Fishing
15 fish, 5 rods and 13 kinds of bait
Your first rod
You can fish once you have a rod and some bait. The game teaches it through the quest Unknown Waters, which the Hunter gives you after you rescue her:
- Catch 5 Fire Flies. They fly around the Springlands at night. They are your first bait.
- Make a Simple Fishing Rod in your Hand Crafting menu:
2
2
1→
- Put the bait on the rod, walk up to any lake, river or pond that is big enough, and cast. The next sections explain the rest.
What fishing gives you
- Food. Every fish can be grilled into a meal. The Farmer's quest Farmer's Advice points out that grilled fish can even give you more oxygen underwater.
- Materials. The Fisher cuts certain fish into parts that go into better bait and other recipes.
- Treasure. Now and then you reel in potions, bandages, lockpicks and more instead of a fish (see Wet Boots and treasure).
- A pond. A caught fish can be released into water and kept in a pond at your base.
- Rewards. The Fisher's quests give better rods, Swimfins and more (see Fishing quests).
The Fisher
A retired sea captain who became an innkeeper and fisher. He ran a tavern in the Veilwater Basin called the "Ol' Salt 'N Pepper", where he served fish he caught himself and told stories for a price. Everyone knew his stories were tall tales: a mermaid's kiss that gave him fins, a week spent living inside the mouth of a stranded sea dragon. So when he ran into town shouting that the Drak had come back, few believed him. His own notes tell what he saw.
You find his soul on the island at Captain's Rest during the quest Emerald Shores And Sanguine Seas, once the Flame opens the Veilwater Basin. Summon him to your base and he becomes the Fisher: he sells the better rods and bait, cuts fish into parts, and has quests of his own.
Catching a fish
- Cast and wait. Throw out the line and wait for a bite. When a fish bites, react quickly to hook it.
- Wear it down. The fish pulls against you and has its own stamina. Steer against it to drain that stamina. Every time you drain a chunk of it, you pull the fish a bit closer. That is one round.
- Land it. Win enough rounds before your line gives out and the fish is yours. The easiest fish, like the Lakehopper, need 1 round; the hardest, like the Yellowfin, need 9.
A stronger rod drains the fish faster and a rod with more endurance lets the fight go on longer, so hard fish need a better rod. If fights feel too hard or too easy, the Fishing Difficulty world setting changes them: at its easiest your rod counts as 1.5 times as strong and fish use a simpler fight; at its hardest your rod's strength counts as 0.9 times and its endurance 0.8 times.
Better rods 5
Strength and endurance decide which fish you can beat. The last two columns change how often you hook a Wet Boot or treasure: × 2 means twice as often.
| Rod | Strength | Endurance | Wet Boot | Treasure | Get it from |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simple Fishing Rod | 1 | 30 | × 2 | × 1 | Hand Crafting, Unknown Waters |
 Cursed Fishing Rod | 2 | 40 | × 5 | × 4 | Hunter, A Cursed Catch |
 Improved Fishing Rod | 2 | 45 | × 1.5 | × 2 | Hunter |
 Lucky Fishing Rod | 3 | 50 | × 0.5 | × 4 | Fisher, Lucky Catch |
 Excellent Fishing Rod | 3 | 55 | × 1 | × 2.5 | Fisher, Nice Day For Fishing |
Bait 13
Any bait catches any fish, but each one makes fish of one rarity more likely. Bait also decides which treasure you can reel in.
| Bait | Makes more likely | Fish |
|---|---|---|
   | Common fish |    |
   | Uncommon fish |    |
   | Rare fish |     |
    | Epic fish |      |
The fish 15
Every body of water has the same fish. "Chance" is how often a bite is that fish with bait that favors no rarity; the right bait raises it. Rounds are how long the fight lasts.
LakehopperCommonShimmerfinCommonSilverbackCommonSunscaleUncommonStripetailUncommonWhiskerfinUncommonEmberfinRareWaveleaperRareCrimsonbackRareShadowtailRareThornridgeEpicYellowfinEpicCinderscaleEpicShockfinEpicSpecklefinEpicWhere to fish
You can fish in any water big enough to cast into, and the fish are the same everywhere. What changes is how often you pull up a Wet Boot or treasure instead. A few places, marked on the map as fishing spots, have better or worse odds than the rest. Your rod then multiplies these numbers.
| Treasure | Wet Boot | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 1% | 1% | Springlands spot 2Revelwood spots 1, 2, 3Nomad Highlands spot 1Kindlewastes spot 3Albaneve Summits spot 4Veilwater Basin spots 1, 3Cinder's Cradle spot 4 |
| 4% | 4% | All other water |
| 4% | 1% | Springlands spots 1, 3Nomad Highlands spots 4, 6, 7Kindlewastes spot 1Albaneve Summits spots 2, 3, 5Veilwater Basin spots 4, 5, 9, 10Cinder's Cradle spots 1, 2, 3 |
| 8% | 30% | Nomad Highlands spot 5 |
| 8% | 8% | Revelwood spot 4Nomad Highlands spot 3Kindlewastes spots 2, 4Albaneve Summits spot 6Veilwater Basin spots 2, 6, 7, 8 |
| 12% | 10% | Best for treasureNomad Highlands spot 2Albaneve Summits spot 1 |
Spot numbers open the map at that spot.
Wet Boots and treasure
Not every bite is a fish. Some catches are a Wet Boot, which is junk and takes 3 rounds to reel in. Others are treasure: one item from a list set by your bait, and better bait has a better list. Each list below gives the chance of each item when you catch treasure.
