Fish Ladder is a quick patience game for one player, played with the full Fishings Wild deck. The 63 fish cards are dealt into nine face-down columns with the bottom card of each face up. The other 51 cards form the pack.
Turn a pack card onto the line to start a drift. Small Tackle can start a drift on Bluegill or Crappie, Big Tackle on Perch, Bass or Muskie, and the Tackle Box or the Golden Hook on any fish. Any other pack card starts nothing, and a Trouble also costs you the next pack card.
Keep the drift going by playing face-up fish up the line: the same fish again until its bag limit, or the next one up. A Muskie card ends the drift. Clear every column before the pack runs out to win.
There are three levels. At Greenhorn a Trouble costs nothing. Hunter is the rules as written. Legend deals seven columns of nine.
Printable one-page rules (PDF). These solo rules are new, and they may change as players try them.