The catch pipeline
Keep your line in the water: bite checks repeat at random intervals of 2–3 seconds. A failed check increases the next chance. Once something bites, your water, bait and lure determine the catch; winning the minigame then awards it.
1. Waiting for a bite
Bait starts at a 6% chance per check. Each failed check adds 0.3 percentage points before other modifiers; the increase resets on a bite. Rod Chance adds to this base. The zone then multiplies it, followed by recent reeling, the Attractive Angler lure, rain and Catcher's Cola effects. Rain multiplies the check by ×1.1; Attractive Angler by ×1.3.
2. Bait and catch types
A successful bite check consumes bait, subject to your lure's saving or extra-bait effects. Fresh and Salty lures can change the water's fish pool. Junk is checked next, then rain. Rain can replace the junk pool, but an earlier junk result still carries its tier restriction and average-size flag. A treasure roll follows fish and quality selection.
| Condition | Roll |
|---|---|
| Junk, before rain and treasure | 5% |
| Junk with Magnet Hook, before rain and treasure | 15% |
| Rain pool, while raining | 8% |
| Treasure Chest | 2% |
| Treasure Chest with Magnet Hook | 4% |
These rolls apply to unlocked water and are not all final-species probabilities. In dry water, after treasure replaces some catches, junk remains 4.9% per bite, or 14.4% with Magnet Hook. Meteor water locks its fish type, so these replacements and Fresh/Salty forcing do not apply. Use the catch calculator for your exact bait, lure and water.
3. Choosing a fish
The game draws 3 fish and sizes from the chosen pool, using loot weights and the bait's tier limit. Fly Hook keeps the smallest draw; Large Lure the largest; Sparkling Lure the highest tier. Golden Hook keeps the last rare draw if any is present. Other lures use the last draw. Quality then walks the bait's independent rolls, keeping the highest success. Treasure can finally replace the result with a Normal-quality chest.
4. Difficulty and XP
Difficulty multiplies the fish's base difficulty by its size ratio, limited to 0.7–1.8, and its quality multiplier, then adds the quality bonus. The result is limited to 1–250.
XP starts with the fish's base XP, multiplied by size, the drink effect and quality worth, then rounded up. The size multiplier has a floor of 0.5. Below a size ratio of 0.15, it instead adds 1.25 to that ratio before applying the floor.
5. Reeling it in
The minigame uses up to 5 yank spots and a total-health basis of ceil(difficulty² × 0.7). Individual spots receive random shares of that basis. Rod Speed, reel effects and Quick Jig affect reeling; Rod Power affects damage. A ripple or meteor spot is consumed before this fight starts, so a failed catch does not preserve it.
6. Successful-catch bonuses
Double Hook doubles the catch with 15% probability. Rod Luck above zero independently has a 15% chance to add a Coin Bag, whose quality follows the upgrade level. Lucky Hook awards 1–10% of the catch's sell value, rounded up with a minimum of $1. Drink bonuses and Shower Lure's raincloud chance are handled after success too.