First things first—don’t forget to pick your perks in the lobby screen. Super important.
There are lots of options, but the go-to picks are definitely Sticky Hook and Fish Whisperer.
Sticky Hook 🎣 → Makes fishing way easier. You can stay longer in the red zones (both top & bottom) and your line won’t snap so easily.
Fish Whisperer 🐟 → Gives your catches a +5% size boost. (Ex: a 10,000 lbs fish becomes 10,500 lbs).

The game currently has 3 maps to pick from. Fish species and their max sizes change depending on the map. BUT the biggest fish, the Lochness Monster, can spawn on all of them. So honestly, just play whichever one you enjoy most.

• 🏞️ Lake: Easiest and most straightforward map for beginners. You can hit 4000 depth in the cave area.
  
• 🐊 Swamp: Has a unique vibe but bait is harder to find and there are more dangers. I like it, but it’s the one I’ve played the least.
  
• 🌴 Jungle: My personal favorite and the one I play the most. Tons of bait spawns, plus you can reach up to 7400 depth in the ocean section.

The game basically has 4 difficulty modes. If you want to get on the leaderboard, you need to pick the hardest one: Jeremy Wade mode.
In this mode, the fish you catch will appear on the leaderboard with +25% added to their weight.
The main thing you should know about difficulties is:
Each step up in difficulty → shorter daytime, fewer baits spawn, and higher quota requirements.
Anyway, play on whatever difficulty you like while learning the game, but in the long run you’ll want to be playing on Jeremy Wade. 🎣

You can buy totems from the Trader, and they benefit everyone in your lobby.
Each totem can only be purchased once.
The trader shows you 3 random choices per day. Don’t just click them all—you’ll want to pick only what’s actually useful.
You only get 4 total totems, so spend those picks wisely ⚡.

Totems (Best Combo) 🪙🐟✨⏳
Here’s the most logical combo IMO:

• Leviathan Totem 🐋 → Boosts average fish size (a must-have if you’re chasing records).
  
• Timeless Light Totem ☀️ → Extends daytime, giving you more time to fish safely.
  
• Slowed Hunger Totem 🍽️❌ → Reduces daily quota, super important for later days.
  These 3 are 100% must-haves. For the last totem, it’s up to you:
  
• Golden Catch Totem 💰 → +20% fish value, great for both quota and stacking gold.
  
• Bountiful Bait Totem 🎣 → Not sure if it even works tbh, supposed to increase bait spawns. Could be handy if you’re playing in big groups (3–4 players).

Other totems I don’t really recommend. But like I said, the 4th slot depends on your playstyle.

Alright, we did the prep—now let’s answer the big question: how do you catch bigger fish? 🐟🏆

Before talking about spots, I wanna explain how the fish type & size algorithm actually works (outside of perks & totems).

👉 When you cast your line and that first mini-game pops up (the left-right bar), your fish’s type & weight are already locked in. Nothing after that (how long you fight it, etc.) will change its size until you reel it in.

• 🎲 RNG Factor: This is the biggest one—probably like 90%. Even if you do everything right, RNG decides. That’s why big fish are rare and records feel special.
  
• ⚓ Sinker Level: The upgrade at the bottom of the trader’s rod upgrades.
  
• 🪱 Bait Score: Every bait has a score. You can see it in the tab menu where you equip bait. (Pro tip: the same menu shows your daily quota at the top. It’s about value, not lbs. Many new players miss this!)
  
• 🌊 Depth: Distance between your bobber and the surface. Check Discord guides for deep spot coordinates. Generally, 2500–7000 depth is solid—the higher, the better.
  
• ⛈️ Weather: Huge random buff. Sometimes it’s stormy, rainy, thunderous—you can’t control it, but all my record fish came during thunderstorm weather.
  
• 🍺 Beer: Honestly kinda mid. Inventory space is limited and drinking takes forever. Still, it does buff fish size for 30 seconds. You can drop it at your fav spot and only use it in stormy weather. Not mandatory tho—don’t stress over it.
  
• 📅 Day Count: Day count adds a %daycount multiplier to your bait score. for example, on day 11 it’s +11%, and it caps at day 40. it’s important to try getting close to day 40.

Try to get conditions close to perfect, but don’t burn yourself out doing stuff you hate. For me, that’s hauling beer around and grinding only for the highest baits.
40+ baits are always solid for late game.
I usually go with the Capybara bait 🐹 since it’s got a score of 51. Jungle is my fav map anyway, and you can find tons of them there. 🌴🎣

Don’t be crushed if your +80 bait gives the same or even worse results than a 40. RNG is king here.

I could go on and write more, but I don’t wanna make this guide super long and unreadable. A lot of this might already be stuff you know, or things you can find on the official wiki anyway. I just wanted to add my own observations as a player. Hope it helps! If you notice anything missing or wrong, please feel free to correct me.

i shared the deepest spots of each map in the guide section of the game’s discord server you can check it there.
Gone Fishing Discord[discord.gg]