Animal Crossing: New Horizons – How to Fish

There’s a lot of stuff to do in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, but if you’re like me you’ll spend the vast majority of your time fishing. This simple task can be ridiculously rewarding, both in Bells and in filling up your museum. But if you’re new to the series you might struggle with the mechanics. While it’s simple, it’s also really easy to get confused, or slightly mess up the way it works, causing you to miss out on some massive and rare fish. To help, here’s how to fish in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

How to Fish

First off, in order to fish you have to have a fishing rod, of course, so see how to get one here. Once you have it you’re all set. You don’t need bait or anything like that in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, although the option is available to you. If you have bait you can use it to attract fish wherever you toss it. Then follow the usual steps to equip your rod and get ready. Depending on where you fish, you might encounter different species. The ocean usually has the rarest and most valuable fish, but lakes and rivers are still important, so don’t neglect them completely.

Once you decide where to fish just head over and start looking for the shadow of a fish. You’ll never catch a fish without seeing the shadow, so no need to cast unless you spot one. When you do you just need to equip the fishing rod, face toward the shadow and hit A to cast. Your goal is to get the bobber to hit right in front of the fish’s shadow, or at least close enough that it sees your hook. When it does it will swim over and assess the situation. It will bite your hook, but be sure to be patient. If it is a light nibble you don’t want to do anything. Wait for the fish to bite hard, causing the bobber to dip completely underwater. Then quickly press A to hook him and real it in. You only have a split second to hit the button, so be ready.

And that’s how to fish in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Using these tips you’ll be reeling in the big ones all the time. But be sure to watch for more guides on catching certain kinds of fish as we learn more about the game.