Stardew Valley Fishing: How It Works and What Fish You Can Catch

Fishing in Stardew Valley starts the morning after you receive a letter from Willy inviting you to visit his shop on the beach. He gives you a Bamboo Pole for free, and from that point you can cast into any body of water on the map. What you catch depends on four things at once: the location, the season, the weather, and the time of day. Most fish are only available under a specific combination of those conditions, which is why the same spot can produce completely different results in spring rain versus a clear summer afternoon.

Getting Your First Rod and Casting

Willy's letter arrives within your first few days on the farm. Visit his shop on the beach south of town, and he hands over the Bamboo Pole. Equip it from your inventory toolbar, stand facing water, and hold the use button to charge a cast — the longer you hold, the farther the bobber lands. Release to cast.

A few practical notes:

• You need open water in front of you. You cannot cast onto land or into obstacles.
• If the bobber lands in a valid spot, a "HIT!" prompt appears when something bites. Press the use button again during that window to start the minigame.
• If you press too early or too late, the fish escapes and you lose the bait.

The Fishing Minigame

Once you hook a fish, a vertical bar appears with a green box you control and a fish icon that moves up and down. Your job is to keep the green box overlapping the fish icon. A progress bar on the right fills while you're overlapping and drains while you're not. Fill it completely to land the fish; let it empty and the fish gets away.

The fish's movement pattern is the main difficulty signal. Some fish sit still or drift slowly, while others dart up and down erratically. Higher-difficulty fish move faster and change direction more often, which is why the same minigame feels easy for a Carp and brutal for a Legendary fish.

Controls

• Hold the use button to raise the green box.
• Release to let it fall.
• Tap rather than hold for small adjustments when the fish is moving slowly.

What Determines Which Fish You Catch

Every fish has its own set of requirements. The wiki tracks these per fish, but the categories are consistent:

If a fish isn't biting, the most common reason is that one of these conditions is wrong — not that your technique is bad.

Bait, Tackle, and Skill

Your fishing skill levels up as you catch fish, and each level improves your odds. At level 3 you unlock the ability to craft Crab Pots, and at higher levels you gain access to better rods and recipes.

• Bait attaches to a rod and makes fish bite faster. It's consumed on each cast.
• Tackle attaches to rods that have a tackle slot and modifies the minigame — for example, making the green bar larger or slowing the fish.
• Better rods (Fiberglass and Iridium) add slots for bait and tackle and let you cast farther.

Bait and tackle are optional. You can catch fish with a bare Bamboo Pole, just more slowly and with fewer options.

Finding Specific Fish and Tracking Your Collection

The fastest way to check whether a fish is available right now is to look it up on the Stardew Valley Wiki, which lists each fish's season, location, time window, weather requirement, and difficulty. In-game, the Collections tab in your menu shows every fish you've caught and flags the ones you're still missing, so you can use it as a checklist.

A practical approach: pick a target fish, confirm its conditions on the wiki, then go to the right water at the right time with the right weather. If you're working toward the "Master Angler" achievement, the collection tab is the authoritative list of what's left.