My first impressions

[BigAL]

I have played many fishing games, but none that are as enjoyable as this game. The main reason would be the controls. The option to just click mouse to reel in and click again to stop reeling is just fabulous. Also, the casting process is very easy to execute. This makes for a relaxing fishing experience.
The game runs smoothly on my computer, no matter what graphic options I choose.
At the moment, the game is mostly a largemouth bass fishing game. I understand that an update is coming up with better fish population distribution. (Looking forward for that)
I have caught thousands of largemouth bass, a few dozen pikes, a few walleye, perch, and smallmouth bass; but no crappies or bluegills.
I would have liked to see panfish around the docks. Also, spots where a variety of fish is predominant over the others.
Although the guide gives usefull tips for real life fishing, in gaming terms, he is a big liar.
It would be interesting if the guide could actually point out on the map exactly where the crappies are. Then, you could challenge him to catch a few.
Three questions for anyone who knows the answer :
Is there a way to go back to dock fishing after buying a boat ?
Is there a way to delete lures from your inventory ?
Does anyone have a print version of the lake maps ?
Thanks
NB: My best catch is a 11.7 lb largemouth bass with an ultralight 4 lb. fishing rod.

[paul]

BigAl,

Thanks for your feedback! I'm glad to hear you like the click-to-start, click-to-stop reeling option. I almost took that out because I didn't think many people would use it, but if you're doing a lot of steady retrieve fishing I thought it would be handy and save some finger fatigue.

The fishing guide's advice is driven by the same logic that determines where the fish should be and how they should respond to different lures and presentations, but I know at times you can follow the advice to the letter and not see much action. What's usually going on is that there are a lot of different factors involved, so if the guide suggests looking for walleyes in 15 feet of water near points, you'll find that not all points with 15 feet of water near them are equally good. Some will have a better bottom type, or have other very subtle advantages. If a fish refuses to touch a lure the guide says is appropriate keep in mind the individual fish may not be very interested in feeding, it may have been spooked by the boat, or the speed of the lure's motion may not be the most appropriate. And of course there are always times when the fish are relatively scattered and really not that interested in feeding.

I like the idea of suggesting specific areas on the map, and perhaps I could let the guide cheat a bit. As it is now he talks about areas where conditions are right for a certain species, but that doesn't guarantee that any such place will have a lot of those fish at that moment. But I could have him point out a few specific locations with especially high concentrations of the fish you're after at that exact moment, rather than just areas where the probability of finding them is high. In the case of walleyes, if you went exactly where he said you would be sure that there's a good sized school nearby.

Right now I've been working on schooling behavior. As the game is now you'll find higher concentrations of each fish in the areas where the habitat is best for them, but no real schooling where the fish stick together. Today I've got most of the work done to create proper schools, especially for the perch, walleye and crappie. It's pretty exciting to motor over a dropoff and see a real mess of fish on the locator.

I hope to have this update finished this week, and I'll try to have the guide pointing on specific spots on the map in this update, along with some more cooperative feeding patterns for the panfish.

As for maps of the lakes, I'm doing some experimenting to try to come up with some printable topographic maps. I might be able to show some depth information on the full-screen map as well. I'll see what I can do.

Tight lines,

Paul