How to Get Fish in Minecraft

Last Updated: September 13, 2019 References

Fish are a useful resource in Minecraft. Not only can they be used as an easily-renewable food source — they also have alternate uses, like for taming Ocelots to turn them into pet cats. There are two main ways to get fish in Minecraft, fishing with a fishing rod and killing guardians. For most players, the first option is easiest and safest.

Part 1

Part 1 of 3:

Getting What You Need

1
Craft a fishing rod from sticks and string. To make a fishing rod, you'll need three wooden sticks and two pieces of string, plus a crafting table. Arrange the sticks in a diagonal line from the bottom left to the top right in the crafting grid. Arrange the two strings in the spaces on the right side.
- To get sticks, first craft a set of wooden planks from raw wood (which you can get from trees.) Then, craft the sticks from two planks stacked vertically.^{[1]
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- To get string, kill spiders and cave spiders and destroy their cobwebs — you will receive it frequently as a drop. Alternatively, you can get string from the tripwires in jungle temples and from chests in dungeons. Finally, you can get string randomly while fishing.^{[2]
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2
Find Water. To go fishing, you'll need to find a pond, a lake, or an ocean. You can even make a small man-made body of water and fish in it — it's up to you. Nearly any body of water will do.

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3
Optionally, craft a boat. You can fish from the shore, while standing in the water, or from a boat. While you don't need a boat for fishing, they can be helpful for traveling quickly over water to get to your favorite fishing spot. Additionally, if you're trying to get fish by killing guardians, boats can help you get to ocean monuments quickly.
- To make a boat, arrange five wood planks in a "U" shaped pattern at the bottom of a crafting table's crafting grid.^{[3]
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4
Get good weapons, armor, and potions if you want to attack guardians. Besides fishing, the other way to get fish in minecraft is by killing guardians — special underwater enemies. Guardians can be challenging for new players to defeat, so to give yourself the best chance, you'll want to use the sturdiest weapons and armor that you can — craft them from diamond, if possible. See the relevant section below for more information.
- See our guides on Minecraft armor and swords to get started.
- You will also need to find an ocean monument, as guardians only spawn in and around these structures.^{[4]
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  Research source} Since these are located at the bottoms of oceans, having a few potions of water breathing is essential. See our Minecraft potions guide for more information.

Part 2

Part 2 of 3:

Getting Fish

Fishing

1
Cast your line into a body of water. When you're at a lake or ocean, equip your fishing rod. Use the rod to cast into the water. You should see a small bobber appear on the surface of the water.
- At this point, don't move too far away from the bobber. Moving more than 32 blocks away (or un-equipping the fishing rod) will cause it to disappear.^{[5]
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Wait and watch the bobber. You'll need to wait a random amount of time (specifically, 5-45 seconds) after you cast for a fish to bite.^{[6]
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Research source} Keep your eye on the bobber! This is your clue for when a fish is biting on your line.
- When a fish is getting ready to bite, you will see a small "trail" approaching the bobber unless your particle effects are set to minimal. Get ready to reel in when you see this.
3
Reel in when you get a bite! When you get a bite, the bobber will disappear beneath the water. Use the reel again (right-click by default on computers) to reel in the fish. Your window of opportunity is very small here — about half a second — so be ready!^{[7]
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- If you successfully catch the fish, it will fly towards you and you will catch it unless your inventory is full or there are blocks in the way.
- If you miss the fish, you can re-cast or simply leave the line in the water and try again.
4
Be aware that you won't only catch fish. With a basic, un-enchanted fishing rod, you have about an 85% chance of catching a fish with each successful reel.^{[8]
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Research source} However, it is possible to get other surprises while fishing — specifically, you have a 10% chance of getting a junk item (such as leather boots) and a 5% chance of getting treasure (such as enchanted books and golden pickaxes.) If you have the patience to fish continually for a long period of time, this can be an effective way to get great items.
- The Minecraft Wiki has an excellent guide to the loot you can get while fishing (available here.)
- Enchanting your fishing rod changes the odds of getting the different types of loot. Luck of the Sea enchantments make it slightly less likely that you will catch junk and slightly more likely that you will catch treasure, while Lure enchantments make fish bite more quickly.

Killing Guardians

This method is only recommended for players with access to diamond-grade weapons and armor (plus potion-brewing equipment.)

1
Find an ocean monument. Guardians, which can be killed for fish, only spawn in and around large underwater structures called ocean monuments. Finding these ocean monuments can be a major challenge in and of itself. Use the tips below to find a suitable ocean monument.^{[9]
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- Ocean monuments generate naturally near the centers of deep oceans and other deep aquatic biomes (lakes, frozen oceans, frozen rivers, etc.)
- Ocean monuments spawn only in areas that have not been inhabited for more than three minutes.
- You can use a potion of night vision to see ocean monuments from far away (since they allow you to see even where visibility is zero.)
- Thus, a good strategy for finding ocean monuments is to set up a potion-brewing base, brew many potions of night vision, and use the potions to look into deep oceans without getting in the water. Ocean monuments are large, blocky, somewhat pyramid-shaped structures. See this link for more information.^{[10]
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2
Explore the ocean monument with high-level equipment. Ocean monuments are dangerous areas to explore, even for high-level players. In addition to the constant threat of drowning, the guardians and elder guardians that inhabit these underwater temples can be challenging opponents. If you die deep under the ocean, you can lose all of your best equipment easily, so you will want to ensure you are well-prepared when you descend to the monument. Equipment recommendations include:
- Diamond-grade weapons and armor.
- Several potions of water breathing
- Several potions of night vision
- Food
- Healing/regeneration potions
- Strength potions
- Sponges (for creating air pockets)
- Iron or diamond pickaxe (for mining gold blocks)
- Bed (for resetting spawn point)
3
Kill the guardians carefully. Guardians look like spiky grey-green fish with one eye. Elder guardians (stronger enemies) are greyish-white. Guardians' main attack is a ranged laser. The guardian will begin charging its laser for several seconds when it notices the player. When the laser becomes bright yellow, it will fire. The attack hits instantly and is unblockable. In addition, it can penetrate armor somewhat (though higher-level armors still give the biggest benefit.)^{[11]
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- Moving out of range or behind a solid block will stop the guardians' attacks. In addition, if you get close to a guardian, it will stop its attack and swim away to get to a good range before resuming its attack.
- The guardians' second attack is a defensive one. When you strike the guardian while its spikes are extended, it will deal a small amount of damage to you. This is greatly reduced by armor.
4
Create a spawn point inside the monument for safety. Every player makes mistakes. Unfortunately, in an underwater monument, these mistakes can be serious. If you die, it can be very difficult to retrieve your items in the five-minute window you are allowed. Since these items are likely to be quite high-level, this can be a major setback. However, you can make the risk somewhat smaller by making a spawn point inside the monument so that you don't have to travel to the bottom of the ocean again once you die. To do this:^{[12]
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- Kill the enemies inside an area of the monument.
- Clear the water out of the area with sponges to make an air pocket.
- Place a bed in the dried-out area. Use the bed to wait until night. This resets your spawn point — if you die, you'll restart here, rather than on dry land.
- Optionally, you can bring a chest and fill it with backup items and potions so that it's easier to reach your "good" equipment if you die.

Part 3

Part 3 of 3:

Using Fish

1
Cook the raw fish before eating. You can catch four kinds of fish: normal fish, salmon, clownfish, and pufferfish. Once you catch a fish, it will appear in your inventory — for normal fish and salmon, it will be "raw" (i.e., raw fish, raw salmon); for the other fish, it will just appear as the name of the fish. You can eat the raw fish for a small amount of food, but it is much more efficient to cook them first, as this will give you a much bigger bonus.
- Cook fish the same way you'd cook other meat — in a furnace with any fuel source.
- Note that pufferfish are harmful to eat but have other uses (see "Tips" below.)
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Eat the fish as you would other food. When your character becomes hungry, eat your cooked fish for a boost. Ordinary fish restore five hunger points (three icons), while salmon restore six.^{[13]
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- Both fish types restore only two hunger points when eaten raw.
- Clownfish restore only one hunger point. Once again, pufferfish are poisonous and should not be eaten.
3
Alternatively, give raw fish to ocelots. All fish — even pufferfish — can be used to tame wild ocelot mobs. Ocelots spawn naturally in jungles above sea level. If you encounter one, you can attempt to tame it with these steps:^{[14]
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- Get within 10 blocks of the ocelot.
- Wait for the ocelot to enter "begging" mode. This happens when the ocelot looks at the player and walks slowly near it.
- When the ocelot gets very close (within three blocks), throw it a raw (uncooked) fish. Ocelots will not be poisoned by pufferfish. There is a 1/3 chance it will become a tame cat when it takes the fish. If your attempt fails, try again.
- Don't make sudden movements when you're within six blocks of the ocelot — this can cause it to exit "begging" mode.

Community Q&A

Question

Is there an easier way of fishing?

Community Answer

No, but you could set up a fish farm. There are many tutorials on YouTube to help you with specifics.

Warning

If you catch a Pufferfish, you should not eat it, as it will poison you. However, these fish are still valuable because they are an important ingredient in potions of water breathing.