Fish are catchable when fishing using a fishing pole. They can be found in the ocean, lake or river, and some are unique to either day or night or only appear when it rains. Fish are used in cooking and the fishing community center bundles. The length of each fish type is recorded, and viewable on the collection screen.
Fishing can be done near any body of water, but some places have lower rates of fish. These areas have a higher chance to reel in junk, which can be sold for a small profit or saved and turned into useful items with the recycling machine (which unlocks with level 4 fishing.)
When a fish is hooked a window appears with a fishing mini-game. The player must move the highlighted area up or down to keep the fish inside it. While the fish overlaps it the catch meter will fill, while the fish is not inside the area it will decrease. If the catch meter fills completely the fish is caught, if it becomes completely empty the fish escapes. If the fish does not leave the meter boundary once, you will receive a "perfect" notification.
When playing the fishing mini game with mouse and keyboard, when one presses the left mouse button down, the bar raises but lowers if the left mouse button is not pressed. This means that you want to use left mouse pulses to actually raise the bar, not merely clicking, as a moderately fast series of clicks will just hover the bar stationary.
There are 5 type of fish in the mini game:
Mixed: These fish use the basic movement pattern.
Smooth: These fish have a more steady movement pattern.
Sinker: These fish have a faster downwards acceleration.
Floater: These fish have a faster upwards acceleration.
Dart: These fish move more random with a [2 x difficulty]% higher possible amplitude in both directions, moving erratically up and down the fishing bar.
See the fishing page for more details about equipment, mechanics and things unlocked as the fishing skill levels up.
There are five fish in the game classified as 'legendary'. These fish are caught under specific circumstances and have high difficulty. With the exception of the Legend, legendary fish will not appear again after being caught once.
An upgraded pole, bait and quality tackle will make catching these fish easier.
Note: Please refer to the Discussion before editing Legend to all seasons.
Crab Pot Fish
Some fish are only catchable using a baited Crab Pot. All of these creatures can be used as components in the Crab Pot Bundle. All can be used in Cooking. Crabs also drop from Rock Crabs (15%) and Lava Crabs (25%). Clams, Cockles, Mussels and Oysters can also be foraged on the beach.
Between beach foraging and Rock Crab loot it is possible to complete the Crab Pot bundle without the use of a crab pot. Baiting the rewarded crab pots however, is not possible without first reaching level two in fishing.
Note that any fish dropped by monsters or foraged shellfish do not count towards the fish collection. They must be caught with a pole or in a crab pot.
Constantly filters water to find food. In the process, it removes dangerous toxins from the environment.
data-sort-value="40"
40g
50g
60g
80g
Ocean
15%
Other Catchables
There are some consumable non-junk catches players can reel in while fishing. They do not trigger the fishing mini-game, but are instead immediately picked up. All 3 can be used in cooking, most notably Seaweed in the Maki Roll recipe for the Chef's bundle.
The merpeople is a cosmetic monster that sometimes appears in the ocean.
N/A
Ocean
Prime Locations
The quality of fish rises the farther the line is cast from any walk-able area. In addition to the following spots, its generally known that darker parts of the water or water with a log in it (the Mines Lake, Cindersap forest lake) tend to produce quality fish. For example: in the river in the southwest part of Pelican town, you can hit the dark water area and come up with gold fish most if not all of the time.
Examples of prime locations:
The southern tip of the island near the hat shop in the forest, and from the northern shore, just at the top of the angle on the right of the bridge to the right.
Some of these locations are also the exact locations for the legendary fish.
Time and Locations
According to the game file, a fishing spot is not divided by ocean, lake and river, but by the maps. For instance, the river south of Leah's house is not the same as the river in town.
Note that special fish are not included in the below tables. These special fish are the 5 Legendary fish and the 4 Mine fish.
The following tables are based off the Locations.yaml file:
Pelican Town
Town
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Spring
Sunfish
Sunny day only
Catfish
Rainy day only
Green Algae
Smallmouth Bass
Shad
Rainy day only
Bream
Summer
Rainbow Trout
Sunny day only
Sunfish
Sunny day only
Green Algae
Pike
Shad
Rainy day only
Bream
Fall
Salmon
Tiger Trout
Catfish
Rainy day only
Green Algae
Smallmouth Bass
Shad
Rainy day only
Walleye
Rainy day only
Bream
Winter
Tiger Trout
Catfish
Snowy day only
Green Algae
Lingcod
Perch
Pike
Walleye
Snowy day only
Bream
The Beach
Beach
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Spring
Sardine
Anchovy
Herring
Seaweed
Halibut
Eel
Rainy day only
Summer
Octopus
Tilapia
Red Mullet
Red Snapper
Rainy day only
Tuna
Seaweed
Halibut
Pufferfish
Sunny day only
Super Cucumber
Fall
Tilapia
Red Snapper
Rainy day only
Sardine
Sea Cucumber
Anchovy
Seaweed
Albacore
Eel
Rainy day only
Super Cucumber
Winter
Red Mullet
Red Snapper
Snowy day only
Sardine
Sea Cucumber
Tuna
Herring
Seaweed
Albacore
Halibut
Squid
Cindersap Forest
Note that there are two fishing spots in the forest, the lake in the middle and the river to the south.
Forest
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Spring
Sunfish
river
Sunny day only
Catfish
river
Rainy day only
Chub
river
Green Algae
both
Smallmouth Bass
lake
Shad
river
Rainy day only
Bream
river
Summer
Dorado
river
Rainbow Trout
river
Sunny day only
Sunfish
river
Sunny day only
Chub
river
Green Algae
both
Pike
both
Shad
river
Rainy day only
Bream
river
Fall
Salmon
river
Tiger Trout
river
Catfish
river
Rainy day only
Chub
river
Green Algae
both
Smallmouth Bass
lake
Shad
river
Rainy day only
Walleye
both
Rainy day only
Bream
river
Winter
Tiger Trout
river
Catfish
river
Snowy day only
Chub
river
Green Algae
both
Lingcod
river
Perch
both
Pike
both
Walleye
both
Snowy day only
Bream
river
The Mountain
Note that this refers to the lake outside of the mine.
Moutain
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Spring
Largemouth Bass
Legend
Rainy day only
Bullhead
Carp
Chub
Green Algae
Summer
Largemouth Bass
Rainbow Trout
Sunny day only
Sturgeon
Bullhead
Carp
Chub
Green Algae
Fall
Largemouth Bass
Bullhead
Carp
Chub
Green Algae
Walleye
Rainy day only
Winter
Largemouth Bass
Sturgeon
Bullhead
Chub
Green Algae
Lingcod
Perch
Walleye
Snowy day only
Underground Mine
Floors: 20F, 60F, 100F.
Green Algae, White Algae, Ghostfish and 3 special fish.