How to Fish in Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Fishing is a timing-based mini-game. Grab a fishing rod and find the shadow of a fish swimming in your island’s rivers, ponds, or off the coast. Cast your line, wait for a bite, then reel it in. Here are the details.
Don’t Forget the Bait
Normally, you need to find the shadow of a fish in a body of water to catch it. If you can’t find any, or you’re feeling impatient, you can skip that step with fish bait. Immediately reel in your line by pressing the “A” button on your controller. Act fast, because the fish will disappear if you don’t press the button in time. You can make fish bait from manila clams (found by digging up clams on the beach) at your DIY workbench. Alternatively, you can buy fish bait from Nook’s Cranny. Just throw fish bait into the water and a fish will appear. Note this will make any nearby fish flee, so catch any already visible before throwing out bait.
How to Catch Specific Fish in Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Learning how to catch a fish is half the battle. The other is learning when and where you can snag the fish you want. This information is valuable if you want to complete your museum’s collection as quickly as possible, or you want to snag high-value fish to sell, or mount on your wall in your home. Animal Crossing: New Horizons has six different “zones” where fish spawn. These include the river, the river’s mouth, the river clifftop (i.e. the river on the elevated portion of your island), ponds, piers, and the ocean. Fish also spawn only at certain times in certain months. To catch the fish you want, then, you’ll need to fish at the right spot at the right time. Also, the fish you can catch differs based on whether an island is in the northern or southern hemisphere.
Where to Find Fish in the Northern Hemisphere
Here’s where you’ll find fish in the northern hemisphere:
