I'm 24 hours into the game now and my opinion hasn't altered much.
It's a fun fishing game, with slightly tweaked mechanics compared to fishing sim world.

Is it similar?
Yep, so if you liked FSW then you will like this (think of it as a dlc if you like, but with better mechanics and 5 new waters, although not interchangeable with FSW).

For the money they are charging (£16.99 during summer sale, £19.99 full price) then it is good value.
There are 5 new waters and a slightly tweaked reeling mechanism.

Graphics are really nice (albeit currently limited to 30fps, something to do with rod mechanics I believe, but a patch is incoming to up this to 60fps) with zero ghosting now.

Sound is good and gameplay is a lot of fun.

Lots of fish species covered, from roach to arapaima.

Boss fish give you something to work towards.

Working mastery system, although it only shows level 1 at the moment.

A pretty solid 7.5/10 for me.

P.S.
A lot of negative reviews are based on the similarity with FSW and also the fact that FSW may now be abandoned, which is a shame if it is cos it is a decent game also.

If you like FSW or are thinking of trying this out my advice would be to get it.
After all you can always refund if you don't like it within 2 hours :)

Awesome you can have Bream waste your time from the comfort of your living room aswell as on the bank.

Need more boss bream.

This is similar to the other games but the improvements are excellent. Those that gripe about lack of new changes/additions are not paying attention to the subtle yet important improvements made to the overall experience. If you've never played a Dovetail Games - Fishing game yet - now is a great opportunity to get on board as this is the best entry game into the series to date. Developer - Please stick with this one through and continue to make further improvements to this game - do not start working on the next one.............

While this game may now be abandoned by the dev's in my opinion it's likely the best of all Dovetail's fishing games, Fishing Sim World has far more content but this one makes many small improvements and the amount of content is more than enough to keep most people busy for hundreds of hours, the newer Bassmasters game is just junk compared to this one, the Dovetail Fishing League is still running so there is competition if you want it as well. Overall this is a great casual fishing game and I highly recommend it over the others.

Fun gameplay. Missions and head to head is awesome. The graphics are amazing.

What this game and all the fishing games ive seen need a dose of humanity, its almost like the game designers aren't fishermen themselves. i've spent thousands of hours by rivers lakes all over the UK ive caught every type of fish and I can tell you now the experience, being out in nature and in some cases (ive been told) getting some time away from your wife.
The sad lack of ability to be able to sit down on the occasional chair is frankly stupid no one fishes standing up i get tired just watching him
Where is the stalking element, any fisherman knows you like to sneak about the river banks and when your pulling your fish in you can't move its like your glued to the ground.
Id also like to see the ability to cook a cup of tea by the riverside, the designers are missing what makes fishing fishing and catching fish is only a small part of it. Even an mobile game ive got 3d carp two allows you to sit down ..

But fix the obvious chair thing first, .... no one stands up for hours do they .. or in the case of this game three days

Reading the reviews I agree with both the negatives and the positives. Of course they could have done more but it is a fair price for a more fragrant sim than FSW. Small changes that for me does a world of difference in the feel of playing a fishing sim. Well worth the money, could have been made as a fix or a DLC to FSW but now it wasn't. We will probably see some more improvements in time. Until then, have fun! I will probably play both this and FSW because why not, they're both fun and offer to some extent different experiences. :)

This game is alot like Fishing Sim World, which comes as no surprise as it is b y Dove Tail Games and of course alot have stated this already. However.. the fishing mechanic has been somewhat changed to make it more challenging and I certainly welcome the new additional maps as well as the more laid back experience. Though I will have to say I do miss career mode as an option but it's not a necessity. Like some have already said; if you liked FSW you will certainly enjoy this game. Yes it's very similar but hey, I for one welcome that. If it's not broke why fix it? as the saying goes. People claim there are bugs but I've yet to find those myself. Maybe they were a thing back then and hopefully been fixed now, who knows? Either way I highly recommend this game for both newcomers and FSW fans alike. Infact I'd dare say with the slightly altered, and certainly more challenging, fishing mechanic I feel that this game is better than FSW even though it certainly lacks on content in comparison.

I have Fishing sim world pro tour and yes this looks almost identical but this have 60fps and better mechanics in my opinion. I was never really into the tournament and career mode in FSW so i like how The Catch carp & coarse is a more casual and laid back game where you just go fishing. Even though the game is more or less about catching every type of fish and finding the "boss fish" in every lake its not a must, you are free to do what ever you want. I recommend everyone who likes FSW to atleast try the game you can always refund. I do hope they keep update this game more and release more stuff it has been a while now since release.

Not sure why the reviews say Mixed, not having any issues which prevent me playing the game. The game is really fun and the changes since the last dovetail fishing games are all positive, they are open to hearing your thoughts on changes in the game on their online forums and the dev team seem to respond very promptly to any concerns.
People need to look at the value for money you get, this is a cheap game, and offers hundreds of hours of play time without the need to buy DLC, there is no pay wall or pay to win.
If you love your fishing then give it a go.