Fishing is one of the most beneficial activities in Terraria. Players are constantly fishing for loot. You can get all the equipment and weapons in pre-Hardmode by fishing only. Therefore, you must arm yourself with the right fishing gear to increase your chances of success. And one of those gears is the fishing rod.
There are a total of 11 fishing rods in the game. They’re spread through different game stages and feature varying fishing strengths. This article will take you through the pre-Hardmode fishing rods to help you get a better understanding. They include:
Pre-Hardmode fishing rods in Terraria
These are the best pre-Hardmode fishing rods in Terraria.
1. Wood fishing rod
This is the first and easiest fishing rod to get in Terraria. It’s crafted on a workbench using 8 pieces of wood. You’ll get the wood by cutting trees in the game.
Next, move toward the workbench and open the crafting menu. Place the wood in the crafting menu and select the fishing from the list of craftable items. After the crafting ends, place the item in your inventory.
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The wood fishing rod’s 5% fishing power is the lowest in the game. So, it would take time before you manage to catch any loot. Fortunately, you can always upgrade to more powerful fishing rods below. You can sell the wood fishing rod for 60 copper to compensate for your crafting efforts.
2. Reinforced fishing rod
The reinforced fishing rod is a slight improvement of the wood fishing rod. It features a 15% fishing power which offers a better chance of reeling up important loot quickly. It’s highly recommended that you use it to start fishing.
You’ll need 8 iron/lead bars and iron or lead anvil to craft this fishing rod. The iron or lead is mined underground, and it takes 24 iron ore to make 8 iron bars at a furnace. For the anvil, you can buy from a merchant NPC or craft it using 5 iron or lead bars at a workbench.
The reinforced fishing rod’s market price is 24 silver coins if you decide to sell it.
3. Fisher of souls
To craft the fisher of souls fishing rod you must have 8 demonites and an anvil. You can find the demonite ore while mining in the corruption biome or by defeating the eye of Chthulu. You’ll need 24 demonite ore to produce 8 demonite bars at the furnace.
This rod has a fishing power of 20% and a market value of 2 gold and 40 silver.
4. Fleshcatcher
Next on the list is the Fleschcatcher fishing rod with 22% fishing power. You need 8 crimtane bars and an anvil to craft it. The crimtane ore is mined underground in a crimson biome or gets dropped by the eye Chthulu after you defeat him. You must get a minimum of 24 crimtane ore to produce 8 crimtane bars.
After you finish this fishing rod, you can sell it for 3 gold and 12 silver coins.
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5. Scarab fishing rod
The Scarab fishing rod is rare in mirage and oasis crates in the Oasis mini-biome. The mirage crate is only available in Hardmode, so you’ll have to focus on the oasis crates in pre-Hardmode.
This fishing rod features two fishing powers depending on the platform you’re using to play. PC and console users will experience 30% fishing power, while old-gen consoles, windows phones, and 3Ds get 25% power.
A scarab fishing rod can be sold for 2 gold coins.
6. Chum caster
To get the Chum Caster fishing rod, you must defeat the wandering eye fishes and zombie mermen when they appear during the blood moon while you fish. Even then, there’s only a 12.5% chance of them dropping the item.
The rod has a fishing power of 25%, and you can sell it for 2 gold coins.
7. Fiberglass fishing rod
With a fishing power of 30%, the fiberglass is one of the best fishing rods in pre-Hardmode Terraria. You can find it in jungle shrines, living mahogany trees, and jungle crates.
Jungle shrines are found in jungle biomes. The chances of finding a Fiberglass fishing rod inside a chest in the shrine are 6.53%. The jungle crate is a pre-Hardmode crate with a 19% chance of producing this rod. Lastly, the living mahogany tree is also found underground in the jungle biome, and it has a chest that might have the Fiberglass fishing rod (6.53%).
The selling price for this fishing rod is 1 gold coin.
8. Mechanic’s rod
The mechanic’s fishing rod is usually bought from the mechanic NPC during the waning crescent moon, waning gibbous moon, waxing crescent moon, and waxing gibbous moon. Console users can only buy it during the waning crescent moon.
To access the mechanic NPC in the dungeon, you must defeat the Skeletron boss. This rod has 35% fishing power and costs 20 gold coins. However, you can only sell it for 4 gold coins.
9. Sitting duck’s fishing rod
This is the best fishing rod in pre-Hardmode. It has 40% fishing power, and you can buy it from a traveling merchant NPC after defeating the Skeletron boss. The buying price is 35 gold coins.
The traveling merchant NPC shows up randomly during the day (4:30 am – 12:00 pm). He will only spawn near houses with at least 2 NPCs inside.
You can sell the Sitting duck’s fishing rod for 7 gold coins.
Hardmode fishing rods in Terraria
These are the Hardmode fishing rods you’ll find in Terraria:
1. Hotline fishing hook
The Hotline fishing hook is available in Hardmode after finishing 25 angler quests. The Angler is a town NPC that gives you daily quests to complete. Your chances of getting this rod are 1/75.
This rod has 45% fishing power, and you can sell it for 10 gold coins. It’s the only fishing rod that can fish in lava by default.
2. Golden fishing rod
Lastly, the best and strongest fishing rod in Terraria. It’s very rare, considering you must complete 75 angler quests to stand a 1/250 chance of being rewarded the rod.
It has 50% fishing power and a resell value of 20 gold coins.
How to get the fishing bait in Terraria
Immediately after you get your preferred fishing rod, you need to search for the bait to use. Here is how:
1. Find the merchant NPC
To get a merchant in Terraria, you need to build them a house and place furniture inside the house. Next, kill slimes to collect gels, then use the gels to craft torches that will light up the house. You can build houses for other NPCs because you’ll need them later in the game.
Lastly, you must collect 50 silver coins before the merchant NPC spawns in your world. You can kill monsters, open chests, and break jars.
2. Buy a bug net from the merchant
Immediately after the merchant spawns, you’ll get a notification. He will be in the house you built for him. You need to find him, move close, and right-click on him. Next, select the shop option followed by the bug net. You’ll need a minimum of 25 silver coins to purchase the bug net.
3. Use the bug net to catch critters and butterflies to use as fishing bait
Take your newly-acquired bug net, put it in your hot bar and equip it.
Then, position the cursor on a critter and click the attack button to catch it. The easiest baits to catch are buggies, fireflies, sluggies, snails, and worms.
How to fish in Terraria
After collecting all the necessary fishing tools, follow the steps below to start fishing:
- Find a body of water: The best place to fish is an area with at least 75 continuous (horizontally/vertically) blocks of any liquid (water, lava, or honey). However, you’ll need special gear to fish in lava and honey.
- Stand next to the water: You should be close to the body but not submerged.
- Equip your fishing rod and bait: Go to your inventory and place the fishing rod in the hot bar and the bait in the ammo slots
- Cast your fishing rod in the water: Select the fishing rod in the hot bar and put the cursor on top of the water, then press the attack button to cast the rod. Wait for the fishing rod to move to indicate it has caught something.
How to fish in lava
There are three ways to fish in lava:
Using the hotline fishing hook
The hotline fishing hook is the only rod you can use to fish in lava with any bait. It’s not affected by the hot magma.
Using a lava-proof fishing hook
Do you want a pre-Hardmode fishing rod that can fish in lava? Select your preferred choice and use a lava-proof fishing hook. You will find this hook in an Obsidian or Hellstone crate. Unfortunately, you’ll have to fish in lava to find the crates. Therefore, you’ll have to use the hotline fishing hook first.
Using lava critters
Lava critters like lavafly, magma snail, and hell butterfly make it possible to fish in lava using any fishing rod.
You’ll need a lava-proof bug net crafted using a regular bug net and 15 Hellstone bars to catch the lava critters.
What can you catch in lava?
The fish and items you can fetch from lava include:
- Obsidifish: Used to craft potions of return and inferno potions.
- Flarefin koi fish: Used to craft an inferno potion.
- Obsidian swordfish (Hardmode): Used as a weapon.
- Lava absorbent sponge
- Obsidian lava crate
- Hellstone lava crate (Hardmode)
That’s it for pre-Hardmode fishing rods in Terraria.