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How to Craft Fishing Rod in Minecraft

Fishing Rod in Minecraft, drawn from the game's own item texture. Catching fish.

The bill for a Fishing Rod is 3 Sticks and 2 String, and the work happens at a Crafting Table. Read it row by row: a Stick in the right column, then a Stick in the middle column and String in the right column, then a Stick in the left column and String in the right column. Expect 1 Fishing Rod from every craft. It holds up for 64 uses before it breaks.

Fishing Rod Item ID and Give Command

The item ID for Fishing Rod is minecraft:fishing_rod. In commands the namespace may be left off, so fishing_rod works too. Checked against Minecraft Java 26.2.

Give yourself one
/give @p fishing_rod
Give several at once
/give @p fishing_rod 5
Give it to a named player
/give Steve fishing_rod 1

Cheats have to be on for Fishing Rod to appear this way, and the same command works on Bedrock Edition, where the name is written the same.

Repairing Fishing Rod

Fishing Rod lasts 64 uses, and a worn one is not scrap: two of them merged on an anvil give you a single item carrying the durability of both.

The grindstone does the same merge for free, at a price: it takes the enchantments with it. Fine for a plain Fishing Rod, wasteful for one you have put levels into.

Fishing Rod takes Mending, and once it does you can stop thinking about repairs: every orb you pick up goes into the item.

Overview

The Fishing Rod catches fish and treasure from water. It has 64 durability and can pull mobs toward you. Fishing Rod uses a shaped recipe: the ingredients only work in the pattern shown.

The fishing rod was already in the game in Minecraft Beta 1.0, the oldest release with an English language file to read, so this recipe is at least that old.

The materials come together from a few sources: you will be working with stick (craft from planks) and string (kill spiders or break cobwebs).

Counting The Stack

One stack is 21 goes at 3 sticks each, which totals 21 fishing rods. Have 42 string ready as well. The box keeps 1 stick.

Materials Needed

ItemAmountWhere to Find
StickStickStick3xCraft from planks
StringStringString2xKill spiders or break cobwebs

For Fishing Rod: 3x Stick (craft from planks) and 2x String (kill spiders or break cobwebs), brought to a Crafting Table.

The Full Chain

2 Planks makes 4 Stick, the one part of this you craft rather than gather. All in: 2 String and 2 Planks.

  1. 1
    2StickStick4Stick
  2. 2
    Fishing RodFishing RodFishing Rodthis page

Gather this first

StringString2String2Planks

Step-by-Step Instructions

  1. 1

    StickStick3x Stick

  2. 2

    StringString2x String

  3. 3

    Fishing Rod

Minecraft crafting recipe for Fishing Rod: 3 x Stick, 2 x String in a crafting table, making 1 Fishing Rod.

Tips & Notes

  • Line up 3x Stick and 2x String before you open the Crafting Table. Stick: craft from planks.

Uses for Fishing Rod

  • Catching fish
  • Catching treasure items
  • Pulling mobs and entities

What Fishing Rod Goes Into

2 other recipes list Fishing Rod as an ingredient.

Carrot on a StickCarrot on a StickCarrot on a StickCrafting TableWarped Fungus on a StickWarped Fungus on a StickWarped Fungus on a StickCrafting Table

View detailed item stats, durability and properties for Fishing Rod on the Astroworld Items Database.

Frequently Asked Questions

What do I need to craft a Fishing Rod in Minecraft?
3 Sticks and 2 String at a Crafting Table: that is the whole shopping list for a Fishing Rod. Lay them out exactly as the grid above shows, and one craft produces one Fishing Rod.
What do you need to make a Fishing Rod from scratch?
From raw materials only, a Fishing Rod comes down to 2 String and 2 Planks. The rest you make yourself, and it takes 2 crafts to get there.
What can you make with Fishing Rod?
Fishing Rod is an ingredient in 2 other recipes on this site, including Carrot on a Stick and Warped Fungus on a Stick. The section above links to each of them.
Can you craft a Fishing Rod without a crafting table?
You need a table for a Fishing Rod. It is laid out as three Sticks and two String stacked in the right column, and that takes 3 rows, more than the 2x2 grid in your inventory can hold.
Where do you find the materials for a Fishing Rod?
The parts of a Fishing Rod do not all come from one place. Stick: craft from planks. String: kill spiders or break cobwebs.
How many Fishing Rods do you get from one craft?
The Fishing Rod recipe makes one Fishing Rod per craft.
What is the item ID for Fishing Rod in Minecraft?
Fishing Rod is registered as minecraft:fishing_rod. Commands accept the short form fishing_rod as well, and Bedrock spells it the same. Checked against Java 26.2.
What is the give command for Fishing Rod?
The command for Fishing Rod is /give @p fishing_rod, with an optional count after it. It only runs with cheats enabled.
What enchantments can you put on a Fishing Rod?
A Fishing Rod takes 5 enchantments: Lure, Luck of the Sea, Unbreaking, Mending and Curse of Vanishing. An enchanting table or an anvil can apply them.
What version of Minecraft added the Fishing Rod?
The files run out before the fishing rod does. Minecraft Beta 1.0 is the oldest language file Mojang publishes and fishing rod was listed in it. Today the game builds it from 3 Sticks and 2 String, as shown above.

Sources

Grid, ingredients and yield
3 Sticks and 2 String in, 1 Fishing Rod out, Crafting Table. Java 26.2, .
That Bedrock agrees
Bedrock 1.26.40.05, same 2 ingredients.
How far back it goes
Present in Minecraft Java Beta 1.0, the oldest release that exists to check. From all 163 released Java clients, rd-132211 to 26.2.
That the ingredients come back
What drops, what villagers trade and what farms regrow in Minecraft Java, followed through the recipes to see what those ingredients can be turned into.
Stack size, durability, enchantments, burn time
The Astroworld Items Database, built from the same jar.
The recipe book unlock
What unlocks it in the recipe book. Java 26.2.
The stack sum
Counted, not played: 1 Fishing Rod per craft against the stack size.

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