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Stardew Valley’s economics requires fans to analyze certain aspects of what they decide to spend their resources on to make the most amount of profit in the shortest amount of time. So, here is all there is to know about this interesting item.

Updated April 19, 2022, by Ashely Claudino: Crab pots may often be overlooked in Stardew Valley, as there are tons of mechanics and utensils that players can use to get rich. When used correctly though, they can be worth one’s time and so players might just want to craft a few crab pots and place them around the place. This article has been updated to provide even more useful information about Stardew Valley’s crab pots.

Placement Locations

Crab pots are an easy way to catch fish, especially taking into consideration how hard it can be to fish with the fishing rod. The player controls a bar and needs to be able to move it correctly and stay on top of the fish. Plus, higher-difficulty fish will move much faster. Conversely, crab pots can be placed just about anywhere with water in Stardew Valley (except fountains).

Crab pots need to be placed on the shore of a body of water and will work on ponds, lakes, rivers, and the ocean. They will collect different types of fish depending on where they’re placed. This means that crab pots placed in freshwater won’t catch the same fish as those placed in the ocean.

How Bait Works

There are various types of bait in Stardew Valley. There’s standard bait, wild bait, magic bait, and magnets. When adding bait to the crab pot, any type will do. However, it won’t make a difference because none of these will actually provide any benefits.

The results will always be the same, as crab pots will never produce more than one fish, nor will they grant any treasure. In fact, if the player chooses the Luremaster profession once they reach level ten of the Fishing Skill, crab pots will no longer require bait in order to produce.

How Experience Work

Although it isn’t necessarily fishing, harvesting a crab pot will count towards leveling up the Fishing Skill. Each crab pot that is harvested provides five experience points (XP). This number does not change, meaning that even if the player collects trash (which would normally be worth three XP), they will still earn five XP.

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However, players won’t receive much XP when compared to catching fish with a fishing pole. Catching a fish with a regular fishing pole always grants more experience. The fishing formula actually takes into account the fish’s quality and its difficulty to catch.

They Don’t Make Great Gifts

Friendships in Stardew Valley work according to a point system. The more points the player accumulates with a certain villager, the higher their friendship score will be. This is represented by a heart meter in-game.

One way to gain extra points is by gifting to villagers. They can be gifted up to two gifts per week. Depending on the person, they will either love, like, feel neutral, dislike or hate a gift. This might not come as a surprise but Pelican Town residents won’t appreciate it if the player gifts them crab pots. In fact, they don’t just dislike it, they will actively hate it.

There’s A Crab Pot Bundle

One of the main objectives in Stardew Valley is to restore the Community Center. This can be done by completing various bundles that require different skills and resources. The bundles are themed according to the room they’re in.

Once the player completes their first bundle, the Fish Tank will be available for restoration. One of the Fish Tank bundles is the Crab Pot Bundle. This is completed by collecting several different items from crab pots. The player will receive three crab pots. Given how expensive they can be to craft, the reward once it is done is actually pretty nice.

Mariner Profession

The chances of a crab pot collecting trash instead of fish are actually pretty high. In fact, there is a 38% chance of trash appearing in a crab pot, and this does not change with luck or with a higher Fishing Skill. Therefore, players that want to invest in crab pots should definitely consider the Mariner profession.

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Once a player reaches level ten in the Fishing Skill they will have to choose between Mariner and Luremaster. Mariner will make it so crab pots never produce trash again. However, by not choosing Luremaster, the player must keep re-baiting their crab pots.

Crafting A Crab Pot

The ingredients required to craft a crab pot are 40 wood and three iron bars, however, if players get the Trapper profession, this number will go down to 25 wood and two copper bars.

It’s possible to farm ore in Stardew Valley, levels 40 to 79 in the mines are the best to replay when looking for iron nodes. On the other hand, Levels two to 39 are where copper nodes are most likely to spawn. Gamers can play these levels over and over again to get as many resources as they need to craft crab pots.

Farming wood is even easier. If the player uses tree fertilizer and plants trees on their farm, they’ll grow a stage per night and be fully grown in no time. It’s also possible to chop down trees outside the farm, and they’ll have a 20 percent chance of reappearing every night that goes by.

It’s also important to note that doing this on lucky days is a good idea since more ore nodes and more wood will appear as players farm and destroy nodes and trees.

Trapper Profession

Crab pots are a bit expensive to craft, especially in the early game. Most gamers will craft quite a few at a time, meaning that they’ll need to multiply those numbers a fair amount. Early on, getting these items in such large quantities can be difficult.

However, players that are thinking about using crab pots more often in their gameplay should consider the Trapper profession. It can be acquired once level five of the Fishing Skill is reached. Once the player obtains this profession, the crafting requirements will drop to 25 wood and two copper bars.

Wait A Whole Day After Setting

There is no point in rechecking crab pots throughout the day, these items do not work within minutes. After the bait has been placed inside, it will take about a day to catch something.

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They are very low maintenance so they become the perfect chore since they can be completed at the same time as gamers walk through Pelican Town and their farms. They can be harvested and instantly re-baited. Then, the players can go about their day or leave this easy task for the late afternoon and finish it before they go to sleep for the night.

Fishing Achievements

Stardew Valley has a few achievements that will grant the player rewards once completed. There are four fishing achievements including Fisherman, Ol’ Mariner, Mother Catch, and Master Angler. In order to complete the first three, the player must catch ten, 24, and 100 fish, respectively. In order to obtain Master Angler, the player must catch every fish in the game.

Fish caught in crab pots will actually count towards finishing these achievements. Although, it is not possible to complete Master Angler by solely resorting to crab pots.

It’s A Long Term Investment

Crab pots are definitely a long-term investment. They aren’t as profitable as the majority of the other activities available to the player in the early game. Especially because they can be so expensive to craft, or buy. They can actually be bought from Willy for 1,500 gold, but that’s a significant amount of change at the beginning of a playthrough.

However, since they don’t require much maintenance and bait is pretty easy to come around, they’re actually a great passive way to make some income.

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