Fishing
Rods, nets and bait, what lives in which water, and why it pays to go out to sea.
Make a fishing rod at any fire, then tap water within a cast of where you're standing. You'll cast, wait for a bite, and either land something or not, and then cast again by yourself. You keep going until you stop, walk off, or run out of energy, so it's a good thing to do while you wait on a crop or for someone to turn up. It doesn't take much out of you.
From a boat it works the same way. Tap the water near you, or tap your own boat to fish right over the side. She stops while you fish, and rowing off puts the rod away.
Where the fish are#
Every kind of water has its own fish. Creeks have trout, lakes have perch and pike, and the sea has mackerel close in and cod further out. A few only live in the cold north or the warm south, so it's worth wetting a line wherever you travel.
| Water | What it is | What lives there |
|---|---|---|
| Creeks and small streams | A stream narrower than 4 m. Most of the little ones running off the hills. | Brook trout, Eel, Arctic char |
| Rivers | The big rivers, wide enough that you can't jump them. | Perch, Eel, Catfish, Pike, Salmon, Sturgeon |
| Lakes | Lakes of any size. Some fish only live where they're deep. | Perch, Eel, Whitefish, Catfish, Pike, Arctic char, Sturgeon |
| Marsh and reed beds | The reedy shallows round the edge of a lake. | Perch, Eel, Catfish, Pike |
| Ponds and ditches you dig | Water you let in by digging. Not much lives there. | Perch |
| The sea, close in | The sea along the coast, under 2 m deep. You can reach it from a beach. | Salmon, Mackerel, Herring, Lobster |
| The sea, offshore | The sea from 2 to 5 m deep, a few hundred metres out. You need a boat. | Mackerel, Herring, Haddock, Cod |
| The deep sea | Past 5 m, out in the open water between the landmasses, the best part of a kilometre from shore. | Herring, Cod, Halibut, Bluefin tuna |
Every fish#
| Fish | Weight | Meals | Land it at | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Perch | 0.3 kg | 1 | Fishing 1 | Small and striped, and there are plenty of them. |
| Brook trout | 0.5 kg | 1 | Fishing 1 | Speckled, and quick. They like cold running water. |
| Mackerel | 0.5 kg | 1 | Fishing 1 | Shoals along the coast. Easy to catch. |
| Herring | 0.3 kg | 1 | Fishing 1 | Small silver fish in big shoals. A net brings up a few at a time. |
| Eel | 1.5 kg | 2 | Fishing 4 | They come out after dark. |
| Lobster | 1 kg | roast whole | Fishing 5 | Crawls on the bottom close in. It goes for bait far more than a bare hook. |
| Haddock | 2 kg | 2 | Fishing 5 | Off the coast, a little way out. |
| Whitefish | 1.5 kg | 2 | Fishing 6 | Lives down deep in the lakes. |
| Cod | 6 kg | 5 | Fishing 7 | The fish the whole coast lives on. Take a boat out past the shallows. |
| Catfish | 5 kg | 3 | Fishing 8 | Only in the warm south. Bait helps a lot. |
| Pike | 4 kg | 3 | Fishing 9 | Long and toothy. Waits in the weeds for something smaller. |
| Arctic char | 2 kg | 2 | Fishing 12 | Only in the cold north. |
| Salmon | 5 kg | 4 | Fishing 14 | Runs up the rivers from the sea. Look for them at the river mouths too. |
| Halibut | 20 kg | 12 | Fishing 18 | A great flat fish off the bottom of the deep sea. |
| Sturgeon | 35 kg | 20 | Fishing 25 | Old as the hills and as long as a canoe. Only in big, deep water. |
| Bluefin tuna | 45 kg | 30 | Fishing 30 | The biggest thing in the sea you can land from a boat, and the hardest. |
Below a fish's level it can still take your hook, but it'll often get away. If you hear that something big took it and threw the hook, there's a fish in that water you're not ready for yet. Keep at it and you'll get it.
Going out to sea#
The deep sea is where fishing really pays. Halibut and bluefin tuna live nowhere else, and a single tuna cooks into 30 meals. The fish out there haven't seen a hook, so they bite quicker too: about 15% quicker offshore and 30% quicker in the deep. Now and then something other than a fish comes up from the deep, and ambergris is worth keeping.
Big fish are heavy, though. A halibut is 20 kg and a tuna 45 kg, and if you haven't the room in your pack you'll have to let it go. Go out light. The first of each of the big ones anyone lands makes the Lantern, and every sturgeon and tuna does.
Bait#
Dig soil with a shovel and about one time in 3 you'll turn up a few worms. With worms in your pack, Fish with worms puts one on the hook each cast. Bites come about 25% quicker, fewer casts come up empty, and some fish go for it far more than a bare hook: pike, catfish, halibut, and lobsters most of all.
Nets#
At Fishing 10 and Crafting 3 you can knot a net at a fire from 2 hides. Take it out in a boat, where the water is at least 1.5 m deep, and Cast the net over the side. It brings up 2 to 5 small fish at a time, nothing over 2 kg, and it doesn't need bait. Herring and mackerel come up by the netful at sea.
Cooking what you catch#
Any fish cooks at a lit fire into grilled fish, as many meals as the fish is big. A lobster roasts whole. At Cooking 5 you can turn a fish, a potato and some water into fish chowder, one of the best meals there is. See Cooking.
Eels come out after dark, and that's the best time to fish for them.