The Ultimate Guide to Fishing in Society Sunlit Valley

Welcome to the complete progression guide for fishing in Society Sunlit Valley. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to optimize your fishing setup, this guide covers everything you need to know—from basic fishing mechanics and fish ponds to crab traps and advanced automation. Follow along as we walk through each step in progression order, helping you master this essential mod feature.

Getting Started with a Fisherman Villager

The first step is to set up a fisherman villager. All you need is a barrel and a villager, and your fisherman will be ready to trade. The fisherman sells several essential items:

Worms – Very cheap and useful for bait

Fishing Rod – Costs 2000 (essential for manual fishing)

Lava Fishing Rod – Needed for late-game nether fishing

Hooks – Various hook types for different purposes

To start, we recommend purchasing the Cork Bobber (increases your fishing bar size during the mini-game), a basic fishing rod (2000), and at least a half stack of worms for early game.

Essential Equipment: Tackle Box and Fishing Rod Setup

Purchase a Tackle Box from the fishing trader for 4000 gold. The tackle box is a crucial piece of equipment that you can place on the ground and open to manage your fishing inventory.

Inside your tackle box, store:

Hooks (including double hooks for a chance to catch two items)

Worms

Cork Bobber (increases fishing bar size)

Golden Hook (for added luck)

You’ll need an upgraded fishing rod—specifically a Fishing Rod with an Iridium upgrade template—to maximize your fishing efficiency. Your fishing rod will passively increase in level as you use it, which speeds up bite rates.

The Fishing Mini-Game Mechanic

Fishing involves a simple but engaging mini-game. Here’s how it works:

Cast your line using your bobber

Wait for blue dots to appear, indicating a fish is approaching

When the fish hooks, right-click to start the mini-game

Use right-click to move your cursor up and down, keeping it over the fish

Successfully landing the fish rewards you with your catch and boosts your fishing rod level

The fishing bar size can be increased with cork bobbers, making the mini-game easier to complete. When you level up your fishing rod, the bite rate improves, meaning fish will hook faster on subsequent casts.

Understanding Fish Types and Locations

Different fish are available in different biomes, times of day, seasons, and weather conditions. Fish are broadly categorized into three water types:

Fresh Water – Any water in a biome that is neither river nor ocean (plains, forest, etc.)

River Water – Water in river biomes specifically

Ocean Water – Water in ocean biomes

What matters is where your bobber lands, not where you’re standing. If your bobber lands in a river biome, you can catch river fish. If it lands in an ocean biome, you catch ocean fish.

Each fish has specific requirements for time of day (day/night), season (spring/summer/autumn/winter), and weather (clear/rainy). Consult the detailed fish chart in the guide to find exactly what you can catch and when.

Using the Fish Radar

A Fish Radar (requires an Epjunium Ingot) makes finding the right fish much easier. When you right-click the fish radar, it displays:

Current biome type

Current weather

Current time of day

A list of all fish you can currently catch

This tool eliminates guesswork and helps you target specific fish for your progression goals.

Fishing Skills and Talent Trees

As you fish, you gain experience and unlock talents. Key talent options include:

Plus One Fish – Catch two fish instead of one with any rod

Neptunea Anywhere – Catch Neptunea fish outside the ocean (normally ocean-only)

Treasure Chest Chance – Chance to find treasure chests while fishing

School Fisher – Catch five fish at once during manual fishing

Plus Five Maximum Row – Increases profit from fish ponds (can be taken multiple times)

Smoked Fish Master – Allows you to smoke fish and create slime-related products

Lucky Collector – Doubles the chance of receiving non-row items from fish ponds

Farm Pool Specialist – Increases item retrieval rates

For late-game success, we recommend focusing on talents that boost fish pond output and item acquisition, since manual fishing becomes less efficient at higher levels.

River Jelly and Fish Ponds

River jelly is a critical resource obtained by fishing in river biomes. To progress efficiently:

Fish in river biomes until you catch river jelly

Purchase a Fish Pond from the fishing trader (32,000 gold)

Place the fish pond with at least a 3×4 area of water behind it

Fish ponds are passive machines that generate fish and items over time. They require specific fish to function and improve as you add more fish.

Obtaining Neptuneium Ingots: Complete Progression Path

Neptuneium ingots are essential for advancement. Here’s the step-by-step progression:

Step 1: Catch Neptunea Fish

Fish in the ocean biome to catch Neptunea (a rare fish—expect to catch 30-40 fish before finding one). You can catch up to about 5 Neptunea before moving to the next step.

Step 2: Process Neptunea into Nuggets

Use a cutting board from the Farmers to Light trader to cut Neptunea into 3 Neptuneium nuggets per fish.

Step 3: Multiply Neptunea with Fish Ponds

Instead of cutting all your Neptunea, place one in a fish pond. Each day, the pond will produce one additional Neptunea. Shift-right-click the pond when it shows “3 out of 3” to harvest multiple Neptunea at once. Continue this process to generate enough fish for progression.

Step 4: Create Bait Mate

Once you have 2 Neptuneium ingots and a Sunlit Pearl (crafted from different jellies or obtained from clams), you can craft a Bait Mate. Place Neptunea in the Bait Mate, and after one in-game day, it converts to 3 Neptunea Bait.

Step 5: Use Crab Traps for Passive Neptunea

Alternatively, craft crab trap bait using worms and place it in crab traps to passively generate Neptuneium nuggets. This method is slower but requires minimal effort.

By combining fish pond multiplication and bait mate conversion, you can generate 9 Neptuneium nuggets per day (from 3 converted Neptunea). This accelerates your progression significantly.

Upgrading Fish Ponds with Aquamagical Dust and Amethyst Shards

Fish ponds can be upgraded in two ways:

First Upgrade: Aquamagical Dust

Right-click Aquamagical Dust onto a fish pond to increase its capacity from 3 out of 3 fish to 5 out of 5 fish. This allows the pond to hold more fish and generate more resources.

Second Upgrade: Amethyst Shards

Feed a fish pond 40 Amethyst Shards to unlock higher population tiers and better item drops. Higher populations unlock rare drops like Amethyst Chunks and magical items.

High-Value Fish for Fish Ponds

Here are the most beneficial fish to keep in your fish ponds:

Koi Fish – Produces Koi Row, which converts to 2000 gold when processed

Spindle Fish – Produces Dark Stone (useful for crafting)

Hatchet Fish – Provides battery items

Demon Herring – 4% chance for magic row

Neptunea – 4+ population: generates Neptuneium nuggets

Bonefish – Produces bones and bone meal for fertilizer

Blaze Fish – Generates blaze rods (nether resources)

Lava Puffer – All nether fish resource source

Atlantic Herring – 18% chance to generate Aquamagical Dust (best for pond upgrades)

Arapena – Generates emeralds (trade currency)

Atlantic Herring is especially recommended because it’s the primary source of Aquamagical Dust for pond upgrades, besides croses and winter items.

Automating Fish Ponds with Extractors

To fully automate your fish pond operations, use a Pond Extractor. This device harvests fish pond outputs into an adjacent inventory:

Place a chest directly below the fish pond

Place the Pond Extractor in a 3×3×3 area around the pond (3 blocks left/right, 3 blocks front/back, 3 blocks up/down)

It automatically extracts row and other items

Optional Upgrades

Upgrade the extractor with a bucket to also extract mature fish when the pond reaches maximum capacity. This allows you to farm the actual fish themselves, not just their row.

To generate specific fish like Neptunea, place Sparkstone into the pond to enable breeding.

Crab Traps for Passive Income

Crab traps are a simple passive farming method requiring minimal setup:

Craft crab trap bait using worms (combine 1 worm in a crafting grid)

Place crab trap bait in a crab trap

Wait for the trap to fill and produce items

Crab traps generate shells, pearls, and Neptuneium nuggets. They’re slower than optimized fish ponds but require no active input.

Additional Traders and NPCs

The Ribbit Trader

Found in mangrove swamps, the Ribbit (a frog NPC with a fishing rod) sells useful items including:

Fish tanks

Fishing rods

River jelly

Ribbit gadgets and drums

Shift-click to pick up the Ribbit and place him in your base for convenient trading. He requires an Amphist to refresh his river jelly stock.

Summary and Next Steps

You’ve now learned the complete fishing progression in Society Sunlit Valley:

Set up a fisherman villager and purchase basic equipment

Master the fishing mini-game to catch fish manually

Understand fish locations, biomes, and timing

Begin the Neptuneium ingot progression by catching Neptunea in the ocean

Expand with fish ponds and upgrade them using Aquamagical Dust and Amethyst Shards

Automate your operations with Pond Extractors

Optimize your fish selection for maximum profit and resource generation

This is the complete fishing system for Society Sunlit Valley. As you progress, you’ll unlock better ponds, rarer fish, and more automation options. Remember to check out our other Sunlit Valley guides for complementary information on farming, crafting, and exploration.

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