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Quick Start

Curren edited this page Jun 6, 2026 · 3 revisions

Quick Start Guide

Everything you need to catch your first fish and build your first tank.


Step 1 — Craft a Copper Fishing Rod

Craft a Copper Fishing Rod using three copper ingots and two string in the same shape as a vanilla fishing rod. It has 250 durability.

Recipe — Copper Fishing Rod
Copper Ingot
Copper Ingot String
Copper Ingot String

Yields: 1× Copper Fishing Rod

The Copper Fishing Rod is what activates the Fishtastic minigame. A vanilla rod still works the old way.


Step 2 — Load Some Bait (Optional)

Open your inventory with the rod in a slot. Drag Worms, Gummy Worms, or Blazed Grub onto the rod to load a stack of bait into it. The rod's tooltip will show the loaded bait.

Bait Best for
Worms More targets per session; mostly vanilla fish
Gummy Worms Mod fish dominate the pool; quality bias toward Rare+
Blazed Grub 50% treasure chance; only exotic fish when fish do appear

You can fish without bait — vanilla fish will still be available, just without any bonuses. See Bait for full details.


Step 3 — Cast and Wait

Cast the rod into water just like normal. Wait for a fish to bite (the bobber dips). At that moment, the Fishing Minigame screen opens automatically. The server has already determined your loot based on your bait, biome, time of day, and weather.


Step 4 — Play the Minigame

You'll see a vertical bar on your screen:

  • The bobber (green zone) falls under gravity — right-click (or press the Fishing Minigame Impulse keybind) to push it upward.
  • One or more targets (fish icon or chest icon) float around the bar, each on a short progress meter.
  • Keep the bobber over a target to fill its progress bar. Let it drift away and the bar drains slowly.
  • Fill a target's bar to 100% to catch it. A target that drains to 0% escapes.

Each session has 1–5 targets generated by the server. Targets are hidden during play — fish show a generic fish icon; treasure shows a chest. You only see the actual item once you catch it.

When every target is either caught or escaped, the session ends and the server drops your rewards directly into your inventory.


Step 5 — Inspect Your Catch

Every fish you catch has two data components visible in the tooltip:

  • Quality — Common through Legendary, shown in color. Higher quality fish glow.
  • Size — Displayed in centimeters (e.g. 42 cm). Larger is rarer.

Step 6 — Build a Fish Tank

Recipe — Fish Tank
Iron Ingot Glass Iron Ingot
Glass Glass
Iron Ingot Glass Iron Ingot

Yields: 1× Fish Tank

Place a Fish Tank block anywhere. Then:

  1. Hold any item (a fish, a decorative block, anything) and right-click the tank to add it. Items display inside the tank facing toward you.
  2. Right-click empty-handed to take the top item back out.
  3. Place tanks adjacent to each other — they automatically connect into one larger tank. Large tanks (3×3 or bigger) can hold oversized fish (>100 cm).

Customizing the Tank

Right-click the tank while holding a block to change one of three visual parts:

Part Default
Frame Oak Planks
Sand (floor) Sand
Glass (sides) Blue Clear Stained Glass

Cycle your active customization mode (Frame / Sand / Glass) using the mode manager. Hold the block type you want, right-click the tank, and that part updates instantly. Fishtastic adds borderless and clear variants of all 16 stained glass colors specifically for this.


Step 7 — Check the Leaderboard

If the server has GelatinUI installed, open the leaderboard screen to see:

  • Your personal best catch sizes per species
  • Your catch counts per species
  • Global records across all players

Tips

  • Time your fishing — certain fish only appear at dawn, dusk, or during rain. Check Bait for the full breakdown.
  • Higher quality = larger fish on average, plus visual glint effects.
  • Luck enchantments on your rod affect the treasure loot table luck parameter.
  • Sessions time out after 5 minutes if you leave the screen open without finishing.
  • You can have one active fishing session at a time per player.

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