The Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages (UESP) (2024)

This article is about the Creation. For the activity, see Fishing (activity).

Fishing is a Creation that adds the ability to catch fish with a fishing rod and supplies. It also adds other things outside this function to go along with the content. It was released on November 11, 2021 for free to all Special Edition owners.

Official Summary[edit]

Test your mettle as a fisherman in a brand new series of fishing quests, and catch over twenty new aquatic species in waters across Skyrim! Cook them or display them in Lakeview Manor, Heljarchen Hall and Windstad Manor in your home aquarium! (Initial quest, "Angler Acquaintances," starts by using any Fishing Supplies scattered across Skyrim.)

QuakeCon 2021[edit]

Ashley Cheng during the Reliving the Opening of Skyrim with the Creators from BGS stream:

“You know what, I think 10 years is a long time to wait but I think it’s worth it, we’re putting a fishing mechanic in the game, It’s one thing that I’ve always wanted to do in Skyrim.

“You’re running around the world, exploring the wilderness, you don’t have to dive in the water and click blindly anymore, you can now grab a fishing pole, do some fishing quests. It’s a great addition to the game, it’ll be free to everyone, and it really adds to the immersion of the world of just running around Skyrim; you can now go and fish.”

Join us on 11/11 for the Skyrim 10th Anniversary Fan Celebration![edit]

Finally, we have some exciting announcements for the game itself. Current and future owners of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition on any platform including Xbox Game Pass Subscribers will receive access to three free pieces of Creation Club content: Fishing, Survival Mode and even new quests with Saints and Seducers.

First Look at Skyrim’s upcoming Anniversary Edition and the Creation Club content[edit]

On the topic of obtaining your own food, Skyrim’s all-new Fishing mode creation lets you angle over 20 unique aquatic species across the area’s many bodies of water. Cook your catch for a meal, display it as trophy in your den or even keep it inside your own home aquarium – the choice is yours! With many of Skyrim’s fishing spots located in the region’s most breathtaking and tranquil spots, there’s nothing like unwinding on the shores as you tackle (pun intended) the questlines in this upcoming free creation.

“I have been eagerly awaiting the release of this round of creations,” says Daniel Lee, Senior Artist and Creation Club development lead at Bethesda Games Studios. “I've wanted fishing in Skyrim ever since the beginning and now it is finally here. We've worked hard on this program and it has been a true labor of love; there are more than a few surprises tucked away and I can't wait for everyone to find them."

Activities, Drops, and Locations[edit]

The act of fishing has many variables that go into determining what the player catches. The most important of these are the biome the player is fishing in, the time of day, the population of fish at the fishing spot, the rod the player is using, and any quests that the player may have active.

Artifacts that are not related to quests can be fished out of any fishing location, though only one copy of each artifact can be collected in a single playthrough.

There are a total of 69 fishing spots along Skyrim's many bodies of water (see Notes).

For more information, please see the main article.

Content[edit]

See Fishing Items for a detailed list of items added by the creation.

Creatures[edit]

• Angelfish
• Angler
• Angler Larvae
• Arctic Char
• Arctic Grayling
• Brook Bass
• Carp
• Catfish
• Cod
• Direfish
• Glass Catfish
• Glassfish
• Goldfish
• Juvenile Mudcrab
• Lyretail Anthias
• Pearlfish
• Pogfish
• Pygmy Sunfish
• Scorpion Fish
• Spadefish
• Tripod Spiderfish
• Vampire Fish

Special creatures[edit]

• Emperor Crab Guardian Spirit
• Fangtusk
• Snippy

Items[edit]

• Fishing Maps
• Ancient Nord Dagger (Honed, Nord Hero)
• Ancient Nord Mace (Honed, Nord Hero)
• Ancient Nord Warhammer (Honed, Nord Hero)
• Irkngthand War Axe
• Alik'ri Fishing Rod
• Argonian Fishing Rod
• Dwarven Fishing Rod
• Lynea's Amulet of Dibella
• Denstagmer's Ring
• Fang of Haynekhtnamet
• Lucky Fishing Hat
• Mentor's Ring
• Ring of Khajiit
• Ring of Kynareth
• Ring of Phynaster
• Ring of Surroundings
• Ring of the Wind
• Vampiric Ring
• Viriya's Charm
• Warlock's Ring

NPCs[edit]

• Brutius
• Faldrin
• Jorid
• Lynea
• Seviur
• Swims-In-Deep-Water
• Viriya

Places[edit]

• Fishing Shack

Quests[edit]

• Angler Acquaintances
• Beneath Bronze Waters
• Clear-Headed
• Catch of the Day
• Caught in the Rain
• Crustacean Extermination
• Darkest Depths
• End of the Line
• Fishing Legend
• Frozen Fish
• Further Study
• Heart of Gold
• In A Pinch
• No Contest
• Private Lessons
• Rubbish Retrieval
• Spirits Away
• Stocking Up
• The Ultimate Feast
• Tusked Terror
• Two of a Kind
• Wave Breaker

Gallery[edit]

• Pogfish

• Fishing Supplies

Notes[edit]

• The first semi-official introduction of usable fishing rods was in Chesko's Art of the Catch, one of Valve and Bethesda's short-lived paid mods.
• Fishing was meant to appear in the original game as an NPC-exclusive animation, similar to walking around with firewood or baskets. There are only a handful of markers left over from this concept, with only Klimmek still having an AI package that actually uses one of these markers. However, since the animation doesn't get used, Klimmek just stands in place doing nothing.
• Speaking with Falk Firebeard at the Blue Palace in Solitude will bring up a new dialogue. You can now purchase a small fish tank and a couple fish plaques for the Proudspire Manor. It appears on the second level in the main room against the load bearing column near the stairs. The new option will ask about additional decorations. Choose it and find the Small Fish Tank for 300 Gold and three Fish Plaques for 100 Gold as a bundle deal. Make the purchase and it should be installed by the time you enter the door. (If it doesn’t appear the first time entering just leave and re-enter and it should appear.)
• Slaughterfish and Juvenile Mudcrabs cannot be added to your fish tanks. The fish tank within the Riften Fishery appears to be an exception as it has a juvenile mudcrab inside.
• The "Fishing Supplies" Barrel added to the aquarium adds fishing gear and a bucket full of Salmon Roe.
• Fishing Rods can be used as weapons due to being coded as One-handed Swords.
• The Green Thumb Perk can be used to get doubles of the Juvenile Mudcrab, the Brook Bass and the Tripod Spiderfish.
• The Creation was planned to add a new house, the Emperor's Homestead, which was obtained by hollowing out the corpse of a living Emperor Crab after completing Wave Breaker. This was cut for time and the living Emperor Crab replaced by a ghost, though some location records and an unfinished interior cell for the home remain in the files.

Bugs[edit]

• It is only possible to mount fish on the fish plaques in a single house. This is because the plaques in Heljarchen Hall, Proudspire Manor, and Windstad Manor all use the same quest aliases as those in Lakeview Manor. As a result, attempting to mount a fish on a vacant plaque in a second location can result in the following message being displayed: "Only one fish can be mounted to a plaque."
  • The Official Skyrim Special Edition Patch, version 1.6.629, fixes this bug.
  • This bug is also fixed by the Fish Plaque Fix mod, but in a different way.