How to Catch Fish in Tears of the Kingdom (TotK)

Are you looking for a cozy diversion in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom? Maybe you want to forget about the looming evil threatening Hyrule and just catch a few big-mouth bass? If so, we’ve got good news and bad news. If you’re wondering how to catch fish in Tears of the Kingdom, here’s what you need to know. 

Basic Ways to Catch Fish in Tears of the Kingdom

Unfortunately, like Breath of the Wild before it, Tears of the Kingdom does not give you a fishing rod. So, if you want to take the conventional route for catching fish, you’ve got two choices: you can either kill them and collect their corpses or jump in the water, swim up to them, and grab them.

That last one seems like it shouldn’t work, but it does. Just make sure you’ve got enough energy left to reach the shore. What I did was create a basic boat and head out into the ocean, then I hopped off and started grabbing fish. 

You can also catch fish in freshwater, including lakes and pounds. But you should probably check that there are fish in there, otherwise you’re just wasting your time. As for killing the fish, throwing bomb flowers into the water works. You might also be able to shoot the fish with an arrow, but I’ve had no success doing that so far.

Here’s What to Do if You Want to Get Clever

But… What about unconventional methods of catching fish? If you’re prepared to start meddling with Zonai devices, you can really go to town. One particularly clever method of multi-killing fish, as seen in my Best ChaoticTotK Creations list, is to mount a Zonai shock emitter at the front of a raft or boat.

Then, pilot around where the fish are and you should end up with a bumper crop. One enterprising TotK player has even created a trawler that both shocks the fish and collects them. Give it a few weeks and we’re almost sure to see a machine that just empties any body of water. 

So while there’s no fishing rod, there are multiple ways to catch fish in Tears of the Kingdom. And if you need more help with the game, check out our guides.