Fishy Bears
by GlowSand
Fishy Bears changes how polar bears behave in the world, letting them fish in the water they wander near and eat what they catch.
What it does
Polar bears gain a fishing behavior. When one is near water, it has a chance to catch a fish, and the catch is decided by the fishing loot table, so the drops follow the same table players use with a rod. A bear that catches a fish eats it and heals one heart, and a successful catch can drop the fish item instead of keeping it. The author chose these odds to keep fishing from being constant: a bear succeeds about one time in three when it tries, with the rest of the attempts coming up empty.
The change is a nod to the grizzly cousins of the species, which are shown fishing in a common image; real polar bears rarely fish unless they are desperate and find dead fish. The mod makes the bears more ambient, so they do more in the scene than stand around. It runs on the server alone, does not need Fabric API, and is built for Fabric and Forge versions 1.16 – 1.17. The code is open source under the MIT License.
Key features
Fishing polar bears
Polar bears try to catch fish in nearby water and eat what they catch.
Loot table drops
Caught fish come from the fishing loot table, so the results match the usual fishing rewards.
Healing from fish
A bear that eats a fish recovers one heart.
Fish item drops
A caught fish can drop as an item rather than being eaten straight away.
Compatibility
Latest build for each game version and loader.
Only full game releases are shown. This mod publishes no snapshot builds.
Use cases
Ambient wildlife on a server
Server owners who want polar bears to act more like animals in the scene can run the mod without asking players to install anything.
Who it’s for: Server owners and survival players who want polar bears to do something more than wander. Players on a server that runs the mod need no client install.
How it compares
Fish Help is a client-side only Fabric mod with an all rights reserved license, for 1.16.4 – 1.18.2, so it is not open source and covers a different job. Fishing Real is open source under the MIT License and runs on client and server across Fabric, Forge and NeoForge, for 1.14.4 – 26.1.2, so it needs installation on both sides. Fishy Bears is server-side only and open source, and covers only the bear behavior.
| Mod | Loaders | Game versions | Environment | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fishy Bears | Fabric and Forge | 1.16 – 1.17 | Server-side only | 2021-06-15 |
| Fish Help | Fabric | 1.16.4 – 1.18.2 | Client-side only | 2022-03-07 |
| Fishing Real | Fabric, Forge and NeoForge | 1.14.4 – 26.1.2 | Client and server | 2026-05-28 |
Questions
Does Fishy Bears need Fabric API?
Which loaders have Fishy Bears files?
Do players need to install Fishy Bears?
In the catalog
Fishy Bears is one of 36,990 Utility mods on ModsFinder, and one of 25,772 Utility mods for Fabric. 2,801 mods support Minecraft 1.17.
More from GlowSand
Similar mods
What the author says
Makes Polar Bears more ambient and gives them a use by letting them fish on ice. Server-Side only, and works without fabric API.
Official listing
- Modrinth page
- modrinth.com/mod/fishy-bears
- Owner
- GlowSand
- Published
- 2021-06-13
- Updated on Modrinth
- 2021-06-15
- Facts verified
- 2026-10-15