Stop Handling The Fish - No Catching Fish by Hand
🟠 Updated over a year ago⚠️ Install Order · 5 steps
Install in this order, then this mod last — most mods fail to load without their framework and dependencies in place.
Preview
🔍 Analysis
- 👍 1.1% endorsement rate — high engagement, a strong quality signal
- 🏆 #7 of 123 Immersion mods in this game by downloads
📋 About This Mod
How come fishermen even exist in the world where catching a fish requires you only to jump in the water and easily grab the thing?
This mod removes the ability to take/catch the fish directly from the water.
The main file only patches the vanilla fish and does not have any additional requirements.
Patches available:
Fishing CC, Complete Alchemy and Cooking Overhaul - patching the new types of fish for Skyrim.
Republic of Maslea, Summerset Isle - patching the new fish in new land mods.
Fishing in Skyrim is an excellent and easily portable mod (don't forget to regenerate FaceGen), that does not require any patching.
Issues:
If you can still catch fish barehanded, please try loading this mod last.
If you use any patches for CACO, for example, this mod must load last, after all the other CACO patches.
Technical info:
This mod simply removes the text in Activators and Flora records pertinent to the fish. Any mods overwriting these records or adding new ones would need to be patched the same way. Requires only the basic knowledge of xEdit. Can be easily merged in any kind of merged patch.
If you use the Fishing Creation, you might want to combine this with:
Simple Fishing Overhaul to fix the gameplay and Fish Anywhere With Water to be able to fish in new worldspaces.
For more immersion in your life as a simple fisherman and/or hunter, check Seasonal Foods.
Stop Handling The Fish removes the ability to catch fish by hand in Skyrim, forcing players to use fishing rods. It patches vanilla fish and offers optional patches for Fishing CC, CACO, and new land mods. A lightweight immersion mod with 55 endorsements, last updated June 2025.
✨ Key Features
📊 Pros & Cons
✅ Pros
- Tiny mod that does exactly what it says—no more cheesy barehanded fish grabbing.
- Optional patches cover popular mods like CACO and new lands, so it fits into modded setups.
- Lightweight and script-free, just record edits, so it won't hurt performance.
⚠️ Cons
- Only 55 endorsements, so it's a niche pick—might not be battle-tested by the masses.
- If you use other mods that touch fish activators or flora, you'll need to patch them yourself or load order gets messy.
- No patches for other big overhauls like Requiem or Ordinator—you're on your own if those change fishing.
For Skyrim players who want more realistic fishing and hate the exploit of grabbing fish with your hands. Also for immersion-focused modders who pair it with Simple Fishing Overhaul. Skip if you don't care about fishing mechanics or use mods that overhaul fish records heavily.
💡 Beginner Tips
- Load this mod last in your load order, especially if you use CACO patches, to ensure it overrides fish records.
- If you use the Fishing Creation, grab Simple Fishing Overhaul and Fish Anywhere With Water to fix fishing gameplay and enable fishing in new worldspaces.
- Use a mod manager like Vortex or MO2 to easily toggle the optional patches and keep load order clean.
📊 Mod Details
- Game
- Skyrim Mods
- Author
- boringvlln
- Version
- 1.0.1
- Downloads
- 5,134
- Endorsements
- 55
- Category
- Immersion
- Created
- 12/22/2023
- Updated
- 6/13/2025
🔧 How to Install Skyrim Mods
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