How to use a fishing rod in Minecraft

Minecraft players who fancy themselves as anglers may want to have a fishing rod on hand, and they are incredibly easy to craft and use.

One of Minecraft's oldest items, hailing all the way back to the game's Alpha, fishing rods have evolved over time but still retain the same core usage that they've had for years. As Minecraft players can likely guess, fishing rods are used to catch fish. Whether they're in fresh water, the ocean, or a player's man-made body of water, fishing rods can meet the fish-catching requirements.

Crafted with three sticks and two pieces of string, fishing rods can be augmented with more than a few enchantments and lures. They can even hook hostile mobs to pull in for a strike!

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Minecraft: Fishing rod info including creation and use

Image via Mojang

Minecraft has made crafting a fishing pole incredibly easy, and players that lack food sources may want to make one early. Acquiring sticks is simple enough, all players need to do is stack wood planks on top of each other vertically in the crafting menu.

For string, players can try killing spider mobs or breaking cobwebs among other methods. Once players have three sticks and two string in their inventory, they will want to place them into their Crafting Table's grid.

By placing the sticks diagonally, with the first stick in the bottom-left square and the last one in the top-right square, and placing the string in the center-right and bottom-right squares, they will have crafted a fishing rod.

Using the fishing rod itself is as simple as finding a body of water and right-clicking it on Minecraft PC controls. On console platforms, the default mapping to use the fishing rod is the left trigger. In the game's Pocket Edition, simply tapping the screen will do the job. Using the rod will throw its lure out into the water, where players will need to wait some time before getting a bite.

Eventually, players will notice a small trail of bubbles coming up from the water and approaching the fishing rod's bobber. Once it begins to be pulled under the water, players should activate the fishing rod again to reel in their catch. While this is often a fish, sometimes junk items or even treasure items can be pulled up.

What junk and treasure items appear in the water will differ slightly depending on what biome the player finds themselves in. Using the enchantments Lure or Luck of the Sea will yield Minecraft players more fish or treasure items respectively.

If players combine carrots or warped fungus with their fishing rods in the crafting grid, they can alter their rods into either a Carrot on a Stick or a Warped Fungus on a Stick. After placing a saddle on a pig, Minecraft gamers can use a Carrot on a Stick to ride pigs around as they would a horse, capable of directing the pig mount thanks to the carrot leading the pig around.

This is possible with striders within the Nether by using Warped Fungus on a Stick, making traversal through lava and other hazardous materials in the Nether much safer.

Additionally, players may use fishing rods in combat, hooking distant opponents and pulling them closer. This is particularly useful in the Nether for enemies such as Ghasts and Blazes, who often attack best from a distance.

Also, as a last resort, players can even use fishing rods as fuel in a furnace. It won't fuel things for long, but it may be necessary in a pinch.

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