Sometimes the tutorial missions in Call of the Wild: The Angler can be more frustrating than just going out and catching the fish it’s trying to teach you to land. This is the case with the Diamond’s Peak Fishing Challenge Gold 1, which tasks players with landing a Gold Rank Channel Catfish in a very specific place. Today, I’m going to help you cut down on your frustrations by giving you the location and gear that will get the job done.

Diamond’s Peak Fishing Challenge Gold 1

You can pick up the challenge from the noticeboard at the main outpost in Diamond’s Peak but know that you’ll have to work your way through some Bronze and Silver challenges first. Once you get this challenge, make sure you have the right gear. While you can catch Channel Catfish with a float fishing setup, I’m suggesting you go bottom fishing. Here’s the gear that I used:

• Rod: Graduation
• Reel: Pure Champion
• Line: Braided (20 kg)
• Sinker: Iron (56 g)
• Hook: 1
• Bait: Cheese

Now, my gear is a little overkill, so if you want to tone it down to enjoy a better fight, do that. However, bottom fishing finished this challenge for me in about 15 minutes after float fishing failed for an entire night. Bad luck? Maybe, but I’m going with what worked best for me.

The location you need to fish at is the center of the lake at the Crackling Needle Trailhead. I suggest that you put your own marker on the exact spot the mission is directing you to, as the in-game marker will maddeningly disappear once you reach the dock. Since you can’t put a marker on the map where there’s an active in-game marker, you could also take a screenshot to compare with your location to get it just right.

From there, simply drop your line in the water, let it sink and don’t move it. If you want to move it, quick reel and cast again. The more you move your bait while bottom fishing the less effective it becomes.

While Channel Catfish are active at night, challenges should be doable at any time of day. The game will spawn the fish you need to catch, it’s just a matter of finding it in the middle of a lake with a disappearing marker. That said, if it’s nighttime you might as well play it safe and try to knock this out under the cover of darkness.

Hopefully this alleviates the frustration of trying to complete Diamond’s Peak Fishing Challenge Gold 1. It could still take time, but this method will work. For more help with The Angler, visit our Call of the Wild: The Angler topic on Shacknews, and check out the help sheet via The Angler's Discord community. While I didn't use it specifically for this challenge, it's been tremendous in growing my game knowledge over time.