Complete Fishing Guide After Palworld 1.0 (Party, Glow, Rod & Bait)

The 1.0 launch for Palworld has made fishing even more rewarding than it used to be during Early Access, and we’re going to help you make the most of it.

While the fishing system itself is actually quite simple, there is a lot to keep in mind. You’ll need the proper gear, for example. A specific party of Pals can also make it easier. Then there’s those weird glows the fish have sometimes…

In this guide, I’ll tell you everything you need to know about fishing in Palworld.

Gearing Up for Fishing

First things first, you can start fishing as early as your character reaches Level 15. At that point, you’ll be able to unlock the Beginner Fishing Set from the Technology tree.

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This will allow you to make your very first basic fishing rod, the Beginner Fishing Rod (Chillet). You can craft it at the High Quality Workbench or higher. It requires 10 Paldium Fragments, 3 Aquatic Pal Fluids, 8 Ingots, and 8 Fiber.

Additionally, you’ll also unlock the schematic for making Simple Bait. Bait is required for every single fishing attempt, so make sure to make some before setting out! It can be made at any Workbench and requires 2 Aquatic Pal Fluids, 4 Red Berries, and 2 Flour.

Now, these are just the very basics required to start fishing. You can get better Fishing Rods and Bait both through further crafting and exploration. Here are the other noteworthy fishing Technologies to look out for:

• High Quality Bait – Level 22
• Intermediate Fishing Rod (Cattiva) – Level 29
• Deluxe Bait – Level 38
• Advanced Fishing Rod (Pengullet) – Level 45
• Alluring Bait – Level 52

Make sure to get these more advanced Technologies as you progress! They’ll make fishing a whole lot easier for you.

How Fishing Works

Now that you’re geared up, it’s time to explore and look out for fishing spots. Fishing spots are signaled by shadowy creatures in bodies of water, such as in the example shown above.

Once you find one of these fishing spots, equip and use your Fishing Rod. It works the same as using any weapon; you just need to aim at the water where you want to cast.

Then, you just need to wait until you hook one of the “fish.” You’ll know you got a bite when you see a “!!” icon appear, as shown above. When you see it, press the “attack” button, such as left-click on mouse and keyboard.

This will start the fishing minigame proper. Your goal here is to keep pressing the “attack” button to move the green bar. Follow the yellow fish marker, ensuring that it overlaps your green bar.

If you do this right, you’ll see the circular capture gauge at the top start to fill up. If your green bar is away from the fish marker, it’ll start to drain. Your goal is to fully fill that capture gauge.

As soon as the circular gauge is filled, the fishing minigame will stop and you’ll capture whichever Pal you hooked! Conversely, draining the gauge fully will fail the minigame, disappearing the Pal and consuming your Bait.

Overall, the minigame here is quite simple once you know how it works. You can make it even easier through certain Pals’ Partner Skills and by upgrading your Fishing Rod and Bait. These all can result in things such as a larger green bar or faster capture gauge filling, for example!

Setting Up a Fishing Party

Following up on that last bit, it’s a good idea to have a dedicated party purely for fishing. That is, a party full of Pals whose Partner Skills make the fishing minigame easier or more rewarding to complete.

If you’re fairly early on in the game, here is a recommended party that is quite accessible:

Now, once you get further in the game, you might want to upgrade to something similar to what we covered in our list of the best team builds. Here’s the recommended late-game fishing party:

While there aren’t too many Pals with fishing-related Partner Skills currently, I highly recommend making use of the ones I mentioned here. They definitely will make fishing easier for you!

Fishing Glows Explained

As you spend more time fishing, you’ll likely encounter glowing shadows at the various fishing spots. These look like the ones shown above, for reference.

These glows signal that the Pal you get from fishing that specific shadow will be special in some way. This is what each glow means:

• Green Sparkles – Pal with a guaranteed tier 4 Passive Skill.
• Purple Sparkles – Guaranteed Alpha Pal with tier 3 Passive Skill.
• Large Purple Glow – Guaranteed Alpha pal with tier 4 Passive Skill.

Out of these, the Pals with the large purple glow are much harder to fish than regular Pals. Make sure you’re well prepared with the best Fishing Rod, Bait, and party for them! They’re quite worth catching.

Passive Fishing At Base

In addition to fishing out at natural bodies of water, you can also have your worker Pals fish at your own base. This is thanks to two specific Technologies which you can unlock later on, as follows:

• Fishing Pond – Level 31
• Large Fishing Pond – Level 69

This will allow you to build those Fishing Ponds at your base. You can then spend Bait at those ponds to target specific shadow types, which one of your worker Pals will fish for you.

Now, this last bit is important! You yourself can not fish at the Fishing Pond. Only your worker Pals with Handiwork Work Suitability can fish at the Fishing Ponds. The higher their suitability, the faster they’ll fish.

Regardless, despite the limitations, these Fishing Ponds are a great way to passively capture more Water-type Pals and their items. So, I figured they deserved a mention!

Don’t Ignore Salvage

Lastly, while it’s not inherently related to fishing, you should make sure to make use of salvaging when fishing. You can do this whenever you spot junk piles on the water, such as the one shown above.

This works similarly to the junk piles on land. You just need to approach it and interact with it to collect it. It’s quite simple! You’ll get a hefty sum of Gold Coins, Pal Spheres, Experience, and other random resources.

It’s worth noting, however, that you can only salvage while mounted on a Water-type Pal. This includes flying Water-type Pals, such as Panthalus. All that matters is the Water typing.

However, it also means that swimming Pals that aren’t Water-type do not allow you to salvage. This primarily rules out Chillet, due to being Ice and Dragon. Keep this in mind if you wish to salvage!

Lastly, it’s a good idea to bring a Jellroy with you for this. You can catch it at the Crimson Cliffs like Jelliette, and it boosts how many items you get from salvaging!

Wrapping Up

Ultimately, the fishing system in Palworld 1.0 is pretty simple, but also quite rewarding! It’s a fantastic way to get some strong Pals, particularly Water-types.

You shouldn’t sleep on fishing even if you don’t want Water Pals specifically, either. The fact that you can fish up Pals with guaranteed high-tier Passive Skills makes it quite rewarding, in general. Remember, you can breed Pals to pass those Passive Skills down!

Regardless, I hope this guide helped you on your fishing quest. For more help seeing everything Palworld 1.0 has to offer, check out our recommended way to progress from Level 1.