Fishing Rod

Fishing Rods are tools that are used for obtaining fish. This can be very useful, as fish are an unlimited resource, though the rod has limited durability.

Crafting
A fishing rod can be crafted from three sticks and two pieces of string. This makes fishing rods a renewable resource.

Usage

 * Right-click to cast the line into a body of water. It does not matter where you are standing: You can be in the water, sitting in a boat, or standing on adjacent land.
 * The bobber must be watched closely. When it dips below the surface (which previously caused a splash sound prior to the 1.6 update), immediately right-click again to reel in the line. The window for reeling in when a fish bites is about half a second. If a bite is missed, the line can be left in the water to wait for another bite. (As of 13w36 small splashes can be seen around the bobber. When a fish is getting ready to bite, a small trail will head towards the bobber)
 * A successful reel-in causes a fish to fly through the air towards the player. Normally, the fish will fly directly to you, but if there are blocks in the way, it may bounce off at an angle.
 * Upon catching a fish, you are awarded 1-3 experience points immediately, whether or not you actually pick up the fish.

The line will disappear if the player wanders 35 blocks away from the bobber.

Fish can be caught just as readily in small and/or shallow pools, but the fishing rod's durability will suffer if the hook collides with solid blocks. When using small pools, casting directly upwards and allowing the hook to fall into the water may help avoid collision with blocks.

Odds of catching fish

 * Water exposed to the sky during rain: 300:1 per tick
 * Water exposed to the sky in clear weather, or fishing indoors: 500:1 per tick

On average, you can catch a fish every 15 seconds when fishing in the rain (it can take a minute or longer sometimes), and one every 25 seconds while it is not raining.

As of 13w36a, fishing has been overhauled and the calculations have changed.
 * Using a regular fishing rod, a random integer from 100 to 900 is selected. The game then counts down each tick to 0 at which time the fish's water particles appear. At 20 ticks per second, this amounts to a random wait time between 5-45 seconds.
 * Using the lure enchantment on a fishing rod decreases the random integer picked by 100 per level (thus, a wait-time reduction of 5 seconds per level).
 * Upon catching the "fish" you may receive a fish, salmon, puffer-fish, junk, or treasure.



Non-fishing uses
The fishing rod can be used to hook mobs and other entities, which drags them towards the player at a fast rate. This counts as an attack, so entities will react as if attacked, but it causes no actual damage by itself. Secondary damage can come from fall distance if the entity is hooked from sufficient height (though some mobs do not take fall damage). Enemies can also be dragged into Lava. Hooking an Enderman can be a little tricky, as they will teleport away as soon as it is hit by the rod, but will still be stuck on it. This can be used to easily tell where they teleported, and if they are still in range they can be pulled great distances. Even a Ghast's Fireballs can be hooked with the fishing rod, and redirected with a second click.

Use on Villagers will lower the player's popularity and cause any naturally-spawned Iron Golem nearby to attack. Players cannot be pulled in PvP.

The fishing rod can be used to grab onto boats and minecarts and pull them towards the player, but a boat will often break in the process. The hook can also be used to activate Pressure Plates or even knock down Paintings from a distance. This aspect can be commonly seen in public puzzle maps, where the player is required to aim and activate the input.

Durability

 * The rod can catch 65 fish before it will break.
 * Casting in water and reeling it up without a catch, reeling before the cast is complete, or missing a bite and leaving the line in the water does not reduce durability.
 * A double-durability penalty applies if the hook lands in solid blocks, either under water or on dry blocks (if this occurs under water a fish may still be caught).
 * A triple-durability penalty applies if hooking an entity.

Durability cost occurs on reel-in, rather than on impact, so penalties can be avoided by switching to another item instead of reeling in.

1.7 Snapshots
In the 1.7 snapshots, (13w37b for example) fishing changes a lot.


 * New fish have been added: pufferfish, salmon and clownfish.
 * You can use pufferfish to brew Potions of Water Breathing.
 * You can occasionally catch treasure or junk instead of fish.
 * There are two new enchantments specifically for fishing rods:
 * Lure decreases the average waiting time before a catch.
 * Luck of the Sea increases the chance of catching fish while decreasing the chance of catching junk.
 * Fishing rods can now be enchanted on an enchantment table, with the possible enchantments including Unbreaking as well as the two new enchantments.
 * While fishing, there are particles to simulate fish coming to the bobber.

Trivia

 * Skeletons can be pulled into their own arrows.
 * Using a fishing rod while in a minecart aimed at the minecart's front wall will cause the minecart to stop immediately and the player to exit it. No damage to either player or cart.
 * The fishing rod and Carrot on a stick are currently the only item in the game that is displayed mirrored when in the player's hand.
 * When casting the rod into a portal, the bobber may stick to it like a normal block or go through and travel through or stop on the next block.
 * If you cast the bobber into a waterfall, the bobber will float up the waterfall until it reaches the top where it will stay until the player pulls it back in or until a fish is caught on the line. If a fish is caught on the line, the bobber will then fall off from the waterfall making it much easier to visualize when to reel in.
 * Even if you are underwater, you can still catch fish.
 * Endermen will teleport when hooked, if the Enderman teleports close enough to the player, it will still be hooked.
 * If you stand directly in front of a column and cast your line onto a block above you, the line will fall downwards.
 * Casting the rod onto a wooden pressure plate will cause a redstone current to trigger.
 * Dragging an ocelot with you can be useful against unsuspecting creepers.
 * If the bobber hits a painting the painting will break.
 * You can cast the line, then switch to another fishing rod without disturbing the line.
 * If you cast the line into an End Portal, the line and bobber will disappear( tested in Creative Mode ).
 * You can switch from one fishing rod to another, at any time, even after hooking a fish or snagging something. This means that you can hook a fish with one rod, and reel it in with another.  When you reel it in the new rod will take the durability cost.
 * Mobs can even fly when you reel them in from the air. If you are high enough, it will die from the fall ( tested in Creative Mode ).
 * The Fishing Rod will not prevent fall damage; If you hook a mob in the air, it will not reset, instead building up fall damage and die on contact with the ground.
 * In the latest snapshots, a Lure enchantment of 9 or more will actually make it take longer to catch anything.