Stardew Valley Bundles Guide part 3: Fish Tank

Welcome to part three of the Stardew Valley guide to the Community Centre. So far, I’ve covered the Crafts Room and Pantry bundles. This time, we’ll be covering the Fish Tank section; be sure to check out the first two parts if you haven’t already!

Fish Tank (run-down)

The Fish Tank will open itself up at the same time as the Pantry, when you complete your first bundle in the Crafts Room. As you might expect, the main skill associated with these bundles is Fishing!

Some fish require certain weather — notably, either “raining” or “not raining” — which will be mentioned wherever it’s relevant. However, it will never naturally rain in Winter; to force wet weather you’ll need a Rain Totem, which can be crafted at level nine Foraging.

1) Ocean Fish Bundle

Classic and Remixed — 4/4 items needed

This bundle is always the same, over all games. Unsurprisingly, all of the fish needed for this bundle can be found in the ocean, down at the Beach!

• Sardine: This little fella can be fished up anytime before 7pm, and in all seasons except Summer.
• Tuna: This one can be caught anytime before 7pm, in either Summer or Winter. It may provide a bit of a challenge in the minigame, but it shouldn’t prove too difficult overall; you may want a couple of extra levels in Fishing if you encounter any hardships.
• Red Snapper: This little fishie can be caught in all seasons except Spring, but only when it’s raining.
• Tilapia: You’ll need to be a little earlier for this fish, as you can only catch it before 2pm during Summer or Fall.

2) River Fish Bundle

Classic and Remixed — 4/4 items needed

This bundle is always the same, over all games. All of these fish can be found in the river that runs through Pelican Town and Cindersap Forest.

• Sunfish: These can be caught anytime before 7pm, in both Spring and Summer; however, they won’t show up when it’s raining.
• Catfish: The first fish on this list that has some real difficulty attached, Catfish will often jump quickly up and down the minigame’s bar. They can be caught almost anytime in Spring and Fall when it’s raining, being uncatchable only for the final two hours of each day. If you have access to the Secret Woods, you can also catch catfish there in all seasons (so long as it’s raining)!
• Shad: Shad can be found anytime after 9am, and in any season except Winter. However, they only show up in wet weather.
• Tiger Trout: A semi-difficult catch, these fish will jump up and down similarly to Catfish, albeit more slowly. You can find them in Fall and Winter, at any time prior to 7pm.

3) Lake Fish Bundle

Classic and Remixed — 4/4 items needed

This bundle is always the same, over all games. The lake in question here is the big one up in the Mountain, right outside the Mines and to the east of Robin’s house.

• Largemouth Bass: This one is found in every single season, at any time before 7pm.
• Carp: The easiest fish to catch in the entire game; it usually just sits near the bottom of the minigame bar. It’s also incredibly common! You can catch carp at any time of day or night, in any season except Winter, and in any weather! If that wasn’t enough, you can also catch this one from the ponds in the Forest (in the top-left-ish area) and the Secret Woods (and in this location, it’s also present in Winter as well).
• Bullhead: Bullhead can be caught at any time of day, in any season, and in any weather.
• Sturgeon: Another more difficult catch, you’ll need a few levels to even hook these in the first place; when you do, they’ll jump around in a similar fashion to catfish. Sturgeon appear in the lake during Summer and Winter, before 7pm.

4) Night Fishing Bundle

Classic and Remixed — 3/3 items needed

This bundle is always the same, over all games. As expected, the fish for this bundle only show up later in the day.

• Walleye: Appearing only in Fall and Winter on rainy days, walleye can be caught after noon. They’ll show up at the Mountain lake, in both the pond and the river in Cindersap Forest, and the river in Pelican Town.
• Bream: These are pretty common later at night; you can catch them at any point after 6pm. They show up in all seasons and weathers, in the rivers of Pelican Town and the Forest.
• Eel: It’s a worm, but a fish! Another rainy day catch, you can find these wrigglers in the ocean at the Beach anytime after 4pm, during Spring and Fall. It’s slightly tricky to catch, but shouldn’t prove too difficult compared to some of the other fish in this guide.

5) Crab Pot Bundle

Classic and Remixed — 5/10 items needed

This bundle is always the same, over all games. Crab Pots can be crafted or bought at Willy’s shop; either way, you’ll first need to reach level three in Fishing. Just pop them in the water, load them with bait, and then wait until the following morning! As always, the ocean-based catches will need to be at the Beach.

• Crab: An ocean catch, but they also sometimes drop from Rock Crabs in the Mines!
• Cockle, Mussel, Oyster, and Clam: All four of these items can also be trapped in ocean-based Crab Pots. Alternatively, you can forage them from the Beach instead! Note that you may need to rebuild the bridge to the right side using 300 wood in order to find more foragables.
• Lobster and Shrimp: The final two ocean Crab Pot catches, but unlike the rest, these two cannot be found by alternative methods.
• Crayfish, Snail, and Periwinkle: All of these can be caught when your Crab Pot is placed in freshwater locations (i.e. not in the ocean). The easiest place is on the Farm, unless you have the 1.5 Beach Farm layout, in which case a quick jaunt down to the Forest will be in order.

To finish this bundle, I would generally recommend to… not use Crab Pots! Foraging from the Beach and killing Rock Crabs is a simple way to finish this bundle, particularly as it is somewhat expensive to obtain your pots otherwise (the recipe requires three iron bars and 40 wood, whilst buying one from Willy will set you back 1,500g).

6a) Specialty Fish Bundle

Classic and Remixed — 4/4 items needed

The sixth bundle is the only one for the Fish Tank that can vary if you’re playing with the Remixed option. If present, this bundle is always the same; with Remixed bundles, this one may be replaced by either the Master Fisher’s Bundle or the Quality Fish Bundle, both detailed below.

• Pufferfish: To find this prickly fish, schlepp down to the Beach on a dry Summer day. You’ll only have a four-hour window, between noon and 4pm, and they’ll also be quite evasive in the minigame with much jumping around!
• Ghostfish: This pale fella can be found by heading to floor 20 or floor 60 of the Mines and cast a line — time, weather, and season all have no impact underground. Each of these floors has two fish on offer, with ghostfish being the easier catch in both instances. Alternatively, the Ghost enemies that show up sometimes on floors 51–79 may occasionally drop one of these flappers!
• Sandfish: You’ll need to finish up the Vault before even thinking about this one, as the Desert is the only place you’ll lay eyes on sandfish. It hops around the minigame bar a bit so you’ll need some patience! Make sure to arrive in good time, as all fish vanish from the Desert’s pond after 7pm.
• Woodskip: Access to the Secret Woods is required for this fishie, but the good news is that access is the hardest part. Woodskip are present at all times, weathers, and seasons, and they’re a pretty simple catch to boot!

6b) Master Fisher’s Bundle

Remixed only — 2/4 items needed

All of the fish needed for this bundle will test your fishing skill, as every one of them likes to jump around the minigame bar at high speeds! You’ll probably be needing a high fishing level, as well as an Iridium Rod equipped with a Trap Bobber, if you want to catch any of them. The good news is that you only need two of the four options to finish the bundle!

• Lava Eel: Mosey on down to floor 100 of the Mines, the one with the lava pool. Most of the time you’ll only hook trash, but if you land a fish then get ready for a struggle! As before, time/weather/season has no bearing on your ability to hook one of these bad boys.
• Scorpion Carp: As suggested by the name, you’ll find this fish in the Desert. The only other limiting factor is that you only have until 7pm to get the catch, otherwise you’ll need to try again the following day.
• Octopus: One of the most difficult catches in the entire game, beating out even some of the Legendary Fish! Once you are suitably prepared for the titanic battle in store, head to the Beach during Summer. You have until 1pm, and even then it’s still rare to hook one in the first place; good luck! Speaking of luck, you also have a very small chance of hooking one in during the Night Market in Winter, same as the Blobfish below.
• Blobfish: This is one of the three most time-limited fish in the game. First, it needs to be Winter; specifically, 15–17th Winter when the Night Market is active. Secondly, as you may guess from the event name, it must be 5pm or later. When both of these conditions are met, head down to the Beach and take the Market’s submarine ride (it takes around 30 minutes of in-game time to get to the bottom). Once you’re finally down there, you can fish for one of these sad-looking fat creatures — they have a catch rate of about 1 in 10.

It is difficult to make recommendations for this bundle; all of them are difficult to catch, for their own reasons. I would suggest picking the two that best suit your conditions! Lava Eel is the most accessible, being available at any time once you have reached that far in the Mines. Blobfish is the easiest of these four fish to catch, although not by much. Scorpion Carp has the least use outside of simply selling it, which makes it a good option as well. I would recommend to only use Octopus if you are really struggling with the others, as it is incredibly hard to catch as well as being useful in more ways than the rest.

6c) Quality Fish Bundle

Remixed only — 4/4 items needed

A nice reprieve from the relative difficulty of the other options for the sixth bundle, if you get this then you should be sitting pretty! All of these fish need to be Gold or Iridium quality, meaning you won’t be able to find these at the Travelling Cart. I’ve already explained all of these a little more in-depth above, so you can check out the relevant bundles for more info! Getting a perfect catch and casting your line farther from the shore will both increase your chances of higher-quality fish.

• Largemouth Bass: Mountain lake (Lake Fish Bundle).
• Shad: Pelican Town and Forest rivers (River Fish Bundle).
• Tuna: Ocean at the Beach (Ocean Fish Bundle).
• Walleye: Pelican Town, the Forest, or the Mountain (Night Fishing Bundle).

Fish Tank (repaired)

With all of the fish donated to the Junimos, they’ll gleefully remove the boulder blocking up the spring from the Mines to the Mountain. Next time you reach the Mountain, Willy will give you a Copper Pan, allowing you to sift through new glowing spots in the water for extra ore and geodes! Well, it sounds cool, but it’s kinda underwhelming honestly. I guess at least you can wear the pan as a hat though?

That’s three repairs down, three to go! If you’ve come this far then you’re likely well on your way to finishing things up and restoring the community centre to its former glory. Make sure to check out all the other parts, and let me know whether this section helped you work your rod, or if things were all just a bit too fishy for your liking!