Fishing
A fisherman can make a good amount of silver from the bountiful waters of Black Desert. There are plenty of areas to fish, inland and in the sea. There are also a variety of fish to discover in both fresh water and salt water. Fish have a variety of uses including cooking, alchemy and trading, provided the fish is rare enough.
The Basics
To fish, you must first obtain a Fishing Pole. You can get one from a Fishing merchant (some Otter at water sources sell them),Material Vendor or as quest rewards. You can also craft one via Workers in a tool workshop.
You can fish from any body of water as long as it's not shallow. Whenever you equip a fishing rod near a suitable water source it will show you the abundance of fish. If there are visible schools of fish they usually bite quickly. If the resources are exhausted, they will bite only rarely. Fish resources can be exhausted from a region due to popularity, so it's best to fish different areas from time to time. As time progresses and your skill gets better you will find it easier to catch rarer fish. While fishing you gain EXP for your fishing skill as well as your overall level!
Fish, as in real life, will spoil if enough time has passed (usually 24h) and will become unusable. To allow fish to last longer you must dry them out. A dried fish will have less value than a fresh one, but will not expire. The higher your processing skill, the more dried fish you will obtain but the maximum is 3. Since you can use fish in cooking and one fresh fish equals 2 dried ones as ingredient, that means that drying increases your yield. Another advantage is that dried fish stacks while fresh one does not. Dried fish can be converted into trade goods on a fishing workbench as well.
Besides using fish for cooking it can be sold for money to Trade Manager like any trade good or sold for higher profits to the Imperial Fishing NPC (see below).
Fishing Mini-Game
After equipping a fishing rod of your choice, approach a body of water and press the space bar to begin fishing. Once a fish has taken the bait you have to hit the space bar while the moving indicator is in the blue range. If you're successful you will next need to correctly enter a sequence of the "WASD" keys in the order shown within a limited timeframe to successfully catch the fish. Depending on the rarity of the fish, some may have longer sequence than others.
Fishing Rods
There's a multitude of rods to choose from, each have their own fishing skill level requirement and durability.
| Icon | Rod Name | Level Requirement | Effect | Durability | Repairable |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Old Fishing Rod | N/A | 10 | No | ||
| Fishing Rod | N/A | 30 | No | ||
| Triple-Float Fishing Rod | Skilled Lv. 5 | Multiple Fish Per Catch | 30 | No | |
| Thick Fishing Rod | Beginner Lv.10 | Fishing Speed +1 Lv. | 40 | No | |
| Mediah Fishing Rod | Artisan Lv.1 | 50 | Yes | ||
| Balenos Fishing Rod | N/A | Auto-fishing Time -10% | 50 | Yes | |
| Epheria Fishing Rod | N/A | 50 | Yes | ||
| Calpheon Fishing Rod | Professional Lv. 1 | 50 | Yes | ||
| Steel Fishing Rod | Skilled Lv.5 | Fishing Speed +2Lv. | 65 | No | |
| Golden Fishing Rod | Artisan Lv.1 | 100 | No |
Other Fishing Equipment
You can use bait (Cooking or quest reward) to increase the speed of fish biting. Fishing clothes will increase your fishing skill and stops monster (except scout types) from attacking you while fishing or squatting. Boats and rafts can be used to fish away from the coast, extend your inventory and be equipped with items that increase the chance for certain fish types.
Fishing Reward
Species
Different locations provide different fish. If an area is "exhausted" it is very unlikely to catch any fish but one will usually instead catch useless (sell) loot or items like Silver Keys or Ancient Relic Crystal Shards.
- Velia: Mudskipper, Starfish, Mackerel
- Western Guard Camp: Mackerel, Catfish
- Coastal Cave: Fourfinger Threadfin, Amberjack, Butterflyfish, Sandeel, Jellyfish
- Heidel: Salmon, Soho Bitterling, Bluegill, Lenok, Graying, Steed, Yellowfin Sculptin, Bubble Eye
Bycatch
A lot of time you will receive items that are not any living water creatures but bycatch. Sometimes this is sell loot but sometimes those are quite valuable (keys for treasure chests, Ancient Relic Shards to make combine into scrolls for boss mobs etc.). Even the Bycatch that is marked as sell-loot can be useful since quests require it sometimes.
- Velia: Seaweed
- Heidel: Tattered Boots
Fishing Quests
There are quite a few fishing quests which either tell you to fish and bring certain fish or turtle or such - or items which contaminate lakes and oceans.
- Holio (West of Heidel): Fertilzer Sack, Washed-Up Laundry, Tattered Boots
- Baggio (stream near Western Guard Camp): Broken Hooks and Broken Bottles
- There is a daily quest from the NPC near the Western Guard Camp bridge for a hook but she takes tattered nets.
- Jiro (on the bridge close to Bradie Fortress): asks you to bring him 5 tattered boots - if you have finished the quest "special fish" and the Apprentice Fisher uniform in your inventory.
Imperial Fishing
On the dock in Velia, in Glish near the Trade Manager and in Epheria Port there are Imperial Fishing Delivery npc which buy certain amounts of blue and yellow rarity fish. They pay much higher prices than regular Trade Manager and yield for yellow rarity items Shiny Calpheon Fishing Seal. The latter exchange for special items.
Since they only accept a certain amount of each type, they might refuse to buy yours especially if the fish is local. In that case you can travel to the next one, wait 3 hours for the reset or switch channels to try another one.