Stardew Valley: How to Level up Fishing [FAST]

Stardew Valley is one man’s passion project that has evolved over the years to be one of the most successful and popular indie games ever made. The game itself has inspired countless others and is one of the reasons why we saw a renaissance of indie games recently.

The game itself is hard to describe in an entertaining way because it is a farming game that takes elements from a bunch of different games like Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon. The game allows you to take control and manage a farm while interacting with the locals, learning the secrets hidden in and around Pelican Town, and ultimately becoming an integral part of the community.

The game is set in a minimalist style and allows you to farm, forage, mine, fight, and fish in the world as you try and reach the goals and quests that are presented to you. The game is meant to be relaxing and chill, allowing you to complete tasks in a non-stressful environment.

It also comes with multiplayer and has recently added the option for local cooperative play which makes it a perfect game to snuggle up with at night.

One of the activities that you will be taking a part in quite often is fishing. There is a bunch of stuff tied to fishing and you will undoubtedly have to increase your skill in it if you wish to explore all that Stardew Valley has to offer.

Fishing Skill Benefits

There are many reasons that you will want to up your fishing skill, not only because it makes catching fish a lot easier. There are a bunch of cool unlocks that you get for leveling up the skill and the sub-skills that you can pick at every 5 levels change the game and allow you to progress much faster in the game.

There are also fishing mini-games in a lot of the seasonal events that take place. These events are important because the rewards that they offer you are hard to find anywhere else. Leveling up your fishing skill will help you to take on these events with ease and get the rewards that they offer.

Fishing is so important in Stardew Valley that there is a whole Community Center section dedicated to it. There are at least 6 bundles that require only fish but there are also more that require a fish or two here and there. Completing these bundles can be seen as the overarching goal of the game although with the new updates there is even more stuff that you can shoot for after the Community Center bundles are finished.

Where to Fish in Stardew Valley

Fishing is a really straightforward activity that you can take part in pretty much wherever there is a body of water. In the town of Stardew Valley, you can go fishing for ocean fish near the beach, for lake fish at the mountain lake near the cave, and in the river that flows through Pelican town.

Each of these locations offers a variety of different fish that changes depending on the time of day, the weather, and the season. These are the basic fishing spots that everyone who starts the game has access to. There are other spots as well, and they contain slightly stranger and rarer fish.

There are more than double the basic fishing spots available to the player, granted that they unlock them. You unlock a fishing spot once you unlock the desert, a woodland spot that is blocked by a tree that you can chop down above the Wizard’s tower, a deep-sea spot that is only available 3 days a year, and secret spots that are hidden inside various cave levels.

These cave spots are particularly important as they allow you to catch fish like Lava Eels and Ghostfish. These spots can be found in the caves where there is a body of water (or lava!) depending on which floor you are on and what kind of fish you want to catch.

How to Level Up Fishing

Leveling up the fishing skill is actually a really simple matter as the only thing that you have to do is catch fish for it. It seems simple enough but there are certain snags that you will hit as the tools that are available to you and the overall ease that you have when fishing is determined through your fishing skill. That being the case, there are certain things that you can keep in mind in order to make your fishing skill way better in a short amount of time.

Tools of the Trade

The tools that you use in Stardew Valley are incredibly important because upgraded tools are better at what they do and go a long way in helping you level up that particular skill. For fishing, you’ll want to get the Iridium Rod as fast as you can because it allows you to use both bait and tackle which will you give you an edge when fishing. The Iridium Rod can only be unlocked when you’ve hit Fishing Level 6 though so the Fiberglass Rod is going to be one that you are using for a while.

You can also get the Training Rod from Willy which makes catching fish a lot easier but it only allows you to catch certain fish, and all the fish that you catch will be of a normal rarity. It still gives you the same amount of experience though so you can grind a few levels of fishing with just the Training Rod. It can be bought for 25 gold from Willy’s shop.

Crab Pots are another tool that you should look into because every day they will give you a fishing reward if they are loaded with bait. There are also fishing skills that can help you get proficient with crab pots so that you don’t need to put bait in them but since that doesn’t happen until late in the levels, I would personally recommend not using the Crab Pots as, more often than not, you will catch trash.

Don’t Fish on an Empty Stomach

There is a multitude of dishes that you can make in the game and a lot of them affect your character. Some of these foods, like the Dish O’ The Sea and Seafoam Pudding, will boost your fishing level by the amount it says in the food description. These levels are actually really important because they allow you to catch fish based on the level you have and increase the fishing bar based on the level.

Practice

This element of fishing cannot be ignored. The more practice you have with the fishing mini-game, the better you are going to be at catching fish. If you practice the skill regularly, upgrade your tools when you can, and boost your fishing skill as much as you can, there is no reason why you can’t level up fishing in Stardew Valley as fast as possible and catch all four of the Legendary Fish that are in the game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Envj7ju96sc

Photo Reference: Variety