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Fishing is one of the five main skills in Stardew Valley and an excellent way to make some money. However, the fishing minigame involves a bit of skill and the type of fish you can catch changes each season. Combine that with a few different fishing locations, bait, and tackle, and the fishing can become a bit overwhelming. Here’s everything you need to know about fishing.
How to fish
Using a fishing rod, you can cast it into a body of water by holding the action button to determine cast strength. Once the bobber is in the water, you need to hit the action button again when an exclamation point appears, which will hook your catch. If it was a fish biting your line, this will start the fishing minigame.
The fishing minigame puts a fish icon on a large bar, moving sporadically up and down the bar. You need to keep your green bar on the fish to reel it in, feathering the action button to keep it in the same place. The best technique is to hold the button to move the green bar and to let go to let its momentum hold it in place. When the fish isn’t in your green bar, the catch meter goes down and the fish escapes if it bottoms out. The rarer the fish, the more frantically it moves during the minigame.
More Stardew Valley guides:
Stardew Valley: How To Upgrade Your Tools
Stardew Valley: How To Catch Sturgeon
Every Barn Upgrade In Stardew Valley
Stardew Valley: How To Unlock The Greenhouse
While your first fishing rod can’t have any attachments, at fishing level 2 and 6, new rods are for sale in Willy’s Fish Shop, which can hold bait and tackle.
Bait makes fish bite faster, so you can catch more fish in a single day. Bait is made from bug meat or from a bait spawner, which will produce bait every day. There are a few specialty types of bait, like targeted bait, which helps you catch specific fish.
Tackles on the other hand impact the fishing minigame or the type of fish being caught in different ways. Below is a table of every tackle type, what it does, and how to obtain it.
| Tackle | Boost | How to obtain |
|---|---|---|
| Spinner | Reduces maximum delay before a fish can bite by 3.75 seconds. |
Fishing level 6 Craft with 2 iron bar or purchase for 500G |
| Dressed Spinner |
Reduces maximum delay before a fish can bite by 7.5 seconds. |
Fishing level 8 Craft with 2 iron bar and 1 cloth or purchase for 1,000G |
| Trap Bobber | Progress depletes 33% slower when the fish is outside the green bar. |
Fishing level 6 Craft with 1 copper bar and 10 sap or purchase for 500G |
| Cork Bobber | Increases the size of the green bar. |
Fishing level 7 Craft with 10 wood, 5 hardwood, and 10 slime or purchase for 750G |
| Lead Bobber | Adds weight to the bar so it doesn’t bounce if dropped to the bottom. |
Fishing level 6 Purchase for 200G |
| Treasure Hunter | Increases the chances of finding a treasure chest and prevents the progress bar from depleting when on the treasure but not the fish. |
Fishing level 7 Craft with 2 gold bars or purchase for 750G |
| Barbed Hook | “Hooks” the fish, causing the green bar to stick with it whenever it moves. |
Fishing level 8 Craft with 1 copper bar, 1 silver bar, and 1 gold bar or purchase for 1,000G |
| Curiosity Lure | Increases the chances of catching a rare fish. | Random drop in the Quarry Mines, Skull Cavern, and Volcano Dungeon |
| Quality Bobber | Increases the quality level of the fish being caught by one tier. | Unlock the recipe from Willy for completing the town board quest “Juicy Bugs Wanted!” crafted using 1 copper bar, 10 sap, 5 solar essence |
| Sonar Bobber | Reveals what fish in on the line whenever you hook a fish. |
Fishing level 6 Crafted using 1 iron bar and 2 refined quartz or purchase for 500G |
Ocean fish
There are three primary places to catch fish: the ocean, river, and mountain lake. Depending on which location you cast your line at, different fish will be available to catch. The Ocean can be found to the south of town.
| Fish | Availability (time) | Weather | Availability (season) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pufferfish | 12pm to 4pm | Sunny | Summer |
| Anchovy | Anytime | Any | Spring/Fall |
| Tuna | 6am to 7pm | Any | Summer/Winter |
| Sardine | 6am to 7pm | Any | Spring/Fall/Winter |
| Red Mullet | 6am to 7pm | Any | Summer/Winter |
| Herring | Anytime | Any | Spring/Winter |
| Eel | 4pm to 2am | Rain | Spring/Fall |
| Octopus | 6am to 1pm | Any | Summer |
| Red Snapper | 6am to 7pm | Rain | Summer/Fall/Winter |
| Squid | 6pm to 2am | Any | Winter |
| Sea Cucumber | 6am to 7pm | Any | Fall/Winter |
| Super Cucumber | 6pm to 2am | Any | Summer/Fall |
| Flounder | 6am to 8pm | Any | Spring/Summer |
| Tilapia | 6am to 2pm | Any | Fall |
| Albacore | 6am to 11pm and 6pm to 2am | Any | Fall/Winter |
| Halibut | 6am to 11am and 7pm to 2am | Any | Spring/Summer/Winter |
| Crimsonfish | Any (East Pier on The Beach, requires fishing level 5) | Any | Summer |
River fish
The river is the water running through town and through the Cindersap Forest. The “lake” in Cindersap Forest counts as river fishing. If you choose the fishing farm layout, the water on the farm counts as a river as well. There is also a lot of crossovers between river fish and lake fish, so some of these fish will appear on both lists.
| Fish | Availability (time) | Weather | Availability (season) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bream | 6pm to 2am | Any | All |
| Smallmouth Bass | Any | Any | Spring/Fall |
| Rainbow Trout | 6am to 7pm | Sun | Summer |
| Salmon | 6am to 7pm | Any | Fall |
| Walleye | 12pm to 2am | Rain | Fall/Winter |
| Perch | Any | Any | All |
| Catfish | 6am to 12am | Rain | Fall (Spring and Summer in Secret Woods Pond) |
| Pike | Any | Sun/Wind | Spring/Summer |
| Sunfish | 6am to 7pm | Sun/Wind | Spring/Summer |
| Midnight Carp | 10pm to 2am | Any | Fall/Winter (Cindersap Forest pond) |
| Tiger Trout | 6am to 7pm | Any | Fall/Winter |
| Chub | Any | Any | All |
| Dorado | 6am to 7pm | Any | Summer (Cindersap Forest) |
| Shad | 9am to 2am | Rain | Spring/Summer/Fall |
| Lingcod | Any | Winter | Any |
| Angler | Any (North of Joja Mart on the wooden plank bridge, fishing level 3) | Fall | Any |
Mountain Lake fish
The Mountain Lake refers exclusively to the lake outside the mine in the northeast section of Stardew Valley.
| Fish | Availability (time) | Weather | Availability (season) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Largemouth Bass | 6am to 7pm | Any | All |
| Rainbow Trout | 6am to 7pm | Sun | Summer |
| Walleye | 12pm to 2am | Rain | Fall/Winter |
| Perch | Any | Any | Winter |
| Carp | Any | Any | All |
| Midnight Carp | 10pm to 2am | Any | Fall/Winter |
| Sturgeon | 6am to 7pm | Any | Summer/Winter |
| Bullhead | Any | Any | All |
| Chub | Any | Any | All |
| Lingcod | Any | Any | Winter |
| Legend | Any (Mountain Lake near the log, fishing level 10 required) | Rain | Spring |
Special fishing locations
There are a few special fishing locations in Stardew Valley. Each of these is typically only home to one type of fish that can only be found there. This includes small ponds inside the mines, the pond in the desert, and other special locations
| Fish | Availability (time) | Weather | Availability (season) | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ghostfish | Any | Any | All | Mines floors 20 and 60 |
| Stonefish | Any | Any | All | Mines floor 20 |
| Ice Pip | Any | Any | All | Mines floor 60 |
| Lava Eel | Any | Any | All | Mines floor 100 and Volcano Caldera |
| Sandfish | 6am to 8pm | Any | All | Calico Desert pond |
| Scorpion Carp | 6am to 8pm (requires fishing level 4) | Any | All | Calico Desert pond |
| Woodskip | Any | Any | All | Secret Woods pond and Forest Farm |
| Void Salmon | Any | Any | All | Witch’s Swamp |
| Slimejack | Any | Any | All | Mutant Bug Lair |
| Stingray | Any | Any | All | Pirate Cove on Ginger Island |
| Lionfish | Any | Any | All | Ginger Island ocean |
| Blue Discus | Any | Any | All | Ginger Island pond and rivers |
| Glacierfish | Any (requires fishing level 6) | Any | Winter | South end of Arrowhead Island in Cindersap Forest |
| Mutant Carp | Any | Any | All | The Sewers |
Crab Pot
There are also a handful of fish that can be caught by Crab Pots overnight. These fish can be caught year-round and are only split by being either in the ocean or in freshwater (rivers and mountain lake.) Crab Pots can be crafted at fishing level 3 using 40 wood and 3 iron bars. Bait must be placed into the Crab Pot for it to catch anything.
| Fish | Location |
|---|---|
| Lobster | Ocean |
| Clam | Ocean |
| Crayfish | Freshwater |
| Crab | Ocean |
| Cockle | Ocean |
| Mussel | Ocean |
| Shrimp | Ocean |
| Snail | Freshwater |
| Periwinkle | Freshwater |
| Oyster | Ocean |
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