Dinkum Fishing Guide

In our Dinkum fishing guide we’ll go over how the fishing mechanics work in Dinkum, some tips and tricks to help get you started and a guide to what types of fish there are in the game.

How Does Fishing Work in Dinkum?

To start fishing in Dinkum, you’ll need to get a fishing rod from John’s shop. This can be purchased regardless of whether he’s at the tent or you’ve moved him into a permanent building. Then, head on out to your nearest body of water, either ocean or freshwater inland. Make sure you can see fish before you start fishing, so choose a good spot that has several of them swimming around. As with critter catching, make sure you clear the area of any predators before you start, as you wouldn’t want your relaxing fishing session interrupted by an emu attack.

Aim the fishing rod in the direction of the fish you’d like to catch and try and get the bobber as close as possible. Fish aren’t attracted to the fishing rod and tend not to come to you, so you’ll have to get the bobber to them. The distance that you cast the fishing rod depends on how long you hold for, and while there is no meter on screen that shows how far it will go, you’ll get a good sense of it after repeating the process a few times.

Now, you’ve found a spot, cast the fishing rod and gotten the bobber close to a fish. When a fish actually takes the bait and nibbles on the line, there are two different types of nibbles. There’s a light, quick nibble that you won’t be able catch, and a more dramatic nibble where the bobber will disappear underwater. Once it disappears, you’ll want to press to reel in the fish.

When a fish is thrashing around on the end of the line, let it thrash. If you try and reel them in while they’re fighting, you’ll break the line and lose the fish. Once it stops fighting, resume reeling it in. You may have to repeat this process a few times to properly tire the fish out and finally pull it out of the water.

Dinkum Fishing Tips and Tricks

• Sharks do not count as fish and cannot be reeled in with a fishing rod. If you want to catch one, you’ll have to fight it and kill it.
• Those blue globs that you see floating around in the water are, in fact, jellyfish. They can also not be caught on the fishing line, but a good poke from a spear kills them and they’ll drop jelly that you can use in cooking. Killing jellyfish counts towards your hunting level, not your fishing level.
• If you see something in the water that’s moving very little or not at all, chances are that’s a critter, not a fish. You need to get in the water and dive to collect critters, the fishing rod won’t work.
• Fish cannot be caught via spear. We have tried.
• Once you have hit fishing level 5 you can upgrade your fishing license to show bubbles in the water where there are fish and unlock the ability to make a Copper fishing rod. Catching critters underwater will also increase your fishing level, if you’re having trouble finding fish or using the fishing rod. At level 10 you unlock crab pots with your upgraded fishing license and the ability to upgrade to an Iron fishing rod.

List of Dinkum Fish

Here's a list of Dinkum Fish. There are a total of 33 different types of fish to be caught.

Anchovy

• Habitat - Southern oceans
• Time Found - Morning/Evening
• Season - Autumn/Winter
• Anchovy Sell Price:  4,620

Banded Morwong

• Habitat - Northern oceans and southern oceans
• Time Found - Morning/Day/Evening
• Season - Winter
• Banded Morwong Sell Price: 4,320

Barcoo Grunter

• Habitat - Rivers and Billabongs and Mangroves
• Time Found - Morning/Day/Evening
• Season - Spring/Summer/Autumn/Winter
• Barcoo Grunter Sell Price: 1,290

Barracuda

• Habitat - Northern oceans
• Time Found - Evening
• Season - Spring/Summer/Autumn
• Barracuda Sell Price: 16,000

Barramundi

• Habitat - Rivers
• Time Found - Morning/Day/Evening
• Season - Spring/Autumn/Winter
• Barramundi Sell Price: 8,416

Black and White Snapper

• Habitat - Northern oceans and Southern oceans
• Time Found - Day
• Season - Spring/Autumn
• Black and White Snapper Sell Price: 1,992

Blackfish

• Habitat - Billabongs and Rivers
• Time Found - Morning/Day/Evening
• Season - Spring
• Blackfish Sell Price: 3,908

Blob Fish

• Habitat - Southern Oceans
• Time Found - Evening
• Season - Autumn/Winter
• Blob Fish Sell Price: 100

Bluefish

• Habitat - Northern oceans and southern oceans
• Time Found - Morning/Day/Evening
• Season - Spring/Summer/Autumn/Winter
• Bluefish Sell Price: 1,560

Blue Spot Flathead

• Habitat - Northern oceans and southern oceans
• Time Found - Morning/Day
• Season - Spring/Summer/Autumn
• Blue Spot Flathead Sell Price: 998

Bonytongue

• Habitat - Billabongs
• Time Found - Morning/Day/Evening
• Season - Spring/Summer/Autumn/Winter
• Bonytongue Sell Price: 3,308

Boofhead Catfish

• Habitat - Mangroves
• Time Found - Evening
• Season - Spring/Summer/Autumn
• Boofhead Catfish Sell Price: 2,103

Carp

• Habitat - Rivers and Mangroves
• Time Found - Morning/Day/Evening
• Season - Spring/Summer/Autumn/Winter
• Carp Sell Price: 1,996

Eel Tailed Catfish

• Habitat - Mangroves
• Time Found - Morning/Day/Evening
• Season - Spring/Summer/Autumn/Winter
• Eel Tailed Catfish Sell Price: 1,408

Eyestripe Surgeonfish

• Habitat - Northern oceans
• Time Found - Day
• Season - Spring/Summer
• Eyestripe Surgeonfish Sell Price: 3,996

Galaxias

• Habitat - Rivers
• Time Found - Morning/Day/Evening
• Season - Winter
• Galaxias Sell Price: 4,808

Garfish

• Habitat - Northern oceans and southern oceans
• Time Found - Morning/Day/Evening
• Season - Spring/Winter
• Garfish Sell Price: 2,346

Goat Fish

• Habitat - Southern oceans
• Time Found - Morning/Day/Evening
• Season - Spring/Summer
• Goat Fish Sell Price: 3,200

Golden Perch

• Habitat - Rivers
• Time Found - Morning
• Season - Spring
• Golden Perch Sell Price: 4,384

Grayling

• Habitat - Billabongs and Rivers
• Time Found - Day
• Season - Autumn/Winter
• Grayling Sell Price: 2,508

Jungle Perch

• Habitat - Rivers and Billabongs
• Time Found - Morning/Day/Evening
• Season - Spring/Summer/Autumn/Winter
• Jungle Perch Sell Price: 1,200

Luderick

• Habitat - Northern oceans
• Time Found - Day
• Season - Winter
• Luderick Sell Price: 4,160

Mangrove Jack

• Habitat - Mangroves
• Time Found - Morning/Day/Evening
• Season - Spring/Summer/Autumn/Winter
• Mangrove Jack Sell Price: 3,498

Marlin

• Habitat - Southern Oceans
• Time Found - Day
• Season - Autumn/Winter
• Marlin Sell Price: 20,200

Murray Cod

• Habitat - Rivers
• Time Found - Morning
• Season - Spring/Winter
• Murray Cod Sell Price: 10,400

River Bass

• Habitat - Rivers and Mangroves
• Time Found - Morning/Day/Evening
• Season - Spring/Summer
• River Bass Sell Price: 2,784

Saratoga

• Habitat - Billabongs
• Time Found - Evening
• Season - Spring/Summer
• Saratoga Sell Price: 7,616

Short Finned Eel

• Habitat - Billabongs
• Time Found - Evening
• Season - Spring/Summer/Autumn/Winter
• Short Finned Eel Sell Price: 3,008

Silver Perch

• Habitat - Rivers and Billabongs
• Time Found - Morning/Day/Evening
• Season - Autumn/Winter
• Silver Perch Sell Price: 1,708

Stingray

• Habitat - Northern oceans
• Time Found - Evening
• Season - Summer/Autumn
• Stingray Sell Price: 3,396

Tarpon

• Habitat - Billabongs
• Time Found - Morning/Day/Evening
• Season - Spring/Summer/Autumn/Winter
• Tarpon Sell Price: 3,960

Travalla

• Habitat - Northern oceans
• Time Found - Morning/Day/Evening
• Season - Spring/Autumn
• Travalla Sell Price: 7,800

Yellowfin Tuna

• Habitat - Northern oceans and southern oceans
• Time Found - Morning/Evening
• Season - Spring/Autumn
• Yellowfin Tuna Sell Price: 24,600

What Can You Do With Fish In Dinkum?

There are a couple of options for things that you can do with fish in Dinkum. Shockingly, one of those is not cooking, as there are currently no recipes that can use fish. However, once John sets up a permanent shop and visitors to the island start rotating in, Theodore accepts donations for his museum and will take Fish as well as Bugs and Critters.

Fish can also be sold to John for various prices at his shop, whether he’s in the tent or a permanent building. Additionally, it’s good to keep a few fish handy as they can be used in requests from other characters.

That's it for our Dinkum Fishing guide. Check out more guides below: