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Fishing as a fight.
A bite is only the start. Once a fish takes the bait it pulls on the line, and you must keep the tension in the green band until it tires. Fish come in four sizes, and the rarest ones pull hardest.
Making a rod
A Fishing Rod is a tool. You choose the materials for its head, handle and binding at a Workbench. A better rod, made from better materials, helps you land harder fish, because the tier of the rod lowers how hard a fish pulls.
Casting
- Hold the Fishing Rod in your belt and right click to cast the line.
- The float flies out in the direction you look and settles on the water. You can throw the line about 34 metres before it snaps.
- The float waits for a bite. A quiet spot takes four to sixteen seconds. Fish nearby make a bite come sooner.
- When the float dips, right click at once. You have about a second and a bit to answer, or the fish gets away and you wait again.
Right click again to reel in a line that has nothing on it, and to cancel a cast.
Fighting the fish
A hooked fish pulls in bursts. Hold the use button to reel in. Reeling pushes the line's tension up, and letting go lets it slacken. The fish's pull moves the tension about on its own.
- Green band: while the tension sits between the two marks, the fish comes in steadily. Outside it, the fish gains line back.
- Too tight: if the tension stays high for a moment, the line snaps. You lose the fish and the rod takes a little wear.
- Too slack: if the line stays slack for a few seconds, the fish spits the hook and gets away.
- Landed: when the progress bar fills, the fish is yours.
A stronger fish pulls harder and takes longer. A rarer or bigger fish is also stronger.
Sizes
Every fish comes in one of four sizes. The size sets how many of its usual drop you get, and how heavy it is.
| Size | Chance (about) | Drop multiplier |
|---|---|---|
| Small | Most catches | Once |
| Fine | 40 in 100 | 1.4 times |
| Big | 16 to 26 in 100, more for rarer fish | Twice |
| Trophy | 4 to 9 in 100, more for rarer fish | Three times, and a Nacre on top |
A trophy is the best catch. Rarer species are more likely to give big fish.
What you catch
Every fish of a fishable size drops its usual raw fish, a number of pieces that goes up with the size. Some catches bring extras: a second drop now and then, and very occasionally Nacre, Eel Skin, or an Abyssal Pearl from the Hadal Rift. Cook the fish in a fire or furnace, or in a Pot, to make it into food. See cooking and recipes.
Fish you can catch
Rarity shows how hard the fish is to find. The fish marked rare pull hardest, and each rare species gives a bigger first-catch reward in the Collection.
| Fish | Found in | Depth (m) | Rarity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Glintfin | All ocean waters | 1 to 40 | Common |
| Reef Darter | Coralreach, Tidewash Shallows | 1 to 20 | Common |
| Sunscale | Coralreach, Tidewash Shallows | 1 to 18 | Common |
| Kelp Wrasse | Kelpwood Deep | 3 to 40 | Common |
| Blue Runner | Wide Blue, Kelpwood Deep | 4 to 60 | Common |
| Lanternmaw | Wide Blue, Hadal Rift, Kelpwood Deep | 45 to 400 | Uncommon |
| Glasshead | Wide Blue, Hadal Rift | 25 to 400 | Rare |
| Echo Eel | Wide Blue, Kelpwood Deep, Hadal Rift | 6 to 120 | Rare |
| Bobbit Snare | Tidewash, Coralreach | 1 to 10 | Rare |
| Needlejaw | Coralreach, Wide Blue, Tidewash Shallows | 2 to 40 | Rare |
| Greyfin Hunter | Wide Blue, Kelpwood Deep, Hadal Rift | 5 to 90 | Rare |
| Rust Lamprey | Wide Blue, Kelpwood Deep, Tidewash, Coralreach | 3 to 60 | Rare |
| Trench Eel | Hadal Rift, Wide Blue | 60 to 500 | Rare |
Some fish, such as the Veil Ray and the Drift Whale, are too large to land on a line. Jellies do not bite a line either.
Treasure from the sea
About one bite in seven brings up something other than a fish. Treasure is rolled among these, roughly in this order:
- A message in a bottle: a treasure map, or, when a supply cache is buried near you, a bearing telling you which way to go and how far.
- A sunken crate, with tools and materials. Sometimes it is empty.
- A lost tool, up to one tier above your best tool.
- A gem: quartz, amethyst, opal, turquoise, jade or topaz.
- Driftwood, a tangle of kelp, or old bones.
Treasure is not caught on the fight. It arrives at once, and the rod takes a little wear.
The Collection
The first time you land a species, it goes into the Fish page of the Collection, and you are given a small reward. Rare species give more.
For the sea creatures themselves, see sea life. For the Kraken, which is never caught on a line, see The Kraken. A short version of this guide is on animals, food and fishing.
← Back to the wiki · Last updated 25 October 2026. Mantlenaut is in alpha, so things change.