Fish Wrangler is a passive Facebook fishing game or simulator. The basic idea is you pick a Fishing pole, type of chum, and location and wait. Every 15 minutes you are allowed to check your pole to determine if you have caught anything yet. The game is very popular and has a large user base currently 500K per month. Fish Wrangler becomes a social game by way of additional line checks by friends. As you add people to your crew you line gets checked every time they check their own. The in game currency is coins but the item which is paid for is Red Love Chum. Fish Wrangler was voted 2009 Openweb awards Best Facebook App and Best Facebook Game.http://mashable.com/2009/12/16/open-web-awards-2009-50-winners/

When you start Fish Wrangler for the first time you are given a choice between two poles. The oak branch or broken standard. It really doesn't seem to matter which you choice both have essentially the same stats. After that you are allowed to fish at an accelerated rate until you catch a certain set of fish completing the first task. Initially you are given some tasks to complete to unlock a few basic game items.

After this initial phase the basic game play is simply choosing a pole and chum and then a location. Locations (Islands) open up as you gain levels and find maps or other items. To move from one island to the next you have to have a boat. Boats have two purposes. The first is to move between islands the second is to allow you to go night fishing. Some locations require a boat, as you'll be deep sea fishing. As you fish your pole levels and you also gain access to new poles. Not every pole can be used effectively at every island. After a certain point you allowed to compete in tournaments. These tournaments are month long and occur on different islands throughout the month. It's quite important to level all of your poles as you'll not be able to compete effectively in the month long events.

Night fishing allows you to go on unaided fishing trips. Although these are called night fishing you could set your fishing trip up for any time period.

Being a good captain means being on time and in the correct location each and every night. It's also import to monitor your crew to insure they are showing up. Recently a bonus was added for leaving with a full boat each night. If one member misses the bonus is reset for everyone.