The Art O' Crabbing

The Art O' Crabbing

Type	Book
Location	SquidFest; Bookseller
Sell Price	1000g

The Art O' Crabbing is the reward for being good at SquidFest, the fishing event held on the beach over two cold days in Winter. Reading it gives every Crab Pot a one in four chance of coming up with double its catch, which quietly doubles the return on a line of pots strung along the river or the shore. Pots work on their own overnight, so this is a power that pays out while the farmer is doing something else entirely, which is rare. It also piles on top of the doubling that Wild Bait already gives, so a well-baited row of pots becomes a serious source of Clams, Lobster and the scrap metal that feeds a Recycling Machine. Every later copy read hands over fishing experience.

The in-game description reads: Crab pots have a 25% chance to yield double.

Overview

Crab Pots are placed in water, loaded with bait and emptied the next day, and they work in rivers, lakes, ponds and the ocean alike. They can be bought from Willy once Fishing level three is reached, crafted from wood and iron, or picked up three at a time as a Community Center reward. What comes out depends on the water: Clams, Crabs, Lobster, Mussels, Oysters and Shrimp from the sea, Cockles, Crayfish, Periwinkles and Snails from fresh water, and a steady trickle of junk alongside them. The Mariner profession stops the junk, and Luremaster removes the need for bait at all, so a late-game row of pots costs nothing to run.

Against that background, a quarter of all pots doubling is a significant lift. It applies to every item a pot produces, including the shellfish that cooking recipes want, and it stacks with Wild Bait, which has its own chance of a double catch. A farmer running pots with Wild Bait and this book read sees a noticeably fatter haul each morning for exactly the same amount of work.

The route to it is SquidFest, which takes over the western side of the beach for two days in Winter and runs all day on both. A feeder in the water draws squid in, points are scored for every squid landed, and the host pays out in tiers from bronze up to iridium. The top tier is where this book sits: reaching iridium on either of the two days hands it over, provided the festival has not already given a copy on a previous year. Everything else at the festival, from Deluxe Bait to a Squid Hat, is there for the taking as well.

For anyone who missed the tier or the festival, the stall above JojaMart adds the book to its pool from the third year on, appearing on roughly one table in ten. That is the dear route by a long way, and it exists for completionists chasing the Well-Read achievement.

The first reading claims the power and files it with the rest on the Special Items and Powers tab. Each later copy pours a hundred points of fishing experience in, which is a pleasant return on a festival prize.

Gifts

These villagers love receiving The Art O' Crabbing as a gift.

Villager	Image
Willy

Notes

Willy loves being given this one, which fits the man who spends his life hauling pots out of the harbour, and Penny loves it as she loves them all. Elliott likes it and Alex dislikes it.

Through the spool of the Sewing Machine with a dyeable garment in the feed, the book stains cloth black.

All Books

Every entry in this group, with its key details.

Name	Image	Price
Animal Catalogue		2000g
Bait And Bobber		500g
Book Of Stars		2500g
Book of Mysteries		3000g
Combat Quarterly		500g
Dwarvish Safety Manual		1000g
Friendship 101		3000g
Horse: The Book		1000g
Jack Be Nimble, Jack Be Thick		500g
Jewels Of The Sea		800g
Mapping Cave Systems		4000g
Mining Monthly		500g
Monster Compendium		2000g
Ol' Slitherlegs		1000g
Price Catalogue		1000g
Queen Of Sauce Cookbook		10000g
Raccoon Journal		1000g
Stardew Valley Almanac		500g
The Alleyway Buffet		3000g
The Art O' Crabbing		1000g
The Diamond Hunter		1000g
Treasure Appraisal Guide		500g
Way Of The Wind pt. 1		5000g
Way Of The Wind pt. 2		10000g
Woodcutter's Weekly		500g
Woody's Secret		500g