Unusual Catch is a fishing-themed slot by Northern Lights Gaming powered by Games Global. The fishing niche has become a real hit in the past few years, and for a good reason. Love it or hate it, those collection features work well, and these online slots are pretty rewarding. That’s the case with Unusual Catch, too, offering unusually high cash prizes worth up to 8,000x the bet.

This isn’t a Big Bass Bonanza clone – nothing close to it. The slot comes packed with unique features including a wild that spawns more instances of itself on the reels. You get to catch the biggest possible fish in the bonus round, with the bad bass offering something special. Wilds can also leave sticky frames behind them, making for an excellent experience.

That’s before we even get to the angler, a moustache-wielding, shade-wearing pro who’s key to catching the biggest fish in this pond. It’s quite a wild ride, to be honest, so if you have a competitive fishing edge, read my Unusual Catch review below to learn how to snag the trophy.

Unusual Catch doesn’t bring an unusual design at all. It’s actually quite familiar to other fishing-themed slots, with the reels slightly submerged underwater. The background shows a nice beach and the reels are appropriately separated by fishing lines and hooks. That’s a nice detail. The graphics are sharp and the animations are perfect too. All those bubbles from the bottom going up add a nice touch, just like the fish swimming by randomly across the screen.

In layout terms, all the controls are on the right side for easy access. Regardless of the device you’re playing the slot on, you’ll find it easy to spin the reels. It’s also easy to access the guide and check the paytable. The great graphics are complemented by excellent audio, which perfectly fits the fishing adventure.

To start playing the Unusual Catch slot you should first set a bet. Click on the stack of coins beneath the spin button and choose from 10c to $20 per spin. The betting range could have been improved in my opinion as in this case, it won’t appeal to high bettors. After you’re satisfied with your bet, you hit the spin button to start.

The slot’s math model is medium volatile, which means you can expect varied wins. You need 3 or more matching symbols across the grid to score a win. There are two types of wilds, and they both substitute for other symbols in winning combinations. However, they also come with some special features attached to them. The green wild matches the highest-paying symbol in payout terms, while the purple wild spawns up to 8 wilds on the grid when they land.

Both have one thing in common – whenever they land on the reels, they leave a sticky frame behind. These sticky frames come with multipliers that start at x1 and can go as high as x5. If the angler appears on the grid, he populates all sticky frames with wilds. The multipliers are then applied to that winline and boost any wins that pass through them. All sticky frames are removed from the reels in the base game once they pay.

If you land 2 scatters on the top 3 rows of the grid, they’ll trigger a nudging respin. All the reels with a scatter will be held and nudged down 1 position per spin. The respins will continue until the scatter reaches the bottom or until 5 scatters appear on the reels.

Right above the reels, you’ll see a purple meter. Landing 2 scatters on any spin adds a token to it. A total of 50 tokens will fill up the meter, unleashing the Bad Bass free spins round.

Landing 3-5 scatters on the reels in the base game trigger the bonus round. You receive 10, 15, or 20 free spins depending on the number of triggering scatters. During the bonus round, sticky frames don’t reset after paying out. Also, each angler that lands boosts progress on the bonus trail. The goal is to reach the Bad Bass. 

• The first time you reach it, you receive 5 extra spins with an x2 multiplier.
• Bad Bass-2 awards 5 spins with an x3 multiplier.
• Bad Bass-3 gives you the same number of free spins but with an x5 multiplier.
• Reach the final Bad Bass-4 level for 5 extra spins with an x10 multiplier.

If you don’t want to wait for the bonus round trigger, you can buy your way into the for 38.40x the bet. You can also gamble to win free spins at your current bet, with the feature determining the chance of success as you adjust your bet.

I love fishing-themed slots because they can be relaxing and very rewarding at the same time. That was the case with Unusual Catch too. While playing the slot for real money at my favorite best slot site, I set my bet at $1 per spin to test it out and found it highly rewarding. I was surprised by the nudging respins, which occur pretty frequently, and the wild frame too.

I often hit them with x2 multipliers, doubling my wins almost all the time. Getting to the bonus round was a bit of a challenge. I collected 12 scatters, which were still way off the required 50 and couldn’t land 3 scatters, so I ended up buying the bonus. I can honestly say that the bonus buy feature is cheap, as I ended up winning well over 70x the bet that justified the purchase.

Unusual Catch is a medium volatile slot with an RTP of 96.04%. The maximum payout is 8,000x the bet.

Unusual Catch is an unusual fishing-themed bonanza with sticky wild frames, multipliers, and nudging respins in the mix. It doesn’t stick to the usual collection feature and that’s why the slot’s well worth your time and money. The slot looks great too, and with the maximum projected win at 8,000x the bet, it’ll appeal to all kinds of players.

If you want an alternative, there’s always Big Bass Bonanza. You can try the original Pragmatic Play slot or any of its clones, including Big Bass Floats My Boat and Big Bass Day at the Races, and have fun with the collection features and the decent-sized payouts.