How do you get around the fishing minigame?

[Marshbouy]

I deeply despise fishing in this game, but I don't want to cheap out and go the Joja mart way again. I want to finsih the bundles, but I can't fish to save my life.

[josseriot]

Visit the traveling cart every Friday adn Sunday before 8 PM. Her inventory changes up each time and over time you can collect pretty much all the fish from her. That's what I did in my first playthru because I kind of hate the fishing miniigame too.

[Silky Rough]

Keep fishing for carp and the easy fish, get the skills up and upgrade to iridium rod and cork bobs etc.. Also eat lobster bisque or dish-o-the-sea for additional "fishing bar".

Obviously you can try modding it but if you don't want to cheap out... perserverance is all you have.

[rad rat ray]

Originally posted by ry62747:

I deeply despise fishing in this game, but I don't want to cheap out and go the Joja mart way again. I want to finsih the bundles, but I can't fish to save my life.

traveling cart sells the vast majority of fish needed for the bundle, you can probably complete it without doing much fishing at all. not sure if she sells some of the really easy fish though

[NotThatHarkness]

I don't care for the fishing game myself. I start easy, use food with fishing skill buffs, and wait for the iridium rod upgrade before I tackle any difficult fish.

Start with the pond in the secret forest area (once you've upgraded your axe). There's mostly carp there on sunny days and they are very easy to catch. I focus on that area until I can get the skill level required for the deluxe rod. After that the waters in the forest south of the farm and by the mining area are the next easiest. Ocean seems to be the hardest.

Willy sells trout soup which temporarily buffs fishing by 1 skill level. That helps some. There are other recipes (dish-o-the-sea, fish taco, etc) which you can learn then cook which have fishing buffs (up to +3). You get three dish-o-the-sea meals from one of the fishing bundles.

Fishing gets easier as the fishing skill goes up. The iridium rod helps and allows you to use tackle which itself helps in various ways. But first you have to get to fishing level 6 which I find ot be a pain in both games I've played.

I buy the harder fish from the ♥♥♥♥♥. I also buy food with fishing buffs when they come up in her inventory.

At least one of the bundles can be finished (or mostly finished) just by foraging items from the beach.

[DrakenKin]

I ignored fishing for the longest time, but it was a mistake.

I only finished the community center in year 3 for this reason, i had everything unlocked but the fish part... and community center unlocks other things so it really slows down your progression.

Fishing start out as being a nightmare, but it becomes easy very fast when you get the second, then third rod. It becomes even easier and levels up even faster when you unlock the "crab pots" which are basically traps you can lay for fish and it catches fish without you fishing, just spam those and you will reach level 10 fishing in no time.

I would not neglect fishing if i was you, even if you hate it. Don't make the same mistake i did.

I hated it at first but now it is fine, i am even collecting all fish and only need 5 more to have gotten all the fishes in the game including legendaries.

But more importantly, it gives you gold and energy early, it lets you make advanced fertilizers, fill quests that boost friendship, cook (and there are cooking achievements and the best spammable food for energy in the game is made of fish), etc. You're not choosing knight vs archer here, every skill in the game including fishing is useful and you'd miss out if you skip it.

[Nakos]

The Crab pot bundle can be completed using 5 items.

Four of these items can be foraged from the beach. The fifth can be gotten from the hermit crabs in the mines. This will let you obtain 3 Crab pots. Using the Crab pots does count as fishing and will help level your skill.

As your skill goes up, the green bar gets bigger, making it easier.

There's also buff food (Trout Soup, sold by Willy) and Dish O' the Sea (which you'll probably have to make yourself I'm afraid, although one of the fishing bundles does reward you with 5).

Try fishing for Carp in the Mountain Lake. Carp are sluggish. They'll often just sit there and let you reel them in (in other words, you can "catch" them without actually playing the mini game at all).

This will also help level your skill. As your skill levels, the fishing mini game gets easier.