Fishing

Seasons

Most river, lake, and ocean fish are tied to a season, a clock, and sometimes rain or sun. Fish marked for every season stay in that water all year. Ginger Island keeps some ocean and river fish in every season even when the valley season would hide them.

Magic Bait, on a fiberglass rod or better, catches any fish that water can produce, and it ignores weather, time, and season. It does not move a fish to a different body of water. The bite delay matches ordinary bait: 50% shorter than an empty hook.

• SpringLegend in the mountain lake on rainy days
• SummerCrimsonfish off the east pier
• FallAngler in the river north of JojaMart
• WinterGlacierfish, plus the Night Market submarine

Legendary fish

Five original legendary fish wear a crown on the fishing bar. Each can be hooked once per save, or once per player in multiplayer. Challenge Bait can land up to three of that fish on the successful cast. The in-game book The Fisherman, Act II is wrong about the order: you do not need the other legendary fish before the Legend.

Mr. Qi's Extended Family order lasts 3 days and pays 20 qi gems. It asks for Ms. Angler, Glacierfish Jr., Son of Crimsonfish, Radioactive Carp, and Legend II. Those five use the same waters, with the season and weather limits removed, and they show a normal fishing bar. They bite only while the order is active, and more than one can be caught during that order. The originals will not bite while the order is up. They are not required for the Master Angler achievement. Catching at least four of the five unlocks every bobber style at Willy's bobber machine.

The extended family was added in 1.5 and is still the current set in 1.6.x. They are not the same fish as the originals.

• Legendary fish
• Fishing basics

Rods, bait, and pots

Willy gives a bamboo pole after the trip to the beach. It costs 500g in his shop after that and cannot hold bait or tackle. The fiberglass rod is 1,800g at fishing level 2 and holds bait. The iridium rod is 7,500g at fishing level 6 and holds bait plus one tackle. Fishing Mastery adds the advanced iridium rod, which holds two tackles. Further copies are 25,000g at the fish shop.

Fisher, the level 5 profession, raises fish sell prices by 25%. Angler, the level 10 Fisher path, raises them by 50%. Those percents apply to the base price. Silver, gold, and iridium change the price again.

• Fishing rodsTraining rod through the advanced iridium rod
• Bait and tackleBite speed, bar size, and treasure chance
• Crab potsOcean and freshwater catches, baited each day
• Fish pondsRobin builds them. Legendary ponds hold one fish
• Fishing basicsFirst rod, training rod, and the green bar

Experience

A fish catch earns ((quality + 1) × 3) + (difficulty ÷ 3). Quality is 0 for normal, 1 for silver, 2 for gold, and 4 for iridium. Trash and other non-fish bites from the rod are 3 XP. A crab pot pays 5 XP when you empty it, including a trash catch.

After that base number, a treasure chest multiplies XP by 2.2, a perfect catch multiplies by 2.4, and an original legendary fish multiplies by 5. The steps run in that order. If a step is not a whole number, the fraction is dropped before the next step. Extended-family legendaries do not get the ×5.

Fishing levels also come from fish-pond quests and from collecting what a pond produces. Reading Bait And Bobber or Book Of Stars gives 250 fishing XP.