Upgrade Order — line first or shotgun first?
There are only two things to buy in How to Fish Online: a longer line and a better gun. That sounds simple until you have $210 in your pocket and both upgrades are staring at you. This guide works out which one to take, and why.
What's for sale
| Upgrade | Price | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Line 50 m | $50 | Reach the top of the mid band (mackerel $8, pufferfish $15) |
| Line 80 m | $200 | Whole mid band plus the top of the deep band (swordfish $40) |
| Shotgun | $300 | 3 pellets per shot, 70 px blast radius (pistol: 1 pellet, 40 px) |
| Line 120 m | $600 | Full depth — the entire swordfish band |
Total to max everything: $1,150. The order you spend it in changes how fast you get there.
The first $50 is not a decision
Buy the 50 m line the moment you can afford it. Every run at 30 m caps out at shallow fish — sardines at $1 and bass at $3 — so a good chain pays $20–40. Two or three runs and the upgrade is yours, and from then on every dive can reach mackerel and pufferfish. Nothing else in the shop is remotely this cheap for what it unlocks.
The real choice: 80 m line ($200) or shotgun ($300)?
This is the one people argue about. Think of it as ceiling versus conversion.
- The 80 m line raises your ceiling: you cross the whole mid band and touch the top of the swordfish zone. The best fish you can hook goes from $15 to $40.
- The shotgun raises your conversion: three pellets in a 70-pixel radius means a tap that would have missed with the pistol now lands, and a tap that hit one fish can hit three. You bring home more of what you already caught.
Run the numbers. A full chain of eight mid-band fish is worth around $60–90 before combos. With a pistol and average aim you might convert half of that; with a shotgun, most of it. So the shotgun adds perhaps $25–40 per run. The 80 m line, meanwhile, puts a $40 swordfish on the menu — and one swordfish is more than the shotgun's entire per-run gain.
Recommended order: 50 m → 80 m → shotgun → 120 m.
Take the line to 80 m first, spend a few runs learning where swordfish cross, then buy the shotgun to stop leaking value in the air, and finish with the 120 m line once the shotgun has paid for itself.
The exception: shaky aim
If you are playing on a phone with a thumb, or you simply miss a lot, flip the middle two: 50 m → shotgun → 80 m → 120 m. A pistol player who converts a third of their chain is leaving more money in the water than the deeper line would add. The shotgun's 70-pixel radius is forgiving enough that "roughly there" counts, and the combo multiplier only builds if you keep hitting.
How many runs does each step take?
Rough estimates assuming a full chain and decent shooting. Your mileage will vary with luck and aim.
| Buying… | Diving at | Typical run pays | Runs needed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Line 50 m ($50) | 30 m | $20–40 | 2–3 |
| Line 80 m ($200) | 50 m | $40–60 | 4–5 |
| Shotgun ($300) | 80 m | $60–100 | 3–5 |
| Line 120 m ($600) | 80 m, with shotgun | $80–130 | 5–8 |
Call it 15–20 runs to max out — a bit under half an hour of play. After that the only score left to chase is your deepest dive and your best single run.
One more thing about pufferfish
Between 30 and 70 m you will hook a lot of pufferfish ($15). They are big, slow, and easy to catch — then they wobble like mad once airborne. The shotgun turns them from "the fish I always miss" into free money. If your chains are pufferfish-heavy, that is another vote for buying the gun before the 80 m line. See the fish guide for how each species behaves in the air.