the retailer may pay us a commission. It costs you nothing extra.
What you'll see on every page with affiliate links:
Some links on this page earn Bight & Bite a commission if you buy. It doesn't change our verdicts — nothing on this site is for sale.
The disclosure sits directly above the buy links on the page — not buried in a footer or three clicks deep.
Our rules for affiliate links:
- A link goes only on a product we'd recommend with our own money. Our "avoid" verdicts never carry affiliate links.
- We join real affiliate programs only. If a program's terms can't be verified at signup, we don't claim them.
- We never invent commission rates or earnings. (If you're curious how the programs work, the terms are on their sites, not ours.)
Affiliate programs: where we stand
Tackle is a genuine e-commerce category and our readers are comparison-shopping, so affiliate links are a good fit — under the policy above, with one hard boundary: nothing here is for sale, and no link ever appears on a product we tell you to avoid.
Programs confirmed to exist (terms to be verified at each signup before any link goes live):
| Program | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Amazon Associates | Broadest product coverage — nearly all 40 gear items are findable there |
| eBay Partner Network | Used/vintage tackle, discontinued models, auction-format gear |
| Bass Pro Shops affiliate program | Tackle, rods, reels, marine gear; managed through the Impact network |
UNVERIFIED programs (reported by third-party roundups, not confirmed on the merchant's own site — not presented as confirmed, no rates cited): Tackle Warehouse, TackleDirect, and brand programs (Berkley, Rapala, Orvis). A program moves to the confirmed list only after an actual signup confirmation or a program page on the merchant's own domain.
Deliberately not pursued:
- Local tackle shops — the shop directory is a plain, non-monetized trust feature. Monetizing it would undermine the disclosure.
- Charter/landing booking commissions — recommending specific boats for money conflicts with honest trip planning. Off-limits.
- Coupon/deal sites or cashback portals as "partners" — incentive traffic erodes verdict trust.
- Any network that requires exclusivity or editorial approval of content.
What we will never do
- Pay-to-rank: nobody can pay to move up a ranking, soften a verdict, or get a product reviewed. One instance is a policy violation, not a judgment call.
- Undisclosed sponsorship: if money changes hands, you read about it on the page where it matters.
- Sponsored content dressed as editorial: banned outright on this site. There is no sponsored-content product to buy. If that ever changes, this policy gets rewritten first — and you'll see the date it changed.
- Paid charter/landing placement: landings, boats, and charter operators are covered because our research says they're worth covering. Nobody pays for a spot on a trip page.
Display ads
You may see plain display ads on the site. They live in clearly marked slots — below the article or in the sidebar — and they never appear inside a review verdict or a comparison table. No pop-ups, no interstitials, no video that plays sound on its own, and nothing that breaks the page on your phone. None are planned for launch; they'd only be added if traffic justifies them.
The newsletter
If we ever run a paid tier or sponsor a dispatch, the same rules apply: labeled, separated from editorial, held to the same honesty standard.
Why this page exists
Fishing media has a long tradition of "reviews" that are really ads. We're a research site first. If you ever catch us breaking these rules, that's a bug — tell us and we'll fix it in public.