Stardew Valley is a game that’s synonymous with having a relaxing time, slowly chipping away at a task to make your virtual farm life as perfect as it can be. You might be building something new, planting some crops, or even romancing someone from the village.
You might also be interested in going fishing. But how do you go fishing in Stardew Valley? That’s where we come in, with everything you need to know about Stardew Valley’s fishing in our comprehensive fishing guide.
Stardew Valley Fishing Basics
As soon as you have a fishing rod you’ll be ready for fishing in Stardew Valley. Simply head to any body of water and let rip, though there’s a few things to remember when you learn how to fish.
Firstly you’ll need to cast your line across the water. You’ll see a small bar appear when you begin fishing – this is your casting bar – try to aim for the green on the bar whenever possible. This’ll not only maximise your casting distance but also potentially give you a chance to do a ‘Max’ cast. If you manage to hit some bubbles when you cast, that’s even better, as fish will bite quicker and you may catch some truly rare fish.
When you’ve got a bite you’ll know it as an exclamation mark appears above your character’s head. When this happens, start reeling. Here you’ll get two bars to pay attention to.
A progress bar will appear on the right, which will tell you how close you are to landing the fish – and how close the fish is to getting away.
The other bar is the fish bar, which has a fish icon which will move about depending on how hard the fish is to catch. Your job here is to keep the little green rectangle, known as the fishing bar, over the little picture of the fish. You’ll need to hold the Use Tool button in order to make the Fishing Bar rise, releasing the button will see the Fishing Bar fall.
If the progress bar fills and you’ve got the fish icon inside your Fishing Bar, you’ll catch the fish. Congratulations! If you managed to do this without the fish icon ever leaving your Fishing Bar, you’ll earn a perfect catch bonus giving you extra experience.
Stardew Valley Fishing Skill and Fishing Levels
As you learn to fish in Stardew Valley you’ll earn experience which will go to your Fishing Skill which will earn you new Fishing Levels. There’s ten levels to earn in all – here’s what you can get for each level:
- Increased cast distance
- New gear available in shop, bait crafting recipe unlocked
- New gear available in shop, Dish o’ The Sea and crab pot recipes unlocked.
- Increased cast distance, crafting recipe for recycling machine.
- Choose between two professions – Fisher and Trapper.
- New gear available in shop, spinner and trap bobber crafting recipes unlocked.
- New gear available in shop, cork bobber and treasure hunter lure crafting recipes unlocked.
- Increased cast distance, new gear available in shop, barbed hook, dressed spinner, worm bin crafting recipes unlocked
- New gear available in shop, seafoam pudding and magnet crafting recipes unlocked.
- Choose between two bonuses for your profession – Angler and Pirate for Fisher, Luremaster and Mariner for Trapper.
After reading our Stardew Valley fishing guide you should be ready to take on a spot of fishing in Stardew Valley. What’s the best thing you’ve caught in-game? Head over to our community forum and get angling for conversation.
