Fishing
Cast a line into the ocean, reel in fish, grab treasure chests mid-fight, and upgrade your rod to catch rarer finds.
Fishing lets you catch fish from the ocean along the Western Beach, and grab treasure chests full of gems, seeds, and even furniture while you reel. You need a fishing rod, and you can sell your fish to Silas.
Getting a Rod
Silas gives you a free Scrappy Fishing Rod during the story quest A Rod to Borrow. No shop sells fishing rods for gold or crystals. You craft every other rod at a Crafting Bench, and each upgrade uses up the rod one tier below it. See Fishing Rods for the full list and recipes.
How It Works
Cast
Equip your fishing rod, stand near the water, and select a spot in the ocean. Pick a spot a short way out. If the game says “Cast a little farther away,” pick a spot further out. If it says “That spot is out of reach,” pick one closer.
Wait
Watch your bobber. A fish shadow swims over to it, usually within a few seconds and never more than about 12s. Better rods bring fish in faster. The size of the shadow shows how big the fish is. When a rare fish bites, the bobber sparkles and you hear a deeper pop.
Hook
When the game shows “A bite!”, press Space (X on a gamepad). You have about 3s.
Reel
Hold Space to lift the green bar, and let go to let it sink. Keep the fish inside the bar until the meter fills up. Each kind of fish swims its own way: some swim smoothly, some dart around, some sink to the bottom, and some float to the top. If the meter empties or time runs out, the fish gets away.
Grab the treasure
Sometimes a treasure chest appears on the track. Move the green bar over it until its small meter fills. You only keep the chest if you also land the fish. A golden chest holds a rare find, and a wooden chest holds seashells, pebbles, rocks, or mushrooms.
Collect
Your catch goes into your bag. Make sure you have room first, because a catch cannot go through when your bag is full.
Where to Fish
You can fish anywhere in the ocean along the Western Beach. Walk along the shore and look for fish shadows swimming near the coast.
Rods and Fish
Each better rod opens up more fish. All rods catch everything the rods below them can.
| Rod | New fish it opens up |
|---|---|
 Scrappy Fishing Rod |
Sardine, Anchovy, Herring, Mackerel |
 Wooden Fishing Rod |
Tuna, Clownfish |
 Bamboo Fishing Rod |
Red Snapper, Barracuda |
 Professional Fishing Rod |
Pufferfish, Swordfish |
 Master Fishing Rod |
Anglerfish |
Rarer fish are harder to reel in and take longer to land. Better rods make every fight easier: the green bar is bigger, the meter fills faster, and it drains slower. The Fish page lists what each fish sells for.
Perfect Catches
If the fish never leaves the green bar for the whole fight, you land a Perfect catch and get 2 of that fish instead of 1. Chasing a treasure chest usually means leaving the fish for a moment, so you often have to choose between the chest and a perfect catch.
What You Can Catch
Every bite is a fish. Everything else comes from the treasure chests that appear during a fight.
| Rod | Chance of a treasure chest |
|---|---|
| Scrappy Fishing Rod |
15% |
| Wooden Fishing Rod |
20% |
| Bamboo Fishing Rod |
25% |
| Professional Fishing Rod |
30% |
| Master Fishing Rod |
35% |
- Wooden chests: a handful of Seashells, Pebbles, or Mushrooms with any rod. Rocks need a Wooden Fishing Rod or better. See Materials.
- Golden chests: gems, crop seeds, ocean treasures, and furniture.
- Crystals: any catch has a 0.42% chance (about 1 in 240) to come with 1 crystal.
The Scrappy Fishing Rod rarely finds a golden chest. The Wooden Fishing Rod is the first rod with a normal chance at rare finds, and each better rod makes golden chests more likely.
Rare Finds by Rod
Each rod can also find everything the rods below it can.
| Rod | Seeds | Gems and ocean treasures | Furniture |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scrappy Fishing Rod | Grapes Seeds, Cucumber Seeds | None | None |
| Wooden Fishing Rod | Red Chilli Seeds, Green Chilli Seeds | Emerald, Sapphire, Tidepearl | Broom, Lamp |
| Bamboo Fishing Rod | Starflower Seeds, Rose Gem Seeds, Great Pumpkin Seeds, Amethyst Shardroot Seeds, Cauliflower Seeds, Cabbage Seeds, Zucchini Seeds, Dusk Bulb Seeds, Luminescence Vine Seeds | Ruby, Brinecrystal | Miniature Ship, Old Television, Armchair |
| Professional Fishing Rod | Moonpetal Seeds, Earthbark Seeds, Nightgrape Seeds | Deepglass | Potion Pot, Fireplace, Standing Mirror, Music Player |
| Master Fishing Rod | Starwhisper Seeds, Solstalk Seeds, Obsidian Seeds, Fernwhisper Seeds, Solarburst Seeds, Heliobloom Cane Seeds | Abyssal Tear, Stormglass | Telescope |
Tidepearl, Brinecrystal, Deepglass, Abyssal Tear, and Stormglass are ocean materials. You use them to craft rods and furniture. See Crafting.
Tips
- Keep a few fish. Every rod upgrade needs fish as ingredients, such as Herring, Sardine, Tuna, and Pufferfish.
- Sell the rest to Silas.
- Fish in the rain for Tidepearls. They turn up in golden chests about 2.5 times as often while it rains. Time of day and weather do not change anything else about fishing.