Fishing

Fishing is the heart of Reel. You cast from your boat (or from the bank of an island pond), wait for a bite, hook the fish and fight it in. Everything you catch is recorded in your catch booklet for good.

Casting

1. Press A to take out your rod (X if you fish left-handed).
2. Hold grip and trigger on your rod hand.
3. Swing the rod forward and let go of the trigger to cast. A faster swing sends the float farther.

You cast from the deck of a boat, or from the edge of a pond on foot. If you step off the deck or away from the pond’s edge, the game asks you to step back before you can carry on.

The bite

Watch your float. When a fish bites, the float dives, you hear a splash and your controller buzzes. Lift the rod sharply or squeeze the trigger to set the hook. Be quick: wait too long and the fish slips away.

Don’t reel while nothing is hooked. Reeling only matters once a fish is on.

Once the fish is hooked, the fight begins; see Fish fights.

Which waters your boat can fish

The sea around the harbor is split into four regions, each farther out and harder than the last: the Sheltered Bay, Coral Reach, Storm & Ember Waters and Outer Waters. Each region holds several named waters, each with its own fish, look and landmarks. See Regions.

What you can fish depends on the boat carrying you:

• Your boat’s band. Your boat can fish the waters of every region it has a passage for. Every boat starts in the Sheltered Bay. The Reef, Storm and Outer Passages on the Stables’ boat tree open Coral Reach, Storm & Ember Waters and the Outer Waters in turn. See Boats.
• Open sea and island rings. This applies everywhere, in the open sea between the islands as well as inside the rings around them. The rarest fish of each water bite only inside its island rings.
• As a passenger, you fish with the band of the boat you’re riding on, not your own. Riding with a friend whose boat has a passage you don’t have lets you fish their waters. Your own rod still decides how big a fish you can land.
• On foot, at ponds or from the shore, your own boat’s band counts.

You can sail out into open sea beyond your band and explore, but if you try to cast there, the game tells you your boat can’t fish these waters yet.

Hotspots and fish signs

Look out for signs on the water: seabirds diving, bubbling patches, fins cutting the surface, steam, glowing water and more. Each sign marks a hotspot, a patch of water where the fish that make that sign bite much more often. Hotspots move around on a schedule that’s the same for everyone in the room.

The more captains fishing a hotspot together, the better it gets: with a few boats it turns into a frenzy with bigger fish and better auras, and with a crowd every captain there is guaranteed a giant.

See Weather and fish signs for every sign and what the weather changes.

Ponds

Seven islands have a pond you fish on foot, from the bank, with fish of their own. Your boat follows you ashore as a pet while you fish. See Ponds.

Bait and lures

Bait and lures from the Bait Shop change what bites and how often. See Bait and lures.

Rod power

Your rod decides how big a catch you can handle. Each rod setup on the rod tree has a power tier, and bigger fish need more power.

If a fish is too big for your rod, it still bites, but you can’t fight it: the game tells you to upgrade your rod beyond your current power, and the fish gets away. Heavy chests work the same way. Upgrade your rod at the Rod Workshop to land bigger catches.

Fish sizes

Every fish you catch has its own length, rolled when it bites. Most are close to their species’ normal size, but every so often you’ll land a tiny one or a gigantic one. The fish keeps its exact length when you hold it, show it off or display your record.

The tag on each catch shows its size class:

Size class	Means
Runt	Much smaller than normal
Standard	About normal
Big	Noticeably larger than normal
Giant	Several times normal size, with a special reveal
Colossal	Enormous, and very rare

Bigger fish sell for more.

Auras

Now and then a fish comes up with an aura: a Shimmer, a Glow or, very rarely, a Radiant, each louder than the last. Fish with auras are worth a lot more. Storms make auras more likely. Mythic fish never have an aura.

Not just fish

Once you’ve landed your first fish, you’ll sometimes hook something else: gems, treasure chests, keys, message bottles, eggs, and in the farther regions sigil fragments. These go straight to your inventory, not your fishbowl. See Treasure and Eggs.

The catch booklet

Your catch booklet, in the captain’s log, keeps a page for every species you’ve caught. Each page records:

• how many you’ve caught;
• your longest one, and the actual record fish;
• the auras and the size classes you’ve found;
• the species’ fish sign and favourite weather.

Selling or feeding a fish never removes anything from the booklet.

• SHOW LARGEST brings out your record fish at its full length and aura, even if you sold it long ago. It’s a display copy: it can’t be sold or fed.
• TABLET pops out a tablet with your catches, a few to a page. You can carry it and turn it to your friends, and captains nearby see the page you pick.

Your first catch of every species also gives a big bonus of Captain XP; see Captain levels.