No Man's Sky - Fishing 101

Welcome to this guide! The Aquarius update introduced fishing to No Man's Sky, and while easy at first glance there's a lot to talk about. Here you can learn how to become a master angler and catch all the fish the universe has to offer. This guide will go over the basics, as well as the more advanced mechanics. Finally I will end with a complete catalogue you can refer to in case you are missing any and you want to look it up.

Don't hesitate to post a comment if you have any questions!

First you need to acquire a fishing rod. You can unlock this in the Anomaly for 1 nanite. You then need to install it in your multi-tool for 3 carbon nanotubes, 1 di-hydrogen jelly and 60 chromatic metal. And that's all you need to get started! There is also an other variant of the fishing rod called the Lost Angler's Rig, which is a reward of the Aquarius expedition. This one just looks different, and beside aesthetics it's functionality is exactly the same. Just find a planet with water, select your fishing rod by swapping weapons on your multi-tool, cast it into the water and wait. After a short while three fish will appear circling around your bobber. One fish will eventually to start nibble on your bobber. While you can technically catch a fish the moment it starts nibbling, the timing is really strict so you should just wait. After nibbling 1-5 times you will actually hook the fish guaranteed. Then just hold the trigger to reel it in. You will get a fish in your inventory. After catching some fish you can opt to release them. You need to stand in the water, after which you can get a prompt over the item to release them. This will yield you some nice nanites, which is probably a better choice than selling them or using them for cooking. You can't find every fish on just one planet. If you want to catch all fish you will need to move a few times. The first restriction is the biome. There are currently ten categories: common, toxic, irradiated, scorched, frozen, lush, barren, waterworld, gas giant and exotic. The first category can be found on any planet, but the other fish can only be found on planets with that specific biome. Each biome has 7C, 6B, 4A and 4S class fish, with the S class being the rarest to find.

The second restriction is depth. Fish come in four sizes: small, medium, large, colossal. The small and medium fish can mainly be found in shallow water, while the others can be found in deeper water. I don't know what exactly counts as shallow and deep according to the game, and I've found both types sometimes on the same spot, but I would say around 50 units is a safe bet. Don't see it as a hard limit, but more as something to increase your odds. When throwing your fishing line you will see the current depth on the bottom left.

The final restriction is that some fish can only be found in a specific condition. Some can only be found during the day while others only during the night. There is also a handful of fish which can only be caught during a storm, which is probably the hardest category.

All restrictions can be found in the catalogue in this guide.

To increase your odds to catch specific fish you can apply bait. This is done through your multi-tool or by using the quick menu. There are a couple official bait recipes which you unlock with the fishing rod, but you can also apply other things like caught fish or items from cooking. Applying the bait will list it's benefits.

Some bait will also increase the odds to catch fish which only appear at a specific condition, for example only during the night. However, this will just increase the odds! You still can't find a nocturnal fish during the day.

You can also unlock a skiff which you can use as fishing boat. It is an upgrade for your exo-suit and is also unlocked at the Anomaly. However, you easily get knocked off at rough seas and it doesn't add that much in my opinion. If you want to fish in peace in deep water I recommend to just fish on top of your starship (if you have the aquatic lander), or just build a base instead to protect yourself from the elements. There is also a small chance to get junk while fishing. You can just discard this. Sometimes you will receive an upgrade module. The stats are terrible and they share the upgrade limit of three with other modules, so you probably won't have a use for them. You won't find any junk when using high quality bait. The game also provides a machine which you can place in the water to catch fish automatically. However, fish caught with this device does not count for your catalogue, so it's kinda pointless to use if you want to unlock everything.

If you plan to catch all fish you need a good strategy to avoid wasting time. First of all, you can ignore anything in the common biome category. Since they can be caught on any planet you will finish it way before the biome specific ones.

The most difficult fish to find are the ones that only appear during a storm, followed by the ones during a specific time of day. The latter can however easily be solved by moving to the other side of the planet. You can't really predict a storm (other than them being more common on extreme planets), so whenever one hits you want to get the most use out of it. I recommend to use the magpulse lure which increases the chance to get fish only appearing during storms.

You will need to fish on two spots when you found a correct planet for both the shallow and deep water. Also take note of the catalogue. If you already caught all fish in shallow water there is no point in staying around. I noted there is always a small chance to find small and medium sized fish in deep water, while colossal fish can't be found in shallow water.

I recommend to always fish with bionic lure if you can afford it. This will give you about 5% chance to get an S class fish. C class fish won't be really common with it. If you did catch all A/S class fish you can go without bait instead. When bionic lure is too expensive: good alternatives are spicy chum and meal worms. If that's still too much you can opt for chromatic metal or salt as cheap option.

To summarize, this is the best course of action:

• Make sure you are in the correct biome.
  
• First fish in deep water, as any fish size can be found there.
  
• Move to shallow water if you only need smaller size fish.
  
• Use bionic lure if affordable.
  
• Use magpulse lure during storms.
  
• Game the minigame if you only need a specific size (see below).

You can actually predict which size you will catch based on the models of the fish in the water. When you throw out your line three fish will appear. Two of them will always be medium sized, while the third will be either small, medium, large or colossal. That third fish (which also may appear first, it's random) will actually start nibbling on your line.

To give an example: if you see 2 medium + 1 large fish you will always get you a large catch, while 2 medium + 1 small fish will always yield a small catch. Having 3 equally sized fish will result in a medium sized catch, as the two decoy fish are always medium sized.

If for example the only remaining fish you need to catch is a medium sized S class, you can just reel as soon as you see anything but a medium fish appear, because it definitely won't be the catch you are looking for. This will save you bait, as it will only be consumed once a fish starts nibbling. But more importantly this will also save you a lot of time! It can however sometimes be difficult to see when the water is rough (for example during a storm) or when you cast the line far away.

If you can't find any deep water on a planet, you can just use the terrain manipulator on your multi-tool to dig a deep hole. This should allow you get to get to at least 40-50 units of depth on most spots. It can sometimes be a bit difficult to get your line on top of the hole correctly however, so a natural deep spot is always easier if you can find it.

Catching fish will yield you some cosmetic rewards. The following helmets can be unlocked, which can only be equipped by using the Anomaly race:

Catch the "Old Boot" flotsam five times. Release 60 fish. Catch a total of 250 fish. Sell a bunch of fish at the galatic trade terminal. Catch a Child of Aquarius, then use it in the water to spawn a boss and kill it. Catch all legendary S class fish.

These fish can appear on any planet.

These fish can appear on planets with the following prefix: acidic, acrid, blighted, caustic, corrosive, miasmatic, noxious, poisonous, rotting, toxic

These fish can appear on planets with the following prefix: contaminated, decaying nuclear, gamma-intensive, high energy, high radio source, irradiated, isotopic, nuclear, supercritical, radioactive

These fish can appear on planets with the following prefix: arid, boiling, charred, fiery, high temperature, hot, incandescent, scalding, scorched, torrid

These fish can appear on planets with the following prefix: arctic, freezing, frostbound, frozen, glacial, hiemal, hyperborean, icebound, icy, sub-zero

These fish can appear on planets with the following prefix: bountiful, flourishing, grassy, humid, overgrown, paradise, rainy, temperate, tropical, verdant, viridescent

These fish can appear on planets with the following prefix: abandoned, barren, bleak, desert, desolate, dusty, parched, rocky, wind-swept

These fish can appear on planets with the following prefix: aquatic, drowning, endless seas, marine, oceanic, tidal, waterlocked, waterworld

Note: These planets only appear in purple star systems, unlocked by a quest.

These fish can appear on gas giants.

Note: These planets only appear in purple star systems, unlocked by a quest.

These fish can appear on planets with the following prefix: azure, blood, cerulean, chromatic fog, crimson, deathly green anomaly, doomed jade, frozen anomaly, harsh blue globe, haunted emeril, lost blue, lost green, lost red, planetary anomaly, scarlet, stellar corruption detected, toxic anomaly, ultramarine, vermillion globe, vile anomaly, winedark, [REDACTED]

Note: These planets only appear in red, green and blue star systems.