What happens when you hook a fish
On the ascent, the moment the hook touches a fish three things happen at once:
- A sideways kick. The hook is launched horizontally away from the centre of the fish. If you touched the fish on its left side, you fly left; on its right side, you fly right. Heavier fish give a stronger kick.
- An upward surge. The winch gets a short burst of extra speed, again bigger for heavier fish, which fades within a second.
- A short loss of control. For about half a second your steering only has a fraction of its normal authority. During that window the hook mostly follows its momentum. This is the “drift”.
Because you can't fully steer during the drift, the skill lies in choosing where you hit the fish. The contact point decides the direction of the kick; the fish's weight decides its strength.
How the combo multiplier works
If you hook another fish within one second of the previous catch, your combo grows and a “DRIFT ×n” counter pops above the hook. Coin value rises by 25% for each link after the first:
| Catch in chain | Coin multiplier |
|---|---|
| 1st | ×1.00 |
| 2nd | ×1.25 |
| 3rd | ×1.50 |
| 5th | ×2.00 |
| 9th and beyond | ×3.00 (maximum) |
The multiplier is locked in per fish at the moment it is hooked. That means the most valuable fish should come late in a chain. A giant squid worth 160 coins becomes 240 coins as the third link, 320 as the fifth and 480 at the cap.
Walls are your friends
The sides of the play area are elastic: the hook bounces off them and keeps about 80% of its speed. A kick that sends you towards the wall is not wasted — it comes back. Advanced players deliberately hit a fish on its outer side, bounce off the wall, and come back across the screen into a second group of fish. That turns a narrow stream of fish into a zig-zag of catches.
The exception is the rocks that grow from the walls in deeper water. On the ascent they don't damage the hull, but every bump adds a little tension and they redirect you unpredictably.
Reading the water: three reliable patterns
The staircase
Fish at slightly different heights, each a little further to one side. Hit each one on its inner side so the kick pushes you outward towards the next fish. Because you are rising the whole time, the fish above you arrive within the one-second window.
The ping-pong
Two fish on opposite sides of the screen at nearly the same height. Hit the first on its outer side, bounce off the wall and cross over to the other. Great with heavy fish, whose stronger kicks carry you across wide screens.
The school
Several small fish clustered together. Aim through the middle: every catch nudges you only slightly because small fish are light, so you stay inside the cluster and collect it in one pass.
When not to combo
Combos are greedy by nature, and every fish adds tension. Before starting a long chain, glance at the tension bar. If you are already amber (above 65%), a five-fish chain of medium fish will almost certainly snap the line. Either release a small fish first or take a single high-value catch instead. Our tension guide shows the numbers.
Practice drill
Set yourself this challenge for three dives: land a chain of three in the sunlit zone. Sardines and glowfins are light and plentiful, the tension cost is tiny, and a ×3 chain is worth more than several single mackerel. Once three feels natural, aim for five.
Put it into practice: start a dive.