How to Attach Bait to a Fishing Rod in Stardew Valley

Fishing is one of the most lucrative early-game activities in Stardew Valley, and if you cast your rod enough times you might pull up a treasure chest with some bait inside. But how do you attach the bait to your fishing rod in Stardew Valley?

How To Attach Bait To Fishing Rods In Stardew

First, it’s important to note you cannot attach bait to a Bamboo Pole, which is the first fishing rod Willy gives you on day 2 of a fresh save. In order to obtain a fishing rod that can utilize bait, you will need to reach level 3 fishing. Once you reach this level, Willy will sell a Fiberglass Rod for 1,800 gold. The Fiberglass Rod can use bait.

To attach bait to a Fiberglass Fishing Rod, you must open your inventory and Left-Click on the bait. Drag the bait over to your fishing rod and Right-click to deposit the bait into the rod. This will continuously consume the bait each cast until your supply runs out. You will need to drop new bait into the rod to fill its bait slot.

How To Get Bait in Stardew Valley

There are four ways to acquire fishing bait in Stardew Valley. You either find it while fishing, craft it from scratch, grow it, or buy it from Willy.

The easiest way to obtain it is by buying it. Willy sells regular bait for five gold and deluxe bait for 100 gold. Bait makes fish bite faster, but deluxe bait makes the bar longer during the fishing minigame.

You can also fish up treasure chests during the fishing minigame. While the loot inside is random, there is a chance to fish up a few pieces of bait.

Players can also grow their own bait using a worm bin. The recipe to craft a worm bin is unlocked at fishing level 4. The worms inside the machine are self-sufficient and will continue to produce bait. However, each bin does cost a few precious resources that are hard to obtain in early-game Stardew.

Lastly, when players hit Fishing level 2, they will unlock the basic bait crafting recipe. Players can use bug meat collected from slain insects in the caves. Each piece of bug meat will produce five pieces of bait.