How to catch Catfish in Stardew Valley

Jessica Filby
Stardew Valley background and Catfish

Fish are among the most useful and challenging items to get in Stardew Valley and the Catfish is certainly no exception. Here’s how to catch one and what you can do with it.

Stardew Valley is filled with unique items to get hold of and collections to complete. Among them are over 60 different fish to find, catch, and use in various quests and recipes.

However, finding a simple location is not as easy as heading to a spot within the village. You need to find the right time, season, location, and often weather conditions.

The Catfish is among one of the harder uncommon fish to catch and is also one of the more elusive ones, unless you know when and where to catch it. Here’s everything you need to know about how to catch a Catfish in Stardew Valley.

Contents

Stardew Valley Catfish Prerequisites

The first thing worth noting is that the Stardew Valley Catfish can also only be fished when it’s raining. You can either wait for the rain to come around or use a rain totum which will allow you to find the Catfish in any season.

If using a rain totum is not the way you want to go, you’ll need to wait for the weather to come around. Waiting for it to come naturally will only allow you to fish in the Spring or Fall.

Once the weather has been sorted, you thankfully don’t need to get up bright and early to head out to fish since the Catfish can be caught between 6 am and 12 am. 

Stardew Valley Catfish Locations

Stardew Valley map
Catch the Catfish in three different locations in Stardew Valley.

Unlike many of the other fish available in Stardew Valley, the Catfish can be caught in three different locations. The river, the Secret Woods, and the Witch’s Swamp.

Catch the Catfish in the river

The river is the easiest way to find and catch a Catfish in Stardew Valley. It’s the most accessible and is also one of the closest to your farm, meaning you can get there before the time runs out.

The river in Stardew Valley is just below your farm near Marnie’s house and runs along the bottom of the town itself.

Catch the Catfish in the Pond in the Secret Woods

Alternatively, you can head to the Pond in the Secret Woods. One of the reasons to do so is if you find yourself in the summer while it’s raining since that combination will allow you to fish for Catfish in Stardew Valley.

You can find the Pond in the Secret Woods if you head to the bottom left of the map and break the large log blocking the woods themselves.

Catch the Catfish in the Witch’s Swamp

Working the same way as the Pond in the Secret Woods, you can catch the Catfish in Stardew Valley if you head to the Witch’s Swamp while it’s raining in either Spring, Summer, or Fall.

The Witch’s Swamp is harder to find than the other locations. You’ll need to complete the Dark Talisman Quest and the Goblin Problem quest before heading into the cave with the Swamp inside.

What can you use Catfish for in Stardew Valley?

Fishing in Stardew Valley
Once you’ve caught a Catfish it has multiple uses in Stardew Valley.

You can use Catfish for a plethora of recipes, gifts, and bundles making it an extremely useful resource to catch.

Gifts

The Catfish is not the easiest fish to catch in the game and is worth a fair amount of gold so it may not be an ideal gift to give. Especially since it’s only Willy that loves Catfish.

Recipes

If you want to make some better food out of the Catfish then you can create:

  • Maki Roll
  • Sashimi
  • Quality Fertilizer

Bundles

The only bundle the Catfish is used in is the River Fish Bundle to create the Fish Tank.

That’s all you need to know about using and catching Catfish in Stardew Valley. Be sure to check out our Stardew hub for more news and guides. Or, try some of these:

Stardew Valley Abigail guide | How to get Iridium Ore | Stardew Valley Haley guide | Stardew Valley best crops for Fall | Stardew Valley farm layout ideas | Best games like Stardew Valley | Stardew Valley Alex guide | How to get Clay in Stardew Valley | Stardew Valley cheats

About The Author

Based in Cumbria, England, Jessica is a Senior Games Writer who joined Dexerto after stints at Game Rant and The Gamer. You can find her covering everything from Minecraft, CoD, Disney Dreamlight Valley, Pokemon Go and more. You can contact Jessica at jessica.filby@dexerto.com