Hello Games’No Man’s Skyis famous for its ongoing updates. In July 2024, its development team added a massive overhaul to its planetary simulation engine. Wind patterns, waves, and weather effects were fine-tuned to add another layer of immersive realism. This update, dubbed “Worlds Part I,” was expected to be the year’s biggest news.
Instead, two months later, the Hello Games team went above and beyond, releasing the Aquarius update and expedition. Eye-popping planetary weather effects and volumetric clouds weren’t enough. In fact, these additions made the team realize the game neededa fishing mechanic. Now, players can catch intergalactic sea creatures, and anything edible can be used as bait.
10Salt
Yes, you can (somehow) coat your futuristic fishing lure withplain saltand call it a day. The not-so-rare element is found throughout No Man’s Sky. Pragmatic Travelers frequently hoard and refine the basic element into its more expensive derivative, chlorine, beforecrashing entire galactic economiesfor profit.
Now, you won’t get much from salt. It has a measly6 percent rarity increaseand a similarly lackluster2 percent size boost. However, it’s easy to acquire more salt than you’ll ever need. A few trips to strategic resource deposits or a single deep-level mineral hotspot can earn thousands of galactic units of salt in a handful of minutes.
9Pilgrim’s Tonic
Formerly a thoroughly useless item with no further refinement opportunities, apilgrim’s toniccomes from shoving pilgrimberry into a nutrient refiner. The inventory photo suggests the resulting mixture is a gooey or creamy substance, and it sells for a measly 800 units each on a good day.
However, the pilgrim’s tonic has gained new life as an easily craftable fishing bait. One spoonful of this goopimproves catch rarity by 13 percentand — more importantly —amplifies size by 22 percent. Now, a one-in-ten chance of catching rare fish may be unappealing, but the decent boost in catch size makes up for the mediocre rarity boost.
8Processed Meat
Few foods are easier to make thanprocessed meat. Most basic raw meats and some offal can be tossed into a nutrient processor to create this unappetizing product. It isn’t very valuable as a trade good, nor is it a particularly useful item for further recipes. However, No Man’s Sky’s space SPAM has gained new life as an easy, on-the-go bait choice.
Any meat can be refined into processed meat with a nutrient processor. That includes all those “useless” offal sacs, fiendish roes, and feline livers that would otherwise become organ stews. Beyond being cheap, useful bait, processed meat acts as a tremendous on-the-go trade commodity, selling for no less than 2,100 units each in most economies.
When applied to your lure, processed meatincreases catch rarity by 32 percentandboosts fish size by 2 percent. These aren’t the best raw statistics, although a one-in-three rarity boost is a nice perk. Other baits increase your haul value more than processed meat, but few are as easily acquired.
7Jam Tart
If you’re looking for large fish of any quality, stock up on sugar and fruit. The crunchy crust of ajam tartis — apparently — irresistible to intergalactic sealife. While its6 percent rarity increaseis near the bottom of the bait totem pole, its43 percent size boostis near the top. It alsoattracts nocturnal fish, although its stat boosts still apply during daytime fishing.
Like most filled confections in No Man’s Sky, a jam tart requires four trips through the nutrient processor. Combine any butter with refined flour to make a pastry, then bake the pastry to get a pie case. For maximum efficiency, use a second nutrient processor to turn eitherGrahberries or leopard fruitsand sugar into jam. Finally, combine the pie casings with the jelly to create a jam tart.
6Herbal Crunchies
Of course, rarity begets units. Fortunately,herbal crunchiesare a Traveler’s best friend. These potentially illegal baked goods are the serendipitous marriage of simple sugar dough and NipNip, and in total, you need only three ingredients. Your first pass through the nutrient processor combines flour and sugar into sugar dough; alternatively, you can make loads of sugar dough beforehand and combine it with NipNip as needed.
A stack of ten NipNip buds can go from your pocket to a galactic trader for 470,000 units in a decent economy. However, herbal crunchies can increase your profits even further. Ten of these baked goods will sell for roughly 600,000 in most economies, earning you a tidy 130,000 bonus for a few minutes of work. Plus, you’ll get some handy fishing bait.
The resultant space brownies offer an impressive43 percent rarity boostalongside a modest3 percent size increase. There’s a catch to this simple recipe, though; you need to find NipNip, and unlike most plants, NipNip harvests offer only one unit per plant. Moreover, you’ll need to acquire NipNip from outlaw systems or as random pulls from scrap dealers’ goods packets. Alternatively, you may harvest it by crafting the agricultural blueprint, snagging it fromderelict freighters, or finding another Traveler with a secret NipNip farm.
5Mystery Meat Pie
There are other recipes with slightly higher stats than the humblemystery meat pie, but few are as readily available, so you’re ready to start cooking as long as you have churned butter, refined flour, and any kind of space meat. Use a nutrient processor to turn the butter and flour into a pie case, then stuff that pie case with your meat. The result is the somewhat unappetizingly named mystery meat pie.
For your efforts, you’ll get a solid45 percent rarity increaseand a mild3 percent size boost. However, the mystery meat pie is more than bait. It’s also a handy way to turn your stash of assorted animal meats and offal into profit. Sure, you may make some units as a space butcher, but space citizens crave ready-made meals. So, sell your unwanted meaty pastries for much more than the sum of their ingredients.
4Jam Fluffer
Space fish love jam. At the very least, the stats for the delicious-lookingjam fluffermake it clear that you’re bound for some lucrative fishing trips. Sticking some of this cake on your lure yields a46 percent rarity boostand a7 percent size increase.
That’s the good news. The bad news is that cakes are somewhat resource-intensive. One jam-stuffed cake requires four nutrient processor cycles. You’ll need delicate meringue as a base, which you’ll refine into extra-fluffy batter with acreature eggand refined flour. Finally, you’ll combine that batter with either Grah’jam or furball jelly.
3Caramel Ice Cream
Thanks to its in-depth cooking mechanics, No Man’s Sky has many flavors of ice cream. The most basic, unflavored version is made from viscous custard and frost crystals or frozen tubers. However, you can add a flavorful kick by popping various ingredients into that third nutrient processor slot.
While you’re able to use frozen tubers to make your ice cream, they’re not the easiest option. Frost crystals are easier to obtain and can be farmed at your base. You can also recycle excess frost crystals individually in a nutrient refiner, forming glass shards that can be ground into refined flour.
Interestingly, each ice cream flavor has different effects. One of the most lucrative iscaramel ice cream, obtained by using crunchy caramel in the third slot. The sweet treat results in a massive71 percent rarity boostand a12 percent catch size improvement. As a bonus, it also attracts nocturnal fish, although this doesn’t impact the baseline stat boosts.
2Spicy Chum
Made from relatively small stacks of di-hydrogen, mordite, and phosphorus,spicy chumis one of a handful ofdedicated fishing baits. Its inventory photo suggests each piece is steeped in an unappetizing, blood-red liquid. Fortunately, no Travelers will be eating it; instead, you’ll be sticking it on your lure.
The result is a considerable79 percent increase in fish rarity, meaning you’ll haul in less of those pesky C-tier rockfins. Unfortunately, the bait only offers a2 percent increase in catch size, so you might catch far too many sea slugs instead of the coveted Lunker.
1Bionic Lure
Not surprisingly, the absolute best bait in No Man’s Sky is a dedicated craftable for fishing. Crafting thebionic lurerequires two amino chambers, three ion batteries, and three lubricants. Essentially, you’re using massive amounts of gamma weed and precious metals to catch fish. Moreover, a single lubricant sells for 110,000 units in ideal economies, so it’s a costly investment.
However, if you have the resources, a bionic lurewill boost catch rarity by a massive 94 percent. It essentially guarantees rare catches, although its measly2 percent size boostmay make it a poor choice for anyone seeking large fish. Still, a tiny S-rank fish is an S-rank fish.
