Reel Dizzy! Guide: How to Fish With a Spinning Boat

Reel Dizzy! is a fishing game with one strange rule: the round basket boat is the reel. There is no reel button. You spin the whole boat and the line winds onto the hull. This guide covers how a fight works, how to keep your passenger in the boat, and how to earn more in the Daily Tour and Rush Hour. The last two tours stay spoiler free.

How a fight works

Cast by pressing on the water and letting go. Aim at a shadow, because shadows are fish. When the bobber goes under, tap straight away to set the hook.

Now circle your finger or mouse round the boat, clockwise. One lap a second is a full stroke. On a keyboard, hold D or the right arrow. Spinning takes up line, and the line appears as coils on the hull.

The bar at the top is the load on the line, and the blue bar under it is how much fight the fish has left. A fish has to be tired before it comes aboard, so the fight is a rhythm: spin while it rests, and ease off while it runs.

Read the line

The line tells you what to do, and you can hear it too. It sings higher as it gets tighter.

• Green: spin.
• Yellow: the fish is pulling. Slow down.
• Red: stop spinning at once. A line only snaps when you pull against it.

If the words say TAKE UP THE SLACK, spin. A slack line for more than about three seconds lets the fish shake the hook.

Being towed is fine

When the coil runs out, your line stops being a reel and becomes a tow rope. This feels like losing, but it is often the best thing that can happen. The fish tires itself out dragging you, and you pay nothing for it unless you hit something.

What you might hit is the problem. Big fish head for the nearest stall on purpose. Spinning curves the boat a little while you are moving, so a few turns can steer you round a mango stall, or into one if your passenger enjoys that.

Look after your passenger

The bar in the corner is your passenger’s dizziness. It rises with your speed, and it rises fast near full spin. When it fills, they are sick over the side. Three times and they leave the boat, which ends the tour with no pay.

Everyone is different:

• Mark booked a gentle ride and tips less for every bump.
• Lily is live streaming. Chaos brings her viewers, and viewers mean a bigger tip.
• Master Tịnh wants stillness, so nobody being sick is worth a star.
• Bà Sáu has seen everything and is hard to make dizzy.
• The goat cannot be made sick at all, and nobody knows who paid.

Letting the dizzy bar drain between fish is the easiest way to earn more. Stop spinning for a few seconds after each catch.

Earn more

Your total is the fish, plus the tip, minus the damage. A wrecked noodle boat can cost more than a small fish earns, so a clean fight is often worth more than a fast one. On the other hand, Lily’s tip grows with every disaster.

Tangling other boats on your line costs you nothing, and some tours give a star for it. Let a running fish cross another tour and watch what happens.

Gold shadows are rare catches, and they are worth casting across the lagoon for. Not everything down there is a fish. Some of the best catches on the receipt are things somebody lost.

Daily Tour and Rush Hour

The Daily Tour is the same lagoon for everyone that day, with no upgrades, and you can send a code to a friend to take on the same tour. Rush Hour gives you a minute and adds time for each catch, but each catch adds a little less. Aim for quick fish early, while the time bonus is high.

Boat Shed

Your takings buy upgrades. The Silk Line and the Longer Paddle help most with big fish. Ginger Sweets help most if you keep losing passengers. Upgrades do not count in the Daily Tour.