New World fishing guide tips: How to fish, poles & where to get bait

New World has an ample amount of interesting mechanics for players to dive into, and fishing is no exception. From rod types to the different fish to catch, it’s not all cut and dry. 

New World has something for every type of player to find enjoyment from, whether through crafting, becoming a powerful Great Axe wielder, or a spellbinding AoE Mage.

Fishing is just one of these, taking place out in the wild of the gorgeous island of Aeternum, and is similar to the other crafting professions available.

With different baits and rod tiers to increase the likelihood of catching better fish in the game, there are lots of moving parts to be aware of.

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Contents

• How to fish in New World
• Crafting a fishing pole in New World
• New World fishing poles
• Where to get fishing bait in New World
• Fish locations
• How to level up fishing ranks in New World

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How to fish in New World

In order to fish in New World, simply follow these steps:

1. Find a lake or other body of water.
2. Once there, press F3 to take out your fishing pole.
3. If you want to use bait, press R to equip it.
4. Hold down the left mouse button to indicate how far to throw your line.
5. Once happy with the distance, release the button, and you’ll cast out into the water.
6. When an icon of a fish and hook appears, press the left mouse button again to hook it.
7. If successful, a check mark will appear.
8. Following this, an indicator will appear with a white circle that slowly fills up.
9. Keep an eye on this indicator as it changes from green to orange and red.
10. Let go of the button once it turns red and starts shaking.
11. Once it returns to green, press the button again.
12. Complete this process until the indicator fills up.
13. That’s it – you’ll now have caught your first fish!

While catching the fish itself is easy to do, there’s a lot more to be aware of to fully reap the rewards.

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Crafting a fishing pole in New World

To craft a simple Wooden Fishing Pole, all you need to do is follow these steps:

• Obtain 1x Fiber. These can be obtained by harvesting them from Hemp plants.
• Obtain 1x Green Wood. These are readily available by collecting resources from bushes throughout the world.
• Head to a campfire, and craft a Wooden Fishing Pole.

As well as the standard pole you can craft from the outset, there are an additional 4 tiers available, with each one increasing your cast distance, the likelihood of catching a rarer fish. Higher pole tiers also require a high skill in Enginerring to craft successfully.

Fishing pole tiers in New World

As well as these 5 tiers, adventurers can also choose from a variety of other fishing poles once you’ve reached Tier 5. Currently, these include:

The first four poles will drop from Elite enemies throughout the map, but the Legendary poles are reserved for those true fisher folk out there, being reserved for those that complete the fishing questline.

Note: Due to the game’s always-online nature, this could change. If it does, we’ll update you here.

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Where to get fishing bait in New World

While bait is completely optional to use when fishing, it will dramatically increase how quickly you get a bite, while also boosting your chances of catching rarer fish.

• Read More: Factions guide

Players can find bait throughout the New World environment, such as by searching in Briar or Bulrush bushes. These are located around lakes and water beds. Other baits require crafting to obtain. The full list of all available baits are shown below:

New World fishing locations

Aeternum is full of different bodies of water to catch all manner of fish. New World fans have put together an interactive map that shows you all of the best places a budding fisherman should check out:

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How to level up fishing ranks in New World

There’s a few steps you can take to speed up the process of leveling up your fishing ranks in New World. First of all, make sure you’re upgrading all of your tools, optimizing gear, and adding buffs.

In addition, you should prioritize casting in deep water as opposed to shallow water. This is because fish bite faster in deep water which significantly reduces the amount of time you spend on this activity.

Finally, this may sound simple, but remember to always use bait! While fish will bite without the use of bait, we’ve found that using it cuts this time in half which will undoubtedly increase efficiency and allow you to level up faster.

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So, there you have it – that’s everything you need to know about fishing in New World.

To become the best adventurer that the island of Aeternum has ever seen, check out our guides and tips:

New World faction guide | How to get the Waning Crescent staff | Life Staff mastery tree | Fiber and Linen guide | Great Axe guide | Fishing guide | Where to find sheep | Candied Strawberries | AoE Mage guide | Ice Gauntlet guide | Saltpeter locations | Iron Ore locations