Anyone looking to upgrade their Stardew Valley fishing skills will need three things to do so: patience, a better fishing rod, and some bait. While bait is pretty easy to come by in the game, it might be a little difficult to figure out how to use it. But if players want to catch the best legendary fish in Stardew Valley, they'll need a helping hand in the form of Stardew fishing bait.
Catching fish in Stardew Valley is much easier when players can bait their rods, but first, they will have to make the bait. Bait is made from Bug Meat, and Magic Bait can be made from one Radioactive Ore and three Bug Meat. Bug Meat is dropped by any bug-type monster, including Cave Flies, Grubs, and other Bugs. Radioactive Ore is found in The Mines and Skull Cavern.
Updated August 4, 2023 by Erik Petrovich: Stardew Valley is a much deeper game than it might first appear, with tons of side content and minigames like fishing to spice up what would otherwise be just a 2D farming simulator. Players who want to be on their A-game and maximize their fishing skill should try to get bait (and a rod that can use bait) as soon as possible. PC players will find it simple to equip bait to a rod in Stardew Valley as they can just drag it onto the fishing rod and call it a day. But console players and controller users have a special shortcut that lets them attach bait to a rod significantly faster than normal. Read on to find out how to put bait on a rod, and all the different types of bait Stardew players can expect to encounter.
What Does Bait Do In Stardew Valley?
Bait, when attached to a fishing rod in Stardew Valley, makes fish bite faster and more consistently. It goes a long way in making the fishing minigame feel much easier, even when only using the most basic bait. There are lots of different types of bait, but the one that many players want the most is magic bait.
Not only does it make fish bite faster, but it also allows a player to go for any type of fish that comes from the type of water they throw the line into, even if the season or time of day is not correct to find that specific fish. So, for example, Super Cucumbers are fish in Stardew Valley that can only be caught at night during the Summer or Fall in the Ocean. A magic bait would let this very rare fish be caught in the ocean, during the day or at night, any season of the year.
How To Use Stardew Valley Bait
In order to bait a rod, players first have to have upgraded to a rod that has a slot for bait. The Bamboo Fishing rod is great for starting out and beginning to level up the fishing skill in Stardew Valley, but players cannot use bait with this basic kind of pole. However, when a player upgrades to either the Fiberglass Rod or Iridium Rod, a bait slot opens up on the fishing pole. The Iridium Rod has an additional slot too, for a lure.
Adding bait to a fishing rod is relatively simple in all versions of Stardew Valley. PC players can drag and drop the bait into the correct slot, but there's a much simpler way to equip fishing bait Stardew Valley players can try: the Use key. Hover over the bait you want to equip in the inventory, then simply press the Use input for your console.
- PC: Right click
- Nintendo Switch: the Y button (left face input)
- Xbox Consoles: the X button
- PlayStation Consoles: the Square button
After pressing the appropriate Use input, the bait should automatically be slotted onto the fishing rod. After that, all players need to do is sit back, play the fishing mini-game, and hope to catch all the Largemouth Bass they need to complete all the Stardew Valley villager quests. Be sure to pay attention to how much bait remains on the fishing rod and follow the same process to equip new bait once it runs out.
Two Other Uses for Bait in Stardew Valley
Bait can also be used for crab pots, each of which requires 1 regular Bait to start trapping crabs. Don't bother using more advanced baits on crab pots, as they only accept the lowest-tier.
Aside from use in fishing and crabbing, though, Stardew Valley bait for rods only has one other major use: cosmetics. Bait is one of many items that can contribute to a red dye, but that's about as far as its usefulness goes.
Types Of Bait In Stardew Valley
Baiting a rod in Stardew Valley is interesting as bait doesn't necessarily increase a player's chances to land a particular fish, but, instead, increases the speed at which players catch fish or can even influence the type of fish that can be caught.
That said, it's entirely possible for players to catch all the fish they're looking for without ever baiting their hooks. Still, these baits offer some unique benefits that make them worthwhile for most anglers. Here's a closer look at each of the bait types present in Stardew Valley and what they can do for the player when attached to a rod.
Bait
This is the standard bait offering in Stardew Valley and is the easiest to obtain. It can be purchased for 5g each from the Fish Shop, snagged from a Worm Bin, or crafted by the player by using 1 x Bug Meat.
Standard Bait will cause fish to bite faster, allowing players to farm fishing spots at a faster rate.
The recipe is learned at Fishing Level 2.
Magnet
Those seeking treasures over fish will definitely want to craft or purchase this bait. It can be bought from the Fish Shop for 1,000g or simply crafted by the player by using 1 x Iron Bar. Crafting is considered a better option as one craft will yield 3 x Magnets for bait.
This particular add-on will increase the chance that players find treasure by 15 percent (making it 30 percent total). Contrary to the description of the item, it doesn't actually affect the bite rate for fish.
The recipe for crafting is learned at Fishing Level 9.
Wild Bait
Those that want the Wild Bait will have to befriend Linus as it's the only way to obtain the recipe to craft the add-on. Once players gain access to Linus' 4-heart event, they'll be taught the recipe.
Wild Bait is quite useful, too, as it gives a special modifier that makes it possible to catch two fish at once. Unfortunately, this doesn't count for Legendary Fish, but it can upgrade a player's catch rate significantly.
To craft the Wild Bait, players need to combine 5 x Bug Meat, 5 x Slime, and 10 x Fiber. Each crafting bundle will produce five of the special bait.
Magic Bait
By far one of the most interesting baits on offer, the Magic Bait will ignore fishing restrictions based on season, time of day, and other variables. To obtain Magic Bait, players will need to gain access to Qi's Walnut Room. There, Qi sells the item in bundles of 20 for 5 Qi gems.
Magic Bait will allow players to snag fish from waters regardless of the weather, time, and season, making it so players can obtain practically any fish without having to wait, including Legendary types.
Players can also purchase a recipe for 20 Qi gems. Once purchased, players can make five Magic Bait by combining 3 x Bug Meat and 1 x Radioactive Ore.
Stardew Valley is available on Android and iOS, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, and Xbox One and Series X|S.