Fishing in Don’t Starve Together is a great way to stock healthy food to satisfy your hunger and health.
You may know how to fish in a small pond, but is it possible to fish in the ocean?
Recommended Read: How to Use Console Commands in DST
This guide will show you how to fish in Don’t Starve Together.
In Don’t Starve Together, you can fish using either a Fishing Rod, a Sea Fishing Rod, a Trident, or an Ocean Trawler. Each method has different requirements and techniques, which will be introduced below.
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How to Fish in Don’t Starve Together
Although ocean creatures are the main ingredients for popular healing food such as Fishsticks and Wobster Bisque, fishing can be time-consuming and requires a lot of effort and resources.
So, read on to learn the 4 ways to fish in Don’t Starve Together!
1. Using the Fishing Rod
Fishing with the Fishing Rod was the only way to catch fish in the early versions of Don’t Starve Together. That said, this was the main method to get fish to cook Fishsticks for important boss fights.
First, you must craft a Fishing Rod with 2 Twigs and 2 Silks using a Scient Machine crafting station.
Twigs can be easily harvested across the map, while getting Silks can be more challenging for non-combat lovers, as each Spider only has a 25% chance of dropping one.
Next, you must find a place to fish. The Fishing Rod can catch fish from all pond variants, including:
- Green Pond: spawns in the Grassland and Forest biomes and is one of the most accessible ponds to fish. Fishing at Green Pond during dusk and night is recommended, as Frogs spawn during the day may interrupt you.
- Blue Pond: spawns in the Ruin biome underground and is the main source of Eel.
- Purple Pond: spawns in the Marsh biome. Opposite to Green Ponds, Purple Ponds spawn Mosquitos at dusk and night. Having said that, you can spend a whole day fishing alternatively between Green and Purple Ponds.
Once you have the Fishing Rod and the fishing spot, equip the rod in your hand slot and left-click on the pond to start fishing.
Alternatively, you can focus on the Fishing Rod by picking it up and clicking on the pond to start fishing.
Now, wait for the fish. As you see the line says “Hook”, immediately left-click your mouse to hook the fish. Then, left-click again when it says “Reel” to reel in the fish.
The waiting time depends on the remaining number of fish in the pond. Below is the table showing the exact seconds you have to wait before catching one.
| Number of Fish in the Pond | Waiting Time (Seconds) |
|---|---|
| 10 | 5 |
| 9 | 8.5 |
| 8 | 12 |
| 7 | 15.5 |
| 6 | 19 |
| 5 | 22.5 |
| 4 | 26 |
| 3 | 29.5 |
| 2 | 33 |
| 1 | 36.5 |
| 0 | N/A |
Once you’ve caught all the fish in the pond (the number of fish in the pond is zero), nothing will happen the next time you cast your fishing rod. Instead, you must wait 160 seconds for the pond to spawn 1 fish (or eel).
Remember that the durability of the Fishing Rod is quite low, so you can only catch 9 fish or eels with a single rod.
2. Using the Sea Fishing Rod
In the Hook, Line, and Inker update, you can fish in the ocean using a Sea Fishing Rod crafted with 1 Board and 3 Silks using the Science Machine.
To fish in the ocean, go around the main island to find the shadow of any school of fish. Then, right-click on the ocean surface to cast the line near the shadows.
As the fish’s shadow comes near and bites the lure, right-click again to set the hook.
Next, if you see the fish start swimming away and your character struggles to hold the fishing rod, do nothing. Otherwise, keep spamming the right mouse button to reel the fish in.
This process may happen for a while, especially if you don’t reel the fish quickly enough.
If you keep reeling when the fish is fighting, the line will break, causing you to lose the Lure and Float. And, of course, the fish will swim away.
Speaking of Lures and Floats, the Sea Fishing Rod has 2 slots in which you can put a Lure and a Float to upgrade your rod.
Although you can still fish without using the Lures and Floats, it’s quite ineffective.
Lures affect the fish’s bait time and increase casting range and radius, while Floats increase your throw’s casting range and accuracy.
In the game’s early days, you may want to ignore those bonuses and go for any school of fish near the shore. However, to speed up the fishing process, it’s recommended to use Seeds or Berries as a lure and Twigs as a Float.
Remember that Lures do not always reduce the fish’s bait time, but their effect depends on the fish type.
For example, using Seeds as a lure increases the chance of catching Runty Gruppy by 4 times but reduces the chance of catching Scorching Sunfish to zero.
That said, depending on the fish type you catch, you must choose the corresponding Lures. However, if you want to balance things out just like us, the following Lures reduce all fish’s bait time by 4 times:
- Stupefying Lure
- Rainy Day Lure (only works during rain)
- Snow Day Lure (only works during snow)
- Heavy Weighted Lure (used to catch heavy fish)
Regarding the Floats, we rarely use it in our runs, as the casting accuracy and range aren’t that important. In most cases, we use Twigs for an extra 2 casting range.
3. Using the Ocean Trawler
While manually fishing can be exhausting, you can use the Ocean Trawler to catch the fish automatically.
First, you need to craft it with 2 Boards, 2 Ropes, and 6 Silks using the Think Tank crafting station.
Next, deploy it into the ocean and right-click to lower the net. You can also left-click the Ocean Trawler to open its inventory, revealing 4 empty slots.
While you can leave these 4 slots empty and lower the net to let the Ocean Trawler do its work, putting Lures in is recommended to speed up the catching process.
Eventually, the Ocean Trawler will catch the fish. Now, right-click on the Ocean Trawler again to raise it, then left-click to collect your fish.
Remember to check your Ocean Trawlers frequently, as they may break after the fourth fish is caught.
4. Using the Trident
Another fun yet effective way to fish in Don’t Starve Together is using the Trident.
You can only unlock the Trident recipe after defeating the Crab King boss. Afterward, you must find 3 Gnarwail Horns, 4 Kelp Fronds, and 2 Twigs to craft this weapon.
With the Trident equipped in your hand slot, right-click on any ocean tile to cast the Geyser spell, pushing all ocean creatures into the air.
When performed correctly, you can use the spell to push the fish to the surface.
Although it’s fun and does the job well, it’s quite expensive for such a purpose.
That’s how to fish in Don’t Starve Together!
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