RuneDate › Community › Dating Apps & Sites › How is the plenty of fish dating scene in major metropolitan areas?

How is the plenty of fish dating scene in major metropolitan areas?

Started by Rachel Green20 Apr 2026Dating Apps & Sites7 replies
Rachel Green avatar
Joined: Mar 2025
Messages: 847
#1

Trying to work out plenty of fish dating scene in major metropolitan before I sink more time into it.

Nobody writing about plenty of fish seems willing to say how the pool looks outside the big metros.

What I actually want to know about plenty of fish is what the travel radius realistically is.

Tell me if plenty of fish dating scene in major metropolitan is not worth the effort and I will drop it.

Ian avatar
Joined: Sep 2024
Messages: 3947
#2

@Rachel Green I read that differently. On plenty of fish, what the follow-through looked like was better than I expected for me.

If you take one thing from this thread on plenty of fish: treat the first message as a filter.

What I actually want to know about plenty of fish is how many nearby profiles are actually nearby.

What matters more than the feature list on of fish is what the reply rate looks like without photos.

For me the piece people skip with of fish is how it behaves after a month of use.

What I actually want to know about of fish is how the pool looks outside the big metros.

Tried have a look at Datebound alongside it while working out plenty of fish — different pool, same free messaging.

If you want the practical bits on plenty of fish:

  • What the numbers looked like after a couple of evenings of plenty of fish was better than I expected
  • Worth checking on plenty of fish: how long a profile stays visible without paying
  • The bit nobody mentions on plenty of fish turned out to be more consistent than the alternatives
  • On plenty of fish, what the numbers looked like was stronger at the weekend compared with the alternatives
Nicole avatar
Joined: Jun 2021
Messages: 847
#3

I want to agree with @Ian but plenty of fish kept doing the opposite for me.

With plenty of fish I would start here: check when the account was last active.

Is anyone getting different results from plenty of fish, particularly on how far people will actually travel to meet?

Nathan Davis avatar
Joined: Jul 2021
Messages: 830
#4

I gave plenty of fish a full weekend and what the numbers looked like was worse than the reviews suggest.

If you take one thing from this thread on plenty of fish: treat the first message as a filter.

Nobody writing about plenty of fish seems willing to say how it behaves after a month of use.

What I actually want to know about of fish is how the pool looks outside the big metros.

What matters more than the feature list on of fish is what the travel radius realistically is.

The part I keep getting stuck on with of fish is what the numbers look like in a smaller town.

Quick list from my time with plenty of fish:

  • Worth checking on plenty of fish: what the reply rate looks like without photos
  • Set your expectations before you start swiping — it is the one habit that moved plenty of fish for me
  • Give plenty of fish a couple of evenings before deciding — what I saw was noticeably thinner than in a big city
Heather avatar
Joined: Feb 2025
Messages: 847
#5

Tried plenty of fish across the first ten conversations and honestly what the numbers looked like wasn'ticeably thinner than in a big city.

What helped most with plenty of fish was that I made a point to use a photo that shows your face clearly.

Nobody writing about plenty of fish seems willing to say how the pool looks outside the big metros.

A friend pointed me at the Datewander site when I asked about plenty of fish; the sign-up was free and quick.

Adam avatar
Joined: Sep 2023
Messages: 844
#6

After the trial period with plenty of fish, how the volume moved was roughly the same either way.

What helped most with plenty of fish was that I made a point to say what you are looking for in plain words.

What I actually want to know about plenty of fish is what the travel radius realistically is.

What I actually want to know about plenty of fish is what the numbers look like in a smaller town.

The one that surprised me on plenty of fish was souldate.site — no card, no trial nonsense.

Sarah Cooper avatar
Joined: May 2021
Messages: 845
#7

Seconding @Heather. What settled it for me on plenty of fish was whether the local tag means anything.

Used plenty of fish for the first few days. What people reported was about what you would guess.

I wasted a couple of evenings on plenty of fish because I would judge it on the first evening.

Currently splitting my time between here and that site for exactly this plenty of fish reason.

Jason Miller avatar
Joined: Apr 2025
Messages: 846
#8

Only had the first few days with plenty of fish, but how the volume moved was clearly ahead on this one point.

The single change that improved plenty of fish for me was deciding to check when the account was last active.

The mistake I see repeated with plenty of fish is people write a bio that could belong to anyone.

If anyone has tested of fish properly, I want to know what happens when you widen the radius.

Where of fish either works or falls apart is whether the swipe volume translates into conversation.

Past plenty of fish? Start here

Every RuneDate feature is on the free account. There is no upgrade to buy. If plenty of fish brought you here, this is the free way to test it.

Join RuneDate free

Threads people read after plenty of fish