Level up fishing fast vs. the Training Rod

[Giant Octopodes]

I guess the obvious answer is a Fiberglass Rod. Get to bed by 2 on Spring 1 with whatever money and shipping you can. And on Spring 2 spend it all on a Fiberglass Rod assuming you have the ability with the Training Rod to be money positive and get to level 2 before 5 p.m.

Yeah that's typically the choice for me. By not spending the 500 I virtually guarantee with my typical route that I can go to Willy's on Day 3 and buy a Fiberglass Rod, 50-60 bait, and a trout soup. I'll eat the soup when I've got enough missing energy while fishing for catfish, both for the energy replenishment and the boost to fishing. Maybe not optimal but that's typically where that money goes for me.

Edit: Oh sorry misread, you can't buy the Fiberglass Rod on Spring 2, even if you get the money for it by close and are fishing 2 by close. It won't show in his inventory until Spring 3 at the earliest, unfortunately. My answer still applies but sadly at 9am on day 3. Sorry I don't have better news there!

 

[Paranoic]

I've actually used to use the training rod back when it was introduced, and the short, subjective answer is: I think regular bamboo pole does a better job at leveling up (to level 2, since fiberglass is hands down one of the best items money can buy in your first week if you go for the fishing route).

The only benefit the training rod has over a bamboo pole is the fact it's easier to catch perfects, which IS a good xp bonus, but sometimes you'll still drop a wiggly fish and just give up a chance for a higher quality. And you can get iridium quality fish as soon as level 1, although rarely. Then there's treasure chests, they give almost as good of a bonus as a perfect catch, and you'll usually drop the perfect to get a chest, so it's better to have a regular pole for these too. And lastly, higher quality fish just means more money, so that's some extra bait or a trout soup for faster leveling.

All in all, I think on average they're actually pretty similar in terms of time it takes to hit level 2 from what I've tested (do note, I'd get consistent perfects with the training rod, but rarely with a regular rod, so it's biased towards the training rod; someone more or less skilled at the minigame would be better off with the regular rod than me), but the regular pole has a better best case scenario, plus it's extra money

 

[Elenna101]

As for 1, honestly, no. I never worry about crows in the first few days. I'm not sure they even come in the first week - the rules are a bit different for the few starting days (e.g. you don't get an energy penalty for staying up late).

And by the time the crows do appear, with all that planting and watering and harvesting I already have enough Farming level to craft a scarecrow.

If not seeds, I would definitely spend the initial 500 g (+whatever you can save) towards the expanded pack. The initial tiny pack capacity is the single most annoying thing in early game. It should also help with fishing / foraging as you wouldn't have to constantly run around between chests and shipping bin.

No, crows can definitely appear during the first week. The reason you don't see them is probably because a) you get less crows if you have less crops (and you can't get any if you have less than 16 crops), and b) I think most people overestimate the probability of crows. But if you have, say, 60 crops (like if you have a 4-person multiplayer farm and you all plant your starting parsnips), some will almost certainly get eaten.

Also, the energy penalty in the first week works the same way as the rest of the game. However, at any point in the game, you won't get an energy penalty if you level up that night, even if you stay up late or exhaust. In the first week you're probably levelling up almost every day, so that's why it seems like you don't get a penalty.

Yeah that's typically the choice for me. By not spending the 500 I virtually guarantee with my typical route that I can go to Willy's on Day 3 and buy a Fiberglass Rod, 50-60 bait, and a trout soup. I'll eat the soup when I've got enough missing energy while fishing for catfish, both for the energy replenishment and the boost to fishing. Maybe not optimal but that's typically where that money goes for me.

Edit: Oh sorry misread, you can't buy the Fiberglass Rod on Spring 2, even if you get the money for it by close and are fishing 2 by close. It won't show in his inventory until Spring 3 at the earliest, unfortunately. My answer still applies but sadly at 9am on day 3. Sorry I don't have better news there!

No, fiberglass rod definitely appears Spring 2 if you've levelled up and have the money for it, even though you don't get the mail till the 3rd. I've done it before. It's been a bit since I played early game but I think I would save the money (and any other money I get day 1) to hopefully get fiberglass rod day 2 depending how much money I get from fishing. I find that I don't like using the 20 speed-gro from the bundle on strawberries anyways, just because it bugs me when some plants are ready at a different time than others. Just a personal thing.

Alternatively, 13 parsnips is just enough to get farming level 1 on the 5th, so you could plant 1 cauliflower, 1 green bean, and 13 parsnips on the 1st, then plant a bunch of potatoes (with a scarecrow) on the 6th and get the spring crop bundle ready in time for strawberries while still staying under 16 crops until you get a scarecrow.

 

[StardewKat111]

How does the Training Rod affect the speed at which you can level up fishing in the early days of Spring Year 1?

I'd always used it in my previous saves until I could afford the fiberglass but now I'm thinking maybe I should have tried to catch at least some silver, gold, and iridium quality fish with the bamboo pole -- aren't they worth much more XP?

I kind of suck at hand-eye coordination so catching an eel with the bamboo pole at fishing level 1 is, well, beyond my capacity to put it mildly, but I can get silver halibuts and herrings, and gold to iridium sardines and anchovies.

So, stick to the training rod, or use the bamboo pole?

I use the bamboo pole as soon as possible (preference) because the training rod pisses me off with how slow fish come in. Also, I forage often in between fishing to get extra money until I can buy the best rod at my skill level.

 

[Tom]

I use the bamboo pole as soon as possible (preference) because the training rod pisses me off with how slow fish come in. Also, I forage often in between fishing to get extra money until I can buy the best rod at my skill level.

I assume you mean Fiberglass Rod. The Bamboo Pole and Training Rod are equally slow, except that with the Training Rod, you should make minimum-length casts, which saves some time.

@Elenna101, thanks for those important clarifications about the Fiberglass Rod (can buy on Spring 2), Level-up energy protection, and Crow and Parsnip specifics. I happened to be reading @Zamiel's Min-Max guide yesterday and I thought it recommended buying the Fiberglass Rod on Spring 2, so I appreciate your confirmation about that.

 

[StardewKat111]

I assume you mean Fiberglass Rod. The Bamboo Pole and Training Rod are equally slow, except that with the Training Rod, you should make minimum-length casts, which saves some time.

@Elenna101, thanks for those important clarifications about the Fiberglass Rod (can buy on Spring 2), Level-up energy protection, and Crow and Parsnip specifics. I happened to be reading @Zamiel's Min-Max guide yesterday and I thought it recommended buying the Fiberglass Rod on Spring 2, so I appreciate your confirmation about that.

yeah i meant fiberglass- sorry- I tend to just boost through fishing rods to iridium very quickly.

 

[hexnessie]

I guess the obvious answer is a Fiberglass Rod. Get to bed by 2 on Spring 1 with whatever money and shipping you can. And on Spring 2 spend it all on a Fiberglass Rod assuming you have the ability with the Training Rod to be money positive and get to level 2 before 5 p.m.

OK, I tried it on 2 new saves and I take it back, you are right -- it's much better to buy the Fiberglass Rod ASAP, which means saving the initial 500 gold and not buying the bigger pack.

I'm able to make up the cost of the rod much faster than the cost of seeds (2-3 days as opposed to 6).

One extra question about early fishing, if anyone knows:

When I land a perfect catch with the Fiberglass Rod, the fish quality is normal. Not silver, not gold, certainly not iridium, plain old normal. If I land a non-perfect catch, the fish is either silver or gold. WHY? Is it related to low Fishing skill?

 

[Tom]

When I land a perfect catch with the Fiberglass Rod, the fish quality is normal. Not silver, not gold, certainly not iridium, plain old normal. If I land a non-perfect catch, the fish is either silver or gold. WHY? Is it related to low Fishing skill?

Can you test that again with a new save? If true, it would be a new bug.

 

[hexnessie]

Can you test that again with a new save? If true, it would be a new bug.

I will in some near future. This only occurred on one day, when I jumped from Fishing 1 or 2 to Fishing 3 and my casting length got much longer - I started getting gold quality fish but only on non-perfect catches. The next day it was all resolved.

 

[BlaDe]

The fish quality does not upgrade if the original fish caught was normal quality.

 

[hexnessie]

The fish quality does not upgrade if the original fish caught was normal quality.

I'm not sure I understand this correctly. If the Fiberglass Rod catches silver and gold quality carp and sunfish, then a perfect catch should be at least gold? I understand it would not improve with perfect if all I got were normal fish, but the thing is, I was catching gold on the imperfect attempts, and normal when I got perfect.

What am I missing?

 

[Giant Octopodes]

I'm not sure I understand this correctly. If the Fiberglass Rod catches silver and gold quality carp and sunfish, then a perfect catch should be at least gold? I understand it would not improve with perfect if all I got were normal fish, but the thing is, I was catching gold on the imperfect attempts, and normal when I got perfect.

What am I missing?

Fish Quality is dependent on:
- Fishing Level
- Fishing Zone
- RNG

In order to have a near guarantee on getting at least silver quality, you need at least fishing zone 3, and at least fishing level 4. Less than that and you've got a substantial chance at a normal quality fish, which as BlaDe indicated will be normal quality irrespective of getting a perfect catch or not. If the base fish quality, after other considerations, is at least silver, then it goes up 1 in quality with a perfect catch. If you're *always* getting silver and gold without perfect catches, then a perfect catch should *always* be gold or iridium. To have a chance of having a gold quality fish without a perfect catch which exceeds 10%, you need to be in fishing zone 5, or to have a fishing skill of 10 or higher. The chart is on here:

Fishing - Stardew Valley Wiki

Fishing is a skill associated with catching fish with a fishing rod or by collecting items from crab pots.

stardewvalleywiki.com

My initial hypothesis would be a low sample size and poor RNG or changing for whatever reason to a lower fishing zone as the culprits. The fishing zone is my most common "gotcha" for low quality fish personally, that's why to get Iridium quality versions of things like the Angler or Scorpion Carp, even with a Quality Lure (since Perfect Catches were way too inconsistent to rely on for those) I needed a fishing skill of at least 14, as I couldn't consistently get a fishing zone higher than 2. I hope that helps, if it is the same zone and it's *always* silver or gold *except* when perfect caught at which point it's normal quality definitely let us know as that would certainly warrant further investigation.

 

[hexnessie]

Ahh, I understand now! Thank you.

I think my fishing level was way too low to get consistent gold fish, plus I did not have enough of the perfect catches to actually allow for any statistical comparison.

And sorry about not checking the wiki and asking here instead. I should have looked myself :(

 

[Giant Octopodes]

Ahh, I understand now! Thank you.

I think my fishing level was way too low to get consistent gold fish, plus I did not have enough of the perfect catches to actually allow for any statistical comparison.

And sorry about not checking the wiki and asking here instead. I should have looked myself :(

Pshaw! Talking about it is more fun. Who needs the wiki ;-) Anyway good to know it's not a bug or anything weird.

 

[lmandrews012]

I mean, the rods don't really change much other than the training rod in terms of bar size. The added features of the other rods do increase bites and can have some other fun features.

 

[Tom]

I mean, the rods don't really change much....

I think that that is sweeping a lot of important strategy under the rug. Some things are unclear because they vary depending on player skill. But other things are constant and significant.

• The Fiberglass Rod (baitable) lets everybody catch fish faster. If you are financing your first weeks with fishing, rushing the Fiberglass rod is an important strategy.
• Pre-Fiberglass,
  • Some players get almost 100% perfect catches with the Training Rod, but not with the Bamboo Pole. For them, the Training Rod ensures that they can level up from 1 to 2 in 6-7 hours of fishing and get the rod from Willy on their first day of fishing with a bit of time to spare.
  • Some players say that their ability to get stars with the Bamboo Pole (combined with their inability to get perfect catches with the Training Rod) makes the Training Rod at least not a clear choice. I don't know whether these reports are specific to the rush from level 0 to level 2. I tend to think that everybody can get to level 2 faster with the Training Rod, but I am open to more information.
  • The Training Rod saves backpack space (but you probably should have a Chest next to you that morning).
  • The Training Rod saves time because you can make minimum casts without losing anything.
• The Iridium Rod gets more messy income-wise. But there are unique things you can do with it that are not only fun, but enabling.
  • You may be able to catch difficult fish you otherwise couldn't including all the Legendaries with the Trapper Bobber.
  • You can increase bite rate even more with the Dressed Spinner.
  • You can increase treasure chest rate with the Treasure Hunter.