Where to fish, and what you'll catch

How fish behave

• Rarer fish live further out. Every fish has a home distance from the dock, and it grows with rarity, so a long cast matters.
• Feeding times follow your clock. The game uses your real time of day: night until 5, dawn 5 to 8, day 8 to 17, dusk 17 to 20. A fish in its feeding window is about three times as likely to show interest as one outside it. Outside its window a fish is shy, but never impossible.
• Weather helps. Overcast, rain and storms make fish keener: a storm makes them 60% keener than a clear sky.
• Fish come and go. Rare fish aren't always in the water. A mythic is there on only a few casts in a hundred, more often in its feeding window. Keep casting.
• Cast close, not on top. Landing within about 7 m of a fish's rings makes it turn for the bait, but a splash within 5 m of other fish scares them off.

The nine waters

Waters open as you level up. The further you go, the more each catch pays: the Abyssal Trench pays more than three times what the pond does for the same rarity.

Willow Pond

Level 1 · from the dock. Still water and lily pads, where you learn to cast. Small fish and forgiving fights.

Boss: The Snakehead (Titan Rod or stronger). It dives for the weeds: let go of reel, then lift when it turns.

Stonebrook River

Level 4 · from the dock. Running water, shallow, with trout behind the rocks and something old in the deep pool.

Boss: Goliath Tigerfish (Koi Master or stronger). It breaches twice: tap at each jump.

Clearwater Lake

Level 6 · from the dock. Deep, clear water with pike in the weeds, and the muskie, "the fish of ten thousand casts".

Boss: The Old Wels, a giant catfish (Titan Rod or stronger). Lift before it holes up in the timber; if it does, ease off and wait.

Sunspire Reef

Level 8 · from the dock. Warm, clear shallows over coral, under a volcanic peak.

Boss: Goliath Grouper (Offshore Stand-up or stronger). Lift before it reaches its ledge.

Bluewater Drop

Level 12 · from a drifting boat. Open ocean with a long swell and no common fish. Here you count the rig down through 32 m of water and tap FISH IT HERE to stop it, because each fish keeps to its own depth. Seabirds working the water mark feeding spots: put the rig under them.

Boss: The Mako Shark (Abyssal Rig or stronger), "the fastest fish in the sea". It blitzes with three runs back to back: swipe against each.

Tidewater Mangroves

Level 16 · from the dock. Murky, tea-coloured water where everything fights dirty and runs for the roots.

Boss: The Rootcutter, a sawfish (Abyssal Rig or stronger). It dives for the roots: let go of reel, then lift when it turns.

Frostbite Fjord

Level 20 · from a boat. Black water between ice cliffs. Slow, heavy fish that sulk on the bottom.

Boss: The Toll-Taker, an orca (Abyssal Rig or stronger). It blitzes: swipe against each run.

The Drowned Fleet

Level 24 · from the dock. Moonlit shipwrecks. It is always night here, and there is no weather.

Boss: The Quartermaster, a giant octopus (Abyssal Rig or stronger). Lift before it gets into the hull.

Abyssal Trench

Level 28 · from a boat. Deep, dark and glowing, with no weather. Every fish here is epic or rarer, but each pays as if it were one step less rare.

Boss: The Pale Judge, a goblin shark (Abyssal Rig or stronger). Tap as its jaws strike, and lift before it reaches the vent.

Drawing out a boss

Bosses never take your bait. They come for a fish you've already hooked:

1. Bring the right rod.Each boss only answers to its rod or a stronger one. With a weaker rod you'll only see it roll at the surface.
2. Hook a rare fish or betterin that boss's water, and keep it on the line.
3. Fight for more than 12 seconds.After that, the longer the fight runs, the better the odds. Long fights without a boss make the next one likelier.
4. When the warning flashes,"Something's coming", you have about four and a half seconds: land your fish now, or keep it hooked and let the boss take it. Then the real fight starts, with the boss already angry.

Boss Chum from the Tackle Shop makes the boss come for certain on your next fight that qualifies. At the end of every boss fight comes a last stand: hold on, because your reeling does extra damage then.

Rods

A rod has three stats: power (how fast reeling tires a fish), line (how much strain the line takes) and recovery (how fast tension falls when you ease off). Each needs a level and coins.

Legendary and mythic fish grow stronger to match a better rod, so they always put up a fight.

Lures and bait

• Garden WormFree. Best for common fish; the rarest mostly ignore it.
• SpinnerLevel 2 · 120 coins. Swaps commons for more rare and epic fish.
• PopperLevel 4 · 320 coins. Sits on the surface, gets bites much more often, and gives you longer to set the hook.
• Deep JigLevel 6 · 600 coins. Fishes the bottom, where epic and legendary fish like it.
• Glow SquidLevel 9 · 1,500 coins. The lure for legendaries and mythics, with a little extra time to hook.

If a fish is out there but not interested, the game tells you after a while to try another lure. Two kinds of bait stack in your tackle box: Trophy Brew (220 coins: the next rare-or-better fish you land rolls its size twice and keeps the bigger) and Boss Chum (750 coins: the boss comes for certain on your next qualifying fight).

The Shelf

The Shelf is the championship: open ocean in the late afternoon, with a great white called the Champion. Everyone fishes with the same house rig (the Abyssal Rig, a Deep Jig and Calm Waters), so it's down to skill. The shark comes for every fish you hook, two seconds into the fight, and your time runs from its strike until it's beaten.

It's the hardest pull in the game. It dashes (swipe against it, fast), circles (never reel into it) and sounds (lift). Your best time goes on the weekly and all-time boards, and the weekly board starts again every Monday. Land it once and you earn Champion's White, a jacket you can't buy. Right now the Shelf is open to every level.