Tired of your line snapping while fishing in Crimson Desert? Fishing is pretty much expected in most open-world sandbox RPGs nowadays, but as you've probably noticed, the in-game instructions on how to fish in Crimson Desert leave plenty of room for confusion and doubt. Most new players, upon gaining their first Fishing Rod, will go to a fishing spot and attempt to catch a Tench or Bass, only to find their line snapping when they try to reel one in.

In this guide, I'll show you how Crimson Desert's fishing system actually works. Read on and you'll discover exactly how to fish in Crimson Desert, with detailed instructions on every step of the process - including how to reel in fish without your line breaking!

In this guide:

• How to get a Fishing Rod
• How to fish in Crimson Desert
• How to reel in a fish
• How to skin a fish ready for cooking

How to get a Fishing Rod

You can catch fish either with a Fishing Rod, or with your bare hands, just by wading out into the water and grabbing the fish before it gets away. However, in most cases, you're going to need a Fishing Rod to catch the fish you need because the water will be too deep for wading.

The earliest way to get a Fishing Rod is to speak with Annabella in Hernand after the prologue, and accept the side quest "Annabella's Request". This quest is a tutorial for fishing, and she'll give you a Fishing Rod to use for the quest. After completing the quest, you'll gain your very own Fishing Rod to keep forever.

How to fish in Crimson Desert

To actually start fishing, first you must approach a fishing spot. Any body of water which contains fish will do - river, pond, lake, or ocean. Hold LB or CTRL to search the water and see if any fish are swimming there. You won't catch any fish if there are no fish to catch.

Next, you must equip your Fishing Rod. Open your Equipment radial wheel with D-Pad Left or F2. Your Fishing Rod can be equipped in your Bow slot. Hover over that slot in the wheel, and use LT/RT or Mouse Scroll Wheel to switch to your Fishing Rod.

Now, cast your line into the water. On controller, hold LT to prepare to cast your line with the Fishing Rod. You can aim where the line will land. Aim it close to where you saw the fish, and then release LT to cast it. On PC, tap Q to equip the rod, then aim with the mouse and Left-Click to cast the line.

How to reel in a fish

To reel in your fish, you first need to tire the fish out, and then reel it towards you while the fish is stationary. Where most new players get confused is that they try to reel in the fish while the fish is still moving and straining against the line, which is likely to cause your line to snap.

To successfully reel in a fish, here's what you need to do:

1. Wait for the fish to bite. Patience is key. You can move the line around while you wait, but it's not necessary. Just wait. You should eventually see a fish approach and take the bait, and you'll receive a prompt in the bottom-right corner of your screen to tap RT or Right-Click to start reeling the fish in.

2. Pull opposite to the fish. Don't try to reel the fish in yet. You need to tire it out first, or your line will snap. So, while the fish is moving around, use Left Thumbstick or WASD to pull the line in the opposite direction that the fish is travelling. Keep doing this for as long as it takes, until the fish stops moving and the bubbly thrashing ceases around the line.

3. Reel in the fish. While the fish is temporarily exhausted, reel in the fish as quickly as possible. On controller, reel it in with clockwise movements on Right Thumbstick. On PC, simply use Mouse Scroll Wheel to reel.

4. Rinse and repeat. If it's an easy fish, you'll likely catch it with a single reel. But more challenging fish species may recover quickly from the exhaustion and start moving around again. If this happens, immediately stop reeling, and start pulling opposite to the fish again until it's exhausted. Then reel once more. Repeat these steps as many times as necessary to catch the fish.

Once you've caught the fish, you'll discover its species (if you haven't already), and you'll be able to see the fish's weight in the panel on the right-hand side. You can then choose whether to "Catch" the fish or "Release" it. If you catch it, then it will be added to your inventory.

How to skin a fish ready for cooking

To skin a fish, all you need to do is hover over the caught fish in your inventory, then hold down A to "Use", and with the button still held down, navigate to the "Clean" dropdown option with Left Thumbstick. On PC, you hold down Space to "Use", and then use W/S to navigate to the "Clean" option.

Cleaning the fish will replace the caught fish item with as many Fish Fillets as you could gain from that fish. You can then use these Fish Fillets in cooking recipes, or anything else you'd like. Just be aware that if you want to sell it, you'll gain much more for the unskinned fish than for the prepared Fish Fillets.

Now that you've hopefully caught your first fish, why not figure out what to do next by learning how to use the game's Visione Helmet? Or, if you're looking for a quick way to head to your next fishing spot, it's worth checking out our handy guides on fast travelling as well as unlocking fast travel to the Greymane Camp.