Fishing guide

Choose what you're fishing for

For legendary fish, start with the region that contains your target and an active secret hotspot. Add fishing luck from your pole, bait, armour and trophies. For a particular common or uncommon fish, check its water type and region first. More rarity luck can move catches out of the category you need.

The fish finder lists the normal regional pool. Legendary fishing also has a separate random pool, so a fish can occasionally appear outside its usual region.

Cast and reel

Equip a fishing pole and choose bait for the water you're casting into. Cast into the visible hotspot, then check that the game confirms you landed in it. A hotspot icon on the map alone does not give the bonus.

Hook when the bite prompt appears. Reel while tension is safe, then release before the line breaks. Deeper water reduces the wait for a bite. A longer cast can make reeling easier, but neither cast distance nor depth replaces fishing luck.

Target fishing after the changes

In his target-fishing video, 5 Head shows why a narrow regional pool can make open-water fishing useful for materials such as snail slime and fish roe. His later follow-up reports another redistribution that breaks those single-fish routes.

The useful lesson is to check the whole pool, including size. If the small-fish pool contains a different species from the medium and large pools, increasing size luck changes which species you can catch. The finder uses separate game-data entries for each size rather than assuming every fish has three sizes.

His follow-up also points out saltwater entries for inland regions. The finder excludes salt water in Brightwood, Edengrove, Great Cleave and Shattered Mountain so it does not send you after a catch in water that isn't there.

Rarity luck and fish size

Rarity luck affects which catch category is rolled. Size bonuses affect the later small, medium or large roll for ordinary fish. Lucky Waters helps rarity; Fishing Colossus helps size. Check Lucky Day and Lucky Night against the current time.

For example, Exceptional Fish Bait gives 15,000 rarity points and 80,000 size points in either water type. In an active hotspot, the large-fish band begins at 75,000 size points. That bait makes ordinary fish large in this model, but does not make them legendary.

The calculator shows both types of points separately. General loot-luck gear is not a substitute for fishing-specific perks. Fishing skill unlocks hotspots and improves casting; this calculator does not add a rarity bonus for every skill level.

Use active hotspots

These are configured respawn ranges, not a live timer. Other anglers can deplete a hotspot. When the activity stops, switch the calculator back to open water or move to another active spot.

Hotspots have individual unlock levels. Use the unlock list to see what's available to your character; a three-star spot is not automatically locked until level 200.

Build a fishing setup

Start with a suitable pole and bait. Add Lucky Waters to your armour, then install one fishing trophy in each house you own. The calculator supports mixed trophy tiers and different perk tiers on all five armour pieces.

Focus adds size bonuses at 25, 200 and 250, then 1,000 rarity points at 350. The 50 Constitution gathering bonus adds 150 rarity points. Luck's Labor adds 200 to 500, depending on performance. Compare the change in the calculator before spending gold to respec.

Event food is optional. Select it only when you have the item and its buff is running. The strong-luck preset leaves event food off and gives you a starting point to adjust to your equipment.

Fish Roe

Select Fish Roe as your target to compare Sturgeon and Paddlefish catches. Each size has a 10% chance of giving Roe when salvaged. Small fish give 1, medium fish give 2 and large fish give 3–4. Size luck can improve yield, but only if the large-fish pool in your chosen region contains a Roe source.

Fat Salmon gives 4–6 Roe when salvaged. It is listed in a separate Salmon Special loot table with no verified route from normal fishing. You can find it in the catalogue, but its catch chance is excluded from Roe estimates.

Read the odds

The regional and random legendary rolls are separate outcomes. “Any legendary” adds them together. A regional pool may contain more than one fish, so its percentage is not the chance of one specific fish.

In Elysian Wilds, for example, the regional legendary pool includes Mandje Mandje and Prismatic Barb. A 20% regional legendary chance would give each half of that regional chance, before the separate random pool is considered.

Expected catches describe an average across repeated sessions. A 10% chance would mean ten expected catches in a hundred attempts, but any one session can land above or below that. The “at least one” figure accounts for repeated independent rolls.

Watch 5 Head Survival Gaming

These are the three videos used for the guide. Watch the redistribution follow-up after the earlier target-fishing video. Their patch context matters because Amazon changed fishing luck again in Season 5.

Season 2 PTR fishing rework5 Head Survival GamingTarget fishing changes5 Head Survival GamingFishing changes and target fishing5 Head Survival Gaming

Maps and further reading

• New World Fishing Guide, fishing fundamentals and equipment.
• Fish locations and hotspot locations. These maps use older regional data.
• Fishing cheatsheet PDF, a compact reference for the original fishing system.
• A complete guide to fishing in New World, an introduction to fishing.