How to Put Bait on a Fishing Rod in Stardew Valley – Answered

In Stardew Valley, there aren’t many lucrative ways to make money in that first year aside from some major farming and doing every chore you can set by the townsfolk. But one of the best and easiest ways to start getting ahead with the funds is by fishing in as many parts of the town as you can. By selling lots of fish, you can not only fill out the community center but unlock the next few fishing rods at Willie’s by increasing your fishing level. The higher-leveled fishing rods not only come with a space to put lures and bobs but a section to place Bait, which will result in more fish biting. 

How to Put Bait on a Fishing Rod in Stardew Valley

Since Stardew Valley is available on multiple platforms now, we’ll be going through each of them, starting with where it all began, the PC version. 

It can always be a bit funky when you’re on the computer and trying to nab items around your inventory. With both the Fishing Rod and Bait in your inventory, it’s as simple as Right-Clicking with your mouse to select the Bait from its slot. This will cause it to hover in your hold, and you can wave it around as you like, but the spot where you’re going to be placing it is above your Fishing Rod.

A prompt will appear that will offer a description of the Rod as well as the following Two Boxes, depending on which Rod you have in your possession. You will hover the Bait over the Your Fishing Rod and Right Click again to release the Bait, and this is how you attach bait to the fishing rod. The Bait should then appear in the Hook Icon Box that you see in the prompt.

Now, if you don’t want to use Bait, whether because you need to grab more trash whenever you’re fishing or because you need to grab the bait from your fishing rod so you can refill your traps, you will have to remove it manually. The process is much of the same, where you will hover over your Fishing Rod and Right Click again, which will cause you to pick up the Bait. Placing it in another inventory slot will allow you to use it once again for placing in traps or making Bug Steak.

For the Nintendo Switch version, it’s much of the same thing. You’ll have your Fishing Rod and Bait in your Inventory, select the Bait with the A Button and hover over your Fishing Rod. Clicking A Button Again will Attach the Bait to the Fishing Rod, where it’ll appear in the Hook Section of either the Fiberglass Rod or Iridium Rod.

Stardew Valley is also available for mobile users on both Google Play and the Apple Store. It’s a bit easier, given that you can select the Bait directly with the touch screen aspect and hover it over the Fishing Rod so it attaches. If done successfully, it’ll appear in the Hook Icon of either the Fiberglass Rod or the Iridium Rod. 

Related: Stardew Valley – How to Upgrade Your Farm and Farmhouse

Everything You Need To Know About the Fishing Rods in Stardew Valley

Aside from the Bamboo Fishing Rod that you get from Willie the first week of your stay at Stardew Valley, there are other fishing rods available at his shop that will unlock and become available for purchase once you sell enough fish and level up your fishing level. The Training Rod is always available at the shop, but while it does make fishing easier, it can only catch basic fish. Your next few upgrades will be the Fiberglass Rod at 1,800 Gold and the Iridium Rod at 7,500 Gold. 

The Fiberglass Rod unlocks a section where you can attach Bait to your Fishing Rod, but the Iridium Rod will have both a section where you can attach Bait, but also one of the many types of Lures and Bobs that exist in Stardew Valley.

Given its steep price, it’s recommended that if you are more of a veteran when it comes to fishing, it’s better to save for the Iridium Rod since it’ll offer you the best type of fish once your level is high enough as well as allow you to try different attachments. But if you’re just starting in Stardew Valley, then it’s better to get the hang of each Fishing Rod by slowly leveling up your equipment as you go.

Related: Stardew Valley: Fighter or Scout – Which is Best?

But there’s a big difference between 1,800 and 7,500, so wherever you feel most comfortable with your finances, go with that option. Especially if you do a lot of fishing in this game. There are still plenty more things to look forward to in Stardew, be sure to read up on how to get rid of the Glittering Boulder since you’ll already be working on fishing. For more articles on Stardew, be sure to give the game tag below this a click so you aren’t missing out on our other guides.