Monster Hunter: World – How to Fish

There are a lot of things to do in Monster Hunter: World, and a great majority of it doesn’t even have anything to do with fighting massive monsters or hunting down Elder Dragons. As you explore the world you’ll come across a ton of items and ingredients that you can collect and use in crafting and research. Fishing is one of these extra-curricular activities, and today we’ll go over how to fish in Monster Hunter: World, as well as talk about the benefits that fishing can give you as a hunter.

Why You Should Fish

We’re not joking when we say there are a ton of things to do in Monster Hunter: World. Not all of them are useful to you as a hunter, though, so you will need to sort through those things and find out what matters to you. Fishing is one of those things that might seem silly, but it can really help, especially when it comes to research points.

See, the biggest benefit to fishing is that you’ll not only earn research points for it, but you can also complete mini-quests and unlock new recipes for the Canteen. Why should you care? Well the Canteen is the primary place that you’ll get stat boosts from for each hunt, so having plenty of recipes to choose from is going to be paramount as you start taking on more difficult challenges and tasks in the game.

You can unlock new recipes by finding the Piscine Research in the Ancient Forest (easily found during your hunt for the Ancient Forest Camp). He’ll grant you Critical Bounties which you can complete and return to the Resource Center in Astera to unlock new recipes for the Canteen. This is something you will want to look into, because as we said before, recipes grant you different stat boosts when you eat them, and these boosts will come in very handy in later hunts.

How to Fish

Now that you know why you should fish, let’s talk about how you fish. You’ll already have the Fishing Rod in your inventory, so all you need to do is find a nice place with plenty of water and toss your reel in. Find the Fishing Rod in the inventory screen at the bottom of the left-hand corner, and then head to the water. Once here, press the Square button and you should see a glowing highlight of where your lure will land when you cast your rod into the water.

Usually you should be able to see where the fish are before you throw your lure in. Sometimes this won’t be the case, though, and you’ll need to guess. Either way, wait for a fish to bite on the bait. This might take a bit sometimes, so look for movement in the water to identify if any fish are around. You can also make use of the left thumbstick to move the lure in the water and create friction to pull fish towards you.

All you really have to do once you catch a fish is press the button to reel it in. As you deal with larger and more powerful fish, you may find yourself having to complete a quick time event to reel them in. Eventually, as well, you should start to get used to what each fish looks like, at which point you can more easily identify what you need and whether you will find it there.

Now that you know how to fish in Monster Hunter: World, head over to our Monster Hunter: World guide and be sure to check out our other helpful tips like how to play with friends and more.