Sonar Bobber

Sonar Bobber

Type	Tackle
Location	Fish Shop; Crafting; Fishing Treasure Chests
Recipe	Fishing (Level 6)
Sell Price	250g

The Sonar Bobber answers the question every angler asks halfway through a catch: what is actually on the line? With one fitted, the name and picture of the hooked fish appear in a small panel beside the minigame window before a single click is spent on reeling it in. That turns fishing from guesswork into a decision. A Lingcod worth landing gets the full effort; a fifth Carp of the morning can be let go. It is cheap to make from an Iron Bar and a little Refined Quartz, the recipe comes at Fishing level six, and Willy stocks it from the same point.

Recipe

These are the ingredients one batch needs.

Name	Image	Amount
Iron Bar		1
Refined Quartz		2

Use

The reveal happens as soon as the fish is hooked and the minigame opens. Knowing the species changes how the catch is played: an easy fish can be handled casually, and a rare one gets full concentration and, if necessary, a deliberate release rather than a botched attempt. Trash and the various Jellies give no reading, so an empty panel is itself a useful signal that the line has brought up rubbish.

Letting a fish go deliberately is the real point for collectors. Chasing a particular catch means burning through dozens of casts, and every unwanted fish landed costs energy, time and inventory space. The Sonar Bobber lets those casts be abandoned the moment they are identified as the wrong fish.

It is just as useful on a Legendary Fish hunt. Those catches are long and difficult, and starting one knowing it really is the Angler and not a Catfish removes the sickening moment of realising a flawless fight was spent on nothing special.

A second Sonar Bobber on an Advanced Iridium Rod adds nothing, since the fish can only be named once. The natural pairing is a Sonar Bobber beside a Quality Bobber or a Trap Bobber, so the identification comes with something that improves the catch itself.

Upgrades

Fishing level six teaches the recipe, which asks for one Iron Bar and two pieces of Refined Quartz. Refined Quartz comes from melting Quartz in a Furnace, and Quartz litters the ordinary mine floors, so the cost is small once a Furnace is running. Willy sells the finished piece for five hundred gold from the same level, and the Traveling Cart carries one occasionally at twice that.

It also turns up in the water. Ordinary fishing treasure chests hold one now and then from Fishing level six, and the golden chests behind Fishing Mastery produce them about three times as often, so a treasure-hunting farmer rarely has to craft any at all.

Crafting and selling one earns a small margin over the raw materials, which disappears for anyone with the Blacksmith profession, since that raises the value of the Iron Bar directly.

Notes

Durability is the one real drawback. Like the rest of the tackle box a piece gives out after about twenty bites, and because the Sonar Bobber is most useful on exactly the long sessions where dozens of fish are identified and discarded, it runs dry quickly. Carrying three or four, or fitting a rod enchanted with Preserving, keeps a collection hunt going.

Dropped into the spool of a Sewing Machine with a dyeable garment in the feed, a Sonar Bobber works as a grey dye, which is a cheap way to tone down a loud shirt.

A fresh piece fetches a fair price at the shop and a used one noticeably less, so a spent bobber is better left behind than carried back along the beach.

All Tackle and Bait

Every entry in this group, with its key details.

Name	Image	Price
Bait		-
Bait (item)		1g
Barbed Hook		500g
Challenge Bait		1g
Cork Bobber		250g
Curiosity Lure		500g
Deluxe Bait		1g
Dressed Spinner		500g
Lead Bobber		150g
Magic Bait		1g
Magnet		15g
Quality Bobber		300g
Sonar Bobber		250g
Spinner		250g
Tackle	-	-
Targeted Bait		0.1 × Fish Price
Trap Bobber		200g
Treasure Hunter		250g
Wild Bait		15g