Dad's Gaming Addiction

Wii Fishing Resort has been out for over a month now and there doesn’t seem to be many guides out there helping us in our fishing travels. Below is a short list of general strategies I’ve found helpful in helping me unlock most of the content.

General Strategies:

1. The more fish you catch, the more fish that show up in your aquarium, which in turn increases your daily profits. Unlocking and upgrading your aquarium to the pleco fish tank will also aid you in attracting more visitors.

The aquarium also serves as bragging rights to your friends and family.

2. There are quite a few achievements out there to be earned. Some of these achievements unlock in-game items to aid you in your adventures. Catching your fish of the day via the bulletin board multiple days in a row unlocks an alarm clock. The alarm clock allows you to wake up earlier and thus lets you fish longer each day.

3. Trolling is a good way to make some quick points. Some of the bigger fish are a couple thousand points each, sometimes more depending on their size. You can go trolling by signing up via the bulletin board or by owning your very own trolling boat. Trolling, in short, involves placing multiple rods and bait to the back of a boat and driving around an area until one gets a bite. You can reduce the price of the trolling boat you can purchase by completing the quest in the first area that tasks you with fishing in all eight of the major areas.

Yes, you can eventually buy that boat.

4. You may want to finish ALL of the quests in each area, including the last one to catch a large variety of fish, to unlock the three star XL rod and reel.

5. Some of the quest givers are vague about where to catch the fish you need to complete the quest. The bulletin board randomly chooses fish of the day and includes where to find them along with the suggested rod to use. Check back every day until the fish you are looking for shows up there so that you have an idea of where to look.

6. Float fishing keeps your bait near the surface of the water via bobber. You can zoom in on your bobber by pressing “up” on the Nunchuck’s control stick. Float fishing revolves around the idea that fish come to you. The better the bait the faster and more likely the fish will be attracted. Float fishing is great for days when you just want to nod off in your recliner.

7. Lure fishing works a number of ways depending on the lure you use. Some lures stay near the surface and sink as you reel them in slowly, other lures sink quickly and slowly rise to the surface as you reel them in. Some lures rattle or spin as you reel them in. Lure fishing requires more work on your end to attract fish. You can swing your rod left, right, up, or down to move your lure around the water in addition to your standard reeling. Unlike float fishing, you cannot zoom when lure fishing. Lure fishing also requires a certain finesse…don’t reel in too quickly.

8. The size of the rod you are using determines what size bait can be placed on your line. Some of the smaller fish will not bite L-XL bait so downgrading both your rod and your bait to a S or M will do the trick.

9. When possible, upgrade to the three star equipment so that you will have an easier time reeling those suckers in without your line breaking. Most of the three star equipment will be available from the beginning but are expensive. As explained above, the three star XL equipment can be unlocked via quest. Reeling in bigger fish can be tough if you don’t have the strongest rod / reel equipped.

Don’t even bother taking on “The King” without a three star XL rod and reel.

10. Larger fish take some time to tire out. Don’t be discouraged if you see the fish putting distance between the two of you, just concentrate on reeling without putting too much tension on the line. Eventually the fish will tire out and reeling it in will become easier.

11. Fishing tournaments can be a pain in the gluteus maximus. The AI competitors will often catch things at the drop of a hat, quickly crushing you in the number of fish caught. Find a spot where fish are biting like mad and only cast out short distances. The shorter the distance you cast the quicker you can reel something in, giving you more time to catch more fish.

12. Up to three friends can join you while you fish. While casting, the other players can activate their Wii Remote to warp in a character next to player one. If one of the other players hooks a fish, the other players must wait while that player reels it in. If one of the other players catches a fish, that fish is given to player one and counts toward player one’s profile. You can set the sex / age of the drop-in avatars in your preferences menu.

13. Buying a license unlocks an area so that you can travel to it and fish there. You must wait a day after buying the license before it is officially unlocked. You can only travel to places adjacent to where you are traveling from, so getting from the bottom of the island to the top may require multiple trips. The travel map at the hotel only shows you which places are adjacent to you so don’t be discouraged if you don’t see the one you unlocked the prior day.

14. Staying at a hotel costs points. Try to catch enough each day to offset hotel and bike / boat rental fees. Your aquarium profits are usually sufficient for this task however once you get it going.

15. Wii Fishing Resort has its faults. One of them is not telling you where to find the fish you haven’t caught yet which can be frustrating for completionists. My advice is to keep checking the bulletin board, eventually the one you are looking for will appear there.

16. Another fault is that the game only lets you have three profiles so sharing may be required. Always check on how much bait you have before leaving to fish if this is the case, especially if you have family members who refuse to put gas in the family car.

Okay…rod out…line’s good…bait…GODDAMMIT!!!

17. The game also automatically warps you back to your hotel at the end of the day which can be annoying since traveling across an area can sometimes take a few in-game hours. Make use of your alarm clock (unlockable); it must be set each day!

18. Most bulletin board events don’t start till late morning so if you had your heart set on signing up for an event don’t bother setting your alarm unless you can fish for a few in-game hours close to your hotel.

19. If you’re looking for a particular area for a fish and don’t know if you’re in the right area, catch any fish where you are and check your daily log. The name of the area will appear in parenthesis next to or above the fish you caught there.

Your log and almanac will also keep a record of the fish you catch while trolling.

20. When arriving at a new area, ALWAYS go to the bulletin board and select the map. This adds the map to your invisible inventory…from then on in you can pull up your map with the “-” button on the Wii Remote.

Wii Fishing is as fun as it is addicting. Hopefully the above will help you in your fishing travels. Feel free to add more tips in the comments below!

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