How to Catch Catfish Stardew Valley (2026 Guide)

To catch a Catfish in Stardew Valley you fish in a river during Spring or Fall while it is raining, between 6:00 AM and midnight. Both the town river running through Pelican Town and the forest river in Cindersap Forest work. The Catfish has a difficulty rating of 75 and a mixed movement pattern, making it one of the trickiest fish available in the first year — it will alternate between drifting calmly and darting suddenly, which catches unprepared anglers out. Two alternative locations bypass the seasonal restriction: the pond in the Secret Woods during rain, and the Witch’s Swamp once you have unlocked it via the Dark Talisman quest.

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If you enjoy the patient rhythm of Stardew’s rivers, these eight games all deliver rewarding fishing and life-sim loops.

Catfish Locations and Conditions in Stardew Valley

The Catfish is a river fish, which immediately rules out the ocean at the Beach and the mountain lake by the mines. Understanding the three places it can appear is the difference between a frustrating year and a quick catch.

The Town and Forest Rivers

The standard spawn is any river tile in Pelican Town or Cindersap Forest, during Spring or Fall, in rainy weather, from 6:00 AM to midnight. That is a generous eighteen-hour window, which makes the Catfish much less punishing than night-only fish — the real gate is the rain. Watch the weather forecast on your television each evening; it tells you tomorrow’s conditions, so you can plan a fishing day rather than scrambling when you wake to a storm.

The Secret Woods Pond

The small pond inside the Secret Woods also holds Catfish during rain, and this location is not restricted to the same narrow seasonal window as the rivers. Getting in requires a Steel Axe to clear the fallen log at the north-west corner of Cindersap Forest. Since the Secret Woods is also the best hardwood source in the game, it is worth unlocking early regardless of your fishing goals.

The Witch’s Swamp

The Witch’s Swamp, accessed through the Dark Talisman questline that begins in the Railroad tunnel, contains Catfish with no seasonal or weather requirement at all. That makes it the reliable late-game answer if you have somehow missed the fish across several years. It is a small pool of water, so bring bait to reduce waiting.

Beating a Difficulty 75 Mixed-Behaviour Fish

What Mixed Behaviour Means

Stardew Valley assigns each fish a movement type: floater, sinker, smooth, dart or mixed. Mixed is the most unpredictable, combining slow drifts with sudden jumps, and at difficulty 75 the Catfish moves quickly and drains your progress fast when the green bar loses it. The correct technique is short, controlled taps rather than held clicks — holding the button overshoots and the bar sails past the fish just as it changes direction.

Gear That Makes It Manageable

The Fiberglass Rod from Willy, unlocked at Fishing level 2, is the minimum because it allows bait. The Iridium Rod at Fishing level 6 adds a tackle slot and is where the Catfish becomes genuinely comfortable. Fit a Cork Bobber to enlarge your green bar, or a Trap Bobber to slow the rate your progress drains while the fish is outside it. Both are excellent against mixed-behaviour fish, and the Cork Bobber is the safer general-purpose pick. Precise, consistent clicking genuinely matters here, which is why we point readers at our best gaming mouse buying guide for low-latency options.

Raise Your Effective Fishing Level and Force the Weather

Food buffs are the most underused tool against high-difficulty fish. Trout Soup provides a small fishing boost cheaply. Seafoam Pudding and Dish O’ The Sea give substantially larger boosts and are worth cooking before a dedicated session. Every point of effective fishing level shrinks the difficulty gap, and against a 75 that is the difference between losing half your hooks and landing nearly all of them. Add a luck-boosting dish such as Lucky Lunch if you also want better treasure rolls.

Rather than waiting for a rainy Spring or Fall day, craft a Rain Totem — unlocked at Foraging level 9 and made from one Hardwood, five Truffle Oil and twenty-five Pine Tar. Using it guarantees rain the following day, letting you schedule a Catfish trip precisely. If you have progressed to Ginger Island content, Magic Bait removes season, time and weather restrictions altogether and will produce Catfish from a river in any month.

Why the Catfish Is Worth Catching

The River Fish Bundle

The Catfish is one of four fish required for the River Fish Bundle in the Community Center’s Fish Tank, alongside the Sunfish, the Shad and the Tiger Trout. This is one of the more awkward bundles because the Sunfish wants sunny weather while the Catfish and Shad want rain, so you cannot complete it in a single day. Bank the Catfish in a chest as soon as you land one rather than shipping it by accident — an easy and painful mistake.

The Catfish also sells for a strong price relative to other early-game river fish, making a rainy Spring day at the river one of the better low-investment income opportunities in your first year. Higher catch quality multiplies that value, so fishing skill pays twice. Stocking a Fish Pond with Catfish gives you a renewable supply plus roe, which becomes Aged Roe in a Preserves Jar for solid passive income and removes any need to chase the weather again.

Building a Session Around It

The efficient routine is simple: check the forecast, cook a fishing buff dish the night before, then on the rainy day handle your crops in the morning and fish the town river from late morning onward. Rivers are close to town, so you can bank fish at Pierre’s or your chest without losing much time. Bring plenty of bait. A comfortable long-session setup helps more than people expect — see our gaming controller buying guide for pads that work well with Stardew, our gaming laptop buying guide for portable machines with the battery life to match, and our gaming monitor buying guide if reading the fishing bar on a small screen is straining your eyes.

For co-op farms, split the river between two players so one covers Pelican Town while the other works Cindersap Forest — voice comms make that trivial to coordinate, and our gaming headset buying guide covers comfortable options. Heavily modded saves with expanded fish content also load noticeably faster from quick storage, as our gaming SSD buying guide explains.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you catch Catfish in Summer or Winter in Stardew Valley?

Not from the town or forest rivers, since those only spawn Catfish in Spring and Fall. However, the Witch’s Swamp holds Catfish with no seasonal restriction once unlocked, and Magic Bait will produce them from any river regardless of the month, so both routes work year-round.

Why can’t I catch a Catfish even though it is raining?

Check that you are actually fishing in a river rather than the ocean or the mountain lake, since the Catfish will never appear in either of those. Also confirm the season is Spring or Fall and the time is between 6:00 AM and midnight. Casting further out with a fuller charge helps surface higher-difficulty fish.

What fishing level do I need to catch a Catfish?

There is no hard level requirement, but at difficulty 75 a very low fishing level makes the attempt genuinely frustrating. Most players find it comfortable from around level 5 or 6 with a Fiberglass or Iridium Rod, a Cork Bobber and a fishing-buff meal such as Trout Soup or Seafoam Pudding.

Should I sell my Catfish or keep it?

Keep the first one you catch for the River Fish Bundle, since accidentally shipping it means waiting for another rainy day. After the bundle is submitted, Catfish are a solid seller and an excellent Fish Pond candidate, so the sensible approach is to bank one, stock a pond, then sell the surplus.