Fishing Rod

Fishing from a seat

The Fishing Rod is a tool in ARK: Survival Evolved for catching fish and the rewards they bring. Its description sums up the method: "Apply various bait to this, and then use when sitting on a chair or bench to catch some fish!" Besides a Wooden Chair or Wooden Bench, the ARK Wiki says a Canoe or a Pelagornis on the water also works as a seat.

Casting and reeling in

Look for water where Coelacanth, Sabertooth Salmon or Piranha can be seen below the surface, and set your seat so that it faces a large group of them. Drag a bait onto the rod to load it, aim at the water and cast with the left mouse button. A fish must stay in the attract radius before it bites: 20 to 42 seconds with Sap, 45 to 90 seconds with Leech Blood.

A bite starts a quick-time event: within up to 21 seconds you must press every key that appears, drawn at random from nine left-hand keys (A, C, D, E, Q, S, W, X and Z). Bigger fish need more presses while distance changes nothing, and the number is always a multiple of 4. Succeed and the catch lands in your inventory with a message; a wrong key or running out of time snaps the line and loses both fish and bait. Right-clicking, opening the inventory or standing up while the line is out also cancels and costs the bait, but pressing K to look around is safe.

Bait, species and rewards

Besides Raw Prime Fish Meat and Raw Fish Meat, fish can yield resources and blueprints. Larger fish are more likely to give those extras, while smaller, lower-quality fish may only give meat.

Species and bait each come with their own coefficient values. Coel have a lower multiplier than Salmon, so Salmon give loot from higher quality tiers. Of the 3 baits, Leech Blood has the highest value, Honey comes next and Sap is last; Honey can hook bigger fish than Leech Blood, though, so the wiki advises saving it for fish too large for Leech Blood.

Engram, recipe and limits

The engram unlocks at level 18 for 15 engram points, with the Bow as its prerequisite. A rod takes 10 seconds to craft, gives 9 XP and needs 12 Wood or Fungal Wood, 50 Fiber and 20 Thatch. It weighs 10 and has 100 durability, but it cannot be repaired, and a Fishing Rod blueprint allows only three crafts. In loot, 163 crate types can contain it, such as the Alpha Mosasaur and Alpha Tusoteuthis crates; our records list it on 9 maps.