Animal Crossing: Complete Fish Guide and Checklist

Looking for something specific? Click the links below to learn more about Fish in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

What are Fish in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Scattered around your island, you will often find unique fish that can be caught and collected.

Upon catching these fish, players will unlock them in the new phone app, Critterpedia. This extensive library will showcase every bug and fish that you have encountered and caught, along with a detailed breakdown of their active hours, most common locations, and the seasons / months in which they will appear.

Once the Museum is open on your island, you will also have the ability to donate your catches. While you won’t receive any rewards for doing so, your Museum will begin to look pretty neat once it begins to fill up with new finds.

Alternatively, if collecting isn’t your thing and you’re after some extra cash, fish can be sold for Bells. While some fish will be worth more than others, players can use these Bells to purchase furniture and other useful items such as tools.

How to Catch Fish

See the video above for how to catch the most rare and valuable fish worth tons of Bells.

Catching fish in Animal Crossing: New Horizons is very much the same as previous games in the series, as you will firstly need to equip a Fishing Rod.

In order to obtain the fishing rod, the player can either craft one through DIY crafting or simply purchasing one from the shop in Resident Services.

Once you have your new fishing gear equipped, make your way towards the water and look for the small dark shadows of fish swimming in the nearby area. With the fish located, cast your rod towards the shadow and wait for the fish to hook on!

Fishing Tips and Tricks:

• Cast your line so that it lands in front of the fish (otherwise it will not see it).
• Mind the current! If your line is a bit far away, the current could carry it closer (or further) from the fish.
• Fish will only nibble a max of 5 times before swimming away.
• Listen: when a fish is just nibbling you’ll hear a light splash. When the fish has latched on you’ll hear a louder, dunking sound. Reel it in by pressing and holding “A.”
• Look for the bobber to go underwater! Reel it in by pressing and holding “A.”
• If you have trouble fishing we recommend buying the Colorful Rod from Nook’s Cranny because the bobber is a bit bigger and neon green, making it easier to see. Plus the bobber is actually a rubber ducky.

Fish Available By Month

The types of fish that you can catch in Animal Crossing: New Horizons will largely depend on the particular month, season, and time of day that you are currently experiencing in game. For this reason, we have broken down all of the fish that you can find during each month. Simply click on the links below to learn more!

Looking to catch a specific fish? We have you covered in our complete fish list below that details everything from their locations, active times, prices, and the season / months in which they will appear.

Note that you can hit the check marks below to save your progress in catching ’em all on your phone browser!

Whale Shark

Looking for more? Check out our suggested Guides below: