Actual Fishing
by Stereowalker
With Actual Fishing installed, a hooked catch is no longer certain, since the mod reworks Minecraft's fishing system so fish in the water behave more like real ones.
What it does
Actual Fishing changes the fishing system so the rod and hook follow more realistic rules. A fish must approach the hook before it has any chance to bite, and whether one comes at all depends on how the fish are feeling. The hook can stay attached to a fish once it bites, and the player still has to reel it in to receive the catch.
Catches are generated from realistic fish behavior, and most casts can return nothing. Fish are caught as living creatures that the player sees in the water, and the caught fish can be kept in item form only after a longer process. Treasure and junk remain possible when the hook lands in water, as in the vanilla fishing system, for players who prefer that style.
The mod is client and server, so the server and every player must run it. It requires UnionLib and is released under All rights reserved, and it is not open source. Files exist for 1.21, 1.21.1 and 1.21.11, with the latest Fabric, Forge, NeoForge and Quilt builds dated 2026-01-16.
Key features
Realistic bite chance
Fish approach the hook first, and the chance of a bite depends on the fish's state rather than a fixed roll.
Living fish catches
Fish are caught as creatures seen in the water, with the catch generated to match realistic behavior.
Attached hook
The hook stays attached to a fish after it bites, and the player must reel to land it.
Vanilla treasure and junk
Treasure and junk still appear when the hook lands in water, keeping the familiar fishing loot.
Gallery
Compatibility
Latest build for each game version and loader.
Only full game releases are shown. This mod publishes no snapshot builds.
Requirements
Dependencies declared by the latest file for each loader.
Required 1
How it compares
Simple Fishing Overhaul is open source under the MIT License, client and server, for 26.1 – 26.3 on Fabric and NeoForge. Fishing Lure is open source under the GNU General Public License v3.0 only, for NeoForge 1.21.1 only. Actual Fishing is not open source and covers 1.21 – 1.21.11 across all four loaders.
| Mod | Loaders | Game versions | Environment | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Actual Fishing | Fabric, Forge, NeoForge and Quilt | 1.21 – 1.21.11 | Client and server | 2026-01-16 |
| Simple Fishing Overhaul | Fabric and NeoForge | 26.1 – 26.3 | Client and server | 2026-09-25 |
| Fishing Lure | NeoForge | 1.21.1 | Client and server | 2026-03-09 |
Questions
Does Actual Fishing require UnionLib?
Does the server need Actual Fishing?
Can Actual Fishing be used with Aquaculture 2?
In the catalog
Actual Fishing is one of 6,151 Food mods on ModsFinder, and one of 2,715 Food mods for Fabric. 19,862 mods support Minecraft 1.21.11.
More from Stereowalker
Similar mods
What the author says
This mod changes the game's fishing mechanics to behave more realistically. A few things to note that this mod does 1) You can no longer get fish in item form. You can still get treasure or junk when the hook goes into the water. In most cases, you'll get nothing 2) Your hook now lures in fish. Some will come and…
Official listing
- Modrinth page
- modrinth.com/mod/actual-fishing
- Owner
- Stereowalker
- Published
- 2024-07-26
- Updated on Modrinth
- 2026-01-16
- Facts verified
- 2026-10-15