Fish

Fishing in Animal Crossing: New Horizons starts with a decision you make before the rod comes out: which water to stand next to. A pond, a river, the river mouth, the pier and the open sea each hold a different roster, two of the most valuable fish only live in the pond at the top of a cliff, and one only bites in the rain. Our rare fish list records the place, price, months and hours of every fish worth chasing, and grouping it by location turns it into a route around the island.

Two dedicated pages cover the sea's common end, the puffer fish and the zebra turkeyfish, and both make the point the rare list leaves implicit: shadow size is the tell, and C.J. pays half again over Nook's Cranny for anything you bring him.

Where to stand

Ponds: goldfish by day, gar by night

The small still ponds on your island are the goldfish waters. The plain goldfish and pop-eyed goldfish sell for 1,300 Bells, the ranchu goldfish for 4,500 (9 AM to 4 PM), and the koi for 4,000 at any hour all year, so a pond is where the rare list's easiest money sits. The same water changes after 4 PM in summer: the gar, 6,000 Bells, bites from July to October up north between 4 PM and 9 AM, and the 5,500-Bell giant snakehead keeps shop hours in June, July and August. The Fishing Tourney page suggests digging a pond beside the plaza once you have terraforming, and the goldfish are what you would pull from it.

The clifftop pond: two 15,000-Bell fish

The rare list singles out one location by height. Ponds and streams on the upper levels of the island hold the stringfish and the golden trout, both 15,000 Bells and both between 4 PM and 9 AM. The stringfish is a winter fish (December to March in the north, June to September in the south); the golden trout comes in spring and autumn (March to June and September to November up north). Getting up there is a ladder job, which is why the tools guide matters to fishing at all.

Rivers and the estuary

The river is the summer money route. From June to September in the north the dorado is 15,000 Bells and unusually keeps daylight hours, 4 AM to 9 PM, while the arowana (10,000, June to September) and arapaima (10,000, July to September) take over from 4 PM to 9 AM. The saddled bichir at 4,000 and the snapping turtle at 5,000 are late shifts, 9 PM to 4 AM, and the 2,500-Bell betta fills the middle of the day from May to October. Where the river meets the sea is the estuary, and it has a single tenant on the list: the sturgeon, 10,000 Bells, any hour, September through March up north and March through September down south. It is one of the few high-value fish with no bedtime, which makes it the natural target for anyone who will not do night shifts.

Pier and pontoon: cast off the end

Standing at the end of the pier or the pontoon puts a different set of shadows in front of you. The tuna is 7,000 Bells from November to April in the north, the mahi-mahi 6,000 from May to October, the giant trevally 4,500 in the same warm months, and the blue marlin 10,000 with two northern windows, July to September and November to April. All four are all-day fish, so the pier is the daytime alternative to the sharks below.

Open sea: sharks, sunfish and the two common catches

The ocean holds the longest list and the most extreme prices. Between 4 PM and 9 AM from June to September up north the shark shadows arrive: the great white at 15,000 Bells, the saw shark at 12,000, the hammerhead at 8,000, with the 13,000-Bell whale shark swimming the same months at any hour. The barreleye is 15,000 all year round, 4 PM to 9 AM, the Napoleonfish 10,000 by day in July and August, and the ribbonfish and oarfish 9,000 each through the colder half of the year. Lower down are the 5,000-Bell blowfish (6 PM to 4 AM in winter) and barred knifejaw, the 4,000 ocean sunfish and the 1,500 suckerfish.

Our two single-fish pages live here at the cheap end, and both are about reading shadows. The puffer fish page calls it uncommon: a medium sea shadow, any hour, July to September in the north and January to March in the south, worth 250 Bells at Nook's Cranny or 375 from C.J., with fish bait as the shortcut to making the shadow appear. The zebra turkeyfish page covers a common small-to-medium shadow available far longer, April to November up north and October to May down south, so both hemispheres overlap in April, May, October and November; it sells for 500 Bells or 750 to C.J., who is usually found near the beach.

Only in rain: the coelacanth

One entry on the rare list has no months and no hours, only a weather condition. The coelacanth appears in the sea whenever it rains, at any time of year and any time of day, and sells for 15,000 Bells. It is the fish that turns a wet day into a reason to play, and the reason the gyroids page is not the only one that wants you online during a downpour.

Frequently asked questions

What is the most valuable fish?

Six fish sell for 15,000 Bells: the great white shark, barreleye, dorado, stringfish, golden trout and coelacanth. Only the dorado bites by day, and only the coelacanth needs rain.

Does C.J. really pay more?

Yes. Both single-fish pages put his price at 150 percent of Nook's Cranny, 375 Bells against 250 for the puffer fish and 750 against 500 for the zebra turkeyfish.

How many fish are there in total?

80, according to the golden fishing rod page, which is the reward for catching all of them. The museum's aquarium wing takes the first of each, and the Animal Crossing: New Horizons hub links the bug and sea creature lists alongside this one.