Looking for how to fish in Terraria? You’ll need a few things before you can go fishing in Terraria including bait and an appropriate fishing rod. You’ll also need to unlock the angler NPC in whichever town you’ve decided to set up your Terraria house in.
Angler NPC’s will set you various fishing quests each day for a chance to win rewards. There’s not always a guarantee that you’ll earn each reward, but with various Terraria wings, trophies, treasure maps, and Terraria potions all on offer, it’s still worth the bother.
You can fish in either water, honey, or even lava if you have the right equipment. You can fashion a basic fishing pole using eight pieces of wood. However, for better poles, you’ll either need to craft, trade, receive them as quest rewards, or find them in chests. You can use your new catch to either complete an angler quest, trade, or craft potions or food. Here’s a quick guide on everything you need to know about fishing in Terraria.
How to fish in Terraria
Once you have a fishing pole, you’ll also need a body of water that’s at least 75 tiles deep, 1000 tiles for an ocean, and only 50 for honey. Stand by the edge of your chosen liquid (it won’t work if you’re submerged or standing in it) and press use/attack with the fishing rod. You’ll need bait in your inventory for this to work. All bait has an associated power level, which determines the likelihood of it being consumed. Here are the different Terraria baits, their power, and biomes:
| Bait | Biome | Power |
| Monarch Butterfly | Forest | 5% |
| Grasshopper | Forest | 10% |
| Scorpion | Desert | 10% |
| Sulphur Butterfly | Forest | 10% |
| Snail | Underground | 10% |
| Black Scorpion | Desert | 15% |
| Glowing Snail | Glowing Mushroom | 15% |
| Grubby | Surface Jungle | 15% |
| Zebra Swallowtail Butterfly | Forest | 15% |
| Apprentice Bait | Angler Quest Reward | 15% |
| Ladybug | Windy Day | 17% |
| Water Strider | Surface + Day | 17% |
| Ulysses Butterfly | Forest | 20% |
| Pink Jellyfish | Ocean | 20% |
| Green Jellyfish | Underground | 20% |
| Blue Jellyfish | Underground | 20% |
| Firefly | Forest | 20% |
| Maggot | Graveyard | 22% |
| Julia Butterfly | Forest | 25% |
| Sluggy | Surface Jungle | 25% |
| Worm | Forest/Underground | 25% |
| Red Admiral Butterfly | Forest | 30% |
| Journeyman Bait | Angler Quest Reward | 30% |
| Enchanted Nightcrawler | Crafted | 35% |
| Purple Emperor Butterfly | Forest | 35% |
| Lightning Bug | Hallow | 35% |
| Buggy | Surface Jungle | 40% |
| Tree Nymph Butterfly | Forest | 50% |
| Master Bait | Angler Quest Reward | 50% |
| Gold Worm | Forest | 50% |
| Gold Butterfly | Forest | 50% |
| Gold Grasshopper | Surface | 50% |
| Gold Dragonfly | Surface | 50% |
| Gold Ladybug | Windy Day | 50% |
| Gold Water Strider | Surface + Day | 50% |
| Truffle Worm (Duke Fishron only) | Glowing Mushroom | 666% |
Terraria fishing quests
When anglers set the daily fishing quest, they’ll specify the height and biome in which you’ll need to catch the fish. This is always the case, so for example, they might send you to a forest biome to catch a Cloudfish at sky height.
How to fish in lava
Yes, it is possible, required you have the right equipment. There’s a high reward for successfully catching the fish lurking in lava, including an Obsidian Swordfish that can be used to create a spear. Here’s what you’ll need to fish in lava:
- Hotline fishing hook – can be obtained from the angler after completing 25 or more fishing quests
- Hell Butterfly, Magma Snail, Lavafly – bait used to fish in lava which can only be caught in the underworld, using a lavaproof bug net or golden bug net
- Lavaproof fishing hook – found in Obsidian crates and Hellstone crates. When equipped, the player is able to catch fish in lava using any bait and any fishing pole
Now you know how to fish in Terraria, you can take on the Duke Fishron Terraria boss, that can only be summoned by fishing. Or, if this fishing malarkey doesn’t sound as relaxing as you first thought, he’s how to focus on raising your NPC happiness in Terraria.