How to Fish in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Fishing is a crucial activity in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. You’ll fish to make money, obtain items for recipes, and populate your museum with new species of fish.

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.

1. Obtain a fishing rod if you don’t have one. The fishing rod is among the first recipes you learn while playing through the game’s introduction. 

   Need a fishing rod?

   Don’t remember how to make a fishing rod? Open the Nook phone by pressing your controller’s left trigger, then navigate to DIY recipes. You can also buy a rod at Nook’s Cranny.

2. Find a body of water with the shadow of a fish in it. Here's what the shadow will look like. 

3. Cast your line so that it lands in front of the fish by standing near the water and pressing the “A” button on your controller. 

   Casting the line in the right spot can be tricky if a fish is moving frequently. You’ll know you’ve caught the fish’s attention when its shadow turns to face the bobber. If it doesn’t, reel your line back in and try again. 

4. Wait for the fish to approach and touch the bobber. Once it does, it will either bite or nibble and back away. Don’t reel in your line until the fish bites.

5. When the fish bites you’ll hear a splash, see the bobber move, and feel constant vibration through the controller.

   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 won’t catch the fish if you reel in your line on a nibble, and the fish will then disappear. A fish will nibble a maximum of four times before biting. Its fifth approach will always be a bite. 

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.

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:

Where to Find Fish in the Southern Hemisphere

While fishing in the Southern Hemisphere is the same, the locations to find fish are different. Here are the kinds of fish and where you can find them in the southern hemisphere:

Don't Forget Seasonal Updates

The lists and information above apply to the fish normally in the game. However, Animal Crossing is regularly updated with new seasonal events. These might add new fish, or new items that change how you fish. It's a good idea to check what was added in the most recent update if you're returning from a break of playing the game.