Fishing

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This article is about the Fishing skill. For category of items, see Tools.

Fishing is a survivalist skill, and an activity that allows characters to use a fishing rod combined with bait to catch various types of fish. Increasing the fishing level increases the quality of fish, chance to catch something, and reduces the chance to break the line, lose bait, and lose baited fish.

This ability is a great way to feed a player living near a body of water, as a single fish could satiate the player for a whole day. Fishing is a useful skill to choose in West Point or Riverside, as West Point and Riverside are much closer to a body of water than Muldraugh.

Usage

To begin fishing, a fishing rod and some bait are required in the main inventory (i.e. not bags). Right-click on a body of water and select the Fishing contextual option. While fishing, the rod will occupy the primary hand, and the bait will occupy the secondary, therefore it may be ideal to leave any bags back at home (if not equipped on the back). It is also suggested to ensure the fishing area is free from zombies.

The animation and accompanying splash generates noise that can attract zombies within 20 tile radius. Therefore, for long-term fishing it's suggested to construct a large enclosure around the fishing spot, ensuring it's large enough so zombies cannot hear, otherwise they will thump on any walls in their path.

Significant experience is only gained when something is caught. The experience gained is based on the weight of the prize – 7 for big, 5 for medium, 3 for small, affected by XP modifiers such as the fishing skill books. On a failed fishing attempt, or if a trash item such as shoes or socks is fished up, the player will be granted 1 XP.

While fishing, the rate of fishing attempts will be generated based on the fishing equipment. A Crafted Spear is the fastest, making an attempt once every 5-10 in-game minutes. Live bait on a fishing rod makes an attempt roughly every 8-11 in-game minutes (500-800 seconds). Fishing tackle makes an attempt roughly every 12-15 in-game minutes (700-1000 seconds). These times are reduced by 5 in-game seconds per fishing level, so a player with level 10 fishing will typically catch fish just shy of one minute faster than a player with level 0 fishing skill.

The default chance of catching fish on normal abundance is 20% for fishing with a rod and live bait (Little Bait Fish, Worm, Cricket, Grasshopper, Cockroach, Maggots), and increases by 1.5% per fishing level. This is 10% and 2.5% respectively for fishing rods with Fishing Tackle, and 10% and 1.5% for fishing with a Crafted Spear.

The success rate of catching fish at dawn and dusk (04:00-06:59 and 18:00-20:59) is increased by 10%.

Seasonal Changes

The last month of Autumn and all of Winter, so from November to February, the success rate of catching fish is reduced by 20%. Verified as of version 41.78.16

Example 1: Fishing with a Crafted Spear in November to February during times that are NOT dawn or dusk will have a 0% success rate through Fishing levels 0-6, and have a 0.5% chance to succeed at Fishing level 7.

Example 2: Fishing with a Fishing Rod during dusk (18:00-20:00), with live bait, during March-October, at skill level 10, will have a 45% chance to succeed.

Fishing Chance Modifiers

Additionally, the Nature's Abundance settings increase/reduce fishing chance by modifying the above ratios by differing percentages. Very Abundant gives a 66% increase, Abundant gives a 25% increase, Poor gives a 16% decrease, and Very Poor gives a 28.5% decrease. so in the Above Example 1 Very Abundant does not increase the chance of success for Fishing Levels 0-6. While Very Abundant would give Example 2 a 75% Chance to succeed, and Very Poor would give a 32% chance to succeed.

Upon a successful fishing attempt, there is a chance of catching a trash item instead of a fish, such as Shoes and Socks. At Fishing level 0, the chance is 40%. At Fishing level 10, the chance is 15.86%. The trash rate goes down in a non-linear fashion, i.e. Fishing 1 reduces the trash rate by 7.5%, and Fishing 2 reduces the trash rate by 5.25%.

Live bait is always lost when something is caught. Plastic fishing tackle is only lost when the fishing line breaks, which only occurs on successful fishing attempts. When the spear or fishing line breaks, the fish will be lost. The base chance for losing a fishing line is based on the size of the catch: Small (8%), Medium (12%), Large (22%). Each level of fishing skill reduces this chance by 1%. Fishing Line, as opposed to Twine, has a 2% reduced chance to break the line. A Fishing Rod (crafted) has a 3% increased chance to break. A Crafted Spear has a 5% increased chance to break.

Example 1: Catching a Medium Trout (12%) with a Fishing Rod, using Fishing Line (-2%) and a fishing level of 10 (-10%). There is a 0% chance for the line to break and lose the fish.

Example 2: Catching a Small Trout (8%) with a Crafted Fishing Rod (+3%), using Fishing Line (-2%) and a fishing level of 4 (-4%). There is a 5% chance for the line to break and to lose the fish.

Example 3: Catching a Large Pike (22%) with a Crafted Spear (+5%) and a fishing level of 7 (-7%). There is a 20% chance for the spear to break and lose the fish.

Spearfishing

Level	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Catch Chance Modifier	+10%	+11.5%	+13%	+14.5%	+16%	+17.5%	+19%	+20.5%	+22%	+23.5%	+25%
Break Chance Modifier	+5%	+4%	+3%	+2%	+1%	+0%	-1%	-2%	-3%	-4%	-5%

Fishing Rod

Level	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Catch Chance Modifier w/ Bait	+20%	+21.5%	+23%	+24.5%	+26%	+27.5%	+29%	+30.5%	+32%	+33.5%	+35%
Catch Chance modifier w/ Lure	+10%	+12.5%	+15%	+17.5%	+20%	+22.5%	+25%	+27.5%	+30%	+32.5%	+35%
Break Chance Modifier	-2%	-3%	-4%	-5%	-6%	-7%	-8%	-9%	-10%	-11%	-12%
Break Chance Modifier w/ Twine	-0%	-1%	-2%	-3%	-4%	-5%	-6%	-7%	-8%	-9%	-10%

Crafted Fishing Rod

Level	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Catch Chance Modifier w/ Bait	+20%	+21.5%	+23%	+24.5%	+26%	+27.5%	+29%	+30.5%	+32%	+33.5%	+35%
Catch Chance Modifier w/ Lure	+10%	+12.5%	+15%	+17.5%	+20%	+22.5%	+25%	+27.5%	+30%	+32.5%	+35%
Break Chance Modifier	+1%	+0%	-1%	-2%	-3%	-4%	-5%	-6%	-7%	-8%	-9%
Break Chance Modifier w/ Twine	+3%	+2%	+1%	+0%	-1%	-2%	-3%	-4%	-5%	-6%	-7%

Repairs

Quite often, a rod will lose its line while fishing. Relining a rod requires an item from each of the following categories:

1. Nail or Paperclip
2. Twine or Fishing Line

When used in the repair, a Nail or Paperclip is consumed, while the Twine or Fishing line consumes some of its contents (units). A fishing rod doesn't lose durability when used for fishing.

Occupations & Traits

Occupations

Name	Starting Points	Major Skills	Description
Fisherman	-2	+3 Fishing +1 Foraging	N/A

Traits

Name	Cost	Description	Notes
Angler	-4	+1 Fishing	Can be taken with Fisherman occupation.

Items

Rods

The main tool in fishing, along with Bait. If the player is in a pinch, they can also craft makeshift fishing rods or a crafted spear to spearfish.

Item	Description	Encumbrance	break the line	Classname
Fishing Rod		0.4		Base.FishingRod
Fishing Rod with Twine Line		0.4		Base.FishingRodTwineLine
Fishing Rod (crafted)		0.4		Base.CraftedFishingRod
Crafted Fishing Rod with Twine Line		0.4		Base.CraftedFishingRodTwineLine
Crafted Spear	Use to spearfish.	0.4	-	Base.WoodenLance

Fishing Net

A net used to catch fishes, and catches bait fish instead.

Item	Description	Encumbrance	Classname
Fishing Net Trap		0.5	Base.FishingNet
Broken Fishing Net Trap		0.4	Base.BrokenFishingNet

Materials

The various materials used to craft with fishing.

Item	Description	Encumbrance	Classname
Fishing Line	Used to repair and used to craft a crafted fishing rod.	0.1	Base.FishingLine
Fishing Rod without Line		0.4	Base.FishingRodBreak
Nails	Used to repair and used to craft a crafted fishing rod.	0.01	Base.Nails
Paperclip	Used to repair and used to craft a crafted fishing rod.	0.01	Base.Paperclip
Sturdy Stick	Used to craft a crafted fishing rod.	0.1	Base.WoodenStick
Tree Branch	Used to craft a crafted spear.	0.2	Base.Treebranch
Twine	Used to repair and used to craft a fishing net trap.	0.1	Base.Twine

Bait

This article may be outdated.

Editors are encouraged to update this article with new information.

There are three types of bait that can be used for fishing: Insect (disambiguation), Fishing Tackle, and Little Bait Fish. Insects include worm, cockroach, cricket, and grasshopper.

Worms are the most common bait to find. They can be found uncommonly while scavenging around the town, or frequently while digging with a Trowel or removing grass. So long as it's the selected bait, a worm will be consumed every time the player fishes, even if they catch trash items like socks.

Fishing Tackle is found while scavenging, and has a higher chance of catching fish instead of trash. They have a durability, unlike both insects and bait fish, therefore they can be used more than once, reducing the encumbrance for the bait that needs to be carried. It is recommended to conserve any available fishing tackle, unless the player's fishing skill level is mid range or higher.

Bait fish are fish that have a chance of being obtained while fishing or using a fishing net trap. Bait fish can only catch pike, have a 50% chance to catch more junk, and are consumed when used as bait.

Item	Description	Encumbrance	Classname
Little Bait Fish	-	0.1	Base.BaitFish
Fishing Tackle	-	0.1	Base.FishingTackle
Worm	-	0.1	Base.Worm
Cricket	-	0.1	Base.Cricket
Grasshopper	-	0.1	Base.Grasshopper
Cockroach	-	0.1	Base.Cockroach

Fish

There are 3 types of size per fish: little, medium and big. Each type of fish has a minimum size and a maximum size. A number is chosen at random between the minimum size and the maximum size to get the fish size. Each fish has a weight modifier, for example trout has 60, meaning a trout of 30cm / weight modifier (60) = 0.5 kg. Then the hunger reduction is based on the weight of the fish: weight * 10 (ex: 2kg * 10 = 20 hunger reduction).

With live bait, the distribution of sizes is: 50% small, 30% medium, 20% big. This is 60% small, 25% medium, 15% big for Fishing Tackle.

The various types of fish that can be caught from common Bass, to large Pike.
NOTE: Numbers in green are weight modifiers.

Item	Description	Little	Medium	Big	Base weight	Bait	Classname
Bass	-	25cm - 35cm 30	35cm - 55cm 40	55cm - 75cm 30	1.1		Base.Bass
Catfish	-	15cm - 25cm 50	25cm - 35cm 40	35cm - 55cm 30	0.4		Base.Catfish
Crappie	-	15cm - 20cm 50	20cm - 25cm 40	25cm - 35cm 30	0.4		Base.Crappie
Perch	-	20cm - 30cm 20	30cm - 40cm 16	40cm - 60cm 12	0.4		Base.Perch
Pike	-	50cm - 65cm 23	65cm - 90cm 18	90cm - 120cm 8	0.4		Base.Pike
Sunfish	-	15cm - 20cm 40	20cm - 25cm 35	25cm - 35cm 30	0.4		Base.Panfish
Trout	-	30cm - 40cm 60	40cm - 50cm 45	50cm - 70cm 30	0.4		Base.Trout

Trash

Occasionally, the player can catch trash items.

Item	Description	Encumbrance	Bait	Classname
Socks	-	0.01		Base.Socks
Shoes (disambiguation)	-	1		Base.Shoes

Recipes

Product	XP gained	Skill(s)	Recipe	Ingredient 1	Ingredient 2	Ingredient 3	Ingredient 4
Fishing Rod	0 XP	none		Fishing Rod without Line (consumed)	One of: Fishing Line Twine (2 units) (consumed)	One of: Nails Paperclip (consumed)
Fishing Rod	0 XP	none		One of: Hunting Knife Kitchen Knife Machete Meat Cleaver Stone Knife (keep)	Sturdy Stick (consumed)	One of: Fishing Line Twine (2 units) (consumed)	One of: Nails Paperclip (consumed)
Fishing Net Trap	0 XP	none		Twine (10 units) (consumed)	Wire (5 units) (consumed)
Wire	0 XP	none		Fishing Net Trap (consumed)
Crafted Spear	1.25 Carpentry	Starting condition scales with player's carpentry.		One of: Tree Branch Plank (consumed)	One of: Chipped Stone Hunting Knife Kitchen Knife Machete Meat Cleaver Stone Knife (keep)
Fish Fillet x2	10 Cooking	none		One of: Kitchen Knife Hunting Knife Meat Cleaver Stone Knife Machete (keep)	One of: Bass Catfish Crappie Perch Pike Sunfish Trout (consumed)