Fishing Guide: Rods, Bait and All 60 Fish
Sixty species, four rods and a bait ladder that decides what bites. Here is how to go from a Makeshift pole to pulling in tuna, sturgeon and the odd shark.
Fishing is one of the deepest side systems in the game. There are 60 catchable species in the files, from humble Bluegill Sunfish up to Bluefin Tuna, Green Sturgeon and three kinds of shark, so it is worth setting yourself up properly rather than flicking a starter rod into the nearest creek.
Rods
Rods tier up like everything else, and the number that matters is durability (how long the rod lasts before it needs repairing or replacing).
| Rod | Tier | Durability | How to get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Makeshift Fishing Pole | 1 | 50 | Craft or buy |
| Basic Fishing Pole | 2 | 75 | Craft or buy |
| Sturdy Fishing Pole | 3 | 140 | Craft or buy |
| Fishing Pole (Tier 4) | 4 | 175 | Vendor only |
Worn versions of each rod turn up as loot and from vendors. They are the same rod in lower condition, so treat them as a cheap stopgap until you can craft the proper one.
Bait
Bait is what actually changes your odds. The line runs from basic to specialist:
- Fish Bait and Premium Fish Bait are your bread and butter, crafted from Fish Guts plus other ingredients.
- Improved and Signature baits (Custom and Repelling) bias what you hook, which is how you target rarer fish instead of pulling up the same sunfish all day.
Keep a stack of Fish Guts from your catches and you will rarely be short of bait.
Processing your catch
Do not just sell raw fish. Run them through fish processing and you unlock the valuable byproducts:
- Fish Oil (used in cooking and crafting)
- Fish Roe and Fish Caviar (high value)
- Fish Scales and Fish Filet
Caviar in particular is one of the better small-money items in the game, so a fishing run plus a processing pass is a tidy early income loop alongside the economy guide.
Gear that helps
A couple of apparel pieces are built for anglers and stack with your rod:
- Fishing Hat and Fishing Gloves carry fishing bonuses (and still give you a bit of Defense as Tier 3 clothing).
Where to fish
The map is hand-built but spawns are rolled per server seed, so there is no fixed "best lake" coordinate. What the data does tell you is the species pool and that saltwater, rivers and mountain lakes each carry their own fish, so move between water types if you are hunting a specific catch.
Datamined from the Alpha 3 build. Names and numbers may change before release.