Match your target to its bait and school
For your next DREADMOOR catch, use Earthworm for Snapper, Wind-Up Tin for Softgrazer, or Rainbow Fin for Harpooner and Bloodgill. Choose peaceful grounds for Softgrazer and predator schools for Harpooner, and keep quest catches until their objective calls for processing or sale.
Early Access fish, bait, locations, and uses
Use the species displayed at a fishing school to check your target before casting. Belly Bulge and Toadling also take Wind-Up Tin or Sturdy Earcrawler, with shallow water and weedy shallows as their respective habitats. The table brings the named targets together so you can choose a catch by location, bait, or its place in the opening objectives.
| Fish | Species label and type | Bait or lure | Where and when | Early use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Snapper | Common; peaceful | Earthworm | Trading Post pier, including the fishing platform behind the Dry Dock; day or night | Keep 3 for the opening assignment; grind later for Fish Meat to feed the Fuel Larva |
| Softgrazer | Rare; peaceful | Wind-Up Tin | Peaceful spots near the starting island, marked by the early quest; daytime | Process 3 for Chromatic Scales used in progression and lure crafting |
| Harpooner | Predator | Rainbow Fin | Predator schools; inspect the displayed species | Keep 3 whole to sell for the Carburetor objective |
| Bloodgill | Rare; predator | Rainbow Fin | Ghoul Tower area; daytime or dusk | Keep 3 whole for Father Matthias |
| Belly Bulge | — | Wind-Up Tin or Sturdy Earcrawler | Shallow water; inspect the displayed species | Extra catches can supply ingredients or trade after trading unlocks |
| Toadling | — | Sturdy Earcrawler or Wind-Up Tin | Weedy shallows; inspect the displayed species | Extra catches can supply ingredients or trade after trading unlocks |
| Gleamer | Predator | — | Predator school listings around Ghoul Tower | — |
Choose a fishing spot for your next objective
For the opening Snapper catch, start beside the fishing platform behind the Trading Post Dry Dock. Snappers also appear at peaceful spots around the trading-post pier during the day and at night. This gives you a nearby place to focus on the opening assignment before heading out for a different species.
For Softgrazer, follow the peaceful fishing grounds marked by its early quest and use Wind-Up Tin. The peaceful spots near the starting island provide a daytime target. Get the Wind-Up Tin blueprint from Boza when preparing for that catch.
Move to predator schools when the objective calls for Harpooner, and look around Ghoul Tower when you need Bloodgill. For Belly Bulge, inspect shallow-water schools; for Toadling, inspect weedy shallows. Check the school's species display before committing your bait, especially when you are trying to finish a particular objective.
Peaceful fish and predators need different approaches
Peaceful fish generally take bait held relatively still, while predators respond to a moving lure. With peaceful fish, the fight revolves around stamina and line tension. Predator fishing instead asks you to work a lure through the splash zone at the right speed, and larger predators can turn on you.
For a peaceful catch, pull against the fish's movement to wear down its stamina, then reel it closer when it tires. Ease off if line tension approaches its limit. Match that technique to the correct bait rather than trying to solve every failed catch by changing the fishing spot.
Keep objective fish before processing the rest
During the opening progression, Snapper leads into Fish Meat for the Fuel Larva, while Softgrazer provides Chromatic Scales. Harpooner belongs to the sale needed for the Carburetor objective, and Bloodgill needs to reach Father Matthias whole. Decide which of those jobs you are working on before putting the catch into a processing machine.
Fish Meat comes from the Grinder and is used for bait, lures, and feeding the Fuel Larva to make boat fuel. Peaceful fish can go through the Thresher for Chromatic Scales, which are used in Rainbow Fin and can be traded to John the Fifth for research. Fish can also be dissected for organs and body parts used in lures and gear.
Rainbow Fin is crafted at a workbench using one unit each of Fish Meat, Metal Plate, and Chromatic Scales. Metal Plates can be salvaged from wrecks around the Trading Post and floating barrels. That makes spare peaceful catches useful when you are preparing supplies for predator fishing.
Read catch quality and protect the hold
A catch's 1–3 stars describe that individual fish's quality, rather than a fixed rarity for its species. Snapper can appear with 1 or 2 stars even though its species label is Common Fish. Use the species label and peaceful or predator type when choosing bait, then read the catch card for quality and weight.
Sea Blight mutations give schools a glowing appearance, and mutated schools are slightly more common at night. Some species also depend on particular conditions or times of day. For an objective catch, start with the location and timing in the table before making a separate trip to explore glowing schools.
Keep predators apart from other valuable catches in the hold, because fish can eat each other before you get home. Dangerous fish generally sell for more, but an objective fish still needs to reach its destination. Once your current task is covered, use additional catches for ingredients or trade when the relevant trading function is available.