Fishing Master: How to Get and Equip the Iron Rod and Other Rods

Rods decide how much damage you deal to fish and how lucky your catches are in Fishing Master on Roblox. You start with the Wooden Rod for free, and every stronger rod is bought from the Rod Merchant NPC named Mankie in town. Equipping one is a separate step handled through the Equipments menu.

Quick answer: Sell fish to the Fish Merchant for Coins, talk to Rod Merchant Mankie and buy a rod, then open the Equip menu, select it under the Rods tab, and click Equip.

Rods sold by Mankie and what they cost

Mankie stands in town at the bottom of a set of wooden steps, with a purple star icon floating above his head. Talking to him and choosing “OK” opens the Rods shop. Three rods appear there, and the Wooden Rod is already marked as Owned when you begin.

Rod	Attack Damage	Luck	Cost
Wooden Rod (Common)	+217	+1	Owned
Stone Rod	+289	+3	3,000 Coins
Iron Rod (Uncommon)	+542	+5	12,000 Coins

The Iron Rod roughly doubles the Wooden Rod’s damage and gives five extra Luck for 12,000 Coins, which makes it the clearest early upgrade if you can cover the price.

Earn the Coins by catching and selling fish

If your balance falls short of the rod you want, head to the dock and catch a fish. A single valuable catch can cover most of the gap. One Epic Dogfish sold for 2,540 Coins, so a few good catches build up quickly toward a 12,000-Coin rod.

Walk to the fishing pier and cast your line into the water. When a fish hooks, the reeling mini-game begins.

Follow the directional prompts to wear down the fish’s stamina, pressing the WASD keys shown on screen (for example “PULL A”, “PULL D”, and the upward “W” arrow). Keep answering the prompts until the reel finishes.

Take your catch to Fish Merchant Nana and confirm the sale. She asks what you are selling, then shows the total before you accept, ending with a “Sold” message once the Coins are added.

Selling to Fish Merchant — Fish Merchant Nana is where catches turn into Coins; confirm the shown total before selling. Shown at 02:05 in VendoPlus’s video. Image: Fishing Master Community

Catching a species you have never caught at Starter Island can complete a daily quest worth 5 Gems and 3,000 Coins, which speeds up your first rod purchase.

Buy the rod from the Rod Merchant

With enough Coins in hand, return to Mankie in town. Approach him until the E Talk prompt appears, then interact to open his dialog (“Buy some rods?”) and choose “OK” to open the shop list.

Visiting the Rod Merchant — Approach Rod Merchant Mankie until the E Talk prompt shows, then interact to open the Rods shop. Shown at 00:25 in VendoPlus’s video. Image: Fishing Master Community

Pick the rod you want from the list and click its green purchase button. Buying the Iron Rod deducts 12,000 Coins, and the rod moves into your inventory. Buying it does not equip it, so one more step remains.

Equip the rod from the Equipments menu

Equipping happens in the Equipments window, reached from the left side of the screen. The window keeps separate tabs for Rods, Skins, Skills, Auras, Titles, and Units.

Click the Equip button on the left HUD sidebar, alongside the Rewards, Store, Index, Settings, and Trade icons. The Equipments window opens.

Open the Rods tab and select the rod you just bought, such as the Iron Rod listed with its +542 Attack Damage and +5 Luck.

Click the green Equip button. The rod moves into hotbar slot 1, replacing whatever rod was there before.

Equipping the Iron Rod — The Equipments window on the Rods tab, where the Iron Rod is selected and equipped. Shown at 02:22 in VendoPlus’s video. Image: Fishing Master Community

Confirm the rod is equipped

Check hotbar slot 1 at the bottom of the screen. It should now read the new rod’s name, switching from “1 Wooden rod” to “1 Iron rod” once the swap takes hold. That label is the fastest confirmation that the rod is active and ready for your next cast.