ESO Fishing Guide: What You Need to Know

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Penned by Angus Green

Angus is our resident Elder Scrolls Online specialist. He lives in Eugene and is a teacher by day.

Reviewed by Ashley Johnson

In this ESO Fishing guide, we’ll discuss everything you need to know about fishing in Elder Scrolls Online. We’ll start with why you should try fishing in the first place, then jump into some basics, mechanics, and items to help you land the big one (or a Perfect Roe).

Let’s get started!

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Why Should You Fish?

There are several reasons why people fish in Elder Scrolls Online. The major reasons are making money, earning achievements and their corresponding rewards, and straight-up relaxing. We’ll explore the reasons, and then go over important mechanics that you can use to optimize your fishing experience. 

Money

As you fish in ESO, you’ll catch an assortment of fish that you can currently sell for around 450–500 per fish (on PC). The chances are low, but you can definitely make a lot of money through fishing in ESO. You can also filet the fish yourself, get fish for provisioning, and work toward the potential of the elusive Perfect Roe.

Perfect Roe is a gold rarity item that is used for crafting, and right now can sell for upwards of 50K per Roe! These are so expensive because they’re an item used in crafting Psijic Ambrosia, a drink that increases your experience gained by 50% for 30 minutes. This helps players to level a lot faster without having to rely on crown experience scrolls. 

Achievement

Earning achievements by fishing in ESO will take a player a very long time. Master Fisher is the achievement that comes along with catching every type of fish in every base game zone, awarding you with the Master Angler title. It will require you to catch fish even in Cyrodiil, which can be problematic for players who do predominantly PvE. Usually people will leave you alone while fishing in PvP areas, but it’s better to be safe and switch up your armor a bit while you’re there.

Very few people in the game have the Master Fisher achievement, as it takes so long to catch each fish from their various fishing holes. There are strategies that you can use to more easily obtain rare fish, and there are also items that can increase your chances as well. Once you have your Master Fisher title, you gain access to the Fishing Vessel furnishing, which is quite the flex in the ESO housing community. 

Relaxing

It’s undeniable that The Elder Scrolls have a track record of some of the most beautiful scenery in video games. ESO is, of course, no exception. Fishing forces you to stop and sit back for a while, letting you take in the scenery. The developers put a lot of effort into the art of the game, so it’s nice to take a breath and really take it in as you fish. As you wait for your dungeon to queue, or simply to chat with friends while you do something together, fishing is a great option to pass the time. It’s easy to do and also slowly gets you money and achievements. 

ESO Fishing: The Basics

The basics of fishing are fairly simple. As you might expect, you’ll need bait before you start fishing. You can get bait by harvesting insects in the wild by interacting with them. Each type of fishing hole type will require a new type of bait. Below we’ll outline which bait types to go for each water type.

Insect Parts can be found in flying insects like torchbugs or butterflies that you’ll see quite often flying about. Remember that Mirri gets upset when you harvest insect parts, so be sure to de-summon her before you do so.

Guts can be found from harvesting small animals like rabbits or squirrels.

Worms can be found from plant resource nodes or zombies. The area north of Sentinel in the Alik’r Desert is a great place to obtain these from all of the zombies that roam there.

Crawlers also come from undead, bugs that don’t fly, or even plant resource nodes. 

• River: Insect Parts, Shad
• Lake: Guts, Minnow
• Ocean: Worms, Chub
• Foul: Crawlers, Fish Roe

When you go up to a fishing hole, it will tell you whether it is River, Lake, Ocean or Foul. Be sure to select the correct bait by holding E to toggle through the various bait options you have. If you do not use a bait specified for the water type, you won’t get good catches at all. A lot of fishing is waiting and hoping that RNG blesses you with the items you need, so be ready for some lucky and not so lucky fishing days. 

Mechanics and Items to Make Fishing Easier

When you fish at a fishing hole, you are more likely to catch rare fish with more people fishing alongside you. So if you are achievement hunting, you’ll want to take a buddy with you or seek out the fishing holes with another person there already. Keep in mind, this dries up the fishing hole faster, but it does increase your odds of good drops.

An item that mirrors the bonus you get from having a person fish with you is Artaeum Pickled Fish Bowl. This is a food recipe you can find through fishing in Artaeum. It gives you 5652 health, 5117 magicka, and attracts fish to you. The issue with this item is that it requires Clam Gall to create it, which can only be found in clam shells in Summerset, making it very expensive to craft.

A similar item that will increase your fishing potential is the drink called Hissmir Fish-Eye Rye. Obtained through the New Life Festival (or through guild traders selling it), it will give you 529 magicka and stamina recovery, and grant you insight on fish spawns as well as what type of fish are in it. The way the item is described in-game is a little misleading, but basically the item will highlight fishing holes to make them more visible to you. It will also tell you what kind of body of water you’re working with when you interact with the location. This is a cheaper item to come by, and can be used to more easily find where fishing spots are as you go through Tamriel. Artaeum Pickled Fish Bowl wins out on getting you rarer fish faster, but doesn’t illuminate the fishing holes.

Join the High Ground

This wraps up our ESO fishing guide and all the essentials you need to know in order to get started fishing in ESO. Whether you are aiming to make bank or get that prized Fishing Vessel, we wish you the best of luck in your fishing RNG. For more guides that will help boost your gaming experience, subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on social media.

Happy gaming!