Your first boat in Net a Fish is the Rowboat, sold at the Boat Dock stand on your own dock. Buying it is the seventh of eight objectives in the “Second Day on the River” quest chain. Three boat upgrades complete the next objective. Once your fish count and cash are high enough, Rebirth 5 rebuilds your whole base in the Deep Blue style.
Quick answer: Walk to the Boat Dock stand, press E, and click “BUY $25,000” under Rowboat. Then buy any three Trawl Net, Engine or Sonar levels to finish the boat quests.
Net a Fish boat prices: Rowboat and Motor Skiff
The Boat Dock menu is labeled “Buy & upgrade your boat.” It lists hulls in order, and each hull caps both the rarity of fish it can bring back and how far its parts can be upgraded. The Rowboat is the entry point. The Motor Skiff is the next hull up, and it raises both limits.
| Boat | Price | Holds up to | Max upgrade level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rowboat | $25,000 | Epic | 2 |
| Motor Skiff | $500,000 (upgrade) | Legendary | 4 |
The in-game blurbs explain the difference plainly. The Rowboat is “two oars and a lot of hope,” and the Motor Skiff “has an engine now.” Because the Rowboat tops out at level 2, every Rowboat part has exactly two purchasable levels. The same menu also shows a Cold Storage row tagged with Rebirth 5.
How to buy the Rowboat at the Boat Dock
You need $25,000 in cash. You don’t need any other item, quest or rebirth to make the purchase. The quest tracker shows “SECOND DAY ON THE RIVER • 7 / 8 Buy your first boat at your Boat Dock” when this objective is active, but the stand is usable either way.
You’ll know it worked when a “QUEST COMPLETE! Buy your first boat at your Boat Dock” banner appears with a cash payout. That payout was $3.64M on a late second-day dock. The upgrade rows under the boat card also become buyable. Shortly after, the game closes out the day with “SECOND DAY COMPLETE! A boat, a Mythic and two rebirths. One more day to go!”
Rowboat upgrades: Trawl Net, Engine and Sonar costs
The boat goes out and brings back hauls for you, and its three parts each tune one aspect of that loop. Every part has its own row with a green BUY button, and you buy levels in order.
| Part | Effect | Level 1 | Level 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trawl Net | More fish per haul | $3,000 | $9,000 |
| Engine | Faster boat, more hauls | $3,600 | $11,000 |
| Sonar | Finds rarer fish (more luck) | $4,500 | $14,000 |
The follow-up quest is “Upgrade your boat 3 times.” It counts any three purchases, so the cheapest route is the first level of each part, which costs $11,100 in total. Maxing all six Rowboat levels costs $45,100. Add the hull and the full Rowboat setup comes to $70,100. Completing the quest shows “QUEST COMPLETE! Upgrade your boat 3 times” with a payout of $6.06M at the same stage of the game.
If your goal is better catches rather than just ticking off the quest, Sonar is the only part that improves rarity. Trawl Net and Engine improve volume.
Earning the cash for the boat and the rebirth
Twenty-five thousand comes quickly. The $40 million that Rebirth 5 asks for does not. Your money comes from fish displayed on your pedestals, so the job is to catch better fish faster and keep the best ones on show.
Casting and reeling in
Stand at the water’s edge and hit the THROW NET button (C on keyboard). A blue circle on the water shows where the net will land. Aim it into the river and release.
Once the net is in, the Fishing panel tracks how full it is against its capacity. Hit Reel In to haul it back. Waiting longer fills more of the net before you reel.
Net upgrades worth the money
Nets live in the Upgrades menu. Each tier changes capacity, width or the highest rarity it can catch, and a new net equips as soon as you buy it.
| Net (tier) | Capacity / width | Up to | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Titanium Net (9) | 34 / 33.5 ft | Legendary | Prior tier |
| Carbon Fiber Net (10) | 52 / 35 ft | Legendary | $110,000 |
| Mythril Net (11) | 80 / 36.5 ft | Mythic | $500,000 |
| Runebound Net (12) | 98 / 37 ft | Mythic | $5M |
The Carbon Fiber Net jumps space from 34 to 52 and adds 9.2 percent area. The Mythril Net is the first in this run to reach Mythic, and buying it is the first objective of the third day (“THIRD DAY ON THE RIVER • 1 / 7 Buy the Mythril Net”).
Bait from the Bait Shop
The Bait Shop sits beside the Boat Dock. Open it with E, buy a stack, select it and press Use before you cast. Each bait has two price lines in the shop.
| Bait | Buy 1 | Buy 10 |
|---|---|---|
| Bread Crumbs | $280 / $1,000 | $2,800 / $10,000 |
| Nightcrawlers | $940 / $3,500 | $9,400 / $35,000 |
| Chum Bucket | $2,800 / $10,000 | $28,000 / $100,000 |
With bait active, cast as normal. A Nightcrawlers run is enough to pull in catches like a Gold Royal Sailfish.
Fisherman upgrades and pedestal cash
The Fisherman NPC on your dock fishes on his own, and his menu has five upgrade rows. Quick Hands shortens his catch interval, for example from every 48 seconds to every 42 seconds for $4,600. The others are Bigger Bucket ($5,600), Fishing Rod ($8,800), Range ($7,200) and Tackle Box ($660,000) at the levels shown. Your showcased fish bank earnings on their pedestals, marked by the glowing green and cyan pads, so run across them regularly to collect.
The Leviathan Pass (“Season 1: Harvest Tide”) also pays out. Its Tier 2 reward is three minutes of cash, which came to $8.18M at this stage. Open the pass and hit Claim on any tier you’ve reached.
Upgrade your base with Rebirth 5 (Tidecaller)
Your base doesn’t get a new look from buying parts. It gets one from rebirthing. Rebirth 5 takes you from River Guide, which is Rebirth 4, to Tidecaller and rebuilds the entire base. The Rebirth menu checks two counters before it will let you go.
- Current rank of River Guide (Rebirth 4)
- At least 1,400 fish caught all-time
- At least $40M in cash on hand
| Rebirth 5 unlock | What it does |
|---|---|
| x2.25 money | Showcase income from now on |
| Deep Blue base | Whole base restyled |
| Tidecaller title | Over your head and base |
| +1 Pedestal | Show 10 fish |
| The Arena | PvP with 3 showcase fish |
The Deep Blue base adds two watchtowers at the back and lanterns along the dock. The Arena pits your three best showcase fish against other players’ fish, with ranks that climb from Bronze to Diamond. You’ll find it in the Crews menu.
Filling the new pedestal on the Deep Blue base
The tenth pedestal starts empty, and an empty pedestal earns nothing. Collect from the rebuilt pedestals, then open the Fish Cooler and press “Equip Best.” The game fills every slot, including the new one, with your highest earners. All showcase income now runs at x2.25.
From here the loop is the one you already know. Cast, reel, and swap stronger catches onto your pedestals. Legendary fish like the Royal Sturgeon are worth slotting in as soon as they land.
Common fish still fill the net between the big ones, and they still count toward your all-time catch total for the next rebirth. Next on the list is the Mythril Net at $500,000, and the Motor Skiff at $500,000 lifts your boat from Epic to Legendary hauls.
