Deep sea fishing
Deep sea fishing is the alternative to ordinary fishing at the lake - instead of a rod you send out specialized boats that sail off to fishing areas at sea. There are five vessels to pick from, each built around something different, be it speed, catch capacity or pure style. Fishing areas at sea gradually run dry, so sooner or later you have to send your boat elsewhere for new catches to unlock.
Deep sea fishing is worth it mainly as an addition to ordinary fishing, because it opens up a different set of fish that you simply can't reach at the lake. Which boat you take is mostly a matter of style and whether you want speed, capacity or efficiency, since going by the descriptions none of them is outright bad.
Five different vessels head out to fish the sea
Besides ordinary fishing at the lake or in the river, Goodgame Big Farm also lets you head out to sea. Here you need a boat instead of a rod, and the game offers five of them, each with its own character.
- Trawler - the classic workhorse for catching fish in bulk, a reliable pick when you want your fishing trip to pay off for sure.
- Motorboat - a small but versatile vessel with a powerful engine that covers long distances at sea in no time.
- Motor barge - smaller than the motorboat, but with more cargo space, so it suits sea adventurers who want to bring back more of a catch in one trip.
- Norfolk punt - a representative of the old traditional school of fishing, and still you can't deny how efficient it is.
- Fishing houseboat - the most stylish of the five, seen a little less often, but it certainly doesn't hide its efficiency on fishing expeditions.
Choosing a boat comes down to speed, capacity or style
The descriptions of the individual vessels make it clear that you're picking between three approaches. You take the trawler for capacity - it's the one you want when you're after as many fish as possible in a single trip. The motorboat and the motor barge bet on speed and on reaching the more distant areas instead, with the barge throwing in extra storage space at the cost of a smaller boat. The Norfolk punt and the fishing houseboat are more for players who don't only care about numbers and want some visual style in their fishing too - and both still keep their high efficiency.
From my own experience I reach for the trawler whenever I need to top the fish in my storage back up quickly, and I save the houseboat or the punt for the moments when I just want to drift through the areas and collect whatever turns up.
A fishing area has to be fished dry before a new fish appears
Fishing areas at sea aren't endless. Each one offers a limited range of fish, and if you're after a specific catch that isn't in any of your current areas, the game tells you straight out - that fish simply isn't available until you exhaust one of the areas you already have. Only once it has been fished out does room open up for a new area, where other species can then show up.
In practice that means there's no sense in hunting a rare fish forever in the same area - you need to send your boat to fish out the other available areas too, so the game moves on and offers something new.
