River Fish

Room

Fish Tank

Reward

Deluxe Bait

Overview

River Jelly is a catchable item that appears during all seasons in freshwater fishing spots across Stardew Valley and Ginger Island. It can be caught with any Fishing Pole in the river in Pelican Town and Cindersap Forest, the Mountain Lake, the Cindersap Forest pond, the Desert pond, the Secret Woods pond, Ginger Island West and North freshwater areas, and on all Farm Maps except Standard Farm and Beach Farm. It is also obtainable from a Midnight Carp Fish Pond with a population of at least 7, can be traded from the Bookseller for Jewels Of The Sea after the relevant power has been earned, and may be gifted by a max-friendship pet cat.

Although River Jelly appears in the Fish section of the Collections tab and counts toward the four fishing achievements, it is not treated as a fish for most gameplay purposes. It cannot be sold to Willy at the Fish Shop, does not receive fish price bonuses, cannot substitute for “Any Fish” in recipes, and cannot be placed in a Bait Maker, Fish Smoker, or Fish Pond. One River Jelly is also requested by Midnight Carp in a Fish Pond quest to raise the pond’s capacity from 5 to 10.

River Jelly has a few practical uses outside of collection completion. It is not used in tailoring, but it can be used as a green dye in Emily and Haley’s dye pots at 2 Willow Lane. It also works as green dye in the Sewing Machine spool when used with a dyeable clothing item in the feed. Like other Jelly-type items, its color changes depending on what produced it.

For fishing, River Jelly can be farmed most efficiently with luck bonuses, since each level of Luck Buff significantly increases the chance of catching it while Daily Luck has no effect. The best setup is generally freshwater fishing in Ginger Island West with a Training Rod, where only River Jelly and Snake Skull are possible catches and Trash is only possible if both random checks fail. In that setup, the catch chance for River Jelly starts at 10% of possible random values and rises by 5% per Luck Buff level, reaching 50% at +8 Luck. Similar rates are possible in the Desert ponds, where Green Algae or Pyramid Decal replace Snake Skull as the alternate catch. However, when using the Training Rod, the random value used for River Jelly changes only when catching a Cave, River, or Sea Jelly, or any Fish; catching Algae, Trash, or other items does not refresh it, so after a Trash catch the player must catch a regular fish before River Jelly can be fished up reliably again.