Fishing in Project Zomboid (Build 42)

Every fish: size, weight and the level it needs

21 species. Your Fishing level caps the heaviest species that can bite — a species whose listed maximum is over your level's limit is left out of the pick entirely. Every species is set to both rivers and lakes, so the water you fish in does not change which fish you get. 4 predators — Blue Catfish, Flathead Catfish, Muskellunge, Alligator Gar — only take the bait while the line is taut.

Fish	Level	Length	Weight	Trophy (level 8+)	Favourite bait
Little Bait Fish	0	5–10 cm	0.01–0.10 kg	—	24 kinds (Worms, Insects, Bread & plant)
White Crappie	0	10–30 cm	0.10–1.0 kg	up to 30 cm, 2.5 kg	Tadpole
Black Crappie	0	10–25 cm	0.10–1.0 kg	up to 28 cm, 2.7 kg	Tadpole
Yellow Perch	0	10–30 cm	0.10–1.0 kg	up to 30 cm, 1.9 kg	Snail
Bluegill	0	10–20 cm	0.10–1.4 kg	up to 35 cm, 1.4 kg	Cricket
Redear Sunfish	0	10–20 cm	0.10–1.4 kg	up to 24 cm, 1.4 kg	Grasshopper
Green Sunfish	0	10–20 cm	0.10–1.4 kg	—	Worm
White Bass	1	10–38 cm	0.10–1.5 kg	up to 40 cm, 3.0 kg	Tadpole
Spotted Bass	2	10–38 cm	0.10–1.8 kg	up to 45 cm, 5.0 kg	Crayfish
Sauger	2	10–45 cm	0.10–1.9 kg	up to 50 cm, 1.9 kg	Crayfish
Smallmouth Bass	4	10–41 cm	0.10–2.3 kg	up to 55 cm, 5.0 kg	Worm
Channel Catfish	4	10–30 cm	0.10–2.3 kg	up to 80 cm, 26 kg	Canned Dog Food (Open)
Largemouth Bass	5	10–51 cm	0.10–2.8 kg	up to 75 cm, 10 kg	Maggots
Freshwater Drum	6	10–76 cm	0.10–4.5 kg	up to 95 cm, 25 kg	Dough
Striped Bass	7	10–76 cm	0.10–9.0 kg	up to 90 cm, 15 kg	Leech
Walleye	7	10–80 cm	0.10–9.0 kg	up to 88 cm, 13 kg	Leech
Muskellungepredator	8	10–101 cm	0.10–18 kg	up to 127 cm, 32 kg	Little Bait Fish
Flathead Catfishpredator	8	10–140 cm	0.10–20 kg	up to 147 cm, 55 kg	Canned Dog Food (Open)
Paddlefish	8	10–150 cm	0.10–20 kg	up to 220 cm, 90 kg	41 kinds (Worms, Insects, Leeches & snails, Minnows, Meat, Bread & plant, Artificial lures)
Blue Catfishpredator	9	10–117 cm	0.10–20 kg	up to 165 cm, 68 kg	Canned Dog Food (Open)
Alligator Garpredator	10	10–180 cm	0.10–20 kg	up to 243 cm, 150 kg	Little Bait Fish

Length and weight are the game's size table for a normal catch: small, medium and big each take a third of the length range, and no catch is heavier than 45 lb (20.45 kg). From level 8 a big catch has 1 in 20 to grow towards the trophy size and come out “Legendary”.

What bites on your bait

When a fish bites, the game picks the species by weight: every species that takes the bait and fits your level gets its weight for that bait, and the share of the total is its chance.

Bait and lures by species

The game sorts bait into 7 groups and gives each species a weight per group, then raises one or two favourites. Words follow the game's own scale (Great above 0.8, Good above 0.6, Average above 0.4).

Size odds, bites, gear and nets

Size odds by Fishing level

With the bobber within 7 squares of the shore, half the medium and big odds move to small, and fish come half as often. Where the spot has no fish stock left, every catch is small.

What makes fish bite

Each time the bobber is tested, a fish is attracted with 80% × these multipliers (Bobber.lua):

• Dawn and dusk (4:00–6:59, 18:00–20:59): ×1.2
• Rain: ×1.2; fog or strong wind: ×0.8
• Air 15 to 30 °C: ×1
• Air 0 to 15 °C or 30 to 40 °C: ×0.75
• Air −10 to 0 °C or 40 °C and above: ×0.5
• Air −10 °C and below: ×0.25
• Hook: Paperclip ×0.8, Nails ×1, Fishing Hook ×1.2, Bone Fishing Hook ×1.2, Forged Fishing Hook ×1.2; no hook ×0
• Fish stock at the spot: none ×0.1, under 10 ×0.5, up to 25 ×1, more ×1.5

Line wear: each time the line is damaged it loses 1/50 of its condition (Twine), 1/75 of its condition (Fishing Line), 1/150 of its condition (Premium Fishing Line). Rods: Makeshift Fishing Rod ×0.8 tension limit, Fishing Rod full tension limit — the limit also grows with Fishing level (FishingRod.lua).

Fishing nets

A placed net rolls once per hour since you last checked it, up to 20 hours: one hour in 8 adds a catch from Little Bait Fish, Frog, Mussels, Seaweed, Crayfish, Tadpole. Baited, it can also bring Little Bait Fish, Tadpole, Crayfish, Blue Catfish, Channel Catfish, Flathead Catfish — the fresher the bait, the more often. Leave it over 15 hours and checking it has 1 in 5 to find it broken.

Trash

SeaweedRag (Dirty)Fishing Net (Broken)Tin Can (Tin Can Empty)Water Bottle Empty (listed, but no such item in B42.21)

Read from the game's Lua: fishing_properties.lua (species, bait weights, trash, nets, hooks, lines, rods), FishingUtils.lua (size limit and size odds), Fish.lua and Bobber.lua (the pick, trophies, bite modifiers), FishingNet.lua (nets).

XP needed for each level

What you actually earn is scaled first. Starting with no levels in Fishing cuts every gain to ×0.25; a starting +1 is ×1, +2 ×1.33 and +3 or more ×1.66. Fast Learner adds ×1.3, Slow Learner ×0.7. How the multipliers work.

Fishing skill books

Reading a volume multiplies the Fishing XP you earn while your level is inside its range: every tenth of the book read adds a tenth of the multiplier. The game lets you open a volume from one level below its range, and not once you are past it (ISReadABook.lua).

• 

  Fishing I: "Dean's Good Fishing Guide"

  Levels

  1–2

  Pages

  220

  XP up to

  ×3

  Where it spawns →/additem "Base.BookFishing1"
• 

  Fishing II: "Fly Fishing, with JR Hartley"

  Levels

  3–4

  Pages

  260

  XP up to

  ×5

  Where it spawns →/additem "Base.BookFishing2"
• 

  Fishing III: "Fresh and Saltwater Fishing"

  Levels

  5–6

  Pages

  300

  XP up to

  ×8

  Where it spawns →/additem "Base.BookFishing3"
• 

  Fishing IV: "Latest Rod and Net Techniques"

  Levels

  7–8

  Pages

  340

  XP up to

  ×12

  Where it spawns →/additem "Base.BookFishing4"
• 

  Fishing V: "The Authoritative Kentucky Fishing Guide"

  Levels

  9–10

  Pages

  380

  XP up to

  ×16

  Where it spawns →/additem "Base.BookFishing5"

Multipliers from the game's skill-book table (lua/server/XpSystem/XPSystem_SkillBook.lua); “where it spawns” opens the map's item finder on the loot tables.

Start with Fishing

Levels a new character gets in Fishing — and, through them, a faster XP rate (see above):

• Fishing Guideoccupation · +3
• Anglertrait · +1
• Former Scouttrait · +1

Fishing from TV and VHS

3 Life and Living shows give 850 XP in Fishing. 3 VHS tapes give 800 XP. Both stop counting once the skill reaches level 3 in the default sandbox settings, and before the multipliers above. Shows and tapes, by name.

Recipes you learn by levelling Fishing

Reaching the level teaches the recipe — no magazine needed.

• Lv 1Forge 4 Fishing Hooks
• Lv 4Fix Fishing Rod
• Lv 4Make Fishing Rod
• Lv 5Make Chum Base
• Lv 6Make Fishing Net
• Lv 7Dismantle Fishing Net

Recipes that train Fishing

1 recipes award Fishing XP when made; the most per craft (base XP):

• Harvest Roe · 10 XP