How to fish

A short guide to how it all works — updated as the game grows.

Get started — the road to the board

Find your water on the map
Travel there and fish for real
Catch a fish — it's logged and it counts
Keep your name with an email

Reeling, tempo & rhythm

You reel by cranking (tap the reel button or the water). The faster you crank, the faster the lure works; stop and it slows. Match your tempo to the water temperature — cold water, slow; warm water, fast. And every lure wants its own RHYTHM: a jig is fished lift-and-fall — takes often come on the drop, so let it sink between cranks. A drop-shot works in place — small twitches, long holds. A jerkbait is worked in strokes — and it's in the pause between strokes that the fish commits. The float swims steady. But the fish always decides.

Float fishing — the float & bait

Pick the float and you fish passively — no reeling. Cast out, let the bait settle and WAIT. The float bobs when something noses the bait; but don't strike every twitch — the real take pulls the float UNDER. Strike then. Lift too early and you pull the bait away from the fish. The rig is the choice: the bait decides who finds it — worm is the all-rounder, maggot draws roach and small fish, corn is for bottom feeders — and hook size sets the size: a big hook passes on the small ones and targets the bigger fish, a small hook catches everything but tops out lower. Patience and the right rig — but the fish decides the moment.

Ice jigging — vertical fishing

Pimpel is fished VERTICALLY — no cast. You drop the lure straight down where you sit, to any depth, and jig it: small lifts, then let it sink and hang. It's on the drop and in the still hang that the fish takes — jig in an even rhythm, not a frenzy. You reach the depth two ways: from the BOAT on open water (straight down over the deep), or through the ICE once winter has set and the ice will hold (then you reach the deep water on foot, no boat). When the ice is on, the open-water methods are gone — this is the method. You also pick the jig: a tiny MORMYSKA (finesse, tipped with maggot or bloodworm — small fish), a VERTIKALPIRK (heavier metal, worked straight up and down — bigger fish), or a BALANSPIRK that hangs sideways and darts OUT to the side on the lift — its searching action triggers active predators. On the coast it's the PILK for the sea. The right jig, depth and rhythm are the skill; the fish decides the moment.

Setting the hook

A take opens a brief window — set the hook (tap the screen, the SET button, or Space) and you're into the fight; miss it and the fish gets off. It rewards paying attention, not lightning reflexes — the window is forgiving. Watch for the fish following your lure; that's your cue a take is coming.

Lure & reach

Lures are sidegrades, not upgrades: each is the right tool for a water, never simply better. A lure's reach caps how deep you can present; deeper lures (bought in the shop) reach fish the floor lures can't. Match the lure to the water and the fish you're after.

Fishing depth

Different fish hold at different depths, and depth shifts through the day and season. You can only fish as deep as your lure reaches, capped by the bottom where you stand. Reading where fish are holding is part of the skill — earned by fishing, or bought as a prognosis.

Spots on the water

The Spots tab opens the lake view — toggle between it and the cast and move around the lake. The depth map shows the bottom — deep holes dark, shoals light, the drop-off a shelf — and where you stand sets your fishing depth. You reach spots near the bank on foot; the deeper water further out needs a boat. Where you are also decides whether you fish from LAND or from the BOAT — not a button, but your position: near the bank you fish from shore (cast and float), out on the open water you're in the boat and can also jig pimpel straight down. Different fish hold on different structure and depth — which is right is something you learn, not something we show.

Aim the cast

Open the lake view with the Spots tab, stand at your spot and drag from your figure out over the water: the direction picks where, the length gives the power, and the wind carries the lure in the air. Where it lands, the bottom's real depth applies — cast at the drop-off, along the shoal or out over the deep, just like real fishing. Reaching the right structure is a real skill; where to aim is something the water teaches you, not something we show.

Being there

You can always open and read a water, but to fish it for real you must be present: travelled here and arrived, or it's your home water. If you're not here the cast is practice — the full feel, but no catch is saved and no ranking. Travel here from the map to make it count. It mirrors real life: you fish where you actually are.

Conditions

These are the raw signals every angler can see: the weather, the air pressure and whether a front is moving through, the wind, the moon, and the daylight. Reading them is the skill — we show the signals, never the answer. Falling pressure before a front is often prime; behind it, tougher.

The prognosis

A prognosis turns the free signals into a read for a water — the day's verdict, the hot window, where fish may hold. It costs from your bankroll and lasts the day. It's a read, not the answer key — the fish still decide, and the moment can't be ordered.

The trip

Fishing a water means getting there. Choose a travel mode (walk, bike, car) — faster modes cost more money, slower ones cost more world-time. The world clock keeps ticking as you travel, so you arrive at a later moment. Owning a bike or car opens longer trips.

Your profile

You're an angler from your first visit, no signup. Your real catches put you on the boards under your name. Set a nickname and a badge to make the profile yours; later you can claim it with an email to keep your name and defend your place.

Bankroll

Your bankroll pays for the angler's real costs: travel, licences, gear, prognoses. You earn it back through skill — prizes and placings, not pay-to-win. When you're short, there's always a free way to keep fishing; money buys speed, never a wall.

The logbook

Your catches are logged as you make them: your species lifelist, personal bests, your own hot windows, and a page per water with your notes. It's your earned knowledge — the more you fish a water, the better you know it.

The daily water

Every day one real water is chosen and the moment is frozen — everyone fishes the exact same conditions, whenever in the day they play. You get ten casts and one attempt a day: pick lure, depth and tempo as usual, and your biggest fish stands against the field's. No travel needed — the daily is an event, not a trip, so it counts on its own board (never the water's real board). Come back tomorrow: a new water, a new puzzle, and your streak grows with every day you fish.

Tournaments

Tournaments run on known host waters — local ones (50 kr) on smaller lakes and regionals (150 kr) on the big waters. Enter in advance; the fee is drawn from your bankroll, and the whole field's entries plus the sponsor build the pot. Then it's real: you must BE AT the water when the window opens — travel in time. During the window every participant lives the exact same weather at the same moment (one world, one clock), so when in the window you spend your casts is part of the skill. Your biggest fish during the window counts; the top three split the pot (50/30/20). Prizes are money won by skill — never something you buy.

Fishing permits

On most waters you buy a fishing permit before you fish — that's how it works for real, and that's how it works here. The day card is valid for the rest of the day; the year card covers a full world-year (about a real month) and is the home-water move. Prices vary by water, just like real fishery conservation areas. The exceptions are real too: on the five great lakes — Vänern, Vättern, Mälaren, Hjälmaren and Storsjön — and along the whole coast, rod fishing is free. Learn it in the game and you'll know the rules standing at a real water.