Are You Fishing in Monster Hunter: World? You Should Be

The thrill of hunting down big game appeals to all of us, but there is a more serene side to the world of Monster Hunter – fishing.

Sitting proudly in your equipment wheel, your fishing pole is only a tap away from terrorising the denizens of the deep:

Select this bad boy, find yourself a populated body of water and plunk ‘er in.  From here, you can play the waiting game – fish will approach your lure on their own – or wobble your pole to see if the more lively lure will attract a scaly prize.

Every fish you catch will give you Research Points, an alternate currency within the game of Monster Hunter: World that can be used to chase up desirable items, feed your face or grow crafting resources. Some fish will even give you consumable items that serve a variety of purposes, such as healing for debuff removal – it’s a real good time.

So what makes a good fishing spot? Interestingly enough, all the catchable fish are entirely visible in bodies of water, taking the guess work out of where to lay your hook. This also means you can spot some of the more desirable scaley boys – special fish that might give you extra bonus loot.

The game will ask you to catch a couple fish for some general questing purposes, by way of the Piscine Researcher that appears in different zones. However, if you stick it out you can really start to benefit both financially and resource wise – let’s take a squiz at some of the grouse stuff you can get your hands on:

SUSHIFISH

Though the name is confusing (aren’t …ALL fish, ‘sushi’ fish?) these guys are downright nifty. Eat one of their scales from your inventory to restore a solid chunk of health immediately (instead of taking time to drink a potion) as well as removing any bleeding debuffs. Against some of the real nasty bastards in the game, these almost feel like cheating. Almost.

WHETFISH

These clever little dickens can actually be used to restore sharpness to your weapon, albeit at the cost of being consumable. Though your standard whetstone can be used indefinitely, these guys will get that cutting edge back in play a great deal quicker.

GOLD FISH

I love these guys – because they are basically swimming money. In the later stages of the game, crafting costs become downright expensive – so having a way to fish up literally thousands of bucks is a great, chilled out way to get rich. Simply take their scales to your local vendor (they are located in the Monster Parts section of your inventory) and sell them up for big cash.

BOSS FISH

Definitely the most exciting part of your newfound love for reelin’ em in – managing to hook a big one. Some fish are a great deal bigger and fussier than their lesser colleagues, meaning your efforts to land them will guide through a quicktime-event styled selection of prompts to get them in your arms. When you DO catch them, they can grant you special items that might be worth a ton of cash (10,000 in-game dollary doos) or drop a random item on the ground to be collected.

Plus, they are damn fun.

OTHER COOL FISHING DEALIES

So, what else can you do with the fish you catch? Well if you have progressed the story far enough to have your own private living quarters, you can actually display your hard earned fishy friends. And I don’t mean nail them to some wood, or turn them into some evil singing bass – actually release them to swim in your own watery enclosures:

Stuck for things to do amongst your downtime of committing massive monster genocide? Maybe take the time to check out the water and drop a line. The worst thing that will happen is you will spend some time and make some money.

And spending time is entirely how Monster Hunter works.

Monster Hunter: World released worldwide on January 26th, for PS4 and Xbox One, with a PC version coming later this year.