Misc Games’ Fishing Barents Sea isn’t like other typical boating or fishing games. You don’t just head off to sea, cast a line and catch some fish. There’s some actual technical know-how attached to maintaining your boat, throwing lines, finding populated fishing spots, and actually being able to fish successfully. For beginners out there who need a bit of help with casting lines, working the radar and understanding the basics in Fishing: Barents Sea, there are some beginner walkthrough guides available.

YouTuber Sim UK put together a 15 minute video teaching you how to perform many of the basic functions in the game, and offering beginner fishermen some tips on making the most of their seafaring adventures. You can check out the video below.

At the beginning of the game you start with the rickety old boat. You’ll start with two longlines and you’ll be eligible at the start of the game to buy up to four longlines.

The longlines are theoretically capable of catching up to 500 fish, but Sim UK notes that it’s unlikely you’ll be doing that kind of haul early on.

It’s suggested to stick with the two longlines that you start with, and you’ll need to bait the lines.

Check your logbook to see what sort of bait is recommended for your lines based on the current season and the fish you plan to catch.

Head to the shop and buy the bait for the fish you’re planning on catching.

The next step is to set the waypoints toward a hotspot on the map. Open the map and you can check for all the species in the area. You’ll see blue blobs on the map with varying degrees of density for the fish.

It’s suggested you pick a hotspot nearby the port so you’ll be able to make a short stop out and a quick stop back without getting lost or dealing with the worries of the sea.

You can use the waypoints on the main map to set a navpoint to your destination. You can fast-travel to the main destination but you will not receive distance-traveled points.

The waypoints will show up on your mini-map in the travel screen, so you can easily follow them to your hotspot destination.

Next up, you can then set your longlines and separate them by 100 meters apart. It takes about four hours to collect the fish. So you can set the time, wait, and then begin collecting your haul.

How to Collect Your Longline In Fishing: Barents Sea

Be mindful of your load because when you’re starting off your boat won’t be able to handle several hundred fish at a time, which is why it’s best to only stick with two longlines at the start instead of buying more.

When it’s time to collect your longline, you’ll need to switch over to the haul mode and position your boat over the buoy where the half-circle arc is extended from the boat. Align the arrow with the buoy and a prompt will appear asking you if you would like to haul in the longline. Click ‘Yes’.

So there’s a small mini-game associated with hauling in your fish. Just positioning the boat over the buoy isn’t enough to rack in the goods. You’ll need to manually load up the boat by waiting for the line to bring in the fish and you’ll need to use the left mouse button to click right when the circle zooms in on the fish and it’s either blue or green, indicating that you’ve successfully captured the fish.

If the circle is red when you press the left mouse button, then it will count as a miss and you won’t be able to haul in that particular fish.

After hauling in all the fish from the longline, you’ll then have the option to gut the fish. As mentioned in the video, if you choose to gut the fish you will earn more money for the selling price as opposed to if you don’t.

How To Gut Fish In Fishing: Barents Sea

So the trick to gutting fish is that you’ll need to gut the fish with an even cut. To do this, you’ll need to keep the knife along the dotted line at the center of the fish’s belly and NOT waver.

Sounds easy, right?

Well, the trick is that the large blue dots that you see above and below the fish are like magnets, and they will attempt to sway your knife up or down, forcing you to create an uneven cut.

Your objective is to steady the mouse and keep the knife along the middle of the fish and avoid going too high or too low when gutting the fish.

Acquiring the fish will add weight to your boat, which will slow it down. The main goal at the start of the game is to make enough money so that you can upgrade the engine on your boat, because without the upgrade your haul could weigh down your rickety old boat and if the waves are too harsh, it could leave you stranded at sea. Alternatively, if the waves get too harsh, you may have to dump your haul to levy some of the weight in order to make it back to port.

So upgrade your engines as soon as possible, and be mindful of the weight you haul on your boat.

You can only upgrade to a new boat by traveling more than 40 kilometers and unlock the Junior Certificate 2. You can only reach that goal by actually traveling. Fast travel does not add to your travel logbook.

Net Fishing In Fishing: Barents Sea

The next step up from your little wooden boat is the Sjarken.

The boat will enable you to add net fishing to your boat, but it’s very expensive. You can get a loan from the bank if you need it in order to upgrade your boat.

Sim UK suggests taking out insurance for bigger boats in case they sink or encounter some other kind of troubles. You can also hire crew to help you on the boat.

While at port you can bring on a crew member who will be able to help aid you in your seafaring travels.

The green bar beneath their portrait is their stamina, and it will increase over time the more they work on the boat.

You can also have your crew gut the fish while you perform other activities on the ship, such as casting the net. To cast the net, park the boat in the hotspot and then click on the drop net button from the icon menu at the bottom of the screen.

A mini-game will start where you’ll need to keep the blue notch in the middle of the horizontal bar.

Again, it may seem easy but the notch will be harder to keep steady depending on the weather and the sea conditions. So keep that in mind when using nets over longlines.

After the net has been cast and you’re ready to bring it in, position the boat over the area where you cast the net, and add a crew member under the icon for the net haul, and then using the half-circle arc, haul the net back into the boat.

Another mini-game will kick in, which will require you to press ‘W’,’A’,’S’,’D’ corresponding to the on-screen prompts. If you miss the indicated key, it will damage your net. Too many misses will permanently damage the net and lose your haul.

You can also pick up side-quests and additional jobs at port to help pay off your loans, lower your debt, and work toward quickly upgrading your boat.

There are multiple ports to visit, but you can only reach them by manually visiting the ports by exploring through the fog of war.

Sim UK suggests upgrading your radar as soon as possible to help you unlock new destinations and new ports that contain new upgrades.

Fishing: Barents Sea is available right now for PC over on the Steam store for $19.99.