Fish fights

Once a fish is hooked, the fight begins. A fish in Reel doesn’t just pull steadily: it rests, and then it fights back. Bringing it in is about reeling hard while it rests and easing off while it fights, the way a real angler plays a fish.

The fight gauge

While a fish is on, a card hangs from the right side of your rod, just past the reel, tilted toward you. It moves with the rod.

• The needle shows the tension on your line. Reeling faster pushes it up.
• The catch box is the zone you want the needle in. It moves and changes size as the fish changes what it’s doing.
• The box takes the fish’s colour: pale gold while it rests, blue while it dives, orange while it runs to the side, and green while your needle is inside it.
• A ghost box with arrows shows where the catch box is about to go, a moment before the fish turns. Watch it to get ready.
• A line of words tells you what to do: REEL IT IN! while the fish rests and SLOW DOWN! while it fights back.

Keeping the needle in the box reels the fish in faster and fills up your catch grade.

Rests and fight-backs

When the fish rests, it faces you, mouth first, and swims just under the surface. This is when you bring it in. The catch box is wide and sits at a steady reeling speed. Some rests, the fish breaks the surface to shake its head and splash, and it comes up as it nears your boat.

When the fish fights back, it snaps round and swims away, taking line. A fight-back is short, but strong. There are two kinds:

• A dive: the fish heads away and down, deeper for bigger fish. In murky water it can vanish from sight.
• A side run: the fish runs off to one side, never straight away from you, and may leap as it turns.

Now and then a fight-back is a long run, lasting longer and taking a lot more line. Big, rare fish make long runs more often.

Every fight starts with a fight-back as the fish feels the hook. After that, rests and fight-backs take turns. Big, rare fish fight back harder and longer. As a fish tires, its fight-backs get weaker and shorter and its rests get longer.

Some fish mostly dive, and others mostly run to the side.

Slow down, don’t stop

During a fight-back the fish always takes some line, whatever you do. Your reeling only holds it back.

• Slow down. The catch box slides down to a slow, steady reel and gets narrower. A slow reel keeps the needle in the box and limits how much line the fish takes.
• Don’t stop. If you stop reeling, the needle falls below the box and the fish takes line freely. A small spool on an early rod can run out of line, and a big fish can get away.
• Don’t crank. Reeling hard during a fight-back pushes the needle over the box into the red, which strains your line. Too long in the red and the line snaps.

When the fight-back ends, speed up again and reel it in while it rests.

Feeling and hearing the fight

You don’t have to watch the gauge all the time:

• Your controllers give a hard pull when a fight-back starts, a long heavy one for a dive, and a light tick just before the fish turns.
• While the fish takes line, the reel’s drag clicks and screams, your spool spins backwards, and your rod hand buzzes lightly.
• Your rod bends harder while the fish fights back.

Other captains nearby hear your drag and see your fish dive and run, exactly as you do.

Landing the fish

Keep reeling during the rests and the fish comes up beside your boat. Once it’s close, it’s landed: it comes up out of the water for a look, with its size and any aura. Press A (or X if your rod is in your left hand) to keep it, and it goes into your fishbowl.

Your catch grade

Every landed catch gets a grade, S, A, B or C, from how much of the fight you kept the needle inside the catch box. A better grade means a better-quality fish, which sells for more, and more Captain XP. An S grade gets a burst of confetti.

Losing a fish

A fish gets away if:

• your line spends too long in the red and snaps;
• the fish takes all the line on your spool;
• the fight goes on far too long.

A fish that’s too big for your rod can’t be fought at all; see Fishing.