How to Fish on the Sea of Thieves

The Sea of Thieves is home to many a dangerous activity. From one day to the next, pirates can expect to tackle Forts, skelly fleets, undead captains, Megalodons and much more! However, did you know it’s quite possible to have a quieter time on the seas, away from all that swashbuckling? That’s right: since last April’s Anniversary Update, pirates have been able to put their feet up and play fisherman on the Sea of Thieves’ shores.

Fishing here has many perks. Firstly, there’s the benefit of fishing in a rather conventional sense: if you’re low on energy and your barrel’s lacking bananas, you can cast your line into the ocean and catch something to snack on. Once you’ve caught the unlucky fish in question, take a trip to your on-board skillet and simply sauté to ensure your catch is properly prepped for consumption.

Then there’s the opportunity of currying favour with The Hunter’s Call Trading Company, run by roaming fisherman Merrick and his extended family. Selling your cooked and uncooked catches to Merrick or other Hunter’s Call representatives at your nearest Seapost is a great way to rack up gold and reputation with The Hunter’s Call. While you can’t catch a Megalodon or Kraken using your fishing rod, you’re still able to sell that valuable cooked meat (along with whatever you can get from sharks and snakes, and less perilous meat from chickens and pigs) to the Trading Company for that all-important Hunter’s Call gold and rep.

Finally, if you’re a completionist when it comes to Sea of Thieves, you’ll have additional Commendations and achievements to unlock based on the volume and variety of marine wildlife you’re able to catch, cook and sell. If you want to be the most well-rounded pirate on the seas, mastering fishing is part and parcel of that ambition!

Our custom-made fish poster offers a visual guide and tips on how and where to hunt for each species. Here's a preview:

Click here to download the full-size printable poster

For those of you yet to give fishing a whirl, what are you waiting for? Here’s a quick how-to guide to get you acquainted with the joys of angling!

1. Find some sea. You can’t fish on land (well, unless it's got a pond).
   
2. Equip your rod, which can be found on the second page of your equipment radial.
   
3. If you’ve got bait to equip, this is your opportunity to use it. While your rod’s equipped, head to your equipment radial and hit the appropriate button (Y on an Xbox One controller) to bring up your bait. Select which type of bait you’d like to equip, and it’ll appear on the end of your line. You don’t need bait to catch fish, but if you’re looking to catch ‘em all, you’ll need to use specific baits in certain areas of the map to ensure you’re fishing up the full set of species.
   
4. Cast your line into the sea! The longer you hold the button (RT on an Xbox One controller), the further you’ll cast when you release it.
   
5. Wait patiently for a bite.
   
6. As you wait, you’ll see your unsuspecting fish circling the line before you hook it. Once hooked, the fish will try to make a break for it – this is where you prepare to wrestle the rod and wrangle the fish into your possession.
   
7. To catch a fish, you must tire the little tinker out by resisting its efforts to swim away. If the fish swims right, pull left on your rod to fight back against it. If the fish is tugging forwards, pull backwards. Keep doing this until your fish tires – and when the line stops pulling, that’s your opportunity to reel it in using the appropriate button (RT on an Xbox One controller).
   
8. Continue this method of tiring out the fish and reeling it in closer until you manage to reel it all the way into your hands. Pay close attention to the ways in which the different fish move to combat their escape tactics! Be warned: if you reel in for too long while the fish is resisting, or pull your rod the wrong way, you’ll break your line and have to start from scratch. If you’ve used bait for that catch, you’ll lose that too.
   
9. Once you’ve caught a fish, work out what you’re going to do with it! Need to eat it for health? Make sure you cook it, as raw fish will often just make your pirate puke. Cooked fish gives you more health and sells for more gold. However, you’ll still need to be careful when cooking your catch: burnt fish sell for a lot less, so take your fish off the frying pan before it starts to char – or worse, burns and starts a fire on your ship.
   
10. There are 10 types of fish swimming the waters of Sea of Thieves, each with five varieties – some harder to catch than others, including fish in super-rare colours and glowing variants found at night. They can be caught in different areas of the map and at different times of day, using various kinds of bait. All fish can also be found as bumper-size Trophy fish, which will resist your attempts to lure them in even more fiercely!

Those are the basics of fishing on the Sea of Thieves. If you want to make some cash from your catches, just head to the nearest Seapost and sell them to The Hunter’s Call representative manning the post. With the Hunter's Haul event and other similar challenges regularly popping up on our Events Hub to offer even more rewards, there’s never been a better moment to pick up your rod and try your luck!