Unlocks FishingProgressionFishing
Casting Your Line Quest Guide
How to find Fisherman Herb at the Lakefront, catch both quest fish and switch bait for the Fog Eel
Steam 1.0 check in progress
This route is based on the previously confirmed fishing progression and is being checked against the full release.
Talk to Fisherman Herb at the Lakefront to start Casting Your Line in Welcome to Elderfield. He hands you an Old Fishing Rod and 3 Worms. Catch a Ghost Flounder, then a Fog Eel, and show each one to Herb as he asks for it. Completing the task opens the Lakefront fishing system and teaches five fish recipes.
Casting Your Line — Quick Answer
- Task giver
- Fisherman Herb
- Starts at
- Lakefront
- You get on accept
- Old Fishing Rod and 3 Worms
- Objective 1
- Catch a Ghost Flounder with a Worm (tier-1 bait)
- Objective 2
- Catch a Fog Eel with a Leech (tier-2 bait)
- Main system
- Fishing
- Rod needed
- Old Fishing Rod — no upgrade required
- Stage rewards
- 5 fishing recipes, split across the two fish
The one thing that stops most players
Ghost Flounder and Fog Eel do not share a bait.
Load a Worm for the first fish and a Leech for the second. Both baits are found at the Lakefront, so you never have to leave.
How to Start Casting Your Line
The task starts with one conversation at the Lakefront. There is no chain to finish first.
- Task giver
- Fisherman Herb
- Where
- Lakefront
- Before you start
- No earlier task is required
- What Herb opens
- The Lakefront fishing loop
No earlier task is required. Casting Your Line is recorded as an early system unlock with no prerequisite quest: reaching the Lakefront and speaking to Herb is enough. You do not need to finish farming with Farmer Hans or open the Workshop with Molly first — those are separate early routes.
If you cannot find Herb at all, confirm you are at the Lakefront rather than the Mall or the Sewers. Those two areas have their own fishing pools and their own givers, and neither is connected to this task.
How to Reach the Lakefront
The Lakefront is where every item in this task lives, so it is worth knowing there is no key, task or switch guarding it.
The fishing record lists the Lakefront as the source for the quest fish, the rod and both baits, and the fishing milestone behind this task lists no prerequisite. No unlock task, key or story gate on the way to the Lakefront is recorded, so treat the route as an ordinary walk from the early town areas rather than a progression step you have to earn.
Nothing in this task asks you to fight anything before casting. If you arrive and the water is there, you are in the right place.
What You Get When You Accept
Casting Your Line hands you the gear it needs, so do not buy a rod or hunt for bait before talking to Herb.
Your first rod, recorded at Fishing Lv 1. Select Use on it to check and load bait — the rod’s own description says exactly that, and it is the step players miss most.
Tier-1 bait. These are enough for the Ghost Flounder and not enough for the Fog Eel, so plan on finding a Leech before the second fish.
Bait Pack (Tier 1) ×2 (at the Fog Eel stage)
Herb hands over two bait packs once you are carrying a Fog Eel. The packs are a box of random bait, so treat them as a bonus rather than a way to target a specific bait.
How Fishing Works for This Quest
You only need four mechanics to finish Casting Your Line.
1. Keep the rod on you
The rod is an ordinary inventory item. If it is not on you, casting is not available.
2. Load the bait
Carrying bait is not the same as having it equipped. Open the rod and use it to set which bait you are fishing with.
3. Cast at the Lakefront
The two quest fish belong to the Lakefront pool. Other areas do not stock them.
4. Match the bait tier
The two quest fish sit on different bait tiers, which is the whole reason one bait works and the other does not.
Step 01
Start Casting Your Line with Herb
Talk to Fisherman Herb at the Lakefront and accept the task. He gives you the Old Fishing Rod and 3 Worms in the same conversation.
First objective
Catch a Ghost Flounder
That is the fish the starter Worms are for. Load one before you cast.
Step 02
Catch a Ghost Flounder
Herb’s first request is a Ghost Flounder. Stay at the Lakefront and fish with a Worm loaded on the rod.
Ghost Flounder fishing details Detail Ghost Flounder Where Lakefront Bait Worm (tier 1) Rod Old Fishing Rod — no upgrade needed Time or season No condition set on this fish How many you need 1 Once you have it, show it to Herb before you carry on. That hand-in is what moves his request on to the second fish.
Step 03
Catch a Fog Eel
Switch bait before you start. Keep fishing with the worms from the first stage and this fish will simply never appear.
The second request is a Fog Eel. Load a Leech on the rod first, then keep fishing the same Lakefront water.
Fog Eel fishing details Detail Fog Eel Where Lakefront Bait Leech (tier 2) Rod Old Fishing Rod — no upgrade needed Time or season No condition set on this fish How many you need 1 Step 04
Hand In the Fog Eel
Take the Fog Eel back to Fisherman Herb and hand it over to finish the task. Herb checks the fish you are actually carrying, so keep the catch in your inventory until he takes it.
Keep the fish, don’t sell it
Inventory checks, not a catch counter
The recorded hand-ins and recipe unlocks read the fish in your bag. A fish you sold or stored elsewhere will not satisfy them.
Ghost Flounder vs Fog Eel
The two fish are nearly identical otherwise, which is why the bait is the part that catches people out.
| Ghost Flounder | Fog Eel | |
|---|---|---|
| Where | Lakefront | Lakefront |
| Bait | Worm (tier 1) | Leech (tier 2) |
| Old Fishing Rod | Enough | Enough |
| Time or season | No condition set on the fish | No condition set on the fish |
| How many you need | 1 | 1 |
| Usual mistake | Fishing the wrong area | Still using a Worm |
Correct
Worm for the Ghost Flounder
- Tier-1 bait.
- Herb gives you three of them on accept.
- Also picked up around the Lakefront.
Wrong
Worm for the Fog Eel
- The wrong tier for the second request.
- Explains a long run of failed casts.
- Switch to a Leech before you keep fishing.
If Fog Eel catches are not coming, the bait is the first thing to change — not the fishing spot or the rod.
Why Can’t I Catch a Fog Eel?
Work through these in order. The first one is the answer most of the time.
›I am still fishing with the Worms from the first stage
›I have a Leech but nothing changed
›Is my rod too weak, or the wrong time of day wrong?
›I am fishing somewhere else
Where to Get Leech Bait
The good news is that the second bait is lying around the same place you are already fishing.
| Source | Availability | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Pickups around the Lakefront | Available now | The best route for this quest — a stack is waiting in the area you are already in. |
| Bait Pack (Tier 1) | General Store, repeatable | 50 gold. Described as a box of random bait, so it can contain Leeches without guaranteeing them. |
| Worm | Available now | The tier-1 bait. Fine for the Ghost Flounder, and worth keeping for cooking and later tasks. |
Do not buy packs hoping for a Leech. Bait Packs are random, so a shop trip is not a shortcut. The Lakefront pickups are the reliable source and they cost nothing.
Do I Need to Keep the Fish?
Yes — this is one of the few quests where a sold fish is a wasted fish.
The recorded unlocks and hand-ins read the fish that are in your inventory rather than a separate catch counter. Keep the Ghost Flounder until Herb has taken it, then keep the Fog Eel the same way, and the stages advance as expected.
A quality catch counts too: the same checks accept the higher-quality variants of both fish, so a silver or gold Ghost Flounder satisfies the request just as well as a plain one.
Nothing is recorded as taking the fish away from you beyond the hand-in, so once a stage is done the fish is yours to cook or sell.
Casting Your Line Rewards
This task pays out in two stages rather than at the end. Each fish unlocks a different set of recipes as soon as you are holding it.
After the Ghost Flounder stage
- Recipe: Tempura
- Recipe: Ghost Flounder Soup
- Recipe: Ghost Broth
After the Fog Eel stage
- Recipe: Baked Fish Fillet
- Recipe: Fog Broth
| Recipe | Learned at | Why it is worth having |
|---|---|---|
| Tempura | Ghost Flounder stage | One of the three recipes that come online with the first fish. |
| Ghost Flounder Soup | Ghost Flounder stage | Turns the first quest fish into a proper meal. |
| Ghost Broth | Ghost Flounder stage | The first of the two broths this task teaches. |
| Baked Fish Fillet | Fog Eel stage | One of the two recipes that come online with the second fish. |
| Fog Broth | Fog Eel stage | The recipe this task is really remembered for — see below. |
Why This Quest Matters
Casting Your Line is not a two-fish errand. It opens a repeatable source of ingredients and one recipe that later tasks ask for by name.
Gives you fishing
The Old Fishing Rod and the Lakefront pool stay available, giving you a repeatable source of fish and the items that come with them.
Teaches five recipes
Three recipes arrive with the Ghost Flounder and two with the Fog Eel, covering the early fish-cooking range.
Unlocks a named recipe
Fog Broth is recorded as an ingredient for A Snack for a Cat, so this task quietly opens the door to that later request.
What to Do After Casting Your Line
Fishing is open, and a couple of the things it enables are more useful than just catching more fish.
Cook the Fog Broth. It is the one recipe from this task that another request asks for directly: A Snack for a Cat is recorded as needing a Fog Broth, so turning the Fog Eel into a broth is the highest-value use of your second catch.
Come back to Herb. Further Herb tasks are recorded — A Bit o’ Fishin’ and An Unusual Catch — along with a Lakefront task for the woods. Their exact trigger order is not recorded, so check back with him rather than expecting a specific hand-in.
Upgrade the rod when you move on. The Old Fishing Rod covers this task and the early Lakefront, but later areas want better rods. See the rod progression page before you commit materials to an upgrade.
Not sure what to chase next? Fishing runs in parallel with the other early routes, so use the Progression Assistant to see what your save can actually do right now.
Casting Your Line Quest Chain
The only hard link here is the system unlock the task completes. Herb's later tasks are recorded, but not as a strict order.
Casting Your Line
Current pageHerb asks for a Ghost Flounder, then a Fog Eel.
Lakefront fishing
Required nextCompleting the task opens the Lakefront fishing system and the five fish recipes.
A Bit o’ Fishin’, An Unusual Catch
Triggered laterFurther Herb tasks are recorded at the Lakefront, but no fixed trigger order is.
Casting Your Line FAQ
›How do I start Casting Your Line?
›How do I get my first fishing rod?
›Where do I catch a Ghost Flounder?
›Why can’t I catch a Fog Eel?
›Can Worms catch a Fog Eel?
›Where do I get Leeches?
›Do I need a better fishing rod?
›Do I need to keep the fish?
›Can I catch both fish before starting the task?
›What recipes does Casting Your Line unlock?
›Do I have to finish the Ghost Flounder before the Fog Eel?
›Can I do this alongside farming or the Workshop?
Casting Your Line Checklist
Convenience steps for tracking your own progress. The task itself is the two requests from Herb.
0 of 9 done · Your progress is saved in this browser.
›Other Fishing Areas
Reference
Casting Your Line only needs the Lakefront. These are the other fishing areas in the current data, with the bait each one records.
| Area | Rod | Bait recorded | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lakefront | Old Fishing Rod | Worm, Leech | Available now — this task |
| Mall F1 | Old Fishing Rod | Bug | Available now |
| Sewers F1 | Old Fishing Rod | Maggot | Available now |
| Old Woods Campsite | Sturdy Fishing Rod | Dragonfly or Lugworm | Later progression |
| Catacombs | Quality Fishing Rod | Firefly | Later progression |
Need Help With One Part of the Quest?
Continue Your Progression
The Farmer’s Path
Start farming with Farmer Hans — a parallel early route.
The Farmer’s Path Guide →Helping Molly
Open the Workshop, the Forge Shop and the Furnace route.
Helping Molly Guide →Fishing
Fish, rods, bait and every recorded fishing area.
Open Fishing →Progression Assistant
Get the next useful step for your current save.
Find My Next Step →