Fishing Guide: Reeling, Tension and Surges
How to win every fight in the HowToFish.click fan-made browser game - from minnows to the Golden Kingfish.
Understand the tension economy
Think of line tension as a budget you spend to pull the fish in. Reeling spends tension; not reeling refunds it. The fish spends its own resource - stamina - every second, faster while you reel. Winning means spending your budget on fish that are about to tire, not on fish that are surging.
- Tension rises faster against high-strength fish (Volt Eel, Golden Kingfish).
- Tension falls at a flat rate whenever you are not reeling.
- 13 seconds without reeling lets the fish escape - tap the reel every few seconds even when waiting.
Runs and surges: the only things that break lines
Fish fight in two bursts. A run is a 1-2 second sprint away from the boat - the fish genuinely pulls line back out, your reel only works at about a third strength against it, and tension climbs twice as fast. A surge is a shorter, sharper pull with an instant tension spike. Reeling through either is how lines snap. Learn the telegraphs:
- Most fish: a splash at the hook point just before the burst.
- Ruby Puffer: visibly inflates, then refuses to move at all.
- Volt Eel: glows violet before an electric spike - the hardest spike in the game.
- Golden Kingfish: long run first, then a surge - treat the run itself as the warning.
The response is always the same: release REEL the instant you see the telegraph. Runs last 1-2 seconds, surges under a second. Reeling into them is the only consistent way to lose fish - and reeling while a fish runs barely moves it anyway, so letting go costs you nothing.
Calm vs active fish: still bait or twitch
Before the fight even starts, every species has a temperament that decides how it bites. After your cast, one fish (never the whole school) swims up and tests the hook with two visible nibbles:
- Calm fish (round, spotted - Perch, Carp, Catfish, Puffer) bite only if the lure has been STILL. Pressing TWITCH while one is near spooks it instantly.
- Active fish (sleek, lightning-striped - Minnow, Skipper, Dart, Eel, Bass, Kingfish) bite only if the lure MOVED recently. Press TWITCH as they test and they strike; do nothing and they leave.
The test lasts about two seconds. No bite? The fish swims off, and the next one takes a few seconds to come over. Read the fish before you twitch: round body = hands off, striped body = twitch.
Species tactics
| Species | Difficulty | How to beat it |
|---|---|---|
| Glimmer Minnow / Speckle Perch / Copper Carp | 1 | Reel constantly; their tension gain is tiny. Done in seconds. |
| Sand Skipper / Silver Dart | 2 | Fast dashes, low strength. Pause during dashes, reel hard between them. |
| Mossy Catfish | 2 | Never surges but never stops pulling. Steady 60% tension reeling works. |
| Ruby Puffer | 3 | Do not reel while inflated - zero progress, full tension. Reel when it deflates. |
| Volt Eel | 4 | Line level 2+ recommended. Release on every glow. Harpoon shortens the fight a lot. |
| Sunset Bass | 4 | Drags you toward pillars. Keep the boat in open water and harpoon after bursts. |
| Golden Kingfish | 5 | Max line, max reel, harpoon level 3. Fight in open water, reel only between surges. |
Harpoon math: reel or kill?
The harpoon gun deals 25/45/80 damage per shot with a 0.9s cooldown when a hooked fish is within range (180/240/300 px). Killing a fish skips the tiredness requirement entirely and pays a 1.6x bonus. A simple rule: if the fish has under 45 HP, kill it. Otherwise reel it tired - except Volt Eels and Sunset Bass, where the harpoon is almost always worth it because their surges are expensive.
Positioning matters
You can move the boat during a fight. Two uses: (1) follow a fish that runs to keep it in harpoon range, and (2) kite fish away from the Rocky Cove pillars, since a fish pulling you toward rocks is pulling you toward a fight-ending mistake. Keep 300+ px of open water behind you.