New World Fishing: How to Level Up Fast (& Other Tips)

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Last Updated

Feb 22, 2023

This should hopefully be the most detailed and valuable guide to fishing in New World on the entire internet.

I spent countless hours trying to find the best way for how to level up fishing in New World, and on top of this I tracked every single fish I caught in a spreadsheet. I tested using different fishing poles, different locations and different baits.

Then, I analyzed it all to put together this definitive New World fishing leveling guide.

This guide should set you up to rank up fishing to level 200 efficiently. You’ll also catch plenty of rare fish to allow you to make money from fishing in New World too.

I’ll cover:

Fishing poles
Bait
Water depth
Which fish you can catch in each location
The most efficient way to fish
Bonuses and perks

And much, more more.

So, if you’re looking to level up your fishing skill as quickly as possible, I’ve got a range of great tips to share with you below in this definitive New World fishing guide.

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Where to Get a Fishing Rod

If you go through the beginner quests at the start of the game, you’ll naturally acquire a fishing pole. That said, here’s how to get a fishing rod in New World:

Locate Master Fisher Michael Shield. You’ll find him at the Broad Fishing Hotspot in Windsward.
Accept his quest.
You’ll be awarded with a fishing pole when you return to Master Fisher Michael Shield with the items he asks you for, and you can immediately begin fishing.

If you want to get a better fishing pole in New World, we have a guide for that.

Where to Get Bait

You can find Firefly Bait by looking in Bulrush or Briar plants, both of which can be found surrounding the lake at the Broad Fishing Hotspot and respawn quickly. You’ll only get bait from Bulrush approximately 10% of the time, and from Briar, approximately 25% of the time, so make sure you keep searching.

To get bait for saltwater, pick up Flint at night time. You’ll pick up plenty of Nightcrawler bait, which differs to the worse bait that collects during the day time.

How Effective is Bait at Catching Rare Fish?

After getting my hands on some bait, I was eager to find out just how effective it was — after all, you don’t actually need bait to fish.

The game promises an increased chance of landing rarer fish when using certain baits. With Firefly Bait, for example, you get “a large boost to chance of catching better fish in fresh water”.

But I’m a curious type — what is a large boost? How many more rare fish do you catch with bait?

So here’s what I did: I caught 374 fish (and other items), roughly half of which were using Firefly Bait and roughly half of which weren’t using any bait. I also tested at various depths (very shallow, shallow, and deep) whilst fishing at the Broad Fishing Hotspot, but I avoided using the hotspot in the lake that’s particularly good for finding tadpoles in New World.

I tracked everything one by one in my spreadsheet as I caught them.

Here’s what I found:

Of 162 items (including fish, treasure chests and other items) that I caught without using bait, 6 were rare — 3.7%. 23 were also uncommon, or 14.2%. The remainder were common.
Of 212 items that I caught whilst using bait, 8 were rare — 3.8%. 27 were uncommon — 12.7%. The remainder were common.

It doesn’t take a genius to spot that the “large boost” to catching rarer fish seems to be missing? Overall, the percentage of common fish was actually larger whilst using bait.

But rarity isn’t the only thing that can judge how ‘good’ an item is, so I also tracked how much XP I earned for every fish too. You get more XP for rarer items but you also get more XP for larger fish too, so perhaps you catch more large fish with bait?

The average XP I earned whilst not using bait was 124.1.
The average XP I earned whilst using bait was 124.9.

Both of these figures account for the 10 XP you get for a successful hook on your line.

With only a difference of 0.8 XP, I can’t confidently say that you get more good fish when using bait compared to not using it.

However, there is one important thing I noticed:

Is Using Bait More Efficient?

Not only was I tracking fish, rarity, XP, fishing depth and more, I also timed how long it took to hook a fish when using bait compared to not using it.

Here’s what I found…

Using bait is much more efficient than not using bait.

If you’re looking to level up fishing rank in New World fast, you’ll want to use bait. This is simple but extremely effective — and one of my favorite New World fishing tips.

The efficiency boost you get depends on the depth you’re fishing at, but I found that using bait was significantly more efficient at hooking a fish — this is the stage after you’ve cast your fishing line out and you’re waiting for a bite.

If we assume that it takes around 20 seconds on average to reel in your fish or item, and it takes another 5 seconds on average to finish the fishing animation and to re-cast out your line, then using bait is somewhere between 15%-43% more efficient.

Why such a large range? Well…

Fishing in New World is Most Efficient at Deep Depths

If you’re looking to level up fishing ranks quickly in New World then you’ll definitely want to land your line — with bait equipped — into deep water when casting it out. Please note, this excludes active hotspots.

Active hotspots are better than deep water, but assuming there are no hotspots, deep water is best.

If you can’t find any deep water (you could just go to the Broad Fishing Hotspot and fish in the spot pictured above) then your next best bet is shallow water, but if you’re looking to rank up fast then avoid very shallow water at all costs because it’s so inefficient.

I found that the average time to get a bite when using bait in deep water was around 4.5 seconds. In very shallow water, it was closer to 15 seconds. Shallow water falls somewhere in the middle.

Without using bait, these times vary between around 9 seconds on average for deep water, all the way up to around 25 seconds for a bite at very shallow depths.

So, whilst bait doesn’t appear to be great for landing rare fish right now, it’s definitely the best fishing method for fast XP in New World — and it’s best done at deep depths, too.

However, the time spent gathering bait might actually offset the time you save when fishing at deep depths, so this is something else you should consider. I’d recommend buying bait if you want to rank up in the quickest time.

To continue my attack on very shallow water, I didn’t hook a single Treasure Chest in this depth either — I caught quite a few in deep waters and a smaller number in shallow depths.

How to Maximize Fishing Efficiency

To best most efficient when you’re leveling fishing, cast your fishing line across the shortest distance possible so you spend less time throwing it out.

When you’re reeling the fish in, max out the indicator as much as you can without the red ever filling up. Let it close all the way and open it again as far as you can, and repeat.

Rarer fish and bigger fish provide more of a battle to reel in, so you can tell far in advance whether you’re getting a good catch or not.

When you’ve finished reeling the fish in, make sure to click once to skip the unhooking animation.

Does Size Matter?

One thing I noticed during my experiment is that the use of bait did seem to improve the size of the fish I was catching, at least a little bit.

My chances of catching large fish were pretty similar between using bait versus not using it and I haven’t caught a large enough quantity of large fish to have any statistical significance to judge yet.

However, when it came to medium-sized fish, I did catch them at a noticeably more frequent rate with bait (33% of the time) compared to not using bait (26.5% of the time).

What Are Fishing Hotspots?

Fishing Hotspots are special places where you would see a school of fish in a specific location. You will be able to see this on your map when a Fishing Hotspot is active.

You will see a hexagon-like outline with a fishing icon that will show you what kind of Fishing Hotspot has spawned. If you do not see the fishing icon, there is no Fishing Hotspot active for now.

There are 3 kinds of Fishing Hotspots.

Broad Hotspots (1-star)
Rare Hotspots (2-star)
Secret Hotspots (3-star)

These Fishing Hotspots vary in rarity, respawn rates, and fish counts. The higher the star rating, the better the rarity.

To put it into perspective, here is the list of the possible rare fish drop rates for each type of Fishing Hotspot.

Fishing Hotspot	Common Fish	Uncommon Fish	Rare Fish	Legendary Fish	Fish Count	Respawn Time
Broad Hotspot	45%	40%	10%	<5%	30	30 minutes
Rare Hotspot	0%	65%	30%	5%	20	45 minutes
Secret Hotspot	0%	20%	70%	10%	10	45 – 90 minutes

This list is a rough estimate because there are a lot of things that can affect your fishing such as gear, attributes, bait, and modifiers. The type of fish you will be able to get in these Fishing Hotspots will be dependent on the region.

One thing is certain, though. You should fish in an active hotspot whenever possible. You’ll get faster bites, rarer fish, and rank up more quickly.

Best Fishing Poles & Gear

The list is simple. There are your basic crafted fishing poles which are the Wooden Fishing Pole, Treated Wood Fishing Pole, Aged Wood Fishing Pole, Wyrdwood Fishing Pole, and Ironwood Fishing Pole.

However, once you reach tier 5 and finish the absurdly long fishing quest chain, you can get one of the following legendary fishing poles as a reward.

Ancient Fishing Pole
Angry Earth Fishing Pole
Corrupted Fishing Pole
Lost Fishing Pole

All of these fishing poles are Tier 5 and are legendary in quality. These are the absolute best when it comes to maxing out your efficiency with a fishing pole apart from the gear and fishing baits.

Before we dive into the Fishing quest chain, you need to know a few things about your gear.

Fishing Pole Perks

You may have noticed a few perks attached to your fishing pole and there will be a lot to look out for.

Fishing Colossus – boost the chance of catching bigger fish
Daytime/Nighttime Colossus – boost the chance of catching bigger fish during daytime/nighttime respectively
Lucky Waters – boost the chance of catching rare fish
Lucky Day/Lucky Night – boost the chance of catching rare fish during daytime/nighttime respectively
Saltwaters Brawn – increase line strength in saltwater
Freshwaters Brawn – increase line strength in freshwater

When it comes to efficiency, you would want to focus on Lucky Waters and Fishing Colossus. The extra boost with certain conditions such as the daytime and nighttime will be based on your playing hours.

If you play during the night, it will be best to focus on the nighttime perks. The time of day is based on the server time or the region you play on. You will have to adjust or calculate which time will be more efficient for you during your peak playing hours.

Focus Bonuses

It still boggles me how a Focus-based character (healer) would do better in fishing than other classes. Anyway, reaching milestone targets on your character’s Focus attribute will give you amazing perks for fishing.

Check the list below

50 Focus – +10% Fishing Line Tension
100 Focus – +10% Yield When Salvaging
150 Focus – -10% Decrease Carry Weight of Fish
200 Focus – +10% Fishing Line Tension
250 Focus – +10% Increase to Caught Fish Size

These milestones are hard to achieve, but they will come later once you progress more in the game. Once you reach a higher level, you will be able to allocate more attribute points to your character’s stats.

Apart from that, your gear will be better. Each equipment slot can boost your Focus attribute and it will count towards the bonuses mentioned above.

Even if your character isn’t built for Focus, you can have an alternative gear set specifically to be used for fishing. You can just wear a ton of Focus gear while fishing and reap the bonuses.

Fishing Quest Chain

This quest chain is extremely long but here is the summary. There will be a total of 15 fishing quests that needs to be done in a chain or one by one. The first quest starts with Fishing With Shields which was also mentioned previously.

After finishing the first fishing quest, you will unlock the next quest and you will do this 15 times to finish the last quest.

Here is the complete list of the fishing quest chain.

Fishing With Shields
Fishing Basics
Baited
Hotspot Hunt
Practice Makes Perfect
The Giant Ones
Fish Reagents
Reel Life
Weapons of the Sea
Treasure of the Deep
Soulwarden Rations
Azoth-Tinged Fish
Corruption-Tinged Fish
Ecological Report
To be a Grand Master

Literally, all of the quests involve you fishing. It is easy, but it is extremely time-consuming. The rewards are worth it in the end as you get one of the legendary fishing poles in the game.

Freshwater vs Saltwater

Type of Fish	Freshwater	Saltwater
Aquatic Snails	Yes	No
Catfish	Yes	No
Clams	No	Yes
Cod	No	Yes
Halibut	No	Yes
Squid	No	Yes
Sturgeon	Yes	No
Tadpole	Yes	No
Dragon Fish	Yes	Yes
Electric Eel	Yes	No
Frogfish	Yes	Yes
Madtom	Yes	No
Oysters	No	Yes
Paddlefish	Yes	No
Piranha	Yes	No
Sculpin	No	Yes
Speartooth Shark	Yes	No
Stingray	No	Yes
Swordfish	No	Yes
Legendary Fishes	Yes	Yes

Every Fish You Can Catch at Each Hotspot

There are a lot of types of fishes in the game and what you can catch varies based on each region. We’ll go through all of them below.

Windsward

Bass (Common)
Catfish (Uncommon)
Dragon Fish (Rare)
Perch (Common)
Pike (Common)
Piranha (Rare)
Salmon (Common)
Tadpoles (Uncommon)
Hake (Common)
Mackerel (Common)
Flounder (Common)
Cod (Uncommon)
Halibut (Uncommon)
Piranha (Rare)
Sculpin (Rare)
Abaia Serpe (Legendary)

The annoying for me is that I spent so long fishing here because I thought this would be where to find a snail in New World, but that’s not true, it seems.

First Light

I haven’t done as much fishing in the First Light Fishing Hotspot, but here’s what I managed to catch there.

Salmon (Common)
Pike (Common)
Perch (Common)
Bluefish (Common)
Flounder (Common)
Snapper (Common)
Tadpole (Uncommon)
Sturgeon (Uncommon)
Clams (Uncommon)
Halibut (Uncommon)
Catfish (Uncommon)
Aquatic Snail (Uncommon)
Electric Eel (Rare)
Frogfish (Rare)
Oysters (Rare)
Albenaja (Legendary)

Cutlass Keys

Bass (Common)
Flounder (Common)
Mackerel (Common)
Snapper (Common)
Perch (Common)
Pike (Common)
Catfish (Uncommon)
Cod (Uncommon)
Squid (Uncommon)
Tadpole (Uncommon)
Paddlefish (Rare)
Speartooth Shark (Rare)
Stingray (Rare)
Swordfish (Rare)
Glowing Gnufish (Legendary)

Monarch Bluffs

Bass (Common)
Bluefish (Common)
Mackerel (Common)
Snapper (Common)
Perch (Common)
Aquatic Snails (Uncommon)
Clams (Uncommon)
Squid (Uncommon)
Sturgeon (Uncommon)
Madtom (Rare)
Paddlefish (Rare)
Starfish (Rare)
Ray-Finned Barb (Legendary)

Mourningdale

Bluefish (Common)
Flounder (Common)
Hake (Common)
Trout (Common)
Sunfish (Common)
Clams (Uncommon)
Cod (Uncommon)
Sturgeon (Uncommon)
Tadpole (Uncommon)
Frogfish (Rare)
Speartooth Shark (Rare)
Stingray (Rare)
Swordfish (Rare)
Aquanaja (Legendary)

Reekwater

Flounder (Common)
Snapper (Common)
Perch (Common)
Pike (Common)
Trout (Common)
Catfish (Uncommon)
Halibut (Uncommon)
Squid (Uncommon)
Sturgeon (Uncommon)
Frogfish (Rare)
Oysters (Rare)
Piranha (Rare)
Sculpin (Rare)
Speartooth Shark (Rare)
Blue-blooded Barb (Legendary)

Great Cleave

Pike (Common)
Trout (Common)
Sunfish (Common)
Sturgeon (Uncommon)
Tadpole (Uncommon)
Frogfish (Rare)
Paddlefish (Rare)
Piranha (Rare)
Blue-WInged Serpe (Legendary)

Ebonscale Reach

Bluefish (Common)
Flounder (Common)
Snapper (Common)
Perch (Common)
Pike (Common)
Trout (Common)
Catfish (Uncommon)
Clams (Uncommon)
Cod (Uncommon)
Tadpole (Uncommon)
Madtom (Rare)
Paddlefish (Rare)
Sculpin (Rare)
Speartooth Shark (Rare)
Stingray (Rare)
Starfish (Rare)
Daemonaja (Legendary)

Brightwood

Perch (Common)
Pike (Common)
Trout (Common)
Aquatic Snails (Uncommon)
Sturgeon (Uncommon)
Electric Eel (Rare)
Frogfish (Rare)
Egede Serpe (Legendary)

Restless Shore

Bluefish (Common)
Flounder (Common)
Hake (Common)
Pike (Common)
Trout (Common)
Sunfish (Common)
Aquatic Snails (Uncommon)
Catfish (Uncommon)
Halibut (Uncommon)
Squid (Uncommon)
Electric Eel (Rare)
Oysters (Rare)
Paddlefish (Rare)
Piranha (Rare)
Sculpin (Rare)
Starfish (Rare)
Glowing Guardfish (Legendary)

Edengrove

Pike (Common)
Trout (Common)
Sunfish (Common)
Aquatic Snails (Uncommon)
Catfish (Uncommon)
Dragon Fish (Rare)
Madtom (Rare)
Piranha (Rare)
Horned-Tooth Mandje (Legendary)

Shattered Mountain

Pike (Common)
Trout (Common)
Sunfish (Common)
Catfish (Uncommon)
Tadpole (Uncommon)
Dragon Fish (Rare)
Electric Eel (Rare)
Speartooth Shark (Rare)
Lava Barb (Legendary)

Everfall

Perch (Common)
Trout (Common)
Aquatic Snails (Uncommon)
Tadpole (Uncommon)
Dragon Fish (Rare)
Electric Eel (Rare)
Mandje Mandje (Legendary)

Weaver’s Fen

Bluefish (Common)
Flounder (Common)
Snapper (Common)
Perch (Common)
Pike (Common)
Trout (Common)
Catfish (Uncommon)
Clams (Uncommon)
Cod (Uncommon)
Tadpole (Uncommon)
Dragon Fish (Rare)
Madtom (Rare)
Starfish (Rare)
Swordfish (Rare)
Varanus Mandje (Legendary)

It is worth noting that these fishes depend on whether you are fishing on saltwater or freshwater. Some of them can be caught on both but you can look at the table below to check what you need.

Summary

If you didn’t want to read all of the above, that’s fine. Here’s the key information, summarized:

You should fish at deep depths to rank up quickest
You should use bait to rank up faster, but only due to efficiency
Deep depths are better for rarer fish, meaning you also rank up quicker as a result and probably make more money from fishing too
Your fishing level seems to have no impact on how good the fish you catch are
I tested all of this at very shallow, shallow and deep depths in the Broad Fishing Hotspot fresh water, using Firefly Bait and no bait, whilst using the free fishing line that Master Fisher Michael Shield gives you for everything to keep data consistent. I avoided the ‘hotspot’ in the lake to ensure testing would be suitable for other locations too (the hotspot is in shallow water here, but probably won’t always be in shallow water).

Is fishing not your thing? Check out our New World mining guide and see if that’s more up your street.