Stardew Valley: Where and Why You Should Fish

Hey, this is a spoiler for the Stardew Valley 1.5 update so if you want to figure things out yourself, this is not for you.

It’s your second day in Pelican Town, and your first letter in the mail arrives. “Hello there, Just got back from a fishing trip. You should come down to the beach sometime. I’ve got something for ya. – Willy” It’s short, and it doesn’t have anything attached. Might as well go to the beach. After a long time searching for it, you finally stumble across it. He gives you a fishing rod, so you decide to use it. At the end of the unproductive day, you unload with two fish, and your energy is on the edge to the abyss of nothing. You go to bed, and you find out that your hard work got you waterfalls of money! Piles and piles of gold! The entirety of the valley’s funds! All of the money – 70 gold?! That’s it?! That is probably your first experience with fishing in Stardew Valley. Fishing is so hard, and it gets rid of so much energy, it doesn’t seem like a fair deal, does it? That’s what I thought. I ignored it for so long, and now, I’ve realized it gets easy. Now let me go through it all so you don’t have to spend way too much time reading the Stardew Valley Wiki.

In case you haven’t played or heard of Stardew Valley, it is similar to Harvest Moon and Animal Crossing. It’s labeled as a farming simulator, but I personally think it’s more than that. It’s got combat, mining, fishing, foraging, farming, relationships, and unique stories that are touching at times. You can be good at one thing, or you can be good at other things, or you can be the “Master of the Five Ways”, aka get level 10 in every skill. With tools and a huge plot of land from Grandpa, you start a new life in the valley. It’s $15, but it’s the best 15$ spent. I have spent way too much time on it, but it’s really worth it. I play on the Nintendo Switch, but it’s available on consoles, PC, and mobile. You should try it!

Fishing is so immensely underrated, but you need to give it a try. When you start leveling up in fishing, it gets so much better. The green bar gets bigger, and you can cast out further, the further you cast the better quality you get, better quality gets you more money, and you get better fishing rods when you level up, I think you get my point. The one you get from Willy isn’t that good, get a new rod the moment you can. I’m level ten now, and for some fish I don’t even have to touch anything to catch it, so just give it a try. After a while you’ll realize it can pay off a lot.

What about professions? When I hit level five, I chose fisher, y’know, for profit, I mean 25% more money from fish is so good, but it really depends on your playstyle. The Trapper profession is for people who don’t want to fish, and instead use crab pots. For those of you who don’t know, crab pots catch fish for you, but only limited types of fish and trash, but this is about why you should fish, so I’d recommend Fisher. If you choose Trapper, you’re gonna be stuck with crab pots, because the level ten fishing gets you professions that are useful for crab pots. But if you choose Fisher, when you hit level ten you get even better things. Pirate gets you more treasure when you fish and Angler gets you even more profit. Some fish are already worth hundreds on their own, if not thousands, and plus the extra profit, it is so worth it.

Now that I’ve hopefully convinced you to fish, here is where you should start fishing in your game. I recommend fishing in the mountains near Robin’s shop where you can find Chub and Carp, which in my opinion, are the easiest fish to catch. They don’t sell for much, but it’s the easiest way to farm xp, which can be used to level up. When you do, then it will be your easiest 150 gold ever. While you’re fishing up there, you’ll run into a bullhead, which is slightly harder to catch, but not too hard. If you’re out during the summer and winter, you’ll run into the sturgeon, a hard-to-catch fish for new players, but easier to catch when you level up. If you’re up late you’ll run into the fierce midnight carp, during fall and winter on Ginger Island and everywhere else other than the ocean. During a clear summer day, you can find the rainbow trout, which can also apply to the river in Pelican Town and the pond in Cindersap Forest. In winter and fall while it rains, you can find the Walleye, which I had a hard time finding because it was in the middle of spring when I needed it for the night fishing bundle. It can be found anywhere that isn’t the ocean. The Perch can be found in winter anywhere but the ocean and Ginger Island. A Lingcod will put up a fight, so come prepared. Those guys can be found, yet again, anywhere but the ocean and Ginger Island.

Enough of the mountains, what about the ocean? Sardine, Red Mullet, Red Snapper, Anchovy, Tuna, Flounder, and Herring are your typical ocean fish. You’re bound to catch them while fishing in the ocean, so be prepared for a big haul of those guys. Tuna is the hardest fish to catch of the bunch, so if you don’t get as many of them, don’t feel bad. Trust me, I once spent all in-game afternoon fishing for a Tuna to give to Lewis for the “Help Wanted” poster. Eel, Pufferfish, Squid, Super Cucumber, Octopus are the hard ocean fish to catch: Eel caught in spring and fall, Pufferfish in the summer, Squid in the winter, Super Cucumber in summer and fall on Ginger Island and at the night market to go along with the ocean, and last but not least, Octopus in the summer. There is Tilapia, you can find it in the summer and fall in Ginger Island and the oceans. They are not impossible to catch, but hard for new players. Albacore can be caught in the fall and winter, and Halibut can be caught in every season except fall. To finish off the ocean fish, the Lionfish can be caught on Ginger Island all year round.

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There’s one place left in the Valley left, the town itself. It doesn’t cut short on supply of smallmouth bass, except in winter and the summer, because they are only found in spring or fall. You can find Salmon in fall, and bream in the late afternoon all year round. Rainbow Trout is only found in summer, and Catfish all year. The dorado isn’t really found in town, but it’s right next to it in Cindersap Forest. They are hard to catch, so come prepared. Sunfish are found in the spring and summer, and pike put up a fight, and can be found in summer and winter. Tiger Trout are found in fall and winter, and Shad are found all seasons except winter. That’s Pelican town for ya!

That wraps up all the fish that are in plain sight, here are some fish that are harder to find. The woodskip is found in the secret woods and the Sandfish and Scorpion Carp are found in the desert. Slimejacks are found in the Mutant Bug Lair, and Void Salmon are found in the Witch’s swamp. The blue Discus, Lionfish, and Stingray are all found on Ginger Island. Note that stingray are only caught in the Pirates Cove. The next three fish are the hard ones to catch, all caught in the Night Market. The blobfish, the hardest one of them all, the midnight squid and the spook fish come in at a tie for me. While you’re down there, you might come across a pearl or two. This one isn’t a fish, but you go fishing for it. Secret note 25 reads “I ‘borrowed’ a necklace from Mom, but lost it somewhere near the bath house.. She’s going to freak out if she notices it’s missing.” So, what you do now is go fishing in the mini waterfall at the bath house after receiving the note. You get an Ornate Necklace, and you can give it to either Abigail or Caroline. Go fishing in Ginger Island, and you might come across golden walnuts. In the mines, floor 20 offers ghostfish and stonefish, floor 60 has ice pips and ghostfish, and last but not least, floor 100 has lava eels.

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The next fish are, and I mean it, HARD to catch. These fish leave your hands shaking after you catch them. They are such a thrill and a frustration. They are the legendary fish, and once they are caught, they won’t be caught again. Well, there was a bug where you could catch multiple legendary fish, but that got patched a while ago. The way you know that they are the real deal is when there is an orange dot above the fish while you are in the minigame catching the fish. It takes more than one try to catch these guys. I recommend eating food that boosts your fishing. trout soup can be bought from Willy for only 100 gold, so I recommend that. The Mutant Carp can be caught in the sewers all year, and it shakes around uncontrollably in an unfollowable pattern. In my opinion, this is the easiest one of them all. Next is the Crimsonfish, catch this beast in the summer after you’ve unlocked the east side of the beach, and cast out as far east as you can. It jolts up and down across your bar, so I recommend eating something that boosts your fishing. Next is the Angler, caught in the fall. Go up to the wooden bridge near Joja, and do not cast on the stone one. I’ve made the mistake. Cast up there, not too far, and sure enough you’ll find him. He is similar to the Crimsonfish, but less squirmy. Next is the Glacierfish, you find him in winter. Go to the bottom of Cindersap Forest on the southern island and fish in the grey area in the water. He jerks up and down your screen. The final, hardest fish to catch in the game is Legend. He can only be caught in the rain, and he is found in the mountain lake. You see that log? It’s not decor. Aim you rod there, and hope for the best. He goes up and down your screen super fast, and he has an unpredictable pattern. That wraps up the legendary fish. Wait… there’s more in 1.5?

Yup folks, there is more. Legendary fish II. You can’t catch these unless you have Qi’s quest, “Extended Family”. They don’t have the dot over their head, but other than that nothing has changed. The Radioactive Carp is found in the same place and time as the Mutant Carp. Son of Crimsonfish is also found in the same place as the Crimsonfish. Ms. Angler is at the same place as the regular Agler. Glacierfish junior is the same place and time as the Glacierfish, and Legend II is at the same place as Legend. They’ll never live up to the other legendary fish, but they’re still a cool catch.

I hope I convinced you about fishing and how it plays a really important role in the game, and if it didn’t, that is just fine. I mean, you can do more than one thing in the game. Stardew Valley was made for people who have different tastes, and so be it! I just think some people don’t do fishing as much as they could, and I’ll admit, that was me. They don’t give it another try after a few failed attempts. Maybe you only fish to finish the community center, or maybe you do it to cook, or to get the achievement, but I do it for fun. Well, I started off doing it for the community center, but it got addicting. Or you could just buy them from the traveling merchant. Either way you play, just have fun! Oh, and don’t let it eat you up.