How to get sea jelly in Stardew Valley

The Stardew Valley sea jelly is a special item that arrived with the 1.6 update, but it can prove rather tricky to track down this rare catch. It's absolutely worth making the effort to find it, as it can be used to unlock other useful items or even eaten to provide various buffs for your character. To help you secure this item in Stardew Valley, we've put together some tips and tricks to explain where it is and what it's used for. See, catching sea jelly may be rare, but it’s not futile.

There are some tried-and-tested things you can do to make reeling it in that little bit easier, some of which don't require a reel at all. It’s not impossible with a simple rod, no bait, and numerous hours, but if you want to save yourself a lot of in-game fishing time, then read on, and we'll reveal how best to catch a sea jelly in Stardew Valley.

Where to find sea jelly in Stardew Valley

There’s three types of jelly in Stardew Valley; sea, cave, and river. We’re focusing on the sea jelly right now and unsurprisingly, given its name, you can only catch it in the sea. The easy thing about catching the sea jelly is that it can be done during any season at any time of day on the beach, at the beach farm, during the night market, in various parts of Ginger Island, and at the Pirate Cove. That’s where the easy part ends.

Stardew Valley Sea Jelly location

Catching a sea jelly is a very rare occurrence, but there’s a few things you can do to save yourself a lot of time. Firstly, if you’ve caught a sea jelly, it’ll be an instant catch like trash and seaweed. If you enter into the fishing mini-game, you’ve gone too far. If you’re serious about finding your sea jelly, then don’t waste your time with the mini-games and cast your rod once more.

Next up, it helps to find a pool of bubbles on the surface of the water. They appear at random and if you aim into them correctly, blue sparkles will appear from the water. Fish will bite four times as fast if you cast your rod correctly, which means catching a sea jelly should happen, you guessed it, four times faster. If you can’t find any, refresh your location or come back the next day to look for fresh bubble spots. As mentioned, sea jelly can only be found in the ocean so don’t waste your time fishing in the rivers or the lakes.

You can also increase your chances of catching fish by using luck buffs from consuming foods such as shrimp cocktail, spicy eel, or lucky lunch. It depends if you want to spend time finding the ingredients for the recipe instead of fishing.

Finally, to increase your chances of a good catch, you should upgrade your fishing rod so you can attach bait. Bait will only attach to a fiberglass or iridium rod. The fiberglass rod, for example, can be purchased from Willy at the Fish Shop for 1,800 gold once you reach level 3 in fishing. To attach a tackle like the dressed spinner, you’ll need an iridium rod. This one will cost you a hefty 7,500 gold after you reach level 7.

It's not just fishing that will get you sea jelly though. The Stardew Valley bookseller may also trade you three sea jellies in exchange for one Jewels Of The Sea power book obtained from treasure chests after fishing level 5. Additionally, if you max your friendship with a pet turtle, they may also gift it to you.

What are sea jelly for in Stardew Valley?

The best thing a sea jelly can be used for is crafting the fish smoker in Stardew Valley. Having a fish smoker has turned into a bit of a get-rich-quick scheme as smoking the fish will double their sale value. Crafting it with the other two jellies and 10 hardwood is one way to acquire it. You can also buy it for 10,000 gold from Willy or get it for free by starting your Stardew Valley journey with a Riverland farm. 

Sea jelly is also part of a Fish Pond quest from Flounder in Stardew Valley, which requires finding all three jellies. Doing so will increase the capacity of the pond from 5 to 10. 

You can also eat the sea jelly to receive a buff for a short time, as well as restoring 33 health and 75 energy. Or, you can sell it for 200 gold. Given how long it can take to catch the sea jelly, making sure you’ve used it for the fish smoker should be the main focus after you’ve first acquired it.

There's more to enjoy from the 1.6 update including our guides to Stardew Valley mystery boxes, Stardew Valley green rain, and Stardew Valley mastery.

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