Any survival game worth its salt features a fishing minigame, and Once Human continues this wholesome tradition, providing players with a quick and easy way to fill their stomachs and bolster their sanity after a long day of hunting Deviations.
In this guide, I will walk you through the basics of fishing in Once Human so you can sustain yourself in the wild. We’ll cover how to craft a Fishing Rod, how to craft Fish Bait, and, of course, how to cast your line correctly and reel in those tasty, versatile Northern Pikes.
How to craft a Fishing Rod in Once Human
Crafting a fishing rod in Once Human is a simple process. First, ensure you’ve unlocked two critical nodes in the Memetics menu, which you can access by pressing O on your keyboard. Spend your Ciphers or Meme Points to unlock Essential Tools in the Crafting skill tree and then Smelting Essentials in the Infrastructure skill tree.
With those unlocked, you can craft a Furnace and a Supplies Workbench, the two facilities you’ll need to make a Fishing Rod. Place them both in your territory with the Build Mode interface, accessible by pressing B on your keyboard.
Interact with the Supplies Workbench by pressing F, and you’ll see the crafting recipe for the Fishing Rod: 20 Logs and 10 Copper Ingots.
Press F to cut down the trees in your immediate vicinity until you have 70 Logs in your inventory. You’ll need the extra 50 Logs for the 10 Charcoal required to power the Furnace and produce 10 Copper Ingots. Then, run around and look for Copper Ore deposits, which are groups of stones flecked with gold chunks. Mine the deposits until you have 30 Copper Ore.
Now interact with your furnace and use 50 Logs to craft 10 Charcoal. Then, use 10 Charcoal and 30 Copper Ore to craft 10 Copper Ingots. Head over to your Supplies Workbench, and you’ll have all the resources necessary to craft a Fishing Rod—time to become an expert angler.
How to craft Dough Fish Bait in Once Human
We can’t cast a line yet, though, as we need to craft some Dough Fish Bait to attach to our Fishing Rod. Dough Fish Bait is the most basic bait in Once Human, and the crafting recipe requires 1 Corn.
To find a reliable source of corn in Once Human, head to Meyer’s Market, which is south of Deadsville on the world map. A water moat surrounds Meyer’s Market, and I’ve found plenty of corn crops on its banks. The exact coordinates of what I’m talking about are (5664, -6515), but feel free to explore the area to find different resource deposits, as your results may vary. Here’s a picture of some corn so you know what to look for:
Once you’ve got a good stash of corn, head back to base and craft plenty of Dough Fish Bait at your Supplies Workbench. Finally, we can start fishing.
How to purchase bait in Once Human
If you don’t want to craft Dough Fish Bait, head to the pier outside Meyer’s Market and speak to Margerie at (5715 -6641). Margerie is a fish trader who sells bait in exchange for the Energy Link currency. You can purchase Dough Fish Bait or regular Bait from Margerie, which is handy if you can’t find any corn.
If you want to become a fishing magnate, I recommend purchasing the Formula: Bait from Margerie for 200 Energy Link. This will allow you to craft the better Bait she sells back home at your Supplies Workbench.
How to fish in Once Human
Now that you’ve got your rod and your bait, you need a body of water to start fishing in Once Human. If you’re at Meyer’s Market, use the moat mentioned above or the more extensive wetlands and jetties surrounding the NPC-filled compound.
Head into your inventory and drag the Fishing Rod into your Hotbar at the bottom of the screen. Then, exit all menus and hit the corresponding key in the lower right of your screen to equip your fancy new fish pole. Now, press R to open the bait menu, and click on your bait of choice.
Before you cast your line with the left mouse button, though, here’s what you need to know about fishing in Once Human.
When you cast your line, you’ll see a little visualisation of your bait in the water and a prompt to ‘Turn the reel’. You must wait until the circle starts glowing blue, then hold down the left mouse button to hook onto the unlucky fish. With the left mouse button held, you must pull your mouse in the opposite direction to the way the fish is heading to wrestle it towards you. Don’t be aggressive with your movements here, or you risk losing your line and the catch.
One trick I’ve found helpful is casting the line quite close to the player so the fish doesn’t have much room to wriggle away from you. With that, you should have everything you need to become an expert fisherman in Once Human. Happy angling!
How to craft the Northern Pike melee weapon in Once Human
If you’re lucky enough to catch a Northern Pike while fishing in Once Human, take it back to a Gear Workbench in your territory, and you can craft it into a melee weapon if you have the Northern Pike blueprint. The Northern Pike B.P. is worth investing in, as there’s something immensely satisfying about slapping creatures (or other players) with a massive wobbly fish.
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