🎣 Fishing
How fishing works
- Cast at a fish school from a raft or boat, off the island pier, or at the Crew Dock. The fish is picked the moment you cast — its rarity decides the fight.
- Wait through the nibble fake-outs. Reeling early just wastes the moment now — the fish stays.
- When the ❗ BITE! ❗ hits, press REEL fast (big button on phone, Space/click on PC, R2/A on controller).
- The fight: hold to pull the hook right, let go to drift left. Keep the hook on the darting fish to fill the meter. Rarer fish have a smaller zone, faster darts and a shorter hook window. "Something big!" means exactly that.
- Pier casts always bite (3–8 s); school casts bite in 1.5–4 s. Rain makes fish bite 30% sooner.
Luck
Your odds of rare fish grow with: a better rod (Sturdy +0.3, Sea-Glass +0.7), night fishing (+0.15), rain or storm (+0.25), and lucky schools — about a quarter of schools sparkle gold (+0.6). Finn gets a wider catch zone; Calm Mode makes fights gentler.
The 27-fish log
Harbor Herring · Sunset Snapper · Puffy Pufferfish · Lantern Minnow · Old Boot · Elias's Lost Spoon · Sandy Flounder · Pier Mullet · Striped Sea Bass · Rainbow Wrasse · Golden Guppy · Spotted Grouper · Sea Robin · Hermit Crabfish · Blue Mackerel · Yellowtail · Parrotfish · Coral Clownfish · Mahi-Mahi · Sailfin Tuna · Moonfin Ray · Golden Marlin · Lantern Eel · Moonlight Angelfish · Ghost Fish · Tiny Sea Dragon · Baby Starlight Leviathan.
Two entries aren't fish at all (an old boot and a lost spoon) — the log keeps them anyway. Every catch is recorded in your Collections book.