I’m not sure what’s Russian about Russian Fishing, a mobile game for Nokia Series 40 and S60 devices, other than that its publisher, HeroCraft, is based in Kaliningrad, Russia, an historic city on the Pregolya River. But the fishing part? That I get.

In the game of Russian Fishing, you not only try to catch fish, but also accumulate coins each time you do. The coins, once you have enough, let you buy supplies from the game’s store – fishing reels, nets, bait, even boats – that in turn allow you to expand the territory you fish in, and the kinds of fish you can catch.

To start, you pick a location on the game’s map. Starting without a boat, you are limited to spots near the shore.

Next, you have a fisherman’s view of the water and your fishing rod. To cast your lure, you hold and press your Nokia device’s 5 key. Then you wait, just as a real fisherman must. And wait. Suddenly, the message flashes on your screen: Strike Hook! Now you must set the hook, which you do by pressing and holding the 8 key. Do it too slow, and the fish wriggles off the hook. But do it just right, and you are rewarded with the Reel In! command, which you do with the 5 key.

While you are reeling in, you must also maintain line pressure by moving your rod in directions indicated by a series of floating arrows. On a touchscreen device like the Nokia N97 device I used to test Russian Fishing, you do that by touching the side of the screen you want the rod to move toward. Do it just right, and you are rewarded with a satisfying message: CAUGHT!

Depending on the type and size of fish you catch, the game awards you varying amounts of coins. For example, when I caught a small (151 grams) perch, I was awarded 75 coins. A slightly larger perch (191 grams) netted me 95 points. At any time, when you think you’ve accumulated enough coins to make a purchase, you go shopping by selecting Menu > Store.

The catch is, items in the store are expensive. Meaning, it can take a long while to accumulate enough coins to buy anything. A very simple reel, for example, costs 500 coins. A large net, 2,000 coins. A custom rod costs 3,000. The simplest radar costs a whopping 10,000 coins. And a motor boat to get you someplace interesting? An inconceivable 70,000 coins. At my rate of roughly 100 coins a fish, buying that boat would have required me to catch 700 fish. Figuring roughly a fish every minute, that would take me nearly 12 hours of play! Friends, life is simply too short for that.

For those players with more time, Russian Fishing offers nine levels of play, 10 trophy posters, and an online record on high scores.

My other quibble is that when using my Nokia N97 test device, the arrangement of screen and keyboard was awkward. Russian Fishing displays in portrait mode only, but on the N97, when the keyboard is pulled out and facing you, the display is in landscape position. So to play the game, I had to open the keyboard, turn the phone so that the display was in portrait mode, but use the keyboard facing away from me. This meant that the 5 and 8 keys, rather than being to each other’s right and left, were actually above and below each other. Like I said, awkward.

But my biggest surprise was how much Russian Fishing felt like actually fishing. First, there is the tedium of waiting for a fish to bite. Then the anxiety of setting the hook; will he get away? And finally, the excitement of reeling in the fish. It may sound silly, but some part of my brain thought we were actually catching dinner!

Russian Fishing is available in Ovi Store, where it costs $2.99 (USD). The game can be played on all Nokia Series 40 and S60 devices, including touchscreen smartphones like the Nokia N97, Nokia C6-00, and Nokia X6-00.