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With how much there's to do in Minecraft, it might seem like fishing isn't exactly a big priority. Here's the thing: if you're patient and stick to it, there's a lot that you can gain from a fishing rod. From tons of food to experience points for your enchantments to even finding some extremely rare treasures, it's worth investing in a good one.

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If you're one to enjoy island survivals where food and supplies are scarce, knowing how to make a fishing rod could save your life. Without further ado, welcome to a complete guide to the Minecraft fishing rod.

10 How To Craft

The fishing rod isn't a very resource heavy investment. All you need is a crafting table made from four wooden planks to create it in. The rod itself requires three wooden sticks, which should be placed diagonally across the grid.

Sticks can be made from two wooden planks on top of each other and are also dropped naturally when a tree is chopped down. You also need two pieces of string, placed under the highest wooden stick on the crafting grid. The easiest way to get string is to kill a spider.

9 Finding A Fishing Rod

If for some reason you're unable to gather the ingredients needed, you'll be happy to know the fishing rod is also found in the wild. Look for any sources of light under the water when crossing oceans on a boat, as those are usually underwater ruins guarded by the Drowned mobs.

They tend to have chests hidden in them, with some wheat, coal and leather armor, as well as at times enchanted fishing rods widely available. Ship wrecks also have a chance of spawning a fishing rod, so keep an eye our for them.

8 Hooking And Fishing

Fishing rods have a couple of uses. For one, they can be used to catch fish, as well as trash and treasure from any body of water that has the sky above it and isn't enclosed in a cave for example.

For two, fishing rods actually have the capacity to hook in any mobs, such as animals, villagers and even hostile mobs or other players in your Minecraft world. The bobber can get stuck in unlikely places and is a common way to activate trap doors and pressure plates that might be hidden under carpets or paintings.

7 Crafting And Fuel

The fishing rod can also be upgraded into a carrot on a stick by combining the fishing rod with a carrot. This form of the fishing rod is used to make pigs move around when riding them, though you'll also need a saddle for this purpose.

You can also, if the situation calls for it, use a fishing rod as fuel in your furnace if you happen to find yourself in a pinch with nothing else to cook your food or smelt your iron. However, these are secondary uses of the fishing rod at best, and a good fishing rod should never be wasted.

6 Enchantments

If you're a particularly passionate fisherman, you might want to consider enchanting your favorite fishing rod. The most important ones are Lure, Unbreaking, Luck Of The Sea and Mending. Your rod can also be cursed with the Curse of Vanishing which will make it break faster.

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Lures will increase your catch rate of fish. Unbreaking will slow down the breaking of your fishing rod. Mending will automatically fix your fishing rod whenever you earn experience points. Finally, Luck Of The Sea will increase your chances of finding treasure while fishing.

5 How To Fish

You can fish in any body of water no matter what size it is, as long as the water is visible to the sky. Fishing works day and night. Equip your fishing rod and press Mouse 2 to cast it into the water. You'll notice that the water will begin to ripple around your bobber.

Eventually, a trail of moving water and bubbles will approach your bobber shortly before pulling it underwater. At this moment you should press Mouse 2 again to reel in whatever you've caught. You'll be rewarded with a bit of experience and the item found will jump to your character automatically.

4 Fish Types

There are a few types of fish you can reel in while fishing, and not all of them are edible. Raw cod and raw salmon are both edible fish and will provide more hunger points once cooked in a furnace. They're usually the most common catch.

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You'll also catch a few pufferfish, which should never be eaten unless the player wants to be poisoned. They can be used to brew the potion of water breathing. You can also catch tropical fish. Any of these fish can be used to tame cats and ocelots when raw.

3 Trash

You won't just be reeling in fish, some of the things you find in the ocean will be labeled as trash, although some of it might have some usage for you. You catch bowls, fishing rods, leather, leather boots, rotten flesh, sticks, string, water bottles, bones, ink sacs and tripwire hooks.

If playing on a survival island, it might be worthwhile fishing even if you find junk, as many of these items if used correctly can serve a purpose in a hardcore survival world.

2 Treasure

If you're truly lucky, you might come across some highly valuable finds that you're struggling to get your hands on otherwise. You can reel in bows, enchanted books, name tags, nautilus shells, saddles and lily pads. Many of these are items available in dungeons and other structures in chests, making them quite valuable and easy to get if you just have enough patience to keep on fishing.

Enchanted books are especially useful to catch through fishing if you can't afford to craft an enchanting table just yet but have enough to make an anvil.

1 AFK Fishing

One of the many ways that fishing can be harnessed to its maximum potential is through AFK fishing. This is mostly for advanced players, but essentially it involves a small contraption with one block of water and the player standing in front of it with their Mouse 2 button taped down while they're away from their computer.

One Minecrafter in particular called Xisumavoid covers this contraption in great detail in their latest video, so if you're looking for a great way to boost your fishing gains, consider building an AFK fishing machine.

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