In this page we will be going over the more specific details regarding the fishing life skill. For the basics, please check the [Fishing] page.

There are three types of fishing: normal manual fishing, auto-fishing, and harpoon fishing.

Manual fishing is when you catch fish manually, one by one, by playing the minigame presented for each fishing cycle.

Auto-fishing is carried out automatically when you don’t take any action after a fish bites.
Fish will be automatically collected after 180 seconds (3 minutes), after which the character will throw the hook away again, repeating the fishing process.
 
Harpoon fishing consists of catching fish with a harpoon at sea.
For this variety of fishing you will need to obtain a harpoon, which can be crafted at a town tool workshop (or bought on the Central Market), and a fishing boat, or a cog, to go out to sea.

Once this is done, equip the harpoon, point at water, and press the Space key. Once a deep sea fish is detected, a prompt will appear to begin the minigame.

The minigame for harpoon fishing is not the same one as for normal fishing. In this one, you need to find the fish’ shadow underwater and press the Space key on top of it, throwing harpoons at it to weaken the fish. Once weakened enough, it will be yours.
You’re given a minute and 15 harpoons to catch the fish.

Please note that there is no auto-harpoon fishing.

The Balenos/Calpheon/Epheria/Mediah fishing rods and ash tree/maple floats can be enhanced with black stones, and the effects will be improved when their enhancement level increases.
Additionally, for the Balenos fishing rod and Epheria fishing rod, the durability will go up when you enhance them with black stones, which means you can fish for a long time with them before needing to go repair them. But be careful, since the enhancement level can go down after failing an enhancement attempt after +7.
If you want to avoid the risk of enhancement failure, use a lot of black stone and try force-enhancement. However, remember that you will need to repair the maximum durability of the rod and float afterwards.

On the other hand, a triple-float fishing rod is very efficient, since you can catch a lot of fish at once. But it is a one-time-use fishing rod that can’t be repaired or enhanced.

You can check additional information on rare fish and big fish in the in-game knowledge window (hotkey: H) by going to Life Skill → Fishing.

Overall, picking a fishing rod that suits you and your intended purpose best is part of the fun.

 The area next to Velia is a popular destination for Adventurers leaving their characters AFK to fish for extended periods of time.

You can sell your fish to a Trade Manager or Imperial Fishing Delivery Manager NPC.

Contrary to most forms of trade, you do not need to have the nodes connected from the point of origin to the location you want to sell your fish in.
The point of origin will determine how much the fish will be valued when you sell it. The longer the distance between the point of origin and the point of sale, the greater the value. However, the longer you take to sell the fish, the less base value it will have. Make sure to strike a balance between the two in your favor.

If you caught your fish at sea, the origin point is divided by the water territory, but it actually displays the island that represents the nearest sea area to it, so the place you actually caught the fish and the displayed location can be slightly different.

 As seen in the example above, fish sold near their area of origin as soon as possible will grant less extra profit (the green additional percentage), but will maintain all of its base value (the 100% below its price).

You can reduce the time it takes for fish to bite by increasing your character’s fishing speed ability level. You can check this one in your character’s profile (hotkey: P), on the ability section.

By improving this, you can get more fish during the same amount of time.
If you’ve decided to go fishing, it is a good idea to get your character up to level 5 of this ability, as it will reduce the time taken for fish to bite by 50%.

You can raise this ability level through dishes, elixirs, certain clothes, and guild skills.
The simplest way to increase it is by using a guild skill. Of course, the guild skill can be applied only when you are in a guild, so if you’re a fisher without a guild, don’t forget to ask what level of Art of Fishing the guild has reached before you join them.

Next, you can also increase it by wearing silver embroidered fisher’s clothes.
When you enhance them to +2, it’ll grant you 2 fishing speed ability levels.
This means that, by getting 3 from the guild skill, and getting 2 from the clothes, you can get to have the 5 levels easily whenever you fish.

If you’re not in a guild, or this one does not possess that skill, you can increase the remaining levels with dishes and elixirs.
The Balenos meal will boost your fishing speed ability level by 2 for 90 minutes, so it is very useful.

The magnificence of a +5 silver embroidered fisher’s clothes!

Depending on the life skill, mastery may affect the quantity of items you can gather, or the amount you can process all at once. For fishing, mastery increases the chance of catching a prize catch, which includes both prize catch fish and ancient relic crystal shards.
However, keep in mind that mastery will not increase your chance to catch fish categorized as rare.

Prize catch fishes are some of the rarest you can find while fishing, both inland and out at sea, and both with a fishing rod and with a harpoon.

While mastery will increase the chance at which we may find a prize catch with a fishing rod, it works a bit differently when fishing with a harpoon. For these, if your mastery is too low you may not even be able to find prize catch fishes. A minimum amount of mastery is required, and after that, certain thresholds need to be reached to increase your prize catch harpoon level, of which there are up to 3.

If you want to try your luck with prize catch fish, ask other experienced fishers first for the best locations and equipment!

During your travels throughout the continent you might have spotted certain NPCs in or near wharfs with the title <Imperial Fishing Delivery>.

These imperial delivery managers take valuable goods sought after by the imperial court, and due to this they always purchase them at 250% of their market price.

Additionally, the price distance bonus from selling fish also applies when selling it to an imperial fishing delivery manager!

There is a limit on the number of fish that can be delivered to a specific imperial fishing delivery manager. When the Imperial Delivery NPC has purchased the quantity of a fish they ask for, the number seen in the above picture will reach 0 and the NPC won’t purchase any more of it.

During imperial fishing delivery you compete with other Adventurers with the objective to sell the most fish to each imperial fishing delivery manager. Once the NPC you prepared to sell fish to has fulfilled their quota for that event cycle, you can change servers, try your luck elsewhere, or wait until the next cycle of the event.

➤ You can read more about the different types of these seals in the [Golden Seals] page.

Finally, you can accept fishing-related quests from a variety of NPCs in the world of Black Desert.
First, we recommend that you proceed with the quests you can find in Velia, the first town most Adventurers visit.

It requires some time and effort to complete these quests, but for rewards, you can obtain contribution EXP, fishing EXP, as well as rare items like sharp & hard black crystal shards.
 
We also recommend that you proceed with advancement quests, called leap quests, to help you reach a higher fishing level.
 
You can accept the leap quest once you reach the fishing level beginner Lv. 10.
Once you’re at this fishing level, summon the Black Spirit and check its guide menu, where you can find the available leap quests for all life skills and you can be guided to the NPC you can receive the quests from more easily by simply pressing them from the list.

Additionally, after completing certain fishing leap quests you will unlock the Honor to the Fishing Family quests. These will reward you valuable and useful items for having completed a leap quest.

◈ Shim Cheong's Miraculous Fish Tank

Fish stored in this fish tank have their price guarantee duration increased by five times, giving you more time before you have to sell it.
If you have this item in your bag, fish obtained through fishing will be automatically stored inside. The fish stored in the fish tank can be sold to trade managers and delivered for Imperial Fishing Delivery without the need to take it out of the fish tank.

However, the fish taken out of the fish tank have their price guarantee duration decreased by five times.

You can obtain Shim Cheong's Miraculous Fish Tank by giving 4 Iridescent Shellfish to Shim Cheong at the Sea Palace, off the coast of Land of the Morning Light. The 4 Iridescent Shellfish you need can be obtained via consecutive quests from NPC Dorio in the Sea Palace.
Remember that the exchange also requires you to have completed "The Tale of Shim Cheong’s" first!

* The content of the game guide may differ from the actual game content, depending on the update and content changes.