I feel like you've made good enough water effects, but the effectiveness of the fish was invisible at the beginning. The start of the game was so bad I couldn't continue.
All I saw was an arrow toward a boat and the fact that bumping into other boats did nothing.
When there was only water around, it felt like I was barely moving anywhere, but other boats really helped to feel that it was an illusion.
Maybe, a health bar on boats would help against feeling like I shouldn't even try.