This Survival: Fountain of Youth The fishing guide will tell you how to unlock the fishing rod, how fishing works and how to collect fish!
Quick links: How to unlock the fishing rod | How to unlock the harpoon
How to get fishing bait | how to fish | How to harvest fish
Hunting and Gathering Food is a big part of Survival: Fountain of Youth. There are plenty of animals to fight and fruit trees to clear on each island map, but you can also use fishing for a more reliable source of calories. Read on to find out how fishing works!
How to unlock the fishing rod in Survival: Fountain of Youth
You can unlock the fishing rod in Survival: Fountain of Youth finding the following items and collecting them:
- Long stick
- Bone
- tendon thread
You can find out where to get animal bones and sinews in our Crafting Guide. You will need a tanning workbench to make sinew thread.
Alternatively, you can choose to bring an upgraded fishing rod with you at the start of the game as one of your initial item selections.
How to unlock the harpoon in Survival: Fountain of Youth
You can unlock the Harpoon at Survival: Fountain of Youth reaping a long stick.
How to get fishing bait in Survival: Fountain of Youth
There are two ways to get fishing bait in Survival: Fountain of Youth:
- Let the food go bad and turn into rotten food
- Find a Fishing Skill Book to unlock the Leaf Bait Crafting Recipe
The Fishing Skills Book is The St Albans Book. You can find it on the Island of Hope. Check out our Book Locations Map Guide to find out where it is!
While you can likely get your hands on the Fishing Skill Book without much effort, you’ll probably be busy setting up your first base and gathering the basics. It’s probably easier to let some food go bad if you keep it in your inventory if you want to get bait quickly. Just make sure you save some food so you can eat it!
How to fish in Survival: Fountain of Youth
Survival: Fountain of Youth Fishing doesn’t work everywhere, at least depending on how you’re fishing. You can fish with a fishing rod or with a harpoon.
How to fish with a fishing rod
If you are using the fishing rod, you will need a fishing rod and bait. Then you have to go to a Fishing Point on the Map, either on foot or with your Boat. You then interact with the fishing spot on land or the fishing spot on your ship. At that time, an interface will appear.
This interface allows you to select your fishing rod and the bait you are using. You’ll get a percentage chance the fish will bite and a percentage chance you’ll catch the fish, along with an indication of how much durability you’ll lose with your fishing rod. When you are ready, you can press the space bar to start fishing.
A short period of time will pass and one of three things will happen:
- The fish did not bite: you did not catch a fish and you did not lose the bait.
- The fish came off the hook: you missed a fish and lost the bait.
- Caught a Fish – Caught a fish and lost your bait.
If you successfully collect a fish, the fish carcass will automatically be placed in your inventory.
How to fish with a harpoon
Fishing with a spear is somewhat easier than using a fishing rod in Survival: Fountain of Youth. All you need to do is find a fish spawn point on the map (like a dorado), go to that location, dive in, and attack the fish with your equipped harpoon.
Once the fish is dead, all you need to do is put the fish carcass in your inventory, head ashore, and harvest it.
I should also point out that the goldfish can only be caught with a harpoon – you can’t use the fishing rod at its spawn points because they don’t count as a “fishing spot” even if you go there with a boat. Goldfish are a source of important medicinal ingredients, so you should definitely craft a harpoon and kill some as soon as you can!
How to harvest fish
You can collect fish in Survival: Fountain of Youth dropping the fish on the floor from your inventory. From there, you can interact with it just like any other animal corpse.
Harvested Fish will give you one or more pieces of raw fish (used for cooking) and one or more fish bones (used for crafting and medicine).
We’re all done with it Survival: Fountain of Youth Fishing guide. Be sure to check out our other guides below!