Fish are catchable when fishing using a fishing pole. They can be found in the ocean, lake or river, and some are unique to either day or night or only appear when it rains. Fish are used in cooking and the fishing community center bundles. The length of each fish type is recorded, and viewable on the collection screen.
Fishing can be done near any body of water, but some places have lower rates of fish. These areas have a higher chance to reel in junk, which can be sold for a small profit or saved and turned into useful items with the recycling machine (which unlocks with level 4 fishing.)
Fishing Mini-Game
The fishing mini-game
When a fish is hooked a window appears with a fishing mini-game. The player must move the highlighted area up or down to keep the fish inside it. While the fish overlaps it the catch meter will fill, while the fish is not inside the area it will decrease. If the catch meter fills completely the fish is caught, if it becomes completely empty the fish escapes. If the fish does not leave the meter boundary once, you will receive a "perfect" notification.
When playing the fishing mini game with mouse and keyboard, when one presses the left mouse button down, the bar raises but lowers if the left mouse button is not pressed. This means that you want to use left mouse pulses to actually raise the bar, not merely clicking, as a moderately fast series of clicks will just hover the bar stationary.
There are 5 types of fish in the mini game:
Mixed: These fish use the basic movement pattern.
Smooth: These fish have a more steady movement pattern.
Sinker: These fish have a faster downwards acceleration.
Floater: These fish have a faster upwards acceleration.
Dart: These fish move more random with a [2 x difficulty]% higher possible amplitude in both directions, moving erratically up and down the fishing bar.
See the fishing page for more details about equipment, mechanics and things unlocked as the fishing skill levels up.
These fish can only be caught in the submarine ride at the Night Market during Winter 15-17. They can be caught during any weather, and at any time while the market is open (5pm – 2am).
Due to the small size of the fishing area, it may be impossible to catch gold quality fish in the submarine.
There are five fish in the game classified as 'legendary'. These fish are caught in specific places and have a high difficulty. When reeling them in, these fish are shown wearing a hat. With the exception of the Legend, legendary fish will not appear again after being caught once. Legendary fish can be caught at any time of day.
There is a Lost Book named "Secrets of the Legendary Fish" which contains the seasons and the locations of the legendary fish.
The highest fishing skill plus food bonus (e.g., from Lobster Bisque), the Iridium Rod, Bait, and Tackle like the Trap Bobber or Cork Bobber may be necessary to catch legendary fish. Catching the most difficult of them depends more on luck than on good reactions. You simply have to try again and again until the fish doesn't move too fiercely.
All of these creatures can be used as components in the Crab Pot Bundle. Some are only catchable using a baited Crab Pot. Crabs drop from Rock Crabs (15%) and Lava Crabs (25%); Clams, Cockles, Mussels, and Oysters can be foraged on the beach. Between beach foraging and Rock/Lava Crab loot it is possible to complete the Crab Pot bundle without the use of a crab pot. Baiting the rewarded crab pots however, is not possible without first reaching level two in fishing, or viewing Linus' 4-Heart cutscene.
All crab pot fish can be used in Cooking. Some recipes require a specific fish while others can use "any fish." It is more profitable to cook all normal quality catches (other than Crab, Lobster, and Crayfish) into Sashimi than to sell them uncooked. (This changes with the Fisher and Angler Professions.)
Note that any fish dropped by monsters or foraged from the beach do not count towards the fish collection. They must be caught with a pole or in a crab pot.
Foraged fish can be of normal, silver, gold, or iridium quality. Fish caught in crab pots are always normal quality.
All Crab Pot fish are worth 5 XP.
Constantly filters water to find food. In the process, it removes dangerous toxins from the environment.
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40g
50g
60g
80g
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50g
62g
75g
100g
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60g
75g
90g
120g
Ocean
3.174444%
1/7
Other Catchables
There are some consumable non-junk catches players can reel in while fishing. They do not trigger the fishing mini-game, but are instead immediately picked up. Each gives 3 Fishing XP when caught. All three can be used in cooking, most notably Seaweed in the Maki Roll recipe for the Chef's bundle.
Location suggestions, collection chart, and time breakdowns by location and season are included in Fishing Strategy.
When to turn your fish into Sashimi
Below is a quick reference table showing when it is profitable to turn fish into Sashimi based on the quality of the fish. Fish that never make a profit when turned into Sashimi are not listed (Crab, Crayfish, Lobster, Legendary Fish, etc.).
Fisher Profession (+25%)
Angler Profession (+50%)
Summer
Specialty Fish Bundle
"Aquatic Research" Quest
Spring
Fall
Winter
Ocean Fish Bundle
Fish Taco
Night Fishing Bundle
Baked Fish
Lake Fish Bundle
Crispy Bass
Trout Soup
Salmon Dinner
Rain
Carp Surprise
River Fish Bundle
Wind
Fried Eel
Spicy Eel
Fried Calamari
Lucky Lunch
Mariner
Lobster Bisque
Chowder
Fish Stew
Tom Kha Soup
Escargot
Strange Bun
20g
Maki Roll
Algae Soup
Pale Broth
Any Fish (1)
Seaweed (1)
Rice (1)
100
45
Sap (4)
Farming Level 9
Anchovy
Bream
Carp
Chub
Cockle
Ghostfish
Herring
Mussel
Oyster
Perch
Periwinkle
Rainbow Trout
Red Snapper
Sardine
Shad
Shrimp
Smallmouth Bass
Snail
Sunfish