Reading a fishing fight

A reeling fight starts at 50 tension and zero catch progress. Keep tension above zero and below 100 while bringing progress to 100. The fish's current phase tells you how it will affect the action you take next. Its next phase is chosen after that action resolves.

Pull, Hold and Slack

Pull adds 7 base tension. Hold adds none by itself. Slack removes 7 base tension. The fish then adds or removes tension according to its current phase and difficulty. Your fishing level also reduces the action tension from Pull and Slack by 0.1 per level. This makes Pull add less tension and Slack remove more. Hold is not a promise that the line will stay at the same tension.

Watch the phase

Rest barely changes tension and gives Pull its best base progress. Pull and Surge raise tension, with Surge raising it much more sharply. Dive lowers tension, so adding Slack can let the line go loose. Thrash can move tension either way. The exact ranges and action progress are listed on each phase page.

Gear helps positive progress

When an action has positive base progress, add 0.4 per effective fishing power, 0.25 per lure power and 0.3 per fishing level. Effective fishing power includes the rod and any fishing power affix on the lure. The result is rounded with your total progress. Slack during Surge has zero base progress, so it gains none of these progress bonuses. A stronger rod does not change the starting tension or the turn allowance.

Time and the last action

You normally have 15 reeling actions. Fishing level 5 raises this to 16, and level 10 raises it to 17. During an ordinary reeling action, reaching zero or 100 tension loses the fish even if that same action fills catch progress. If tension stays inside the safe bounds, reaching 100 progress on the final action still lands the fish. Otherwise, using the last action without finishing lets it escape.

Easy catches and enemy strikes

Some easy fish can be caught without reeling. The instant catch chance is 20% minus the fish's difficulty, stopping at zero. A difficulty 5 fish has a 15% chance, while difficulty 20 and above gives none. During reeling, an enemy strike can add 15 tension as a separate line jerk. This can happen even when you block the blow.

Patterns change the next phase

Passive, Steady, Erratic, Aggressive and Surging fish use different opening phases and different chances for the phase that follows. A Passive fish stays among Rest, Pull and Thrash. The other four patterns can also Dive or Surge. These are chances for what comes next, rather than a repeating sequence you can memorise.