Stardew Valley Fishing Mod Guide

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Candela Maldonado

Cande has been in the gaming industry for about 5+ years, working as a Localisation specialist, and has actually worked with Eric Barone himself. However, it would be her burning passion for Stardew Valley that would see her work to produce her own content on this wonderful, whimsical title. She adores helping the Junimos, meeting up with pals in the Stardrop Saloon, and is no stranger to the Skull Cavern!

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Stardew Valley needs no introduction, but if you have been living under a rock for the past few years, here is what is up: It’s a farm and life simulation game. So if you like farm games like Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons, animal games like Dolphin Island, or live simulation games like Animal Crossing or The Sims, this game is for you.

The story is relatively straightforward: your grandfather left you a ramshackle old farm so that when you get tired of the busy city life, you’ll have a place to live well. And that’s it; from here on, it’s up to you to live your life.

Don’t expect the game to take your hand and walk you to the finish line. Stardew Valley does not have any tutorial or guide. Instead, you will be let loose on the farm with the bare necessities: a small hut, a watering can, and three tools of dubious quality, so it’s possible that you will spend the first few days experimenting with everything around you.

One of the many tasks you can do to get resources and improve your farm is fishing. Fishing is a good option for the winter, although, as it usually happens in this kind of game, seasonal fish come out only at certain times or with certain weather conditions.

When you hook a fish with your rod, a mini-game of varying difficulty starts: you must keep the fish inside a green bar that goes up when you press the left mouse button and goes down when you stop pressing it. On the right, a bar rises slowly when the fish is inside the green rectangle and falls fast when it’s outside.

If it disappears, the fish escapes. It takes a few tries to get the hang of it. The truth is that it manages to convey a pretty natural feeling that you are fighting against the fish to catch it.

The mini-game consists of chasing a little fish into a space with an up and down bar. It sounds easy, but some fish jump more than Sonic. So, I have a series of mods to make things easier. Because there is no shortage of mods in the Nexus community, I have compiled a list of the best Stardew Valley fishing mods.

Key Info Up Front

Modding Stardew Valley

Sometimes the game itself is not as inviting to be fishing continuously, and a little help never hurts. This is how most NEXUS modders have been inspired to launch new modifications for Stardew Valley. These mods help make fishing less painful and, of course, make it much more straightforward.

The first step is to go to Nexus Mods and sign up for the website. It’s completely free.

In the search bar, look up the term SMAPI and select the Stardew Modding API entry.

Once you have opened it, you should go to the Files section and make sure you download the latest version of this API.

This exact search and download process should be applied to download the Content Patcher and the Generic Config Menu, two additional files which are necessary for modding
Finally, you can grab the UI Info Suite 2 from Github.

After this, you are set up to install all these files in the order stated above. The installation may ask for your game path, so make sure you know where your game is located on your device.

Selection Criteria

You will find a huge selection of mods in the Nexus community. The reason why only some of them are displayed in this guide is that I feel that these are the ones that best enhance or facilitate playability. The eight mods that comprise this list will certainly help you enjoy the Stardew Valley fishing experience much better, or make it simpler for you in case you are not fishing’s biggest fan. Whether you want to enrich fish sprites, acquire new fishing sidequests or simply automate this whole process, this guide is for you.

Overview

Visible Fish

By Shekurika – Link to Nexus
In most life simulation games, you will have to perform various daily activities: one of which is fishing. Stardew Valley is one of the examples in which fishing can be considered a tedious and frustrating activity when a fish resists being caught, and you have been after it for a few minutes.

With its installation, different additional options will appear, including an option to modify the maximum amount of fish on the map and the density per square of these. To give you an idea, a density of 200% is equal to two fish per tile, which would be equivalent to a large amount. But, on the other hand, it also allows players, if they wish, to get lots of Junimo much faster.

You can download the Visible Fish mod from the Nexus Mods website, where the Stardew Valley modding community continues to thrive even five years after its initial release. I think the reason why it has stayed alive and kicking for so long is that it just completely improves the whole fishing experience.

You are not going in blind anymore, hoping some random fish will catch your bait. Instead, you can see exactly which fish are available in a certain body of water and decide whether fishing there is worth your time or not. It’s a complete life-saver, one that does not break the game by making it blatantly easier but simply adds a mechanic that improves playability.

Fishing Thrawler

By PeacefulEnd – Link to Nexus

Have you ever wanted to be your ship captain? Well, have I got an offer for you. You can be a first mate in this mod.

Once you’ve installed this mod, you’ll get a friendly little letter from Murphy, who will teach you how to be a deckhand. It’s not for the lazy or poor. The first thing you need is to hit up Robin or cut down a mass amount of trees. Next, Murphy’s going to need a bridge to dock at. So shop until you drop.

Now that you’ve got your letter and your bridge done, the next step is to check out that beauty. Murphy here will teach you how to be a great sailor. Learn the ways to catch hundreds of fish and make money. You will be embarking on while Murphy’s out there gathering up everything. You’re going to be taking care of the engines and making sure the nets are manned, clogging up and plugging anything you can find.

If you want to make this work, you’ll need to keep everything going because if you don’t, he’ll turn this ship around. Once you’ve finished your first mission, you’ll get some beautiful fish. Unfortunately, this cannot be done every day. This is a once-in-a-week occurrence. Murphy will only dock on your pier once a week, usually on Wednesdays.

I believe this mod is definitely worth checking out. It’s a fun little mini-game that adds some spice to your game: you get a sort of side-quest to pursue, a completely new mechanic, and, really, a money-making factory.

Animated Fish

By Gervig91 – Link to Nexus

So you are telling me none of the fish in Stardew Valley actually move? Seems fishy to me. This mod animates all 69 fish and other fishing-related items. This adds something to the game. It’s visceral and immersive.
Some of the animations in the fish are pretty fitting and not just random. For instance, a fish called ghost fish, whose animation makes it go invisible.

The animation will affect the fish in your inventory as they swim and as you hold them in your hand after having caught them. It shows just how far the modder went out of his way to add an extra layer of immersion to his craft.

I think it’s quite clear that this mod will not make the whole fishing-minigame situation easier for you, it will just add a new layer of realism to the game. All fish have been animated, and it looks amazing.

More New Fish

By TrentXV – Link to Nexus

As if fishing for 83 species was not enough, this mod adds a total of 140 new species to the game. Among the fish added, you will find the goldfish and the koi, which are not included in the original game.

The new fish species this game provides are added to the existing fishing areas and create new fishing areas where new, rare fish species will spawn. So while a couple of fishing areas and species are still in the works, you can already enjoy a ton of fish species and places. On their download page, you will also see a map to walk you through which fish species typically spawn in each fishing area.

Oh, did I mention you will also get new fishing quests? That’s right! You will feel pumped to get into fishing with some of the quests that come packed with this mod.

Extra Fish Information

By ceasgx – Link to Nexus

Would you like to know more about the local fish? I don’t mean that in a fish dating app kind of way, but more as in “where can they be found, how much do they cost, how many of them have you caught, and so on. Well, this mod is ideal for fishing nerds who just genuinely would like to know more about the fish and their fishing statistics.

Extra Fish information displays a much richer description section that gives information about the following: fish name, fish description, time, season and weather conditions under which it was caught, location in which it can be found, number of times it has been caught by you, biggest catch you have had, and selling price. Phew. That was a lot.

This is definitely a must-have for all fishing nerds or just players who would like to get to know their fish better. I believe it really adds to the game’s immersion and helps you feel like an absolute fishing pro who really knows their fish.

Stardew Aquarium

By Gervig91 – Link to Nexus

Many people have been able to draw comparisons between Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley. Cute villagers? Check. Escapism vibe? Check. Aquarium where you can sell your fish? Modded.

Thanks to The Project Stardew Aquarium Team, everyone can now enjoy an Aquarium building where they can donate fish in exchange for rewards… and a cool-looking aquarium. I mean, this is a win-win scenario. This mod not only adds an aquarium building but also three new shops and two new maps.

You just have to catch new fish, catch a train, donate them to the aquarium and catch some ice cream. Sounds like the perfect plan for the day.

Skip Fishing Minigame

By DewMods – Link to Nexus

If you don’t like fishing, you can skip it altogether. If you don’t like fishing and want to skip it but don’t want to miss out on the rewards, you can use this mod.

This mod does exactly what it says: it skips the fishing minigame. All you do is cast your line out like you normally would when you are fishing and then just do a simple click when a fish bites into the bait. That is it; there is no gauge going up and down.

This mod skips the finishing game as a whole. You don’t need to click your mouse a thousand times to keep the fish inside the green bar.

This one is so low on the list because despite being incredibly useful, it sort of skips one of the game’s mechanics as a whole rather than improving. Of course, this might take away a bit of the experience rather than enhance it, but hey, it’s whatever floats your boat.

Auto Bait and Tackles

By Alison Li- Link to Nexus

Let’s be honest: fishing takes a bunch of clicking. It makes sense that you would want to minimize the clicking to avoid murdering your left-mouse button. The Auto Bait and Tackles mod can save you some clicks, as automatically attaches bait and tackles from your inventory to your fishing rod with the press of a button.

You’ll just need to make your way to the nearest body of water, select a fishing rod, and press R. That is it. Now you just have to fish. When you run out of bait, the mod will look for the first stack of any type of bait in your inventory and attach it to the fishing rod.

Needless to say, this mod just really simplifies the whole fishing mini-game with automation, but still lets you experience part of it. If fishing is just not your thing, but you don’t want to skip it altogether, this mod is for you.

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