The second chapter of the widely popular battle royale, Fortnite, has launched, and it’s brought with it a strange new addition: Fishing. The colorful and bombastic world was clearly missing everyone’s favorite angling past time. Of course, many are interested in this new mechanic and the rewards it offers; this guide will help you learn all the basics of Fishing in Fortnite Chapter 2 including where to get a Fishing Rod, the best places to go fishing, and what kind of rewards you’re likely to get.
Fortnite Chapter 2 Fishing
Before you starting fishing in Fortnite keep in mind that the storm is still closing in, therefore you can’t spend too much time in one spot; you must keep moving! Don’t worry, you don’t have to fish on the outskirts of the map, there are many ponds and lakes inland where you can hope to catch whatever it is you’re hoping to catch. However, before you get to that, you’re gonna need a Fishing Rod.
How To Get A Fishing Rod
There are essentially 3 ways to obtain a Fishing Rod, however, 2 of these methods are unreliable or aren’t guaranteed to get you what you’re looking for.
The first way is to search the map and hope it spawns somewhere. Much like weapons, Blue Gel, and all other items, Fishing Rods can spawn anywhere on the map. However, much like all those other items, the arbitrary nature of the spawns and their locations makes this a wholly unreliable way of attaining them.
The second way is to search for treasure chests. Opening treasure chests has a chance, much like anything else, of getting you exactly what you need; this, too, is unreliable due to the randomness of chest spawns and the fact that there’s no way of knowing what’s actually inside the chest.
Fishing Rods aren’t necessarily rare items but it’s not a sure-fire thing that they will spawn inside every chest. But if you’re the gambling sort, maybe you’re okay with taking a chance.
Finally, and this way is the most reliable, you can look for barrels. In the new map, strewn across the landscape, you are likely to come across barrels full of Fishing Rods. There will often be more than 1 so if you’re with a squad, your entire team can pick one up. The following are the places where these fishing barrels are most likely to be located:
- Lake Canoe
- Beach on the southeast part of the map
- Lazy Lake
- Dirty Docks (Southern Port)
- Misty Meadows (North, towards the body of water)
Essentially, these barrels are likely to be found near large bodies of water, often in a sandy, beach-like area. Take a quick glance at the map and see where exactly there are lakes or streams, you’re likely to find a barrel near there.
Picking up fishing rod will take up an inventory slot, so you can discard it whenever you desire.
Fishing Locations
Before getting to the actual locations, let’s quickly go how fishing actually works. It’s a very simple process: simply go to a fishing location, equip the Fishing Rod, press the action button and you’ll find that you can determine the length and height of the cast; set the desired coordinates and cast the line. Once the line begins to tug, press the action button to reel the line back in, hopefully with a fish or item in tow.
Now that we’ve got obvious out of the way, let’s talk about all the places you can go fishing!
There are no specific locations on the map where you’ll come across more fish; any body of water on the map is guaranteed to have fish. Open the map and look for any area with water i.e. a lake or a stream, and head on over to catch some fish.
Make a mental note that the number of fish in an area are limited so you can’t stay in one spot and continue to fish items for the duration of the match. You can tell that there are still some fish available when you see bubbles forming on the surface of the water; it’s the telltale sign of life.
What Can You Catch
If you’re wondering why you should expend energy fishing, it’s because there are many prizes in store for you if luck is on your side and you displayed patience and perseverance.
There are 4 unique items that you can hope to reel in while fishing:
- Materials: The basic materials – wood, steel, and stone – that you can get from anywhere. The amount you are likely to find while fishing is the same as you get when opening a chest.
- Floppers: These are red/orange fish that can easily be caught. They serve the same purpose as a simple bandage; for healing and recovering a small portion of your health.
- Slurpfish: Arguably the most valuable item you’re likely to find. A Slurpfish has the effect of recovering 50% of your health AND shield. It takes a small time to actually use but it’s something indispensable when in a tight situation! Having two of these is equivalent to a rare Chug Jug!
- Weapons: Yes, you can even get weapons by fishing (I don’t know how that works). The best part is that you won’t reel in a run-of-the-mill handgun, instead you’re looking, at the very least, a weapon of blue rarity – more often than not, however, you’ll pull out a weapon of purple (Epic) rarity. Some of the best weapons in the game are likely to be found while fishing, however the actual likelihood of getting one isn’t exactly high; but fate favors the bold, so roll the dice and hope for the best.
