In the game, players use motion and touch controls to catch fish and subsequently shoot them out of the sky for cash.

A year after Vlambeer began their iOS development, Gamenauts released Ninja Fishing, a clone of the game.

A 3D remaster of the game developed by KO_OP, titled Ridiculous Fishing EX, was released on Apple Arcade in July 2023, 3 years after Vlambeer went defunct.

[6] There are four stages, each with its own visual and audio theme and rare fish,[4] and an endless mode where players can work towards the highest score.

[7] Earnings can be spent in a store towards persistent upgrades such as longer fishing line length, invulnerable drills, frivolous hats, bigger guns,[4] chainsaw lures, a hair dryer and toaster (to zap inadvertent catches),[7] fuel for the chainsaw, and a necktie for greater income.

[8] There is also a Fish-o-pedia in Billy's smartphone that gives gameplay hints and tracks stats such as fish caught, which is the progress for unlocking new levels.

[9] Vlambeer designer Jan Willem ("JW") Nijman developed the idea based on a television show about tuna fishermen that led him to consider an intersection between catching big fish, slow-motion photography, and Duck Hunt's game mechanics.

[1] By now the team had four members: designer Jan Willem Nijman, marketer Rami Ismail, iOS developer Zach Gage, and artist Greg Wohlwend.

[1] Upon return to the Netherlands from GDC, Nijman and Ismail, the co-founders of Vlambeer, began to plan a "really large game", but ultimately decided that the idea was a diversion from the realities of finishing Ridiculous Fishing.

[1] In August 2012, after a road trip home across the United States from Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle to New York City, the team set a deadline to finish the game.

[9] They scrapped the store, interface, and endgame along with "90 percent" of their work, which revealed a specific direction for the rest of the game's development.

[6] Oli Welsh of Eurogamer called the balance beautiful and clever, an elaboration on their previous version's "idiot-savant design" without going too far.

[5] TouchArcade's Eli Hodapp commended the upgrade structure that combined obtainable incentives alongside gameplay as engaging as Doodle Jump's.

[4] He added that the game could have been "even more ridiculous" and its levels more differentiated in theme and art style, though he found the "almost cubist design... absolutely gorgeous".

[4] Welsh of Eurogamer agreed that Wohlwend's art was "achingly cool" and reflected a "retro and minimalist" indie gaming trend without overpowering the gameplay.

[8] TouchArcade's Eli Hodapp called Ridiculous Fishing so well packaged as to make his recommendation "effortless" for both short few-minute play sessions as well as longer ones.