Stardew Valley is an RPG in which the player controls a character they create who recently inherited a farm from their grandfather. In order to move out of the city and start a new life, they decide to move to the farm and restore it to its former glory. The player can run the farm as they please, befriend people in the nearby town, and even get married.
Part of the game even involves going fishing in several different spots around Pelican Town. Fishing can either be done in order to get cash by selling the fish, to complete the bundles in the Community Center, or to complete quests for the NPCs. If you get really into fishing, you might be looking into trying to make the process easier and quicker. That's where bait comes in! Keep reading to see 10 tips for fishing with bait in Stardew Valley.
10 Start Befriending Linus
Linus lives in a tent in the woods between Robin's house and the bathhouse. Even though he's technically not one of the residents of Pelican Town, he's still one of the NPCs in the game that players can befriend and get to know during their time living there.
Once you start the game, it's important to start to befriend Linus as you get to know each of the different villagers. It can help to look up their schedules for every day and each season, as well as their favorite gifts. Befriending Linus will help your fishing adventures in the future because of a special gift he sends you!
9 Upgrade Your Rod ASAP
When you first receive your fishing rod from Willy after moving to the farm, you might notice that you can't add any bait to the rod. While this is frustrating and that rod isn't the best, there is a way to fix this.
Use that beginner rod to learn to fish and make yourself some initial cash for as long as you need to. But, as soon as you have enough cash to spare to buy yourself a new fishing rod, go into Willy's Bait Shop and purchase a new one. The Fiberglass Rod costs 1,800g, unlocks after you reach Fishing Level 2, and gives you the ability to finally use bait!
8 Know The Types Of Bait
In Stardew Valley, there are three different types of bait. Knowing each bait's recipe and what they can do for you can help you to decide which one to use.
One is just simply known as Bait, it slightly decreases the wait time before a fish bites and uses one piece of Bug Meat to craft one piece of bait. Then, there's the Magnet that you unlock after reaching Fishing Level 9 that increases the chance of a treasure showing up to 30% and takes one Iron Bar to craft. Then, there's Wild Bait, a bait that makes fish bite even faster. Wild Bait is a recipe given to you after you befriend Linus and takes Fiber, Slime, and Bug Meat.
7 Head To The Mine
Going to The Mines in Stardew Valley is great in general because it will give you experience, help you to move up the ranks in the Adventurer's Guild, and can get you some awesome treasures.
But, if you're focused on fishing and you've been struggling to make enough bait to keep up with the fish you've been catching, going to The Mines will really help you. There, you can slay monsters for Bug Meat and Slime and you can even use your bait to fish in certain levels for unique fish.
6 Cut All That Grass
If you've been spending a lot of time in The Mines, then you've probably got enough Slime and Bug Meat to craft a lifetime worth of the basic Bait. You've probably also got enough Iron Bars to make a ton of Magnet bait.
But if you're tired of using those and you finally gave Linus enough gifts to get the recipe for Wild Bait, we highly recommend putting some of that on your Fishing Rod. When you see tufts of grass that look like flat weeds, chop them down! It'll give you the Fiber you need to craft Wild Bait.
5 Use Some For Crab Pots
The Crab Pot is a recipe that the player gets a recipe for after reaching Fishing Level 3 and can then either be crafted or purchased from Willy. Crab Pots can be placed in any body of water including the ocean or the river and will either get the player trash or some unique fish.
In order to make sure that your Crab Pot catches you anything (even if it is just a can of Joja Cola or a pair of broken glasses), you need to make sure that you put some bait into it. But don't use your precious Wild Bait! Just the basic kind will do just fine.
4 Make A Worm Bin
If you've gotten really into placing and harvesting your Crab Pots that you've placed in all the bodies of water around Pelican Town, you've probably noticed that you're running through a ton of the basic Bait and you need a lot of Bug Meat to keep them replenished.
After you reach Fishing Level 8, you don't have to worry about that anymore. You can finally use your Bug Meat for something more useful. Just find a spot on your farm (or somewhere in town, as long as it's not in the path of an NPC) to place down some Worm Bins. They create between 2 and 5 pieces of basic Bait per day.
3 You Can Take The Bait Off
The different kinds of bait in the game can be really handy. But, if you placed a Magnet on your rod and you're done treasure hunting and want to catch a Legendary Fish, don't worry! You don't have to use up every bit of bait on your rod before you switch to a new kind.
Simply open your menu, right click on your rod, and it'll remove whatever bait you're using. Then, place it somewhere in your inventory and put the new bait on before you head back out to go fishing.
2 Know Where (& When!) To Fish
Once you've learned about the different types of bait, you're probably super ready to head out and use them. You've befriended Linus, slayed the monsters in The Mines, and you've got enough Wild Bait on your Iridium Rod to catch every fish in the Fish Tank Bundle.
Not so fast! Make sure you do some research to see what fish are available in each season, if they require a certain time of day or certain weather, and what part of the map they can be found in. You don't want to waste your Wild Bait trying to catch an eel, only to realize that they're only out when it rains!
1 Be Careful Of The Fridge
Once you've put your different types of bait to good use and caught all the fish you can carry home, you can put them in the refrigerator in that beautiful kitchen expansion that Robin built. Then, you can cook yourself food that gives energy, health, and various other benefits.
Make sure you turn on the Queen of Sauce every Wednesday on the TV to get a ton of tasty recipes! But, be careful about which fish you put in the fridge. The quality and type of a fish generally doesn't matter, so sell the good ones and put the lower quality fish in to cook with, otherwise you'll feel like you just wasted a ton of bait.