Stardew Valley mod makes fishing easier by letting you see the dang fish

A new Stardew Valley mod makes the game's occasionally arcane fishing minigame much less frustrating by letting you see the fish before you catch them. 

Nexus Mods contributor Shekurika first uploaded their mod last month (as our friends at PC Gamer spotted), which explains the wave of cosmic positivity that washed over me mid-June, like Obi-Wan sensing a disturbance in the force except it was caused by countless Stardew fans sighing in relief.

The effects of the mod couldn't be simpler. Hell, the name explains everything: "See Catchable Fish in the Water." Bam, so many headaches prevented. Finally, you can determine which fish are currently available without relying on a team of ichthyologists and a magic 8-ball. No more meticulous clock watching or weather monitoring. Just go out on the dock and see what you can see. 

Shekurika's mod works with all the fish in the game, though it sometimes bugs out with squids, and it even displays most modded fish. The fish from the popular mods Stardew Valley Expanded and Ridgeside Village will all show up properly, and Shekurika says they're working on support for the More New Fish mod. If other modders decide to add usable fish sprites to their mods – as Shekurika doesn't actually create the sprites, but rather add a way to display them in the water – we could see more mods added to the list in the future. 

There are a few small catches (heh) like fish not displaying properly in split-screen or the wrong fish appearing until you catch one on an all-new save, but these are balanced out by a frankly amazing bug: "very, very rarely fish bug and proceed to fly away." I really want to see this happen live. 

As simple as it is, this is a real contender for the ever-growing list of the best Stardew Valley mods. I mean, with the combined power of this mod and our Stardew Valley fish guide, you'd have a huge haul of rare fish in no time.

Here are a dozen games like Stardew Valley to keep you hooked on farming (and often fishing) until the end of time.