Fishing is a new mechanic in Red Dead Redemption 2 and Red Dead Online. Much like hunting, it plays a prominent role in the game. Players can catch and hunt various species of fish for survival, sport and money. Catching fish is also required for the completion of several challenges in Story mode and some daily challenges in Online mode (there are also several Free Roam Events that involve fishing). Additionally, fishing is an effective way to level up the protagonist's health.

Description

Fishing is done through the use of a fishing rod (although there are some other ways to get fish). When a fish is caught, the player may cook it and eat cooked fish to restore cores, donate it to the camp, or sell it for profit. In addition, uncooked flesh of some fish can be used for crafting predator baits.

Species

There are 15 species of fish that can be caught in Red Dead Redemption 2, with each species having its own legendary version. All of them will differ in weight and size when caught. Fish are commonly found in rivers, lakes, ponds and swamps. Some species can be caught almost everywhere while others are exclusive to one habitat or region.

The following species appear in Red Dead Redemption 2 and Red Dead Online (Legendary versions only appear in the former):

Note: Preferred baits of each species of fish are listed according to the Official Guide, but in practice all species of the same size group are equally attracted to all baits and lures of the same category (read more details below).

Locations

Bluegill

Bullhead Catfish

Chain Pickerel

Channel Catfish

Lake Sturgeon

Largemouth Bass

Longnose Gar

Muskie

Northern Pike

Perch

Redfin Pickerel

Rock Bass

Smallmouth Bass

Sockeye Salmon

Steelhead Trout

Tools of the Trade

The primary tool for fishing is fishing rod, which is unlocked during the mission "A Fisher of Men". However, fishing rod can be stolen from a fishing NPC before that, but only a few basic baits will be available and catching Bluegills won't count towards the first Survivalist challenge before "A Fisher of Men" is complete.

Another tool for fishing is baits and lures, all of which, except a few basic baits, can be bought from the bait shop, general stores and the Trapper after they're unlocked by progression through the story.

Tips

Location

• It's a good idea to take note of good locations for each species of fish. For example, one of the best areas to catch Sockeye Salmon is in O'Creagh's Run, especially during cloudy weather. There are online interactive maps that show all spawn areas of all species of fish, but the knowledge about the best specific spots to catch specific species comes with experience. There are many factors that define location's quality, one of the most important is whether the desired species shares its habitat with other species of the same size group that are attracted to the same baits and lures.
• Choosing a fishing spot clear of obstacles is advised, because they can break the line prematurely.

Baits and Lures

• Choosing proper baits and lures will help catching fish more easily. Generally, fish of different size groups have their preferred categories of baits and lures, but in practice there is no special attractiveness of a specific bait or lure to a specific species of fish, despite their descriptions and the existence of "habitat-specific" lures that supposedly work better in corresponding bodies of water. It has been tested extensively by many players - it is much more effective to spot the fish of the desired species with Eagle Eye and cast as close to it as possible whatever specific bait or lure is equipped.
  • All small fish are attracted equally well to bread, corn, cheese or any kind of live bait (worms, crickets and crayfish) – fish that is the closest to the bait has the most chances to be attracted to it. Small fish can't be caught with lures.
  • All medium fish are attracted equally well to any kind of live bait or lure, but can be also caught with bread, corn or cheese if there are no small fish that are close to the bait. If there are a lot of small fish swimming around, it's better to use lures that don't attract them at all, instead of live bait.
  • All large fish are attracted equally well to any kind of lure, but can be also caught with live bait if there are no medium fish that are close to the bait. Large fish ignore bread, corn and cheese.
  • Legendary fish can be caught only with special lures, which can be bought at Bait & Tackle Shop in Lagras after initiating "A Fisher of Fish". There are no special preferences for a specific kind, all legendary fish are attracted equally well to any special lure (river, lake or swamp).

Casting and Reeling

1. Choose a spot where ripples appear in the water from surfacing fish. Sometimes you can see splashes or even fish jumping out of the water. If reflection doesn't obscure your vision, you can simply see fish in the water.
2. After you equip your fishing rod, you can activate eagle eye to see all the fish in the water regardless of the reflection – all fish will glow, and you can learn to identify their species by their silhouettes (see the picture in the gallery).
   • The notion that equipping the rod supposedly "makes fish spawn" is a misconception rooted in the observation that fish glow in eagle eye only when holding the rod. In fact, all wildlife is scripted to populate an area when the player approaches it, and, evidently, fish can be seen in the water without the rod. Only herbivore and predator baits can make animals spawn near them, but only outside of player's field of view and only in Story mode.
3. After spotting the fish you want to catch, cast as close to it as you can. It's better to choose fish that are as close as possible to you and are as far away as possible from fish of other species, if the bait you're using can attract them too. If you can move closer to the desired fish by walking along the shore, do it, it's always better to reduce the distance you will have to reel in the fish.
4. When using lures, slowly reel the lure in (in the real world, this technique is used to make lures look "alive"). With baits, just hold the rod still. If the fish moves, you can adjust bait's position by reeling in shortly and moving the rod sideways.
5. You can attract the fish by occasionally flicking the rode with R2/RT/LMB, but do it infrequently to avoid spooking the fish.
6. Fish will nibble at the bait before biting. The larger the fish, the longer it nibbles, so you can detect the size of the fish that took the bait. Wait until the fish actually bites and pulls the bait before hooking the fish.
7. After the fish is hooked, it struggles for a bit by swimming from side to side and pulling the line while splashing the water. When the fish is fighting, you need to tire the fish out by pulling the rod (by moving the Left stick or the mouse) opposite the direction the fish is swimming. If you reel in while the fish is fighting, the line may snap, so do it only when the fish is tired, evident by the lack of splashing water. It can then be done safely even with max reeling speed. You may need to stop reeling and tire the fish out again if it starts fighting again – sometimes it needs to be repeated several times if the fish was far from you when it was hooked, especially when catching large or Legendary fish. On the contrary, when the casting distance is fairly short, you can reel in small or even medium fish successfully in one go without the need to tire them out in the middle, as long as you maximize the reeling speed first.
   • When large or Legendary fish are fighting, they are strong enough to unwind the reel and slowly pull away. To prevent this, you can lock the reel with Right stick/Space (like you do to reel in), but if you hold it for too long while the fish is fighting, the line will snap, so you need to release it and give the fish some line every 2-2.5 seconds.
   • You can pull the fish faster by maximizing the reel speed (by pushing down the Left stick on controller or hitting the R key several times on keyboard). In addition, you can also pull the fish even faster by constantly moving the rod up and down or left and right (with Left stick/wide mouse movements), or by occasionally pulling the rod up with increased force by pressing R2/RT/LMB for about a second – when you release the button, the rod moves down while the reeling speed is multiplied for a short time.

Method and Controls on PC

1. Hold right mouse button for the entire time you are fishing.
2. Quickly hold and release left mouse button to cast the bait (the longer you hold, the farther you will cast).
3. If you are using bait, simply wait for the fish to bite. With a a lure, you must reel it in by pressing space (using R to reel in faster or F to reel in slower).
   • You can maximize the reel speed by pressing R several times right after the cast, then reel in by shortly pressing space key every second or so instead of holding it down.
   • You can occasionally flick the rode to attract fish by clicking left mouse button, but don't do it too often to avoid spooking the fish.
4. When the fishing rod bends, press the left mouse button to hook the fish.
5. The fish will fight for a few seconds, splashing water. Move your mouse in the opposite direction, without pressing any buttons or keys (except for the right mouse button which must be held down at all times).
   • As explained in the previous section, with large or Legendary fish you can prevent it from slowly pulling away while fighting by pressing space key, but only for short durations of not more than 2.5 seconds, otherwise the line will snap!
6. When the fish stops fighting, press and hold space to reel in and repeatedly move your mouse up and down or left and right as far as possible until the fish starts fighting again. Maximize the reeling speed by pressing R several times, if you haven't done it already.
7. When the fish fights again, stop reeling and repeat step 5, then continue reeling in until the fish is out of the water.

Getting fish without a Fishing Rod

• Players can shoot fish in shallow water and then pick them up. However, all weapons except a Bow with Small Game Arrows will leave the fish in a poor state. Only a Small Game Arrow will preserve the quality of the fish, though it must be close to the surface, otherwise the arrow will slow down in the water and lose energy.
• Using Dynamite as a "depth charge" is an effective way to quickly get several fish at once, but it will leave all of them in a poor state and will also lower the protagonist's honor.
• While riding through shallow water, the player will often trample a fish with their horse, though it will obviously always be in a poor state after being crushed by a hoof.
• Sometimes, fish may swim up to shore, get stuck and die without quality loss. This can happen near players when they spend a significant amount of time in one spot wherever the water meets land. Players can simply find dead fish by the edge of the water, or drive the fish into the gentle-sloped bank by "chasing" them in very shallow water from the opposite side (one of the best places to do this are small shallow lagoons in the swamp near Crawdad Willies).
  • There are places where fish literally fall from the sky, like behind the waterfall near Granite Pass. Fish that swim down the Whinyard Strait simply fall down with the water and can be picked up from the cave's floor near the edge. If the player spends there enough time, they can gather quite a number of different fish including valuable Sockeye Salmon, all of them of perfect quality.

After Catching Fish

• When the fish is caught with fishing rod, players have an option to release it back to the water. This action will increase players' honor. Returning a Legendary fish back to the water allows the player to catch it again.
• When kept, small and medium fish are stored in the satchel, while large fish need to be carried in hands or on horseback. The horse can carry only one large fish at a time, as they take up as much room as animals such as wolves, or a bison pelt.
  • Like animal carcasses, the fish placed on horseback will decompose over time (without the Pronghorn Horn Trinket). Therefore, the player should donate, sell or cook the fish before this can happen.
• In order to use small or medium fish for cooking or crafting it needs to be broken down first. The player needs to open the satchel, find and select the fish, then the prompt to break it down will appear (only one fish at a time can be broken down). One small or medium fish turns into one piece of uncooked flesh regardless of its size or state of preservation. In Story mode, to cook a large fish the player needs to approach a campfire while holding the fish in their hands, then the prompt to cook will appear. A large fish gives 4 pieces of flesh, one of which will always be cooked. The player can cook 3 remaining pieces or leave all or some of them in the satchel for later use. Cooking and breaking down large fish is not possible in Red Dead Online, they can be only sold to a butcher.
• Besides cooking, gritty fish can be used to craft Potent Predator Baits.
• In Story mode, fish can be donated to Pearson for provisions. Donating whole fish carcasses in perfect state increases protagonist's honor. In Red Dead Online, Cripps has no use for fish; they can only be cooked or sold to a butcher.
• Players can also sell fish to butchers and are able to earn a considerable amount of money by catching and selling fish such as Sockeye Salmon and Steelhead Trout, due to their high selling price, especially in the regions where they're considered rare (like Salmon in Lemoyne). Furthermore, with fully upgraded satchel, the player can store in their inventory up to 99 fish of each species in Story mode or up to 40 in Online mode, potentially allowing for substantial profits.
• Legendary fish can't be broken down, cooked, donated or sold, only sent to Jeremy Gill via Post Office.

Effects/Rewards/Challenges

Health and Honor

• Fishing is a good way to level up protagonist's health – catching a fish with fishing rod gives quite a lot of Health XP (10 XP for every small fish, 20 XP for medium/large and 30 XP for legendary).
• Releasing caught fish gives a considerable amount of positive honor, so repeated catch and release is a good method to gain honor relatively quickly.
• On the other hand, blowing fish up with dynamite noticeably lowers player's honor.

Both of these aspects work the same in Story and Online modes.

Challenges, Missions, Events and Awards

Red Dead Redemption 2

• Catching fish is required for the completion of Master Hunter Challenge rank 8 and Survivalist Challenges ranks 1, 5, 9 and 10.
• Some main and side missions and companion activities involve fishing:
  • "A Fisher of Men" main mission and "A Fisher of Fish" side quest;
  • Go Fishing with Javier Escuella and Go Fishing with Kieran Duffy companion activities.

Red Dead Online

• Fishing is required for the completion of some daily challenges.
• There are some Free Roam Events that involve fishing ("River/Lake/Swamp fishing challenge").
• Posse versus competition "Biggest fish challenge".
• There is an award for catching all 15 species of fish.

Oversights

• If the player fishes from the farthest distance from the edge of the water allowed by the game, performing a catch and release will result in a throw that won't reach the water. They will still receive an honor gain from this act while being able to retrieve the fish without quality loss.
  • This also works with large fish like Lake Sturgeons, even though there is a dedicated cutscene for releasing two-handed catches as opposed to the short animation of throwing back small/medium fish.
• Reeling a fish onto dry land and cutting the line before the inspection animation plays will result in the fish getting stuck. It will continue to swim in place, but it will not die of its own accord.

Video

Achievements and Trophies

The player can attain these following trophies/achievement when specific requirements are achieved.

	IT WAS THIS BIG! 20 gamerscore Bronze bronze Catch a fish weighing at least 16 lbs (7.3 kg).

Gallery

Fish in Eagle Eye

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