To make use of your leisure time in Persona 4 Golden, the game offers you numerous activities. Three of these activities can be traced down to the Samegawa Flood Plain. Here, you can meet Naoto and Hisano but only on Sundays. Fishing is the only activity present here without the restriction of scheduled days. You can easily go fishing any day of the week.
In Persona 4 Golden, you can also go fishing at Shichiri Beach and acquire 3 new kinds of fish which have special effects.
In Persona 4, fishing is not just an activity for time consumption. It also proves to be quite beneficial and rewarding. You can barter off your catch and get various items and stones in return. In addition to that, the 9 stones can also end up being bartered off for different kinds of artillery. However, in Persona 4 Golden, fishing is only treated as an activity to pass time and no trade value comes from it except the stones.
Fishing is not as simple as it seems and there are necessary steps and requirements you need to fulfill to begin. But don’t worry! This guide will walk you through how to obtain your fishing gear, set the correct bait, look for a suitable spot, and finally catch your fish.
How to get a fishing rod
Fishing is a three-step process in the game. You need to have a fishing rod and some fishing bait before going out to catch some fish.
You have to barter a few items in exchange for a fishing rod in the game. There is no vendor or merchant from where you can directly purchase a rod.
Make your way to the Samegawa Flood Plain and speak with the elderly man on the riverbank. He has a fishing rod that you can have in exchange for a fish hook.
You can get this fish hook from the lady at Shiroku Pub in exchange for a Tatsuhime Ladybug, which you can acquire by offering a drink to the guy at Tatsuhime Shrine. This drink can be bought from any vending machine and is sold under the name “The Natural”.
Return to the elderly man with the fish hook to get his fishing rod.
How to get fishing bait
The next thing you need is bait for your fishing rod. Something important to note here is that the fish you catch depends on the type of bait you use while fishing.
There are several ways in which you can get bait in P4 Golden. You can first catch bugs and insects around Inaba to use as bait. To catch better kinds of fish, you can trade your bugs at the Shiroku Pub for bread crumbs which are another type of bait.
Bait can also be acquired at the Dojima Residence by either cooking them yourself or asking the housewife.
How fishing works in P4 Golden
Now that you have your rod and bait, you can start fishing by heading to the Samegawa Flood Plain. In Persona 4 Golden, you can also look for fish in the Shichiri Beach after acquiring a Deep-Sea Fishing Rod, which is also a part of your main quest.
The ability “Take a Long Ride” and “Catching a River Guardian” is necessary to access the beach. When you are unlocking the ability “Take a Long Ride”, make sure you do it thrice by riding in your vehicle.
The number of times you throw your fishing line in the water is decided by your Diligence stat and a high Diligence stat will let you throw in your fishing line many times more than a low diligence stat will.
To begin fishing, take your rod and select the appropriate bait according to the type of fish you wish to catch. When a fish is attracted to your set bait, ripples form in the water a colored meter appears at the bottom of your screen.
To catch the fish, you have to press the “O” Button while being mindful of where the pointer is on the color meter as it indicates the likelihood of the fish holding onto your hook.
On the extreme ends of the color meter, is red which means that the fish is freeing itself from the hook, while in the middle of the color meter, is blue which indicates that your prey is well-caught and you can press the button now.
While moving from red towards the middle, you will also see orange and then yellow colors, both of which will reposition your hook upon pressing the button but no fish will be caught.
All fish and their required bait
The type of fish you catch depends on the weather conditions and scheduled month in Persona 4 while in Persona 4 Golden, it depends on the type of bait used.
There are a total of nine fish. Six of them can be caught in the Samegawa Flood Plain while the other three are in Shichiri Beach. All of them are enlisted as follows.
| Location | Fish | Bait | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Samegawa Flood Plain | Amber Seema | Yaso Locust, Tatsuhime Ladybug | Restores 50 HP |
| Samegawa Flood Plain | Guardian | Inaba Jewel Beetle | Restores all SP |
| Samegawa Flood Plain | Genji Ayu | Bread Crumbs, Tatsuhime Ladybug | Restores 25 HP |
| Samegawa Flood Plain | Huge Fish | Inaba Jewel Beetle, Meiou Cricket | Restores full HP |
| Samegawa Flood Plain | Inaba Trout | Yaso Locust, Meiou Cricket | Restores 100 HP |
| Samegawa Flood Plain | Red Goldfish | Bread Crumbs | Restores 10 HP |
| Shichiri Beach | Hachiro Octopus | Daimyo Grasshopper, Heike Stag Beetle | Restores 10 SP |
| Shichiri Beach | Meguro Tuna | Genji Beetle, Heike Stag Beetle | Restores full HP |
| Shichiri Beach | Sea Guardian | Genji Beetle | Restores full SP |
Besides the items mentioned above, you can exchange fish for further fishing bait.
If you want to increase your proficiency in fishing, you can get help from a book because reading two fishing books allow you to fish twice, and reading one book allows you to reel in quickly.
