Food is always a problem in Valheim. In the early game, you won’t be able to farm, so all your food comes from hunting or foraging. Once you’ve got the Cultivator, you’ll be able to plant seeds — but that doesn’t unlock until you get Copper.
Even if you’re past the early stages of the game, it’s nice to be able to catch plenty of meat with (almost) zero effort. That’s where the Fishing Rod excels. This handy item can only be found in one place, and catching fish is way easier than it looks. I’ll explain how to get the Fishing Rod, and how to catch plenty of fish. The game doesn’t exactly explain the controls, so we’ll go over the basics below.
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More Valheim guides:
12 Tips The Game Doesn’t Explain | Beginner’s Guide | How To Tame & Breed Boars | Comprehensive Healing Potion Crafting Guide | 4 Tips To Improve FPS Performance | 9 Tips To Survive The Swamps | How To Summon All Bosses | Best Mods List | How To Move Loot Easier | Inventory Guide | How To Unlock & Craft Portals | How To Find Haldor The Trader | How To Unlock The Best Weapons
How To Get A Fishing Rod & Bait
The Fishing Rod and Bait can only be purchased from Haldor, the merchant. He will spawn in a random location in the Black Forest. Once you find him, he’ll sell the Rod & Bait for gold coins.
- Fishing Rod: Costs 350 coins
- x50 Bait: Costs 10 coins
Bait is only 10 coins for 50 units, and you’ll quickly run out of items to purchase from Haldor. Get plenty of bait, and you’ll be able to catch an endless amount of fish.
How To Fish
Before fishing, you’ll want to build a boat. Any raft will do, it just helps to go out on the water for better fishing. Don’t fish on the shore!
NOTE: Make sure to refill your stamina before fishing. Fish will escape while reeling them in if you run out of stamina!
Find a fishing spot with 6+ fish in the shallow water. It shouldn’t take too long. Just look down and you’ll eventually find a good spot in your boat. Now you’re ready to start fishing.
- Fishing | Controls & Basics
- Press [LMB] to cast your line. Hold down longer to cast longer distances. You want to aim right past the fish you want to catch.
- Press [RMB] to reel in your line. Your goal is to move the line near the fish. Do it very slowly!
- If you’ve attracted the fish with your bait, wait for it to bite. Quickly tap [RMB] to hook the fish. If you’re too slow, you’ll fail. If you’re successful, a [Hooked!] message will appear.
- Hold [RMB] to reel in your fish after it’s been hooked. Nothing else you need to do!
Each fish will randomly give you up to 4~ fish meat units. All you have to do is cook fish meat to create a good meal. It isn’t the best meal in the game, but it is plentiful. If you have a rod and bait in your inventory, you’ll never run out of food.
