Webfishing: Guide to Get Started
I love games with a laid-back vibe. Webfishing fits that description perfectly. It’s a cozy fishing game where you hang out with other players to catch fish. There are more than 70 aquatic creatures to add to your prized collections and surprise catches such as UFO fish, diamonds, and METEOR.
The game’s casual, non-competitive pace makes it truly relaxing. You start with a basic fishing rod and worm bait, but as you progress, you will need upgrades, high-quality baits, and lures to catch rare, high-tier fish. The mini-game is unique and I had a great time reeling and button-mashing to find saltwater and freshwater fish. You can play solo, but the true essence of the game is to relax and catch fish alongside other players. Here’s a basic Webfishing guide for those who have just started their cozy fishing adventure:
Quick Access
The Basics
Move closer to the water body. You will catch freshwater fish from smaller bodies like lakes and rivers and saltwater fish from seas/oceans. If you are catching saltwater fish from oceans/seas, move closer to the pier’s edge. You can also walk up to the shore to catch fish, but you can catch better ones if you cast a line from the pier.
First things first, have the bait ready with you. You get 5 free worm bait from underground fox merchants. Look for the “Bait and Sell” banner around you to find a fox merchant. On the first map, I could see four merchants in these areas. One of them can be found inside the hub. Move near a banner and press “E” to sell fish or acquire bait from the merchant.
Worms are low-quality cheap bait. Using them, you can catch only low-tier fish. Go to the hub > frog merchant to unlock a new bait type. With better quality bait, you can catch all high-tier fish. More on bait types later.
The hotbar is at the bottom of the screen. To equip it, press hotkey 1 or click on the fishing rod icon on the hotbar. Once equipped, pay attention to the bait numbers on the lower-right corner of the screen. If it’s lower or zero, refill from the bait and sell merchant ASAP!
Click and hold the left mouse button to begin casting the rod. The crosshair symbol on the waters will help you ascertain how far you can go. Hold the left mouse button until fully charged. When you see the crosshair can’t go any further, release it to lure fish.
Wait until the fish grabs the lure. If you are near an ocean, you will have to be a bit more patient. When the fish grabs the lure, a red exclamation mark appears above the kitty and he is ready to set the hook. It’s time to start reeling in. But for that, you will have to play a mini-game.
In Webfishing’s reeling challenge, a picture of a fishing rod will show up on the left side of the screen. Quickly hold the left shift key and the left mouse button together to reel faster. A little bit of a delay will lead to failure and you will have to cast the line again.
A successful catch occurs when the green fluid reaches the end of the fishing rod. If the red fluid reaches the end, you will fail.
Pay attention to the horizontal lines on the fishing rod. The higher the fish tier, the more the number of lines displayed on the rod. They are nothing but barriers. When the green fluid reaches a line, click multiple times to break it when you see the word MASH. For high-tier fish, it will be a bit tough to break the lines, so be quick and click several times to break the line. You will need to be quick in breaking barriers as the red fluid follows the green one at a faster rate when the latter stops at a barrier.
You may also have noticed numbers beside every barrier. They are the number of clicks needed to break the barrier. So if the number is 3 next to a barrier, then you will have to click the left mouse button three times to break it.
For every successful catch, you will get XP. The XP bar on the top of the screen gets filled up every time you catch a fish. You rank up when it’s full.
Keep an eye out for big green mushrooms. They can propel you higher up in the air, allowing you to move to hard-to-areas. Just dash into a green mushroom to get tossed up high in the air.
What’s on the Menu?
You will see four icons on the top-right corner of the screen. Let’s find out what’s in them:
Backpack (Hotkey: Tab) | Open to access inventory, journal, customize, and inbox. You can also see your rank and the XP earned so far on the left side of the inventory box. | The inventory has all your prized catches and rods. Hover the mouse cursor over each fish to know its name and price. The journal shows a list of fish you have caught so far. Click on a fish to know its name, species, tier, record size, and the number of times you have caught it. Under Customize, you can change how you appear. Choose a species, patterns, and colors on the body, and change the eyes, nose, and clothes. The Inbox lets you create and receive letters. |
Tacklebox (Hotkey: B) | Lets you choose baits and lures. | This is where you can find the quality of the bait. Move your cursor over a bait type to know the fish tier it can catch. |
Free Camera (Hotkey: N) | Press N to enter free cam mode. Using WASD keys, move the in-game camera to freely explore the environment. | Allows you to move the camera independently of your character. Press the N key again to exit. |
Emotes | Lets you choose simple expressions and humorous actions for your character. |
The Vending Machine
It’s near your spawn point. Move close to it and press E to access it. You will find some drinks that can provide certain boosts. After purchasing a drink, press the Tab key to open the backpack. Place the mouse cursor on a drink and press keys 2-5 to put it to the hotbar. Click the drink on the hotbar to equip it. To take a swig, click again to time to activate the boost.
Here’s the list of all drinks:
Name | Boost | Price (In-game currency) |
Catcher’s Cola | Get 5 minutes of catcher’s luck. Increased reeling speed and catch rate. Also, get a chance to obtain a bonus of $1-10 for each fish caught. | $25 |
Catcher’s Cola Ultra | Drink to get 5 minutes of catcher’s luck ultra. Along with increased catch rate and reeling speed, gain bonus cash on a catch, but up to 25% or the catch’s real worth/price. | $150 |
Catcher’s Cola Deluxe | Activates the catcher’s luck boost for 5 minutes. Increased reel speed and catch rate, and also 25% bonus XP for each fish caught. | $150 |
Speed Slurpee | Increase in sprinting speed for 5 minutes. Drink it. While reeling, press the left shift key to get a huge boost in reeling speed. | $5 |
Speed Slurpee XL | Get extreme bonus sprinting speed, but the boost remains active for only 15 seconds. | $10 |
Shrink Soda | Drink to get 5 minutes of catcher’s luck ultra. Along with increased catch rate and reeling speed, gain bonus cash on a catch, but up to 25% of the catch’s real worth/price. | $5 |
Big Beverage | Grow larger | $5 |
Water | Get Smaller | $1 |
The Fishing Store
The hub is near your spawn point and is next to the vending machine. Enter the hub. Go near the frog king and press E to open the fishing store. You can purchase bait licenses, upgrades, lures, and fishing buddies.
Upgrades, bait licenses, and lures can be unlocked if you pay towards increasing the camp tier. Click on the Pay button to fill the camp tier bar. To increase it to tier 1, you will need to spend more than $200.
Bait License
To unlock new bait options, you’ll need to purchase bait licenses. Initially, you can only get worms from the merchant. However, after buying a bait license, you’ll find new bait options available at the “bait & sell” merchant.
In Webfishing, new bait licenses provide a better chance to catch high-tier fish. Worms can only catch low-tier fish, but if you purchase the cricket bait license, you can begin catching all tiers of fish. It’s a standard quality cheap bait with a low chance of finding shining fish.
Apart from worms, there are five more bait licenses. They are Crickets, Leeches, Minnow, Squid and Nautilus. These 5 will help you catch all tiers of fish, but it’s a mixed bag. If you selected crickets, there are high chances of catching only standard fishes. The higher the quality of bait, the better tier fish you will find.
Minnow, Squid, and Nautilus are high, very high, and pristine quality baits respectively. Crickets and Leeches are standard and above standard quality. With sponges, you have a low chance of catching glistening fish. If you have Minnow bait type, then you will have a low chance of catching opulent fish. With Squid, there’s a small chance of catching radiant fish. Nautilus, the pristine quality bait will have a small chance of catching alpha fish.
Upgrades
The next stop at the fishing store is upgrades. Whether you’re looking to increase your bait cap or enhance rod power, these upgrades are important. Each upgrade can be leveled up, but you’ll need in-game currency to unlock each level:
Name | Effect |
Rod Power | Increases rod power by a certain level. Unlock more levels to max out power. With increased power, you will be able to charge the rod and cast a longer line. |
Speed | Boosts reel speed. Much faster reeling to help you win the fishing challenge effortlessly. |
Chance | Increases catch chances. Higher chances to catch fish instead of junk. |
Luck | Boosts the chances of catching bonus loot. |
Tacklebox Upgrade | Raises max bait cap from 5 to 10 and more with each new level. |
Lures
Lures play an important role in Webfishing. Some lures can help you earn extra money, while others are designed to help you catch bigger and high-tier fish. With 14 powerful lures, it can be a bit tough to choose the best one, as each lure provides a unique effect to your fishing adventure.
1. With the Fly Hook lure equipped to your rod, there are higher chances of finding smaller fish.
2. The Patient Lure doesn’t start the fishing mini-game immediately. When the lure attracts fish, the reeling in starts only with your next input.
3. Get the Lucky Hook and you earn some bonus cash on every catch.
4. If you have the Challenge Lure, you will see quick action events. You will have to click on the pop-ups appearing in the fishing minigame on time to get bonus cash.
5. With Magnet Lure, there will be a higher chance of catching junk, but also a small chance of catching treasures.
6. The Quick Jig Lure boosts reeling speed and rod power, allowing for faster charge-ups.
7. As the name suggests, Fresh Lure lets you catch freshwater fish from any water body. There’s also Salty Lure which lets you catch saltwater fish from any water body.
8. Choose the Attractive Angler and get an increased chance of catching everything from the water bodies. The chance increases by a certain percentage.
9. If you are looking to catch bigger fish, then you should equip the Large Lure. There’s not only a chance of catching large fish, but also a chance of using extra bait.
10. The Efficient Lure increases the chance of not using any bait while catching fish.
11. With the Double Hook equipped to the rod, more chances of using extra bait and catching 2x fish or junk.
12. If you have the Sparkling Lure, expect a higher catch rate for high-tier fish and a chance to use an extra bait.
13. Using three baits, the Golden Hook lure increases the chances of catching rare fish.
Outfits and Accessories
Talk to the robed rat next to the frog to get a shopping list of costumes, accessories, hats, faces, and many more. I would recommend not buying anything from him until you have purchased all upgrades, lure, and bait licenses.
The Quest Board
You can find the quest board near your spawn point, close to the hub. Complete simple missions listed on the board to earn cash and other rewards. When I caught Koi, I won the second quest on the board and earned $25.
Tougher quests provide even better rewards. You can win collector’s fishing rod items and cosmetics. When finding quests on the board, scroll down to get a full list. Talking about unique rods, do you know that you can acquire a rare spectral rod? Read my new guide where I reveal all five spectral bone locations and a way to obtain the shiny new rod.
