Fishing in Endacopia hides behind a small favor. A red cat named Catthew hands out a Fishing License, but simply owning it does nothing. You have to present it to the diver standing on the beach dock before the rod becomes usable. From there, the real work is timing, because only three of the game’s 18 fish are ever biting at once, and the clock decides which trio.
Quick answer: Finish Catthew’s three-round hide-and-seek in Timesville to earn the Fishing License, take it out of your inventory and show it to the diver on the dock, then fish through all six clock states to catch every fish. You don’t need all 18 to advance the story, but you do need them for the Lost Key.
Get the Fishing License from Catthew
Catthew is the red cat wandering Timesville. Talk to him and he starts a game of hide-and-seek across three rounds. Find him each time to keep it going.
Note: Owning the card in your pocket is not the same as showing it. The diver keeps blocking the dock until you use the present action, and that refusal is intended behavior, not a softlock.
How the fishing minigame works
Grab the rod and press M1 to cast. Watch the bobber and wait for the sparkle, which is your bite cue. Press M1 again to hook the fish, then work the reel and keep the indicator inside the target zone between the two X marks. Let it slip past either X and the fish escapes.
Some fish drag that indicator to the edge fast. If the reel suddenly stops responding, the cause is often hardware rather than reflexes. Moving the reel too quickly can make certain mice or trackpads stop registering movement. Try smoother inputs, a different pointing device, or your other hand.
The clock matters as much as your aim. Time in Timesville doesn’t run on its own. It only ticks forward when you enter or leave a building. So if you want a different set of fish, find any door and walk in and out until the hand moves to the next state.
All 18 Endacopia fish by clock state
There are six clock states with three fish each, and nothing overlaps between them. To finish the collection you must visit every state on the clock at least once.
| Clock state | In-game time | Fish |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | 08 AM | Nautilus, Colisa Lalia, Jantic Fish |
| Day 2 | 12 PM | Peter Panini, Seahorse, Singin’ Fish |
| Day 3 | 18 PM | Eel, Reddest Fish Ever, Sea Man |
| Night 1 | 08 PM | Pirate, Skele-Fish, RC Ship |
| Night 2 | 00 AM | Crab, Starfish, Big Worm |
| Night 3 | 04 AM | Drawing of a Fish, Jelly, Crate |
Track your catches by clock state rather than by memory. Mark a state finished only once all three of its names appear. If a fish “won’t spawn,” the cause is almost always the wrong clock state, not bad luck.
A fair warning about the Seahorse in Day 2. It has a reputation as the time sink of the set and draws more complaints than any other fish. Expect several attempts before it hooks.
Six fish for the story, 18 for the achievement
Six is the story number. Catthew sends Mellow (you) to the aquarium at night, near the town entrance, where a fox named Whiskers wants the display running again. He asks for six different fish, not duplicates, so clearing any two full clock states covers it.
Bring Whiskers those six and he gives you an invite to Paisley’s party. Head to the Condo, upstairs, far right room. The password is Yellow. Tell the owl hosting it that the party is going well instead of tearing it apart, and he warms up enough to let you leave with the Telescope.
Eighteen is the completionist number. It unlocks the “I Want To Be A Fisherman” achievement and leads to a key hidden inside the Fishing Paper. Only 15.1% of players held that achievement as of 3 August 2026, making it rarer than beating any main boss in the game.
Fix “I Want To Be A Fisherman” not unlocking
Caught the eighteenth fish and nothing popped on Steam? You probably didn’t miss anything. The achievement will not fire while you are still holding the rod.
Step away from the pole first, then check the overlay again. Leaving the fishing interaction is the whole fix, and it is the single most common reason players think their collection is bugged.
If it still hasn’t unlocked after that, you are genuinely short one fish. The usual culprit is a half-cleared clock state, since it’s easy to catch two fish in a period, wander off to find a door, and never return for the third. Open the Aquarium in the house on the left side of the waterfall to spot exactly which name is missing, then revisit that clock state.
The Fishing Paper and the Lost Key
People often get the order backwards. The License unlocks fishing. The Fishing Paper is a separate collection log that shows up much later, printed with every fish type, and it holds the reward.
You uncover the paper with the Metal Detector, which comes from the shed the Telescope opens. Take the detector to the beach and sweep near the hole, down toward the bottom edge of the walkable area, parallel to the hole. If it refuses to register, that lower border is the spot to work.
The key in the middle of the paper won’t drop on its own. Catch all 18 fish, then go back and inspect the completed paper again, and the Lost Key falls out. That key feeds a later hidden secret. After solving the Shack Puzzle, switch Endacopia to Windowed Mode, enter the small concrete room, and use the key on the hidden safe to reveal more lore.
What the “???” catch is
At some point you may reel up a blurred human head labeled “???”. Players have pulled it at dawn, midday, and night, so it isn’t tied to a single clock state. It doesn’t count toward the 18, doesn’t show up in the Aquarium, and doesn’t advance the achievement.
It also isn’t guaranteed. One player finished the game twice without ever seeing it, and no confirmed cast count or time triggers it. Treat it as a one-off scare rather than a missing collection entry, and keep working your period-by-period list.
Once the achievement pops and the Lost Key drops from the completed paper, your fishing run is finished. Everything past that point, from the Shack Puzzle to the windowed-mode safe, runs on the key you just earned.
