In Minecraft, fishing is more than just a simple task – with an automatic fish farm, you can collect valuable resources like food and rare items. In this guide, learn how to build an effective AFK fish farm to catch fish, treasures, and XP! The term “AFK fish farm” is a strong keyword that attracts many users. The benefits of fishing (food, items, XP) are clearly highlighted to make the advantages immediately apparent to the reader.
Minecraft Fishing: Why Automatic Fish Farms Are Worth It
Fishing has been around in Minecraft for a long time, but over the years, what you can fish from the sea has changed significantly. New fish have been added, along with many other items hidden deep underwater. There are basically three categories from which you can fish something fresh.
You have an 85% chance of catching fish. There are four different types you can catch, including raw cod, raw salmon, a pufferfish, and a tropical fish. Fish can replenish your hunger bar, be traded with villagers, or fed to cats and ocelots.
Trash is the second category, making up 10% of the yield. Some of it is indeed trash, like sticks or lily pads. However, there are some cool items too, such as water bottles, bones, and tripwires.
The valuable items make up just 5%, but they can be really worth it! This includes enchanted rods and books, including the highly coveted “Mending” enchantment. You can also receive nautilus shells, saddles, and name tags.
Additionally, you receive some experience points with each successful item catch. Hence, a fish farm is also an XP machine, albeit a slow one.
The Best Enchantments for Your Minecraft Fishing Rod
You can enchant a fishing rod to make your fishing trips even easier and increase the different percentages. It’s definitely worth it!
The enchantments are:
- Luck of the Sea (1-3): More valuable items (up to 11.3%).
- Lure (1-3): Faster bites (-15 seconds at the highest level).
- Unbreaking (1-3): Less wear and tear.
- Mending (1): XP restores the wear of the rod. Since fishing grants XP, the rod is practically usable indefinitely.
Building a Minecraft Fish Farm: Step-by-Step Guide for an Automatic Fishing Machine
One of the simplest fish farms is one that works without your input! Therefore, it is often referred to as an AFK farm (“away from keyboard”) in many circles.
Note: Unfortunately, this method was adjusted with the 1.16 update, so you can no longer receive valuable items. You can still catch fish and trash with this small farm. This is because valuable resources now only spawn in open sea, which is not the case with this design. Nevertheless, we will present it to you in detail. For Bedrock players, this should not be an issue, as you can still obtain valuable treasures. Why Mojang made these changes is probably unknown to anyone.
Materials for Building a Minecraft Fish Farm
- Chest
- Hopper
- Fence post
- Iron pressure plate
- Iron trapdoor
- Note block
- Water bucket
- 1 full block
Step-by-Step Guide: Building an Automatic Fish Farm in Minecraft
Dig four blocks into the ground and place a double chest at one end. Then place a hopper leading into the chest to gather your fish while fishing.
Next, place the fence post on the hopper and fill it with a water bucket. The water will stay around the fence and flow into the open block below.
Place the pressure plate on the fence. Finally, build a note block one block below and place a trapdoor between the pressure plate and the note block. It’s best to use a block above the note block for this. This prevents sounds, and you can simultaneously place the iron trapdoor.
To use this AFK fish farm, stand on the chest and cast your rod so that you aim at the trapdoor and the note block. It’s essential to keep the right mouse button pressed. This way, you can continue fishing continuously.
Tip: If you don’t want to hold the mouse yourself, there’s a wonderful and simple trick! With F3, you can open your debug menu. But if you press F3 and T simultaneously, Minecraft reloads your texture pack. The Mojang logo appears, and if you then release your mouse, the rod should work without your input!
Are There Other Designs for Valuable Items?
As previously described, the old design no longer works for obtaining valuable resources like enchanted books. This is unfortunate, especially for Java players. To obtain these items, the water source must be open. This means that the fishing lure must be surrounded by at least two blocks of water on all sides, with an open sky above. Only then does the game recognize the water as open and add the loot for treasures.
There are some new designs for AFK fishing farms, but they are very complicated and not really useful. You’re definitely better off just fishing yourself.
The Best Minecraft Fishing Tips: Catch More Fish and Treasures
Fishing in Minecraft is actually a great and relaxing activity! Here are some tips to make it easier.
- Fish best in the sea, where it’s deep enough.
- Pay attention to the particles in the water.
- Check in the options if your particles are set to “Full”.
- Reel in the lure as soon as the particles approach it.
- When it rains, you catch more fish.
Minecraft Villager Trading: Profitably Use Fish and Items
Even if you’re using just the small fishing machine, you can still do a lot with all the fish and trash. The items are not as worthless as you might initially think. They are best used in combination with villagers and trading. More on this in our previous article (How to Build a Villager Trading Post: Acquire Valuable Items Through Trading) . With this, you can obtain a lot of emeralds without lifting a finger.
- Fisherman: Four fish types, string
- Fletcher: Sticks, string, tripwires
- Leatherworker: Leather
- Cleric: Rotten flesh
Conclusion: Advantages of an Automatic Fish Farm in Minecraft
There are hardly any video games without fishing, and Minecraft set the trend! To this day, this activity is still popular, especially because of the wonderful treasures you can reel in. And even though the old AFK fishing farm is no longer suitable for this, you can use it in combination with villagers for emeralds. Either way, automatic fishing in Minecraft is a great addition to your world. Continuously fish valuable resources on your own server. Rent your Minecraft server and build the ultimate fishing machine!
