Key Highlights:
- A Fish Trap costs 25 Sticks and should be placed in water where fish are present.
- Fish Traps can hold up to five fish, with catches occurring approximately every 5–10 minutes outside winter.
- Kelvin can catch fish without a trap, but his fishing order eventually ends. Dried Fish provides a separate, non-spoiling food supply.
Quick Links:
Fishing provides a renewable source of food in Sons of the Forest. Fish can be caught manually, collected by Kelvin or obtained through Fish Traps placed near your base.
The best method depends on whether you need food immediately or want a passive supply for cooking and preservation.
Where to Find Fish in Sons of the Forest
Fish can be found in rivers, streams, ponds and suitable coastal waters across the island.
Look for fish visibly swimming through the water, particularly in shallow sections where you can reach them without entering deep water.
Streams are useful fishing locations because you can often spot fish from the bank. Deeper sections may contain fish, but retrieving them manually is less convenient.
For a permanent fishing setup, I would prioritise a location with visible fish and enough water depth to accommodate a Fish Trap.
How to Build and Use a Fish Trap
A Fish Trap requires 25 Sticks and catches fish automatically when placed in suitable water.
To construct one:
- Open the Build Handbook using B on PC.
- Navigate to the Traps section.
- Select the Fish Trap blueprint.
- Place the outline in water where fish are present.
- Add all 25 Sticks to complete the structure.
The trap should be at least partially submerged. Placing it too close to a dry bank or in very shallow water can prevent it from working correctly.
How Long Does a Fish Trap Take to Catch Fish?
A working Fish Trap catches approximately one fish every 5–10 minutes under suitable conditions.
The trap can hold up to five fish at once, so you do not need to collect every individual catch immediately.
Fish Traps require no bait or manual resetting. Once built, they continue collecting fish until their storage capacity is reached, provided the conditions allow them to operate.
You can carry three Fish in your inventory at a time, regardless of whether they are Raw, Cooked or Dried. If you collect more than you can carry, prepare or store your existing supply before collecting the remainder.
If a trap produces nothing after a reasonable period, check that it is sufficiently submerged and placed in an area where fish are present.
How to Catch Fish Without a Trap
You can catch fish directly using a Crafted Spear or ask Kelvin to collect them.
Fishing with Kelvin
Kelvin can gather fish from suitable water sources without needing a spear or Fish Trap.
Approach Kelvin, open his notepad and select Get → Fish. You can then choose whether he brings the fish to you or leaves them at the selected location.
Kelvin collects fish individually and can provide an early food supply while you work on other tasks.
However, his fishing command does not continue indefinitely. Patch 01 changed the order so that Kelvin stops after a period of time.
You must issue another command when you want him to resume fishing.
Kelvin also gained the ability to fill Drying Racks with fish through later updates, allowing him to contribute to food preservation as well as collection.
Fishing with a Crafted Spear
A Crafted Spear lets you catch fish directly from shallow water.
The spear is assembled using two Sticks, Duct Tape and the Utility Knife.
Equip the spear, approach water containing visible fish and aim at a fish as it swims past. Crouching beside the bank can make it easier to line up a strike.
Unlike a Fish Trap, spear fishing provides an immediate catch when you successfully hit a fish.
I would use the spear when food is urgently needed rather than dismissing it as inefficient. A Fish Trap needs time to produce results, while a spear lets you collect fish directly.
Do Fish Traps Work During Winter?
Fish Traps do not catch fish during winter under the game’s documented seasonal behaviour.
Endnight established this restriction in Patch 01 when it corrected Fish Trap functionality.
Winter therefore interrupts a passive fishing setup, even if the trap worked properly during previous seasons.
Frozen lakes and ponds can also limit access to fish. Flowing waterways that remain accessible offer more practical opportunities for manual fishing.
For a base that relies on Fish Traps, preserve part of your catch before winter begins rather than depending on the traps to provide continuous food.
Should You Cook or Dry Fish?
Fish can be eaten raw, cooked over a fire or preserved on a Drying Rack.
| Preparation | Main Benefit | Spoils? |
|---|---|---|
| Raw Fish | Can be eaten immediately | Yes |
| Cooked Fish | Ready-to-eat meal prepared over a fire | Yes |
| Dried Fish | Preserved food for storage and travel | No |
Ordinary Cooked Fish does not provide a Strength buff. That effect should not be confused with temporary bonuses supplied by particular Cooking Pot recipes.
To cook fish, place it over a lit fire and collect it when cooking finishes. Leaving food over the fire for too long can burn it.
For preservation, hang Raw Fish on a Drying Rack. The rack costs 13 Sticks to construct and turns the fish into Dried Fish over time.
Once dried, fish does not spoil. This makes a Drying Rack especially valuable when collecting more fish than you need for immediate meals.
Fish is also an ingredient in several advanced Cooking Pot meals.
One example is Kelvin Special, which requires:
- 3 Fish
- 1 Oyster
This recipe restores Fullness and Hydration while providing a temporary Lumberjack ×1 attribute.
Other meals, including Kitchen Sink and Lumberjack Juice, also require Fish. The complete ingredients and effects can be found in the Sons of the Forest Food Guide.
A combination of manual fishing, Fish Traps and preserved catches provides flexibility throughout the seasons.
For more survival systems, crafting and progression help, visit the Complete Sons of the Forest Walkthrough.
