Finish one ordinary catch before you buy a bigger rod. The opening tutorial on Starter Island is the same loop you will repeat: get a skill, attach it, fish in the marked spot, then sell.
Before you cast
- Join the experience at place 99925503388128 and talk to the Fishing Guide on the dock. Yellow arrows mark the tutorial targets.
- At the Skill Master, take the free first roll. In one October 10 tutorial that roll awarded Great Heaven-Equal Fishing Art, a Common skill. The same panel says later rolls are random, so your free skill can differ.
- Open Equip from the left sidebar, open Skills, and put the skill on the Z slot. The starter rod shows one open slot. The X slot stays locked until the rod gains levels.
- Confirm the skill appears in the fishing controls. A book in your bag is not an attached skill.
Land the fish
Stand in the glowing Fish Here circle and equip the rod with hotkey 1 on a PC walkthrough.
Cast inputs disagree across October walkthroughs. One demonstration uses a held cast meter and a green release zone. Another uses a left-click cast, then large PULL prompts that ask for the shown WASD key. Follow the meter and letters on your screen.
Click to deal damage while you answer those prompts. Basic clicks bring the bar to a white marker. Use the attached skill there. If you spent the skill at the start, wait for its cooldown instead of assuming the line is broken.
A catch popup then shows name, rarity, and weight. One popup showed a Common Metal Shark at 12.73 kg.
PC keys from one walkthrough
| Action | Input |
|---|---|
| Move | W A S D |
| Jump | Space |
| Talk to an NPC | E |
| Rod / satchel / quests / stats | 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 |
| Cast | Left mouse, or hold if your meter says so |
| Skills | Z X C V |
Phone controls are not in that key list. Use the buttons drawn on your device.
Sell, then pick one upgrade
Take the fish to Nana the Fish Merchant. Choose Sell All, then Confirm Sell All. One sale message read “Sold 1 fish for 538 Coins.” Selling the first fish ends the tutorial in that walkthrough.
If the fight never finishes, fix the skill before you spend Coins. If ordinary fish already land but feel slow, compare Mankie's Stone Rod and Iron Rod. If the next island is the goal, keep its quest fish and its entry Coins. See the island route before you sell a Desert or Snow legendary.
What the starter rod card says
Mankie's October 10 shop card lists the Wooden Rod at +217 Attack Damage and +1 Luck, already owned. A tutorial equipment frame in the same period showed +117 Attack Damage and +1 Luck on the rod you start with. Those are different readings, not a combined stat. Use the number on your Equip screen.