Oh man, this is a rough one. The presentation is spot-on from before you even start the game, from the thumbnail to the corporate email with what we all actually think about those things crossed out in the description to the bulletin-board styling of the main menu and the goofy music - this is a silly game about fishing that presents itself with all the seriousness of an anime showdown, and I am absolutely on board with these vibes.
Then I start playing and I send the hook way out, grab the big swordfish that it landed by, watch it barely move as I spin, watch it get loose, and then wonder if I'm doing something wrong when it happens a couple more times. I got the hang of it eventually, but I ran into so many little things like that that just made it... not that fun.
There's no audiovisual cues on whether you're spinning fast enough or not, or how close a fish is to escaping, so when you mess up the lack of feedback makes it feels more confusing than difficult. After you mess up it feels doubly bad since not only did you lose time having to cast again, you also lose progress as the fish swim back to their original spot. Bigger fish are harder to reel in and are more of a challenge, but they're the easiest fish to reach since they're not as deep down so you don't need to wait for the hook to sink (so it's more likely that someone will get them first or because they're in the way). All the waiting you have to do in a game with such a strict time limit. The way the hook sinks in an arc shape makes it hard to figure out where to cast for the deeper fish. The seek radius for the fish is tiny and I'm convinced is larger when the fish are swimming in one direction than in another. The way the space level has so much more "water" so you're spending even more time just waiting to reach a bottom fish.
All of this adds up to a game that just feels unpolished on the gameplay side - fishing is a tried and true gameplay style but this game is missing the mechanical refinement that the overall presentation is asking for. Which is a shame, because it's just so good. The game is beautiful, besides maybe some pixel dithering in the sky textures there is absolutely nothing I would change about the art, with the Juniper-looking suit lady, the little chibi protraits that react to fishing and scoring, and the dreamy cloud-like star background that covers some of the moon in the space level being some of my highlights. The music is great, and while I mentioned a lack of cues before, the sound design is otherwise without issues. A great but flawed game overall - which is the kind of game I said I would have the most to talk about :)