Fishing
Grab a rod, find some water, and reel in fish — and the occasional treasure — through a timing-and-reflex minigame.
What you need
- A fishing rod (held item).
- Bait (consumed when you fish; better bait improves your odds and what bites).
- Deep enough water — you can’t fish in a shallow puddle, and you can’t fish if there’s terrain right above you (no fishing in a sealed cave).
How a cast works
Fishing is a little state machine. With a rod equipped:
- Charge the cast — hold to build power; the power meter oscillates, so release at the right moment for distance.
- Cast — the hook arcs out and lands in the water. (Hit terrain instead of water and the cast fails.)
- Wait for a bite — after a random delay, a fish bites. Rod, bait, and the target fish all shift how long this takes.
- The catch minigame — keep the fish inside a moving catch bar. As long as you hold it in the bar, a meter fills. Fill it and you land the fish.
- Reel in — the catch is yours.
Miss the timing and the fish gets away (and your rod loses a little durability).
What you can catch
The fish available depend on conditions: water depth, whether you’re in the Muck, time of day, your location, and your rod/bait. Catches you’ll see include clownfish, koi, salmon, trout, rainbow trout, tuna, mackerel, plus clearwater and muckwater specialists.
Catch outcomes:
- Normal — a regular fish, with a randomized length (sampled from a per-species distribution — chase that personal-best whopper).
- Treasure — some catches come with a treasure chest holding bonus loot.
- Dunce / empty — a fumbled catch nets you junk (switch grass) or nothing.
Why fish
- Fish are food (and cooking ingredients — see Cooking).
- Fishing feeds several leaderboards: most caught of a species, and largest fish by length.
- Treasure catches are a fun source of surprise loot.
Tip: Different spots and times produce different fish. If you’re hunting a specific species or a record length, experiment with location, depth, time of day, and bait.
Next: Combat & Survival →