Fishing Slots Fishing Slots
A slot genre themed around fishing. The typical setup has cash prizes on each fish symbol and fisherman symbols that collect them. Since the success of Big Bass Bonanza in 2020, many providers have released fishing slots.
| English | Fishing Slots |
|---|---|
| Classification | Game Features |
| Category | Slot theme genre |
| Flagship game | Big Bass Bonanza (December 2020) |
| Major series | Big Bass, Big Game Fishing, Epic Fish, Marlin Masters |
| Core structure | Fish prizes + fisherman collect |
| Related mechanics | Money Collection, free spins progression |
| Big Bass games on AI Slot | 37 |
Overview
Fishing slots is the name for slots themed around fishing, with rods, bobbers, boats, and fish. The theme has been around for a while, like NetEnt’s Lucky Angler: A Snowy Catch from 2012, but it became a genre with Big Bass Bonanza, made by Reel Kingdom and distributed by Pragmatic Play in December 2020.
After Big Bass Bonanza became a big hit, several providers released games using the same “prizes on fish, collected by a fisherman” structure. AI Slot has 37 games with Big Bass in the title alone, plus dozens of fishing games from other providers.
Basic structure of fishing slots
- Fish prize symbols: Each fish symbol shows a cash value as a multiple of your bet. They work separately from regular symbols that form paylines.
- Fisherman collect: When a fisherman wild lands, it collects all the fish cash values visible on screen. This mechanic is called Money Collection.
- Free spins progression: Most fisherman collects happen during free spins, and collecting a set number of fishermen adds extra free spins and raises the collect multiplier.
The Big Bass series keeps going by adding Hold & Spin, Megaways, or a seasonal theme to this framework one at a time. Other providers set their games apart by changing where fishermen appear or how far the collection reaches.
Top fishing slot from each provider
| Release | Games | Providers | Max win |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012.11 | Lucky Angler: A Snowy Catch | NetEnt | 900x |
| 2020.12 | Big Bass Bonanza | Pragmatic Play (Reel Kingdom) | 2,100x |
| 2021.03 | Fishin’ Reels | Pragmatic Play | 1,200x |
| 2022.05 | Golden Catch | Big Time Gaming | 31,430x |
| 2022.06 | 4 Fantastic Fish | Yggdrasil (4ThePlayer) | 15,000x |
| 2022.08 | Bass Boss | Red Tiger | 4,835x |
| 2024.09 | Epic Fish Adventure | Quickspin | 5,190x |
| 2025.01 | Marlin Masters | Hacksaw Gaming | 7,500x |
| 2025.08 | Bass Catch Super UP | Microgaming | 15,000x |
| 2026.01 | Le Fisherman | Hacksaw Gaming | 15,000x |
Release months and max wins are based on AI Slot game info. Fishing slots often continue as series, like Yggdrasil’s Big Game Fishing and Nice Catch, Quickspin’s Epic Fish, and Hacksaw Gaming’s Marlin Masters.
Variations on the collect mechanic
- Bass Boss: Fish don’t take part in payline wins. Instead, Bass Boss casts a line at random and reels in a whole row of fish at once. Bobbers can also carry 2x to 10x multipliers.
- Epic Fish Adventure: When Fish Collection triggers, every wild on screen turns into a fisherman and catches fish.
- Bass Catch Super UP: Fisherman symbols on reels 1 and 5 collect fish values, along with Mini, Minor, Major, and Mega jackpot trophies.
- 4 Fantastic Fish: Built on 4ThePlayer’s Cash Ways mechanic, fish symbols form ways wins and pay out prizes.
- Le Fisherman: A 6-reel, 5-row cluster pays game where bucket symbols collect coins in the surrounding 3×3 area or across the whole screen.
- Lucky Angler: An older game from before the collect mechanic, built around both-ways wins and sticky wilds on reels 2 and 4.
Note that arcade-style “fish shooting” games, where you shoot fish on screen, are a separate genre and not slots that spin reels.
