Stardew Valley Guide on Fishing
Stardew Valley is typically seen as a spiritual successor to Harvest Moon, with the farming and whatnot. While fishing was present in the Harvest Moon series, it did not get as much attention as the minigame found in Stardew Valley.
Read on for Stardew Valley guide on fishing, and some tips on how you can succeed in reeling in the big catch.
Understand the Fishing Mechanics Early
A lot of newcomers will agree that the fishing minigame is among the hardest to master in this game. Sadly, longtime fans even agree that this minigame is difficult, and so fishing usually takes a back burner to the farming and mining activities.
Understanding the fishing mechanic early on gives you head start and knowing how to play the game well. Keep in mind that as you level up your fishing skill, it also gets a lot easier to successfully catch fish. This can be seen in the green bar that shows up while you are fishing. Initially, the screen bar is very small to the point where it’s very hard to reel in fish. I’ve noticed that as you level up your Fishing, it gets slightly larger.
Practice makes perfect. not just for the sake of your Fishing Skill, but your literal button pressing skills.
When the green bar is under the fish, the trick is to start repeatedly pressing the action button in a way that keeps the green bar in one spot, as opposed to pressing and holding.
Save your trash!
It can get pretty annoying reeling in yet another pair of broken glasses, but believe me, you will want to save any garbage you come across. After a few levels of increasing your Fishing skill, you will be able to craft Recycling Machines, which will automatically turn junk into helpful items, some of which can give you access to certain items that normally won’t be common until you have explored the deeper levels of the mines or increased your other skills.
Fisher or Trapper?
When you reach level 5 in Fishing, you will have to pick a profession. One profession increases the value of all of your catches by 25%, whereas the other one reduces the amount of resources needed to craft crab pots. This can be a tough choice for some. Both choices further branch out once you reach level 10 in Fishing, giving you about 4 possible outcomes for professions.
Fishing for Money
If you fish for the sole purpose of making money, choosing the Fisher profession would likely be the best option since it increases the value of all of your catches by a pretty substantial amount. This includes the fish caught inside Crab Pots, so you could easily buy lots of crab pots with the extra money made.
When you reach Level 10, you have the choice of an Angler or a Pirate profession. The angler profession further increases the value of fish by 50%, making your catches worth a whole lot more. The Pirate profession doubles the chance to find treasure while fishing.
Fishing for money is not always everything though. Some of the rare artifacts can be found while fishing, and having that extra boost will help when you are trying to complete the museum’s list of items. I prefer the Pirate route for this reason.
Trap, or not to Trap?
Choosing the Trapper profession reduces the resource cost to craft crab pots. This profession is more for those who occupy their time doing other things in the game, since crab pots is more of a passive income activity; you stick the trap in the water, fill it with bait, and come back the next day. Not much effort. To find out if this profession is more worthwhile, you’ll need to consider the cost:
Willy sells Crab Pots at 1500g. Let’s use that as a baseline.
Crafting a Crab Pot (without Trapper) requires the following:
x 40 (buy them all from Robin for 400g)
x 3 (made from smelting 15 iron ores, which in total cost 2250g, plus the 450g for the 3 coal pieces you’ll need)- Total: 3100g to craft a Crab Pot with bought materials
That’s an expensive Crab Pot. Let’s see how it looks with the Trapper profession:
- x 25 (buy them all from Robin for 250g)
x 2 (made from smelting 10 copper ores, which in total cost 750g, plus the 450g for the 3 coal pieces you’ll need)- Total: 1450g to craft a Crab Pot with bought materials
In the end, you’ll save about 50g building it yourself with the right profession. Remember that this profession is best for those who don’t plan on sticking around the shoreline. That being said, if you plan on doing lots of mining or foraging, this profession is a good choice.
When you reach Level 10 in Fishing/Trapper, you have a choice of 2 more professions to choose from:
- Mariner: Crab Pots will never catch junk
- Luremaster: Crab Pots no longer need bait.
Between the two above, Mariner is a good choice, because it always guarantees something good, so that you are not wasting bait. The Luremaster is a good choice if you have loads of crab pots, because you will no longer have to craft bait for every pot you have.
I hope that this information is helpful. Feel free to browse the site for more guides on Stardew Valley! You can also read my review of the game here!
Have any tips or suggestions you’d like to offer? Feel free to leave a comment down below!
Happy Fishing!