Thanks to an update last week Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 now lets you fish in its Blackout battle royale mode. You fish for items, not fish, and, if you’re lucky you can reel in some powerful guns.
Blackout has two fishing locales. My first adventure started on the docks by the Lighthouse on the standard map. There’s a fishing pole near a pile of bones, and you can interact with the pole (square on PS4) to start fishing. You’ll cast out your line, wait for your bobber to sink, and then hit your trigger (R2 on PS4) to start reeling in your big catch.
You can reel in various items such as combat axes and bandages. The best catch is a ray gun MKII variant from the game’s Zombies mode. Blackout players can also catch spray paint cans, the currency for Blackout’s camo progression system. However, this doesn’t appear to be the best way to farm for paint cans. Maybe there’s a chance of obtaining a bundle, but I’ve only ever caught single paint cans.
The quality of the catch seems to be pretty much up to the RNG gods. No matter how long I kept fishing or how I timed the reeling process, I always seemed to catch single paint cans, combat axes, and the old Essex Model lever-action rifle.
You can keep fishing for as long as you can survive, but the Lighthouse is a pretty dangerous location. You might want to find and kill Brutus the Zombies boss first. He always seems to be lurking nearby, and he doesn’t respect the quiet, relaxing nature of fishing. Your chances of scoring a ray gun are probably higher with just killing Brutus rather than fishing for one, but fishing is fun, right?
There’s also the obvious threat of other players, because the Lighthouse is a fairly active drop location. I believe only one person can fish at a time, and I’ve never encountered any non-hostile opponents willing to just hang out to take turns fishing with me.
A much safer place to cast your line can be found on the Alcatraz map. If you’re at the Docks location, you’ll want to move down to the dock closest to the row of houses by the Parade Grounds. You’ll find the same bones and fishing pole to interact with, but this little fishing hole is much further from the action. Brutus isn’t around to harass you, so just kick back and cast out your line.
If your matches aren’t going well, fishing in Blackout is a great way to unwind for a minute. If you see Vacation Hudson casting a line on the docks, it’s probably me still testing my luck for ray guns. Hope your catches are better than mine.