Gone Fishin’ with Jack

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Space hold and let go to cast, press to hook, hold to reel in · 1–9 cast to a set distance · A let Jack fish · L logbook · M music · S water and sounds · F full screen. On a phone: hold and let go to cast, tap when the float goes under, hold to reel.

A game, sort of

Gone Fishin’ with Jack

Jack has his rod, his bucket hat and nowhere to be. Cast out, wait for the float to bob, reel it in, have a look, and let it go. Then do it again, for as long as you like.

No score, no timer, no levels and no way to lose. The music is made up as it plays. Runs entirely in your browser: nothing to install, no account, and Jack’s logbook stays on this device.

How to fish

Cast. Hold the mouse button, your finger or Space and Jack winds up. A marker slides out across the water and back again; let go when it’s where you’d like the float to land. He can put it anywhere from a few metres off the jetty to about 45 metres out.

Pick your spot. Each fish has its own part of the water. Yakka, bream, blackfish, leatherjackets and the odd blue groper hang round the jetty pylons. Out on the sand you’ll find whiting, flathead and snapper. The big ones, kingfish and mulloway, are out past about 30 metres.

On a keyboard you can also press 1 to 9 to cast straight to a set distance: 1 lands a few metres off the jetty, 9 as far as Jack can throw it.

Wait. This is most of fishing. Watch the fish come and have a look. Give the line a tap to wiggle the bait if you’re feeling impatient, or hold on to wind it back in and cast somewhere else.

Hook it. When the float bobs a couple of times and then goes right under, click, tap or press Space. Miss it and nothing happens: the fish swims off and another one comes along.

Reel it in. Hold the mouse button, your finger or Space to wind it in. Let go and the fish pulls back a little. It can’t snap the line, so take your time.

Let it go. Every fish goes back in the water. Anything else Jack fishes out goes in the bucket.

If you’d rather just watch, press Let Jack fish and he’ll fish on his own. Go full screen and it makes a calm screen to leave running.

What’s biting

Salt-water fish you could catch off a jetty on Australia’s east coast, and a few things that aren’t fish at all. Jack keeps a logbook of everything he’s caught and the biggest of each.

Close in, round the jetty

Yakka
Yellowtail scad: small, quick and usually in a crowd under the jetty. The fish you’ll catch most.
Bream, small and big
Yellowfin bream, the classic jetty fish. Plenty of little ones, and now and then a big one worth a photo.
Luderick and leatherjacket
Two that live round the pylons: one with stripes that usually eats weed, one with a spike on its head.
Eastern blue groper
A big, friendly blue fish of the rocks and pylons. Rare in the game, and Jack always lets it go.
Garfish and sea mullet
One thin as a pencil with a long red-tipped beak, one that hardly ever takes a bait.

Further out

Sand whiting and dusky flathead
Two that live down on the sand. The whiting is slim and sandy; the flathead lies flat and waits.
Snapper
Pink with blue spots, in every size from a baby to a big old fish with a bump on its head.
Silver trevally and tailor
Two fast fighters: one deep and shiny, one with sharp teeth.
Australian salmon
Not a salmon at all, but a strong, spotty fish that travels in big schools.
Yellowtail kingfish and mulloway
The big ones, out past about 30 metres. Rare, strong, and they take a while to reel in, so hang on.

Is there a goal?

Not really. There’s nothing to win and nothing to lose. If you want something to aim for, Jack’s logbook has a space for every kind of catch, and some are rare.

Where does the music come from?

It’s generated as you listen. A small composer we wrote with AI runs in your browser and picks every chord and note on the spot: a slow pad, a soft bass, and a kalimba or felt piano wandering over the top, in a new key every few minutes. Nothing is recorded, so it never plays the same way twice. The water, birds and crickets are made the same way, and you can turn the music and the sounds on and off separately.

Can I leave it running?

Yes. Press Let Jack fish and go full screen. The sky goes from afternoon to night and back to morning about every twelve minutes, and Jack keeps fishing.

Can I play it on my phone?

Yes. Hold your finger down and let go to cast, tap when the float goes under, and hold your finger down to reel in. Turning the phone sideways and going full screen gives Jack more water. On an iPhone, check the silent switch if you want the music.

Would you really catch all of these in one spot?

Not all on the same day. Jack’s jetty is make-believe, but every fish in it lives in the sea along Australia’s east coast, and you could find any of them around a harbour like Sydney’s. If you go fishing for real, check your state’s fishing rules first: sizes, bag limits, closed seasons and protected species all apply.

Is anything recorded or sent anywhere?

Nothing from the game. It runs entirely in your browser, and the logbook and your sound settings stay in this browser only. Like the rest of our site, the page counts visits with Google Analytics (see our privacy policy).

What has this got to do with domain names?

Not much, and that’s the point. A Chill domain renews at the same list price as its first year and we never pre-tick anything, so there’s nothing to keep an eye on. You can go fishing. See our written promises.

Is Jack real?

Very. He’s a retired greyhound who saves the running for when it counts. The fishing is make-believe; the bucket hat could happen. Meet Jack.

Yakka