How to Make a Fishing Rod in Minecraft: 3 Sticks, 2 String

Place 3 sticks in a diagonal line from the top-right corner of a crafting table to the bottom-left corner, then put 2 string in the right-hand column, in the middle and bottom slots. That makes 1 fishing rod. The layout also works mirrored (sticks running top-left to bottom-right, string on the left), and it’s the same recipe on Java and Bedrock.

You need the 3x3 grid of a crafting table, because the diagonal doesn’t fit in your inventory.

Getting the string

Sticks are easy: two planks stacked vertically make four. String is the part that holds people up early on.

• Spiders drop 0 to 2 string each. One night of fighting near your base is usually enough. See the spider page for where they spawn and how they behave.
• Cobwebs drop string when you break them with a sword (or shears give you the cobweb itself). Mineshafts are full of them, but watch out for cave spiders.
• Chests in dungeons, mineshafts, woodland mansions and other structures often hold string.
• Cats sometimes bring you gifts in the morning, including string, if they sleep on your bed.

If you find a rod before you craft one, keep it. Abandoned camps (added in Java 26.3 and Bedrock 26.50) often have a plain rod in their chests and barrels, ocean ruins hold enchanted ones, and drowned sometimes spawn holding a rod they can drop.

Durability and repair

A rod lasts 64 uses on Java and 385 on Bedrock. A normal catch costs 1 durability. Reeling in a mob or player costs 5, and pulling in a dropped item costs 3.

When it gets low you have a few options:

• Combine two damaged rods in a crafting grid or grindstone. Their durability adds up plus a 5% bonus, but enchantments are lost.
• Combine them on an anvil to keep the enchantments.
• Put Mending on it. Fishing gives XP with every catch, so a Mending rod basically never breaks while you fish.

Enchantments

A fishing rod can take five enchantments: Lure, Luck of the Sea, Unbreaking, Mending and Curse of Vanishing. Lure makes fish bite sooner, and Luck of the Sea shifts your catches toward treasure. A max rod (Lure III, Luck of the Sea III, Unbreaking III, Mending) is the one to aim for if you plan to fish for enchanted books and name tags.

Journeyman fishermen also sell enchanted rods for emeralds, which can be cheaper than enchanting one yourself.

What else a rod does

Fishing is the obvious use, and our fishing guide covers how to read the bite and what loot to expect. A rod has a few other jobs:

• Pulling mobs. Cast the hook onto a mob or an item and reel in to drag it toward you. It doesn’t do damage, but it can pull a villager off a ledge or yank a player off a pillar in PvP.
• Carrot on a stick. Craft the rod with a carrot to make a carrot on a stick, which steers a saddled pig. You’ll need a saddle first.
• Warped fungus on a stick. Same idea with a warped fungus, for riding striders across lava in the Nether.
• Pressure plates. The bobber can trigger wooden and weighted pressure plates from a distance.
• Fuel. A spare rod smelts 1.5 items in a furnace, whatever its durability.