Fishing Rod

Fishing Rods are tools that are used for obtaining Raw 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 also causes a splash sound), 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.
 * A successful reel-in causes a Raw Fish to fly through the air towards the player. Depending on your casting distance, the fish may fly close enough to be automatically picked up, but it may also fly past you. Longer casts tend to cause reeled-in fish to fly higher.

The easiest method of guaranteeing you don't lose reeled fish is to have a high wall behind you to block them from flying too far. When fishing from a boat, you will need to alter your casting distance if fish are flying over your head and getting lost in deep waters.

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 Raw 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.



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 chickens, Ghasts, Blazes, Iron Golems, Snow Golems, and Ocelots do not take fall damage). Enemies can also be dragged into Lava, or an Enderman into Water. This can be proven extremely difficult though, as the enderman will teleport away as soon as it is hit by the rod, but will still be stuck on it. Therefore, this tactic can be used to easily tell where they teleported.

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. Strangely, the Ghast's Fireballs can also be hooked with the fishing rod.

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.

Bugs

 * If you are in a boat in an ocean, and if you cast the line straight up, when the bobber hits the boat, it plays the fall damage sound track. (tested in 1.4.7, on a survival world, in survival)
 * If a fishing rod is cast and the player moves to third person view and crouches, the string will not be attached to the rod.
 * If you enter in a Nether Portal fishing, the string will not appear again (you need to re-enter in the world)
 * If you cast the rod at a solid block and the bobber sticks into the block, it will remain in that position even if the said block is moved or destroyed.
 * If you spin or turn quickly, the end of the line will remain attached to a point while the sprite moves around it.
 * If you move the tip of the fishing rod next to the bobber, you can see that the line is angled oddly.
 * If you go into a boat with rod in hand, you will go in it, your line will be cast, and you'll be unable to move. After a short period, the player dies.
 * If the FOV is increased to higher than normal, the string will not be attached to the rod.
 * In third person view, the cast fishing rod texture is still the stick texture. This is most evident when using a texture pack.
 * If you swing the fishing rod while the bobber is out, the string flies upwards, opposite of the rod.
 * In Beta pre-releases, when the fishing line in SMP was fixed, the lines appear to be at the player's feet when viewed from others.
 * (Happens on SSP and SMP) Using the fishing rod will not show the string-less sprite and the bobber and the line will be invisible, and no sound or particles will be played when a fish is caught. Also the first person view of the pole will remain the same. Even though, it is possible to fish if the player waits long enough for a fish to appear. (No way to know when due to graphics and sound of the rod freezing.)
 * Casting the fishing rod then going into the inventory menu will make the fishing rod (shown in the third person box next to armor) appear like a stick
 * Catching a block of farmland will cause the bobber to become oversized.

Reeling problems
The player should try to fish with a large obstruction behind him or her, or form a platform above the water. Fish fly towards the player with considerable speed when reeled in and may launch over the player, which can cause them to get lost. Jumping to catch the fish just before it flies overhead is a solution, but does not always work. Fishing from 4 blocks (4 has been tested, but other heights may also work) above the water will make the fish fly directly to the player. It is also recommended to have the fishing platform at least 8 blocks long and 4 blocks deep, as the hook will snag on any block it hits. The closer the player is to the bobber, the less the fish will fly. Also, if you are fishing and are not getting anything you might have a chance that a squid is on your line.

The above has changed in one of the snapshots after 1.2.5. In 12w23a fish fly directly to the player standing on any height above the water.

Bug solutions
If the player looks directly at the hook when he/she is catching the fish, the fish will fly over their head. But if the player looks above or below the hook (even if they look left or right of the hook) then the fish will fly directly at the player, but sometimes the fish still can go slightly over the head. It is assumed that this is part of some "realistic" coding. Where in real life if you pull from a lower angle, the power of the pull is greatly increased, where as if you pulled it from a higher angle (aka looking above hook in minecraft) then there would be less force, therefore the less power you put into it then the more chance of getting it.

Trivia

 * Skeletons can be pulled into their own arrows.
 * Casting the rod into lava will set the bobber on fire and cause it to clip through and fall forever.
 * Casting the rod into fire will set the bobber on fire and cause it to stick to the fire block.
 * 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.
 * In multiplayer, fishing rods used to be able to be cast on to other players, and would stick, even if the players moved around. This could be used in various ways.
 * 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.
 * The fishing rod bobber uses the billboard effect, meaning that the front of the bobber sprite faces the player from all angles, similar to older 3D games like Doom and Rise of the Triad.
 * 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.
 * You have a better chance of catching a fish in a bigger and deeper lake.
 * Dragging an ocelot with you can be useful against unsuspecting creepers
 * You can catch more fish when it's raining Proof By Xisumavoid
 * 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 and view yourself in the survival inventory, you will appear to be holding a stick in your hand.
 * If you cast the line into an End Portal, the line and bobber will disappear( tested in Creative Mode ).