Fishing is a gameplay mechanic that allows players to farm materials and gain mastery through means of fishing in different liquid blocks and locations. Players can currently fish in water, lava and chocolate. Plasma fishing will be added in a future patch, but no date is provided.
Getting Started
For players to start fishing, they need to have a Fishing Pole and Lures, both of which can be bought from the NPC Saltwater Sam. A Basic Fishing Pole costs 200 Glim, while lures cost 10 Glim each. Sam is located at the pirate area of the Hub World, northwest of the spawn point. Players can only fish when they have a fishing pole equipped, and lures in their inventory. Not having any lures will not let the player cast, producing the message "You cannot fish without a lure".
Special rods can be crafted at the Nautical Assembler to the left and right of Saltwater Sam. These rods unlock fishing in different liquids, as well as allowing the player to catch different rare fish.
After getting the necessary materials, players need to cast their lure on any liquid blocks by pushing the "F" key (by default). Holding the "F" key will display a trajectory of where your lure will land after releasing the button. Lures that don't land in an unlocked liquid will not be consumed.
Players must wait for 20-30 seconds for the lure to start splashing in order to reel in a fish, and will have 5 seconds to press the "F" (X if on Xbox) key again to catch it. Sometimes, the player catches an Old Boot instead. Missing a fish will cause your lure to be consumed. Lures will be consumed if the player reels in too soon.
Players are not able to fish under the following conditions:
- The player has no lures.
- The player has no fishing pole equipped.
- The player is underwater.
- The player is on a moving boat.
- The player hasn't collected a pole that can fish in that liquid. ("Regretful Water" from the Sea of Regret is different from normal water.)
Fishing Poles
- Main article: Fishing Poles
- Molten Magma Sifter unlocks fishing in Lava.
- Candied Fishing Cane unlocks fishing in Chocolate.
- N-0 Depth Scoper unlocks fishing in Plasma.
- Lady of the Lake allows Enchanted Fish to be caught in water while it is equipped.
There are several other fishing rods that are cosmetic and have no effect on fishing, though they may give Mastery points. Changing your fishing pole also changes the appearance of the bobber.
Fish
- Main article: Fish
There are four kinds of fish: Common, Uncommon and Rare, and Enchanted. Once you've caught a fish, you must bring it to a Loot Collector to get resources from it.
Every fish you catch has a Weight, which allows you to catch average and "Trophy Size" fish. Trophy fish give a placeable Wall Trophy in addition to the normal loot, in Bronze, Silver and Gold variants.
Though the exact rates are unknown, these are the approximate rates of catching fish:
- 70% Common
- 20% Uncommon
- 1% Rare/Enchanted
- 2.5% Old Boot
There is only 1 rare fish for any location. You must move to find a different rare fish. (Locations here)
Enchanted Fish are rare fish that are caught instead while the Lady of the Lake pole is equipped.
Thanks to player Svenskeren, a table of fishing chances can be found here.[1] This table does not include the chances for obtaining Old Boot or the more recently added Wish Fisher.
Rewards
Through fishing, you can gain Glim, Flux and other Resources like Blank Scrolls, Radiant Shards, Shapestone, Primordial Flames and more. Every fish gives a certain amount of Glim, and Uncommon fish give resources as well. Every rare fish gives 1000 Glim and 1 Ancient Scale. Enchanted fish give an Enchanted Scale instead. Ancient Scales are used to craft new fishing poles and boats, and both scales can craft a unique jellyfish mount.
Fishing gives you a huge amount of Glim, allowing you to keep fishing indefinitely. The Glim you get from fishing with a large amount of lures is about triple the initial price of the lures.
The first time you deconstruct a new kind of fish, it will be added to your collection and you will gain Mastery points. 5 points for Common fish, 10 points for Uncommon fish, and 25 points for Rare fish.
While fishing at any location, you have a 1 in 10,000 chance of catching a very rare fishing rod called the Wish Fisher.