If you’re wondering how to fish in Valheim, this guide covers that and where you can find a Fishing Rod to do so. We’ll also cover some tips and tricks alongside what you can cook using Raw Fish. Click anywhere in the table below to find what you need help with.
How to Fish in Valheim
| How to Get a Fishing Rod |
| Where to Find Fish |
| Pulling Fish In |
| How to Cook Fish |
First You Need a Fishing Rod
Before you can fish, you’ll need to get a Fishing Rod from one of the few NPCs in Valheim. You can find a character named Haldor in the Black Forest who sells a few items. Our NPC guide here explains how to find Haldor and what they sell. The main items you’ll need for this guide is a Fishing Rod (350 Coins) and Fishing Bait (10 Coins for 50). If you don’t have enough coins, you can sell any item with “Valuable” in its description to Haldor. Examples include Rubies, Amber, Amber Pearls, e.g.
Once you get Fishing Bait, it’s important to know that anytime you cast out your rod, one bait will be used. It doesn’t need to be equipped or unequipped so long as it’s in your inventory. If you don’t have any Fishing Bait, a message will appear saying you can’t use the rod.
Find Fish in a River or the Ocean
Now that you have a Fishing Rod and some Fishing Bait, you’ll need to find some fish. There are three different sizes each providing a different amount of Raw Fish (1, 2, 4). Once you’ve found some, equip your Fishing Rod and cast out the line with left-click. How long you hold down left-click decides how far it casts out. The trick here is to not do it too far, as you’ll need stamina to pull a fish back in when it’s hooked. So long as your bob is near the fish you’ll be okay, it doesn’t need to be directly on them. It seems you can get away with having your line as short as even 5m.
Get Ready to Pull the Fish In
After a short time of your bob being near fish, one will eventually swim near it and pull the bob under. This primarily shows a large water splash animation. Once this happens, right-click to start pulling the fish in. If you do this correctly, a message will appear saying “Hooked” once it’s being pulled in. All you have to do now is hold right-click until the fish is in your inventory.
If the fish is on land but not in your inventory yet, you can likely grab it manually as well. This is because they can’t survive on land in Valheim. So don’t be surprised if you see a random dead fish on the shore because of the current changing. If you accidentally press left-click instead of reeling them in at any point, you’ll need to wait for them to bite again, unfortunately.
How to Cook Fish
As there’s only one meat you get regardless of the fish size caught, there are two recipes for cooking fish. First, you can cook Raw Fish over a campfire with a cooking station. This should take about 30 seconds for it to become cooked. If you wait too much longer, it will turn to coal the same way Raw Meat does. All you need to do is listen for a sound when it becomes cooked and it will appear much darker in color.
The second option is to cook the Raw Fish and turn it into Fish Wraps at a Cauldron. This recipe requires 2 Cooked Fish and 4 Barley Flour. You won’t have access to a Cauldron until you’ve killed the first boss and made Tin Bars. Getting Barley Flour requires a Windmill which you can’t make until killing the fourth boss. Every Valheim boss and their rewards are in our guide here. If you’re wondering how to get Barley, you can find it in the tough Plains biome.
If you have any questions about how to fish in Valheim or anything else, feel free to ask below in the comments. It’s also possible to knock fish out of the water using a Stagbreaker weapon, but this isn’t consistent enough. For more Valheim guides, head to our guide hub here for every guide available.
Jeff is a journalist with over 10 years of experience writing, streaming, and making content about video games. With an associate degree in journalism, he’s a sucker for RPGs, survival games, roguelikes, and more.