Introduction to Epic Fish: Winter Catch
Epic Fish: Winter Catch is a casino slot from Quickspin, moving from turquoise tropical ocean waters to ice-cold seas surrounding Norwegian fjords. A renowned explorer and master fisherman, Howard Spinsson, put his crosshairs on another impressive specimen after finally reeling in the legendary Golden Marlin in Epic Fish Adventure. This time, he's pursuing Golden Pollock, a fish so elusive that it's become almost a myth among the anglers from little villages scattered along the coast.
The game joins the line-up of Epic Fish releases from Quickspin, which already involves three titles. Aside from the oldest one mentioned above, Epic Fish: Marlin Madness and Epic Fish: Net of Fortunes were both released in 2025. The series revolves around cash-collecting mechanics with the assistance of a Wild symbol, much like the Big Bass Bonanza saga, but also applies subtle twists to the bonus round format to diversify the experience. If you're curious what they are, we'll describe them all in the respective sections below, or you can always try the demo to find out during some risk-free gameplay.
Theme, Gameplay & Payouts
Epic Fish: Winter Catch is a video slot from Quickspin 5 reels, 3 rows, and 10 paylines. You can choose their stake from a range of options, starting from a Min.bet of 0.1, which makes the game particularly affordable, up to a Max.bet of 100. The game offers a default RTP of 96.07%, which is on par with the industry standards, with three lower variants of 94.19%, 92.07% and 87.15% also released for the operators. The mathematical profile comes with high volatility, which focuses on less frequent but more sizable wins, and a max win capped at 5,190x the bet. You will experience the base hit frequency of 24.51%, resulting in 1 in nearly 4 spins being a hit.
Like many slots using fishing as the subject matter, Epic Fish: Winter Catch settles right below the surface, with its reels floating freely underwater, and bubbles slowly rising from the depths being the only thing marking the borders of the playing panel. Above, a quaint fishing village rests at the foot of a mountain range, covered with a thick layer of snow. Despite the freezing exterior, the atmosphere is quite uplifting and cheerful thanks to a vibrant color palette used on the symbols and a calm, fairytale-like soundtrack brightening the spirits. The lighthearted, cartoony design can be enjoyed on a wide range of modern devices, from desktops to smartphones and tablets.
In the paytable, two distinct sets of symbols form the payout hierarchy. To score a prize, you must match at least 3 of them on any active payline while utilizing neighboring reels, starting from the leftmost one. Among the low-paying ones, you'll recognize playing card emblems, including 10, J, Q, K, and A, awarding from 2x to 7.5x the bet for a 5-of-a-kind hit. A fish, a sailor's hat, a bottle, a starfish, and a clam represent the high-paying icons, delivering payouts of between 10x and 75x the bet for a complete payline. Alongside regular icons, there are also Wilds represented by a fisherman in a red hat and Bonus symbols appearing as a red fishing boat.
Special Features & Slot Mechanics
What is the max win in the slot Epic Fish: Winter Catch?
You can win up to 5,190x the bet.
What features are available in the slot Epic Fish: Winter Catch?
The features are Wild Symbol, Free Spins, and Feature Buy & Extra Bet.
Wild Symbol
Gold-framed image of the fisherman acts as a Wild symbol, substituting for any regular icons during payline win evaluation. Additionally, it can form combinations of its own, paying 2.5x, 15x, and 150x for matching 3, 4, or 5 of a kind on a payline. Its most prominent function, however, is catching any fish that land on the grid at the same time and awarding their cash prizes that range from 1x to 25x the bet.
Free Spins
Landing 3, 4, or 5 Bonus symbols simultaneously during a base game spin awards the respective bonus round with 12 free spins. In all three, the cash-collecting mechanism functions identically as in the base game, but also each Wild is collected into the meter, awarding additional spins for every 4 instances accumulated.
Winter Spins = 1 extra spin for every 4 Wilds collected.
Thight Lines = 2 extra spins for every 4 Wilds collected, plus Wilds stay sticky for one additional spin, contributing twice to the meter collection.
Golden Pollock = 3 extra spins for every 4 Wilds collected, plus Wilds stay sticky for one additional spin, contributing twice to the meter collection. Additionally, a Golden Fish symbol may land during this round, offering the most valuable prize that also increases every time the symbol appears on the grid (regardless of whether collected or not).
Feature Buy & Extra Bet
In Epic Fish: Winter Catch, you can use several options that allow you to either boost your base game spins or trigger any of the bonus rounds instantly for a fixed buy-in that scales with your bet.
2x = Extra Bet with higher chances of triggering free spins.
40x = Winter Spins Bonus.
95x = Tight Lines Bonus.
250x = Golden Pollock Bonus.
Final Thoughts on Epic Fish: Winter Catch
The first look and first few spins on Epic Fish: Winter Catch quickly reveal what the game sets out to achieve and what you can expect from it. Although it camouflages itself behind the generic subtitle, it's clearly meant to be a seasonal slot, and not only in regard to winter, but also to Christmas. The good thing is that the creators didn't push the festive atmosphere too far and maintained a pleasant balance, with only subtle added design elements, such as occasional baubles attached to symbols, candy-cane pattern frames, and the overall outlook of the fisherman, complete with a white beard and a red hat. It's still primarily a fishing theme, but embellished with those unobtrusive extras, it also competently plays the role of a Christmas slot. And like the other three titles from the series, it comes with high-quality artwork that operates on a diverse color palette combined with a sleek finish. However, we must point out that the game is a rather unambitious reskin of Epic Fish Adventure, using mostly the same imagery on the reels, only adapted to the wintery environment.
As is the nature of a clone, you can also expect exactly the same gameplay as in the tropical escapade we mentioned above. It's an exact copy that utilized an identical feature composition, with only names changed to reflect a different location. And so, your base game highlights will come from an occasional collection of the cash prizes carried by fish whenever the friendly fisherman Wild lands on the same spin. The three free spins rounds carry that mechanism further by turning Wilds sticky and adding a special self-improving high prize on the last stage. Plus, there's a familiar progressive trail that awards extra spins for collecting Wilds along the way. It's all been done before, and not only by Quickspin, so, in the end, the game feels like a quick and undemanding way of filling up a roadmap spot with a seasonal treat.
Epic Fish: Winter Catch relies primarily on elements from another fishing slot from the studio's portfolio, applying only minimal effort to match the seasonal mood.
