How do I fish in Torchlight 2?

I am wondering how you're supposed to catch fish in Torchlight 2. I am in the Estherian Enclave literally right at the start of the game on my first character, and have found a Fishing Hole:

Upon clicking on the label for the Fishing Hole, I cast a line into the water and get a button on screen:

I have tried waiting for audible indicators that I have caught a fish (similar to WoW) and there are a couple of different sounds that play but regardless of when I click the button I catch nothing.

I have also tried waiting for the blue circle that pulses around the button to reach certain points (like fully under the button, or as far out as it extends away from the button) before clicking but this doesn't appear to have an effect either.

Regardless of what I've tried so far, I always end up at this screen;

How do I catch fish in Torchlight II?

Solution 1:

You simply must wait for the circle to turn purple. You'll hear a sound too.

Often, the circle will go very close to becoming the right size, only to enlarge later, so don't be fooled by that. The circle will normally remain purple for a second or two, so you have plenty of time to react to the color and the sound without resorting to guesswork. So don't resort to guesswork.

If you do miss the window of opportunity - just wait until the circle turns purple again. You can do so with no penalty and this won't use up the fish hole more than once.

This is especially important on wilderness fish holes — they have better drops, but you only get 3 to 9 tries per hole: you do not want to catch nothing on these.

Solution 2:

When the white ring around the fishing button (which pulses when you try to fish) gets very close to the button and it turns into red, then press it. Then you catch something.

On holes outside of the town, you can also use dynamite which can be purchased to use up all tries and get the fish without having to do the minigame. Caution: this method yields lower returns! e.g. if you throw dynamite into a fishing hole that has 9 tries you won't get all 9 items.