Thank you!
Fishing in RPGs is notoriously boring and I thought it would be a good, smaller project/problem to work on for practice. I do intend to work on the idea further.
The book was secretly the core of my game all along! It's the whole 'teach a man to fish' concept in RPG form.
I am absolutely considering making the sequence of actions more complex. I like the idea of a little "Simon Says" type of play here, making memory the core skill the player needs to use.
The books would tell players what to look for, and actions you might need to take, while play would depend of applying those rules and remembering what worked where and for what.
Adding some other fishermen, who might tell you fibs or honest tricks, might be an interesting aspect as well that I might add. The information would have to be fact checked in the books, giving a player some interactive complexity.
I like the idea of adding sounds and other effects as well, that could add some character to the game.
Because everything is if statements nested into if statements on top of if statements I'm going to keep the rod and bait simple to start with.
Also needed are better goals. If X amount of fish are caught a new pond opens up with more complex fish. Some books can only be obtained by quests given to you by old fishermen.
Many ideas on a typically frowned upon mechanic!
Thank you again for the feed back! It definitely helps!