Fishing Rod: free catches, lure tiers and quest bait

Begin with the free Forest pool

The Fishing Rod introduces regular fish at the Forest stage. Its recorded no-lure pool contains Mackerel, Gar and Pike, with base values of $6, $5 and $12. This gives you a way to rebuild a small budget before spending on lures.

Choose bait according to the creature or quest you need. A higher-priced lure serves a different pool; price alone does not make it the correct setup for an earlier missing species.

Budget by island stage

The regular tiers follow the main island route. Boss lures are separate purchases and should be budgeted with the equipment needed for their encounters.

Keep quest triggers outside the shopping routine

Leech Bait comes from the Forest three-Leech exchange; the Carrot comes from the Desert Tourist trade. Later, the Tuna body attracts Albatross and the Scientist’s five-fish hand-in provides Whale Bait. Some route triggers are carried bodies rather than another lure to buy.

Before fishing, identify the next required object. After fishing, check whether the catch is needed for a trade or encounter before selling it. This simple hand-off check prevents useful earning trips from removing a story item.

Use Fishipedia for return trips

Patch 1.1.3 adds bait names to entries after the creature has been defeated once. Use that in-game hint for repeat catches and the newer Fishipedia guide for Islet Update additions. The launch-era tier table does not claim to enumerate every later bait.

Guide images

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Useful next stops

• All bait and lure tiers
• Fishing controls
• Fishipedia guide
• Forest Island route