Genshin Impact: Fishing guide — How to start fishing in version 2.1

Genshin Impact: The basics of fishing mechanics

Speak with Katherine in the Mondstadt Adventurer’s Guild to start the Exploding Population quest. She’ll tell you to talk to a man named Nantuck who’s chilling just outside Mondstadt. Nantuck will give you the gist about fishing in Genshin Impact.

The idea is to find Fishing Points on the world map. The first one that Nantuck takes you to is just north of Springvale. He’ll then give you the Wilderness Rod (which is pretty basic), as well as several kinds of bait (i.e., Fruit Paste Bait).

When standing in front of a Fishing Point, simply press “F,” then left-click to throw your lure in the water. Try to aim for spots close to fish, but not directly on them or they’ll swim away. After a few seconds, you’ll probably get a bite.

Note: Different types of fish respond to certain kinds of lure/bait. For instance, Fruit Paste Bait is mostly used for Medaka-type fish. Others, especially rarer variants, will simply ignore it. You can right-click to change your lure/bait.

After a fish bites on your lure, left-click to start the push-and-pull minigame. A bar will appear at the top of your screen. Holding left-click will strengthen your attempts to pull, and letting go will weaken your force. But, you also have to take note of the rectangular box symbolizing the “sweet spot.” It’s all a matter of staying at the sweet spot until the progress timer (denoted by a fishing hook) elapses. If you do it right, you’ll catch the fish. If not, then the fish will escape.

Most Fishing Points will have five to eight fish swimming around. The ones that you’re able to catch will respawn after three days. Likewise, if you see that some fish aren’t available, that’s because there are those that will only appear at nighttime (i.e., 1800 to 0600 in-game time).

Anyway, when you’re done in Springvale, Nantuck will give you the Formula: Fruit Paste Bait recipe (so you can make more of these things). He’ll also ask you to go to Stormbearer Mountains to catch ornamental fish. Unlike other kinds, these can be placed in your Pool of Sapphire, a furnishing for your Serenitea Pot (i.e., fish pond). Let’s go ahead and talk about these rewards in the next part of our Genshin Impact fishing guide.