Better Fishing
Minecraft Java mod. Downloads from the MC Java Mods app on Android.
UPDATE: Please get this mod instead of this ( It is a much more improved fishing mod as I have redid the entire mod with a new mechanism, compatibility…
⬇ Download on CurseForgeUPDATE: Please get this mod instead of this (https://minecraft.curseforge.com/projects/fishing-made-better)
Better Fishing is a mod that redefines the boring fishing mechanism by making it fun and challenging as well as adds different types of fishes all with their own personality and characteristics. The fishes now live in a realistic ecosystem where they can go extinct by overfishing or adapt to a certain condition.
Now depending on a lot of environmental variables like if the water is a saltwater or freshwater, if it's a certain time of day, if it's raining,
etc, you will find different fishes. Now all fishes have different characteristics which is fully customizeable. Things like how intelligent a fish
signifies how long they are going to stay on the hook. Things like their weight signifies how tight the reel needs to be, etc. Once you do get a fish,
you can check it's weight in pounds on the item. Every fish have different weight including the ones on the same type. Depending on the maturity of the fish and how well it survived in the depths, you might get a Tuna that is huge. Or you will get a Tuna that can't even feed a cat. Once you get your fish, put it on the crafting area and you will get some slices of fish depending on how big the fish was.
Also, you can determine if a fish is quick, agile and intelligent by how bubbles it creates when it's on the hook.
The goal of this mod is to improve the vanilla fishing by making the mechanism a bit more challenging and rewarding as well as introducing new fishes and a fish ecosystem. Introducing more fishes and a new mechanic to fish, it may be used in other modpack to improve the food production or a way to progress.
This mod is for anyone who wants to have a fun and realistic fishing experience with more in-depth and challenging mechanism and a variety of new fishes in the ecosystem.
Reeling Mechanism Explained:
When you cast your fishing rod, you will get a HUD on the top of your screen. Now by default, the fish will be tugging the line so you will have to fight
that and balance the line by pressing the "Reel In" or "Reel Out" key to tighten or loosen the line. The blue line in the middle indicates the perfect
balance and when you right click again, you will get a fish. Tip: You know a fish moves fast if it's pulling the line a lot or the bubbles it produces on the water.
Ecosystem Explained:
So when you load up the world, each chunk gets set to a population based on the rarity of the fish, the water quality, the water level, if it's saltwater or freshwater, etc. To check the population of fishes near you, use the new Fish Tracker item. Be warned that can overfish. When you do so, you will have to wait before new fish migrates to the area.
Features:
- Realistic fishing system by introducing the reeling mechanism. Allowing fishing to be a fun and challenging experience.
- Variety of new fishes both freshwater and saltwater.
- Each and every single fish have their own personality and characteristics. Some fishes are extremely harder to catch than others. Characteristics includes when the fish goes to the surface(day, night or any), if they only go to the surface when it's raining, if they are saltwater or freshwater fish, how fast they move, how intelligent they are, or how big they are(weight in pounds), or how rare they are. You can turn those fish into slices to then cook and eat. Depending on the weight of the fish, you will get that portion of slices. Even fish from the same specie will have a bit of different attributes like weight or speed.
- Realistic Fish Ecosystem and Migration. Now based on the chunk and the environment, certain fishes thrive more than others. However if you overfish them, you will have to wait a while before new fishes migrate at that location. Every fish has a population at a specific location. Use a Fish Tracker item to find out the nearby fishes population. Certain fishes will be at different hotspots as well.
- Custom Bite System. Now based on the population of a fish, they will bite either quicker or slower. So if you are waiting a long time before you get a bite, make sure to relocate to a different area to fish
- Fish Baits. Baits can be used to target specific fish on the water or get a general bait that can lure any fishes faster. You can turn the fish you catch to a bait to catch another fish.
- Custom Fishing Rods. You may now use the vanilla fishing rod which functions how vanilla fishing rod does. However custom fishing rods will have all the new mechanics and features.
- 3 new fishing rods. Explained below!
- 8 different fish species.
- Fish Bucket that can automatically store fish as you catch.
- Fish Tracker Item that tracks fishes nearby.
- Knife that can slice fishes into slices.
- Cookable fishes vary on the fish type to be more tastier, saturated and fuller than other fish types.
- Fish Oil used to cook fish slices. Can be extracted with a fish slice on a glass bottle.
- Fish Oven used to cook fish slices with the fish slice and the fish oil.
- Magnetic fishing option so you don't lose any fishes.
- Fully Customizeable. Every part of the mod is customizeable including the HUD, the difficulty of fishing, the fishes themselves.
Items:
Basic Fishing Rod: Pretty much your regular fishing rod that tugs hard and is weak. Can attach baits though.
Iron Fishing Rod: Same reel length as the basic fishing rod however it is more stronger and doesn't get affected by the fish tugging as much.
Diamond Fishing Rod: It has a higher reel length and decreases fish tugging by a lot.
Fish Bait: Every fish has it's own bait that can be crafted as well as a general bait. The fish specific bait would increase the chances for that specific fish to bite as long as there is a population of them where you are fishing. The general bait however will just decrease the wait before a fish bites the hook.
Knife: A knife is used to cut fishes into slices of fish. Every time you cut a fish, you lose a bit of durability. Crafting recipes will be below.
Fish Slice: Every fish has it's own fish slice that you get from slicing a specific fish. This can be then used to either cook and eat the fish or just turn it into fish oil to cook another fish slice that is more richer in nutrients.
Cooked Fish Slice: Every fish has it's own cooked fish slice that you get by cooking a raw fish slice with fish oil. Every fish slice has it's own hunger level modifier as well as saturation which are both configurable.
Fish Oil: Fish oil is extracted from a fish slice by putting it alongside an empty glass bottle. It is used to cook fishes in the fish oven.
Fish Tracker: Tracks and scans for fishes nearby. Stand on top of the water and start scanning. However, there is also failed attempts at scanning which is also configurable. This item shows the nearby fishes population.
Fish Bucket: Allows you to store the fishes you catch. It will automatically populate the fish buckets on your hotbar when you pick up or catch fishes(configurable). It also shows the total weight of the bucket when you sneak right-click whilst holding the bucket.
Blocks:
- Fish Oven: Used to cook slices of fish into cooked slices of fish. Requires fish oil.
Fishes:
Tuna: Really intelligent, fast and agile, normal sized, doesn't require rain to go to surface, will be hanging any time of the day, a bit rare, can only be found in saltwater in medium population. It tastes good.
Catfish: Not that intelligent, slow, huge sized, requires rain to go to surface, will be hanging around only at daytime, really rare, can only be found in freshwater in really low population. The second most rarest fish in the game. It tastes really good.
Salmon: Normal intelligence, normal speed, normal sized, doesn't require rain to go to surface, will be hanging any time of the day, not that rare, can be found in both saltwater and freshwater(they have adapted) in medium population. It doesn't taste bad.
Carp: A bit dumb, fast enough, smaller size, doesn't require rain to go to surface, will be hanging any time of the day, really common, can only be found in freshwater in high population. It doesn't taste that good.
Mackerel: A bit dumb, fast enough, tiny size, doesn't require rain to go to surface, will be hanging any time of the day, extremely common, can only be found in saltwater in high population. It doesn't taste that good.
Bass: Average intelligence, fast, small size and doesn't require rain to go to surface. Will be hanging around any time of the day. Pretty common but can be found in both freshwater and saltwater in high population. It doesn't taste that bad.
Cod: Low intelligence, fast, tiny size and doesn't require rain to go to the surface. Will be hanging around any time of the day. Extremely common but can only be found in saltwater in high population. It doesn't taste that good.
Trout: High intelligence, fast, average size and doesn't require rain to go to the surface. Will be hanging around only at night. Extremely rare but can only be found in freshwater in really low population. The most rarest fish and the most delicious fish in the game.
Crafting: I will list some of the recipes down below. However please use JEI/NEI to check all the recipes. It's much more friendlier. These are just some of the recipes in the mod:
Basic Fishing Rod
Iron Fishing Rod
Diamond Fishing Rod
General Bait(note this is only 1 kind of bait. For the rest, look at JEI)
Knife
Fish Slice(You can use any fish and the weight of the fish signifies the quantity)
Fish Oil(Can use any raw fish slice)
Fish Tracker
Fish Bucket
Fish Oven
Screenshots:
Video:
Old Video:
To/do list:
*Add Different ways to fish including Fishing Nets to catch multiple fishes at the same time based on the population on the chunk that the net is on.
*Add Fish Entities and give me some basic AI and model them to look similar to the one on the textures and animate them.
*Add Fish Breeding producing special fishes. You breed a fish by feeding both fishes seeds that you are about to breed. (Maybe add fish food?)
If you have any questions/concerns/suggestions/bugs, please join our discord and help us out:
- Edition: Minecraft Java
- File type: .jar
- How to install: Install the matching mod loader (Forge, Fabric or NeoForge) for your Minecraft version. → Download the .jar. → Put it in the .minecraft/mods folder and launch that loader profile.
- Where to get it: Opens on CurseForge — not every file is mirrored on our own servers.
Install steps are the general flow for this file type — How to install Minecraft Java mods & modpacks walks through it step by step.
- Ships as BetterFishing-1.12.2-2.0.jar — drop this file into the mods folder
- Download size: 290 KB
- Download link checked 13 Oct 2026 — working
These come from our own check of the pack file, not from the source page.