PAO PAO Fishing: What’s Confirmed Before Early Access

Fishing is one of the activities PAO PAO is built around. The official Steam page describes a cozy seaside life sim in which you cook, farm, run a restaurant and "fish from the shore or a boat," solo or in co-op with up to three friends. What that page and the developer's patch notes do not hand you is a rod-by-rod or spot-by-spot manual — the published detail explains where fishing sits in the game and what has been tuned, not how to land a particular fish.

What fishing is in PAO PAO

PAO PAO is developed by ArtDock and published by Dreland Enterprises, and it is scheduled to enter Early Access on October 26, 2026. In the developer's own description of the Early Access version, fishing is listed among the things you do "outside the restaurant," next to exploring the town, growing crops, gathering resources and talking to NPCs. "Fishing" is also one of the popular user-defined tags on the Steam page, so it is part of how the game is marketed rather than a incidental animation.

The loop the page sketches is a life sim with a restaurant at the centre: the kitchen is the job, and fishing, farming and foraging are the quieter activities around it. Co-op is supported throughout — the store description says solo or co-op with up to three other players, and the Early Access statement describes the game as playable "solo or in co-op with up to four players."

Where you can fish

The one location detail the official description gives is the choice of shore or boat. Both are named in the same sentence, so the boat is presented as a fishing platform as well as a way around the island.

Two cautions on that. First, the same store page separately mentions organising boat races as a group activity, so "boat" appears in the game in more than one context; the page does not describe boat handling for fishing specifically. Second, as of 2026-10-19 the official Steam page does not name individual fishing spots, and it does not list fish species, rods, bait or catch tables.

What the patch notes say about fishing

The developer's Steam posts are the most concrete fishing information published so far, even though they are framed as fixes rather than tutorials.

• A patch note posted on October 1, 2026 lists "Added new fishing hints and improved fishing spot detection" under gameplay improvements. That tells you fishing spots are something the game recognises and hints at, and that detection near water was worth reworking — if a cast seems to be ignored at the water's edge, that is the system the developer has been adjusting.
• The September 18, 2026 demo patch note lists "Improved fishing effects and fish behavior," which points to tuning of the catch presentation and how fish act rather than to new gear.
• The Early Access section of the Steam page states that the team plans to "add more depth to systems such as cooking, customer service, fishing and gardening." Fishing in the launch build is therefore a system the developer intends to expand, not a finished progression tree.

Practical notes before launch

The demo is downloadable from the Steam page, and the September 18, 2026 demo patch note states that demo saves can be transferred to the full version — a low-risk way to try the fishing loop before October 26. The Steam page recommends a controller and lists full controller support. Steam Deck compatibility is shown as "Unknown" on the Steam page as of 2026-10-19, and that page lists Windows only.

Related listing: Pao Pao on the Epic Games Store

A separate Epic Games Store listing also called Pao Pao, credited to ArtDock, describes a co-op restaurant game with animal characters in a semi-open city, where you fish for fresh ingredients and each task runs as a mini-game. Its setting and framing differ from the seaside-town description on the Steam page, and neither page states that the two listings are the same build. Treat the mini-game and ingredient details as belonging to that listing rather than as confirmed behaviour in the Steam Early Access version.

Name note: pao'pao the fish

Searching for "PAO PAO fishing" also turns up real-world fishing writing, because pao'pao is a Hawaiian name for the golden trevally. A 2019 post on Hawaii Nearshore Fishing recounts a shore-caught specimen in Kaneohe Bay — interesting background, but unrelated to the game. For game information, the official PAO PAO Steam page is the page to watch.

Next steps

• PAO PAO Fishing Spots: What’s Confirmed So Far

FAQ

What is PAO PAO fishing?

It is one of the life-sim activities in ArtDock's seaside restaurant game, done from the shore or from a boat, and playable solo or in co-op with up to three friends.

Where can you fish in PAO PAO?

The official Steam page names two settings: the shore and a boat. As of 2026-10-19 that page does not list named fishing spots or a map of them.

Is there a guide to rods, bait or fish species?

Not from the published material. The Steam page and the developer's patch notes as of 2026-10-19 describe fishing in general terms and mention hints and spot detection, but no gear list, bait system or species list has been posted.

Do I have to wait for release to try fishing?

No — a demo is available from the Steam page, and the September 18, 2026 demo patch note says demo saves can be carried into the full version when it launches on October 26, 2026.