How to Play

Dot Fishing is a laid-back fishing game you can leave running. Keep it open while you work or study, and when a fish bites, press once.

Controls

Cast: press the space bar or click the fishing screen. On a phone, tap the screen.
Wait: a bite comes after about 15 to 45 seconds, a little sooner with a better rod. Feel free to look at other windows.
Reel in: when you hear a splash and the tab title blinks "Bite!", come back and press space or click.

Press too early and you reel in an empty hook. With 🍃 Easy mode on (it starts on), a fish waits over 30 seconds, and your line is recast for you after each catch or miss, so you only press once per bite. In exchange, fish sell for 30% less. Turn it off and you have just a few seconds before the fish steals the bait, but you get full price.

The first time you catch a species, a card shows its picture and story. Open it again any time with View in the Fish log tab.

Playing with the window hidden

The browser schedules the bite sound in advance, so it plays right on time even while you're on another tab. If you'd rather play muted, turn on 🔔 Alerts below the fishing screen. When a fish bites while you're on another window, a notification pops up in the corner. The first time, click "Allow" when your browser asks.

Focus mode and mini window

🖥 Focus hides the menus and tabs and makes the fishing screen bigger. Press it again or hit Esc to return. In Chrome or Edge, 📌 Mini window pops the fishing screen out into its own small window that stays on top of other apps, so you can keep an eye on your float while you work. Close it to bring the game back.

Add to your phone's home screen

On a phone you can keep Dot Fishing on your home screen like an app. On iPhone, tap Safari's share button and choose Add to Home Screen. On Android, open Chrome's menu and choose Add to Home screen (or Install app). It opens full screen without the address bar, and the last version you opened still works offline. Phones pause the game when you switch to another app, so no fish bite in the meantime.

Sound settings

Use the buttons below the fishing screen to turn 🌊 Ambience (the water sounds of each spot) and 🔊 Effects (the splash, bite and reel-in sounds) on and off separately. Ambience also follows the time of day: birds by day (gulls at sea), crickets and frogs at night, and rain on rainy days. In a quiet office, try turning ambience off and leaving effects on. Sound starts after your first click or key press.

Money and gear

Your catch goes into your bag, and you can sell it all at once from the Bag tab. The bag holds 500 fish; when it is full, the oldest ones sell automatically. Bigger fish are worth more. Spend your money on gear in the shop. Each item's ★ rating shows how good it is.

Freshwater rods: faster bites at the riverside, reservoir and lake.
Sea rods: faster bites at the breakwater and on the boat.
Reels: rare fish bite more often.
Floats: bites last longer, so they're harder to miss.
Lines: bigger fish bite more often.

Hats and clothes in the closet are just for fun. They don't change your fishing.

Decor and fish tank

In the Decor tab you can buy things for your fishing spot: a thermos and cup, a camp lantern that glows at night, a crackling campfire, a camping tent, and a cat companion who waits by your side. The campfire and tent only show up on the shore (riverside, reservoir and lake). You can place or put away anything you own at any time.

Buy a fish tank to move fish from your bag and watch them swim. Tanks grow from small (3 slots) to medium (6) to large (12). Fish in the tank can't be sold. When you need room, Release one back into the water.

Bait

Normally you use free basic bait automatically. In the Bait tab of the shop you can buy earthworms, paste bait, lures, krill, ragworms, egi lures and live bait in packs of 20. Each bait has favorite fish, which bite 3x more often. One is used per cast, and when they run out you go back to basic bait. If none of its favorite fish live at your current spot, the bait is saved. Bait helps you meet the fish you want; it doesn't raise your earnings. Each fish's card shows which bait it likes.

Tournaments and shore care

The Tournament in the Activities tab is a solo challenge, not a race against others. The target fish changes every hour on the hour. Pay the 1,000 won entry fee and your biggest catch of that fish within the hour earns a medal: bronze above 45% of its size range, silver above 70%, gold above 90%. There's no prize money, just medals and titles. Shore care lets you donate step by step to make the fishing spots lovelier: wildflowers bloom, more birds visit, fireflies double, fish jump more often, and at the last step you meet protected species 1.5x as often. After that you can keep giving ongoing support.

Spots, time of day, seasons and weather

Each spot has its own fish. There are three freshwater spots (riverside → reservoir → lake) and three sea spots (breakwater → rocky shore → boat), and spots of the same tier earn about the same, so you can pick by the fish and the mood you want. Each game day one spot becomes ⭐ today's hot spot, where fish sell for 1.5x; check the Spots tab. Sea spots use sea rods and freshwater spots use freshwater rods. A game day lasts 10 real minutes, and the time of day changes both the scenery and what bites: catfish and hairtail at night, crucian carp and black sea bream at dawn and dusk, pale chub and mackerel in the daytime. Seasons follow game time, changing every 6 game days (one real hour) from spring to summer, autumn and winter, so a full year takes four hours: petals drift in spring, cicadas sing on summer days, leaves turn in autumn and snow covers the ground in winter. In-season fish bite twice as often: gizzard shad and webfoot octopus in autumn, pond smelt and yellowtail in winter, marbled flounder in spring, sweetfish in summer. Each game day also has its own weather, so it rains now and then, and in winter it snows instead.

The Fish log tab shows your collection by spot. Tap a fish to see its picture, story and best time and season. Tap one you haven't caught yet for a hint on when it bites.

🌿 The seven protected species (Korean spotted barbel, Korean stumpy bullhead, golden mandarin fish and Manchurian trout in fresh water; three-spot seahorse, thorny seahorse and scalloped hammerhead at sea) are released the moment you catch them and only go in your log. Seahorses come up tangled in seaweed; a young shark is let go at once, and a big one is carefully freed from the hook. They earn no money, but meeting all seven gives you the Shore Guardian title. In real life they can't be caught without a permit, so if one bites by accident, let it go right away. Legendary fish are very rare (0.5% to start) but sell for a lot.

Achievements and titles

Hit goals like your first fish, a trophy carp, legendary species, filling the fish log or night fishing to unlock achievements and earn titles. Pick a title in the Achievements tab to show it next to your name.

Saving

Progress saves automatically in your browser. Clearing your browsing data deletes it, so use "Copy save code" in the Save tab to back up or move to another device. The Korean and English versions share the same save.

FAQ

I can't hear anything. Browsers only allow sound after you click or press a key once on the page. Also check that the Ambience and Effects buttons aren't OFF.

I don't get alerts. Notifications for this site may be blocked in your browser or operating system. Allow them from the icon to the left of the address bar. Alerts only appear while you're looking at another window.

Does it work on phones? Yes, by tapping the screen. Note that phones may pause the game and sound when you switch apps or the screen turns off.