Fishing is a resource-gathering activity that can be done at any body of liquid in Terraria. To fish, you will need a Fishing Pole and Bait. This wiki page includes an explanation of fishing mechanics, as well as overviews of the various types of Fishing Pole and Bait that can be crafted, found, or bought in Terraria.

To fish, simply walk up to a pool of water (lava and Hive Biome honey pools also work), equip the Fishing Pole, and press the attack/interact button to cast your line. After a brief pause, you will see your bobber move and an audio cue will play; press the attack/interact button again to reel in your catch. The Bait in your inventory will be automatically used up with each cast.

NOTE: Similar to General Tools such as the Pickaxe, the quality of the Fishing Pole affects the type of resources or items that can be caught; this also holds true for Bait, as certain Bait can only be used in certain locations, or to catch specific creatures or items.

Fishing Poles in Terraria

Fishing Poles can be crafted at crafting stations, bought from or bequeathed by NPCs, dropped by mobs, or found throughout the world. The table below outlines all Fishing Poles currently available in Terraria. Note that the Fishing Power of each rod is basically the catch quantity/quality multiplier. The higher the percentage, you will catch fish more often, as well as increase your chance of rare catches.

Types of Fishing Poles

Name	Ability	How To Get
Wood Fishing Pole	5% Fishing Power	Craft: 8 Wood at an Anvil
Reinforced Fishing Pole	15% Fishing Power	Craft: 8 Iron Bars at an Anvil
Fisher of Souls	20% Fishing Power	Craft: 8 Demonite Bars at an Anvil
Fleshcatcher	22% Fishing Power	Craft: 8 Crimtane Bars at an Anvil
Fiberglass Fishing Pole	30% Fishing Power	Find: Crates or Chests in the Jungle Biome
Scarab Fishing Rod	30% Fishing Power	Find: Crates in Oasis Biome
Sitting Duck's Fishing Pole	40% Fishing Power	Purchase: Traveling Merchant NPC
Mechanic's Rod	35% Fishing Power Angler NPC must be present.	Purchase: Mechanic NPC
Golden Fishing Rod	50% Fishing Power	Quest Reward: Angler NPC
Hotline Fishing Hook	45% Fishing Power	Quest Reward: Angler NPC (Hardmode only)
Chum Caster	25% Fishing Power Increased chance of catching hostile mob units during Blood Moon event.	Drop: Wandering Eye Fish or Zombie Merman

Bait in Terraria

Bait is an item that is automatically consumed from your inventory when you fish. The majority of Bait can be caught using various types of Bug Net (the earliest available to you can be purchased from the Merchant NPC) and consists of different types of bugs. Non-bug Bait is found in Crates scattered throughout Terraria, or is given as a reward when you complete quests given by the Angler NPC. Below, you can find a list of all types of Bait currently available, sorted by their Bait Power. Bait Power determines the quality of the fish/item that you catch; it also dictates whether or not the Bait will be used up with a cast, or will remain in your inventory.

NOTE: The Ladybug is one of the earliest Bait types that you may encounter in most Journey Mode starting biomes. While they can be used as Bait, doing so will lower the player's Luck. Seeing as Luck affects random item drops, rare mob spawns, and fishing quality, we recommend looking around for other bugs to use as Bait.

Bait Power	Sprites	Types
5%		Monarch Butterfly
10%		Sulphur Butterfly Grasshopper Scorpion Snail
15%		Black Scorpion Hell Butterfly Zebra Butterfly Glow Snail Grub Apprentice Bait
17%		Ladybug Strider
20%		Ulysses Butterfly Dragonflies (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Black) Firefly Jellyfish (Green, Blue, Pink)
22%		Maggot
25%		Julia Butterfly Lavafly Worm Slug
30%		Admiral Butterfly Journeyman Bait
35%		Emperor Butterfly Magma Snail Lightning Bug Enchanted Nightcrawler
40%		Buggy
50%		Tree Nymph Butterfly Golden Varietals (Butterfly, Dragonfly, Worm, Strider, Ladybug, Grasshopper) Master Bait

The final type of Bait, the Truffle Worm, can only be used to summon the Hardmode Boss Duke Fishron. As it cannot be used in regular fishing, we have not included it in the above table.