Stardew Valley lets you curve your cast while fishing and I had no clue this whole time

Another low-key mind-blowing Stardew Valley tip

What’s in your memory palace? If we’re talking games, mine has an entire wing dedicated to small but surprising Stardew Valley tidbits that make this game feel thoughtful — like every facet mattered to the designer. Here’s another find that I just had to try as soon as I heard about it: you can curve your cast to one side or the other while fishing, and while it’s super optional, the technique does have its uses in certain situations in Stardew Valley.

The fishing tip resurfaced on Reddit this week with a “fun fact” from user No_Employ261, who demonstrated how you can use the directional inputs to angle your cast.

[deleted by user]
by inStardewValley

So yeah, all you need to do is charge up the fishing pole’s cast meter, and as soon as you activate it (while the hook is still mid-air), you can hold left or right (if you’re fishing north or south) or up or down (if you’re fishing east or west) to alter your trajectory a smidge.

As other players in the Stardew Valley community have noted, you may want to curve your cast to more land on a tricky bubble spot, which is something I have tended to ignore outside of my critical-path fishing career. There’s also a secret use for angled casting: you can fish in the Calico Desert’s southern pond. You might even score a Pyramid Decal.

I had to try that trick too, hence the screenshot up top. Ultimately, does any of this really matter? Maybe not. But certain video game fandoms love rallying around interesting tips, tricks, and trivia, and Stardew Valley unquestionably lives in that “today I learned” zone.

Every time I discover a small detail that’s been overlooked by a lot of players — even some die-hard fans — my adoration for Stardew grows stronger. That said, jeez, it was hiding in plain sight all along! In a wiki-dominated world, there’s a joy to self-discovery.