Thanks so much for the detailed feedback!
I agree that there's definitely a lack of direction or instructions in the game. That issue might be a remnant of when I was trying to build a purely atmospheric experience where all you did was fish and keep warm. Once I added the monster and additional mechanics I should have included some instructions for players. I think a cassette or journal entries is a great way of going about that and if I come back to this project I'll definitely add those. The lack of menu and options were due to a lack of time, so I'll implement those as well on the next go around.
As for the fishing, the reason why there was a hook in the screenshots is cause they were from an earlier build where there was only a single lure. In the current build you start with one lure and can find a second one, so they actually change. They're pretty hard to see underwater though, I gotta brighten em up.
The slow fishing is also a product of it originally being a purely atmospheric slow burn horror. I was going for something like Iron Lung, and that probably won't change. However, I did used to have a mechanic where you could leave the rod and lure in the water while you got up and walked around, so I think adding that back in will solve the issue of boring waiting.
Thanks so much for the feedback, really appreciate it!