Here is how to get bigger fish in Red Dead Redemption 2, using bait, lures, and the right environmental conditions to get better hauls for camp and for vendors.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is full of animals to capture and kill. In addition to hunting animals on dry land, players can also look to the water, going fishing for their dinner instead. But catching fish isn’t just good for supplies; they can also be sold for good money. If players can catch a fish over 16lbs they will also unlock a Trophy or Achievement called ‘It was THIS Big.’
While legendary fish are the largest in the game and there is only one legendary fish for each type, players can also catch standard, big fish. Bait is an important part of the process, as certain types of bait are best suited to attracting different sizes of fish. Players can also use different lures to draw bigger fish in.
For example, smaller fish are more attracted by a lower quality bait, such as cobs of corn, cheese, and pieces of bread. This poor quality bait will only get fish such as bluegill and rock bass. For better quality bait, players will need to visit the bait shop in Lagras to pick up crayfish, live crickets, and live worms. Lagras is the only bait shop on the Red Dead Redemption 2 map, but it’s worth traveling to, as this bait can attract bigger fish such as sturgeon, sockeye salmon, and largemouth bass.
While at the Lagras bait shop, players can also pick up lures. There are river lures, lake lures, and swamp lures, with each type of lure corresponding to the types of bodies of water in the game. With lure fishing, players are able to move the lure in the water by rotating the left stick slowly, to convince the fish that the lure is a smaller fish.
To catch bigger fish, players can also go to deeper parts of water. For that, players can either hijack a boat or upgrade the camp and take the camp’s canoe out.
Time of day and weather also have an effect, with early morning and late night fishing being the best times for getting big catches, reflecting real-life fishing strategies. Players will also find the best results when it is raining, though this is much harder to control than the time of day. Best to be prepared just in case the showers suddenly start coming down.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is available on PS4 and Xbox One.
