Pepper Fishing

Fishing with a fight minigame, 83 fish species, 12 boss fish, levels 1–100 with a skill tree, boats and sonar, fish market, tournaments, fishing licenses and inspections for ESX, QBCore and Qbox.

Overview

Pepper Fishing turns fishing into a long-term activity for every player – no job, no whitelist. Anyone using the fishing rod (item fishing_rod) casts at any water, sets the hook on the bite and fights the fish with line tension: too much pull and the line snaps, too little and the fish gets off. Then the catch card shows species, rarity, weight, length and quality – keep it or release it. Everything else lives in the fishing log (item fishing_book): fish lexicon, gear, skill tree, orders, fish market, tournaments, leaderboards and map. Buying, selling and renting happens at NPC stations (tackle shop, fishmonger, boat rental, restaurant, black market).

Note: All coordinates in config/zones.lua and config/locations.lua are approximations. Check them on your server and adjust single lines if an NPC stands inside a wall or a boat spawns on dry land.

Features

• Fight minigame with line tension, runs, dives and jumps (A/D) – including line breaks and thrown hooks
• 83 fish species across 5 water types (coast, open sea, lake, river, swamp) – 28 common, 25 uncommon, 19 rare, 11 epic
• 12 legendary boss fish with sightings, fights in 3–5 acts, server-wide announcement, hall of fame and their own trophy
• Levels 1–100 with 10 ranks, duration adjustable in the config (Config.Level.XpMultiplier), skill tree with 4 branches and 24 perks
• Catch camera and catch card with rarity, weight, length, quality, "new" and record stamps – keep or release
• Time of day, weather, tides and season decide what bites – with a bite forecast in the fishing log
• Gear with durability: 6 rods, 5 reels, 5 lines, 4 hooks, 3 sonars – plus 12 baits (7 natural baits, 5 lures)
• Boat rental at 4 stations with 8 boats (vanilla GTA models only), fishing from your own boat, anchor on a key, sonar showing shoals and hotspots
• Fish lexicon as a collection album with personal bests, server records and leaderboards, 36 achievements
• Dynamic fish market (market factor 0.6–1.5, 3 wanted species per day at +50%), 3 daily and 2 weekly orders, restaurant deliveries
• Tournaments (4 types, 10–60 minutes) with live standings and prize money, scheduled automatic tournaments, fishing season (30 days) with rewards
• Fishing license (inland + coast / open sea), closed seasons, protected species, 4 restricted zones, black market, inspections by police or rangers with a fine catalog
• Bycatch and treasure: 8 junk items, message in a bottle with treasure map (16 treasure spots), chests, pearls
• 124 ready-made ox_inventory images, items in German and English
• Admin page in the fishing log, 5 Discord webhooks, 3 server exports
• German & English, open config, locales, bridges and install files

Requirements

Installation

1. Download the resource from the Cfx.re Portal (Granted Assets)
2. Extract to resources/[pepper]/pepper_fishing – do not rename
3. Add the items: paste the contents of install/ox_items_en.lua (English) or install/ox_items.lua (German) into ox_inventory/data/items.lua before the last }
4. Copy the images: all files from install/images/ to ox_inventory/web/images/
5. Database: tables are created automatically on first start. Without CREATE permission import install/pepper_fishing.sql first
6. Check config/config.lua (language, interaction, money, license), config/server.lua for webhooks
7. Add to your server.cfg after the dependencies:

ensure oxmysql
ensure ox_lib
ensure es_extended      # or qb-core / qbx_core
ensure ox_inventory
ensure pepper_fishing

8. Start the server – the console shows Pepper Fishing 1.0.0 started (framework: …, species: 83, server records: …, season: …)
9. In-game: buy a rod, fishing log, bait and a license at the tackle shop, walk to the water, use the rod

Items

Usable items carry the line server = { export = 'pepper_fishing.<item>' } – it is already in the item files.

First test

1. Log in as admin and buy a rod, the fishing log, a bait and the basic license at the tackle shop (blip)
2. Pick the bait in the fishing log under Baits, walk to the water and use fishing_rod
3. Hold and release the left mouse button – on the "!" press E to set the hook and fight the fish
4. Press E on the catch card: the fish lands in your inventory with weight and length
5. Sell it at the fishmonger – the money goes to Config.Economy.Account

Configuration

Key options:

Gameplay

A catch step by step

1. Fishing mode: use the fishing_rod item – rod in hand, the fishing HUD shows bait, gear and water. X stows it
2. Cast: hold the left mouse button (power meter), release. The landing point has to be water
3. Wait: bite time depends on bait, water, conditions, shoals and perks (6–38 s by default)
4. Bite: sound and "!" – strike with E or left click (1.6 s window, hooks and a perk extend it)
5. Fight: hold left mouse button or space = reel, release = give line. Keep the tension in the green zone; press A or D on jumps
6. Catch card: E keep (item in your inventory) or R release (+25% XP). Without a decision the server decides after 30 s
7. Sell: at the fishmonger – or use the catch for an order, a restaurant delivery or a tournament

The server rolls species, weight and quality, checks cast range, zone and fight duration and hands out XP, money and items.

License, illegal fishing, inspections

• License: basic (inland waters + coast, $2,500) and sea (open sea, $12,000), bought at the tackle shop, duration Config.License.Days (0 = permanent)
• Violations: fishing without a license, keeping a protected species or a closed-season fish, fishing in a restricted zone, exceeding the daily keep limit (Config.Illegal.DailyKeepLimit, off by default)
• Suspicion (0–100): rises per violation, drops by 0.5 per minute. Alert to police/rangers: 3% + suspicion × 0.4% (max. 45%), at most every 300 s per player
• Black market: from level 15, dealer only at night (21:00–05:00 game time) at one of 5 locations (changes daily), buys illegal fish at 1.8× for dirty money
• Inspection: jobs from Config.Control.Jobs inspect a player within 4 m (target or /fishcheck): license, violations, illegal fish. Actions: confiscate, fine (6 catalog entries), revoke the license for 3 days

Dispatch and webhooks

Dispatch

Config.Illegal.Dispatch.Mode (optional, default auto) picks the first running integration: ps-dispatch, cd_dispatch, qs-dispatch, rcore_dispatch, core_dispatch. Without one, the jobs from Config.Control.Jobs get a message and a blip. false turns the alert off. Customizable in bridge/server/dispatch.lua.

Webhooks

In config/server.lua ('' = off):

Commands and permissions

Commands

Admin tasks (set level/XP, grant a license, start/cancel a tournament, trigger a boss sighting, reset the market, end the season, zone debug) are done on the Admin page of the fishing log.

Permissions

Permissions are re-checked on every server call. Admin = ACE pepper_fishing.admin or a group from Config.AdminGroups (admin, superadmin, god) – admins have every permission.

Every permission can be granted via ace, groups, jobs (job + minimum grade), items or everyone = true:

add_ace group.admin pepper_fishing.admin allow
add_ace group.mod pepper_fishing.tournament allow

Keys

Change keys in Config.Keys (GTA control IDs). Players change the anchor key (Config.Boats.Anchor.Key) in the GTA settings under Key Bindings → FiveM.

Exports and framework bridge

Exports (server)

-- server, read-only
exports.pepper_fishing:getProfile(src)  -- public angler profile or nil
exports.pepper_fishing:getLevel(src)    -- fishing level (0 = profile not loaded)
exports.pepper_fishing:isFishing(src)   -- true while waiting, on a bite or in a fight

Framework bridge

bridge/server/{esx,qbcore,qbox}.lua provide money, job and identifier, bridge/server/inventory.lua the items (ox_inventory), bridge/server/dispatch.lua the alert, bridge/client/frameworks.lua job and notifications on the client. bridge/server/keys.lua and bridge/client/keys.lua hand out the key for the rental boat, bridge/client/fuel.lua fills it up. If no framework is running, bridge/server/standalone.lua takes over as an emergency mode. All bridges are open.

Troubleshooting

FAQ

Is fishing a job?

No – it's an activity for every player, no job and no whitelist. Police and rangers get their own role through inspections.

Do I need addon models or a map?

No. Rods, bobbers, boats, NPCs and treasure chests are vanilla GTA models. You can fish at any water on the map.

Does it work without ox_inventory?

No, ox_inventory is required (listed in dependencies). Every fish carries weight, length, quality, water type and catcher in its item metadata.

I can't use the rod or the fishing log – what's missing?

Usually the items are missing from ox_inventory/data/items.lua, or the line server = { export = 'pepper_fishing.<item>' } is missing. Also, the folder must not be renamed, and your framework and ox_inventory must start before pepper_fishing.

The console says "Pepper Fishing is still starting" or tables are missing.

The database can't be reached: start oxmysql before pepper_fishing and check the console. If your database user has no CREATE permission, import install/pepper_fishing.sql first.

The console says "standalone" – my framework isn't detected.

No framework was running at startup. Start es_extended, qb-core or qbx_core before pepper_fishing in your server.cfg, or set Config.Framework to esx, qbcore or qbox.

Do I have to use ox_target?

No. Config.Interaction = 'auto' uses ox_target, then qb-target, then TextUI (key E).

An NPC stands inside a wall or the boat spawns on land.

The coordinates in config/locations.lua are approximations. Adjust the station's line or the spawns point and restart the resource.

How long does it take to reach level 100?

With the default values about 150 hours of play – the result of a simulation in the resource's tests. Config.Level.XpMultiplier = 2.0 halves that, 0.5 doubles it.

Can I adjust prices to my server economy?

Yes. Config.Economy.PriceMultiplier scales all fish prices at once. Per-species prices are in config/fish.lua, gear and baits in config/gear.lua, boat rents in config/locations.lua.

Can I add my own fish species?

Species are data in config/fish.lua (open). A new species needs an entry there, names in locales/*/fish.json, an ox_inventory item and an image.

Can I turn off the fishing license?

Yes: Config.License.Required = false. Fishing without a license is then no longer an offence.

The black market pays regular cash on QBCore/Qbox.

Those frameworks have no dirty-money account, so Config.DirtyMoney uses cash by default. Enter your own account if your server has one.

How do I change texts or switch to English?

Config.Locale = 'en' in config/config.lua, and use install/ox_items_en.lua for the items. All texts are open in locales/de/*.json and locales/en/*.json.

What happens on a server restart?

Running casts and fights end. Profiles, lexicon, records, market prices, tournament results, season and boss fish cooldowns are stored in the database.

How do I install an update?

Replace the pepper_fishing folder; back up your config/ and locales/ changes first and copy them back. The resource creates missing tables and columns on start; new items are listed in CHANGELOG.md.

Support

Open a ticket on Discord: https://discord.gg/6NaFJWKDYu (category "Script Support") – link your purchase with /verify first.

Permanently tested on the Pepper Scripts dev server.

Changelog

Current version: 1.0.0 (2026-10-04). All changes are listed on the updates page and in CHANGELOG.md inside the resource.

Found a mistake? Report it on Discord.