Fish Shooting Games Strategy That Actually Works

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Mike Epifani, Author

Last Updated : 01/20/2025

Fish shooting games consistently deliver the yays, but they’re also notorious for draining a bankroll. If you’re looking for some ways to win more often while avoiding the pitfalls of bad strategy, we have you covered. Here are ten tips for fish shooting games, developed from months of trial and error.

Top Fish Shooting Tips & Tricks

1. Practice with Gold Coins First

I can’t stress this one enough. When you’re playing fish shooting games at a sweepstakes casino, play with the fun-play currency first (usually called Gold Coins). This gives you the opportunity to try the game without burning valuable Sweepstakes Coins. Once you really get a feel for how fish shooting games work, then you should switch to Sweepstakes Coins play.

2. Familiarize Yourself with Fish Movement Patterns

As you’re playing, pay close attention to the fish movement patterns. Each type of fish has a few different courses they take across the screen. There’s plenty of variation, but the movements become more predictable the more often they’re observed. Learn the patterns to better time your firing.

3. Go for Medium Fish

Small fish are the easiest to get but offer the lowest payouts, so you can end up burning more bullets than they’re worth. The largest fish have the biggest payouts but they’re the hardest to take out, meaning it’s easy to burn a bunch of bullets only for the fish to swim off screen. That’s why we recommend going for the medium fish, which offer a medium variance for consistent, somewhat sizable wins.

4. Give Yourself Plenty of Time to Shoot the Fish

This is where learning the patterns will be helpful. Focus on the fish that just entered the screen and you have a clear shot at. You’ll give yourself the best odds of taking them out while maximizing your bullet efficiency. This is instead of seeing a juicy fish enter from the top or bottom and beeline for the sides, giving you only a few seconds to shoot it.

5. Shoot at Clusters

Sometimes, you don’t want a clear shot at once fish, you want to take out a cluster. Think of clusters of small fish as one medium fish, and a cluster of medium fish as a huge opportunity. FAIR WARNING: Taking out a cluster at once isn’t always successful. But it’s where I’ve had some of my most successful fish shooting runs, taking out multiple fish in a short succession and really racking up the wins. Plus, clusters make it really hard to miss.

6. Go for the Bonus Fish

Some fish shooting games have bonus fish, which trigger power-ups like win multipliers. Take them out first, then switch to shooting at smaller fish, which now pay out more thanks to the multiplier.

Of course, the same advice above applies. Don’t risk a bunch of bullets on a bonus fish that’s about to swim off screen. And some bonus fish aren’t worth the bullets.

7. Look for Patterns in Spawns

Fish often spawn in predictable patterns or waves. Learn these patterns to anticipate where to aim ahead of time. Few things are more satisfying than already having the gun aimed when the fish appears.

8. Be Strategic with Your Weapons/Power-Ups

On some fish shooting games, you can save certain weapons and power-ups to use later on. Save them for the biggest fish, such as the final boss rounds. And be sure you have a clear shot of the big fish before you fire the most powerful weapons, and that no small fish are close to swimming in the way.

9. Watch Fish Shooting Streamers

Another way to learn unique strategy and get a sense of how the games work is by watching gaming streams on Twitch and similar live-streamer sites. These players can offer valuable insight from their personal experience as well, and they usually have a lot of money to burn, which makes watching them highly entertaining – and educational.

10. Take Frequent Breaks

As mentioned, fish shooting games can really drain a bankroll. They incentivize clicking repeatedly, and each click means another coin spent. As part of your overall responsible gaming strategy, take frequent breaks to reevaluate where your bankroll is at and how much you’ve actually won. Otherwise, it’s way too easy to get lost in the gameplay, and suddenly you’re down to zero coins. Trust me, I’ve been there before, and it’s pretty easily avoided by staying diligent.