Voodoo Fishin Guide: Start Fishing and Fill Quotas

To play Voodoo Fishin', learn the tutorial and casting motion, catch fish, carry your haul back, and sell it to a Fish Monger. Those sales earn money and advance your crew's Dock Quota, which unlocks useful session upgrades. Then improve your tackle and repeat the trip while managing the danger of losing your catch and equipped gear on death.

The official Steam description confirms that loop and supports one to six online players with proximity voice chat. The first-session routine below is editorial advice drawn from developer material reviewed on October 19, 2026; it is not a hands-on playtest.

Plan a short first departure

Give your first outing a modest purpose: complete the trip from preparation to selling. Before leaving, identify where you intend to return, check the tackle you have equipped, and agree on a nearby place to try if you are with friends. Treat reaching that place and coming back with something to sell as a useful practice run.

This is a suggested learning route, rather than a prescribed quest. Keep your first destination easy to recognize and resist adding another unfamiliar area before you understand the return journey. Our map guide can help you organize landmarks, while the controls guide separates the documented inputs from decisions about where to travel.

Take the tutorials before chasing upgrades

The developer's September mission update introduced tutorials for Enchanted Decoy, Enchantment, the Junk Shop, and Loot Crates. These give you a way to learn systems through objectives instead of trying to understand every shop at once. Work through the instructions available in your session and read the reward before choosing your next activity.

There is also a practical early reason to look for Jonah Swol's tutorial. In the developer's casting response, the starter rod is described as having limited reach, and Jonah's tutorial awards a better rod. A short initial cast therefore does not automatically mean you need to buy expensive equipment.

Practice the timing of your cast

For mouse casting, the developer explains that you should let go of the middle mouse button during the forward flick of the rod. The timing of that release matters. As an editorial practice exercise, repeat a few casts from the same position and change the release timing deliberately, so you can compare outcomes without changing several things at once.

If the rod repeatedly makes unwanted hook movements, the same discussion points to Options → Controls → Hookset Sensitivity. Patch 1.0.1, released October 16, adjusted sensitivity limits and improved casting and reeling on some hardware. Our casting guide explains the distinction between technique, starter-rod reach, and reported input trouble.

Make your first catches a learning exercise

Once you can place a cast intentionally, follow the tutorial's current instructions for hooking and reeling. Keep the first fishing session focused on completing that sequence and recognizing what your inputs do. After each catch, take a moment to notice which equipment you were using and whether the attempt felt controllable before immediately changing your setup.

The July environment update explains that fish visible in the water represent the local population; that visual activity disappears when an area is depleted. Use that information when deciding whether to try another spot. For later targeting, continue with the fish guide, then the bait guide, rather than choosing equipment only because its name sounds rare.

Check the cooler before extending the trip

The Dock Quota update introduced a four-slot starting cooler, with six-, eight-, and ten-slot upgrades available through quota progression. Limited carrying space gives each outing a natural decision point. As a beginner, check your remaining capacity after a catch and decide whether another attempt fits the trip you planned.

You can also retrieve items from the cooler. The developer documents C while holding it to enter selection mode, the controller's North button for the same purpose, and number keys 1–0 for quick selection. Practice selecting something when you have time to read the interface. That is more useful than first learning the cooler controls during a hurried return.

Sell each part of the haul at the right shop

Bring fish to a Fish Monger for a weight-based payout. Non-fish items belong at Rusty Remy's Junk Shop: the Junk Shop announcement explicitly moved junk sales away from the Fish Monger. Sorting your haul by the correct buyer makes the return trip easier to understand.

Extra rods, reels, and bait can be sold to Dealin' Delores at the Pawn Shop. Before selling tackle, decide whether you have another use for it. Our editorial spending rule is to buy an improvement for a problem you can describe, such as wanting different equipment for the next fishing attempt. The money guide and rods guide develop that decision without assuming fixed prices.

Choose a quota and collect its reward

Fish sales also fill a shared Dock Quota. The second Fish Monger update gives Louis at Fort Arbre his own Bounty Board and quota meter. Each Monger offers different quota rewards, so inspect the upcoming reward and choose together where your crew will concentrate its sales.

When you unlock a larger cooler, collect the Cooler Upgrade pickup at the relevant Fish Monger; filling the meter alone is not the entire process. Remember that these are session upgrades. The original quota announcement says leaving the lobby resets the cooler. Plan the next outing around the space you have actually collected, and treat the larger capacity as help for the current session.

Weigh another catch against the death penalty

The official store warns that death can cost your carried catch and equipped tackle. The August rig update further explains that visible rods, reels, and bait held when a puppet dies drop into the world. Finding a dropped item and keeping it safe are different problems; do not budget around guaranteed recovery.

Before extending a trip, compare the haul you already have with what you hope one more attempt will add. Returning early can be a sensible learning decision. Read the monsters guide as you encounter threats, and agree on a retreat plan with friends before carrying better tackle into unfamiliar surroundings.

Repeat the loop with a cooperative plan

Cooperation can directly support fishing. The quota update introduces the Fish Club, which can stun a friend's hooked fish, and the Chum Bucket, which converts fish into chum to replenish fishing areas. Discuss when those tools would help instead of assuming every fish should immediately be sold or converted.

For the next trip, choose one shared goal: finish a tutorial, bring back another load, or pursue a particular quota reward. The 1.0 announcement confirms daily jobs whose requests and NPC positions change, giving you another option once the basic loop feels familiar. Use the co-op guide to plan communication, then repeat the cycle of preparing, fishing, returning, selling, and choosing the next improvement.