Animal Crossing: New Leaf/Fish

How to Fish
Catching all the fish available in AC:NL may seem like a lot of work, but with this guide hopefully things will become a little clearer for you.

First, you will need a fishing rod. You can buy one at Nookling Junction for ??? bells.

The key to fishing is getting the float in front of the fish. The fish will not go for the line if it cannot see the float. Getting this right may take time, but once you can cast the float correctly in the fish's line of sight, you will be catching plenty. Another thing that takes a couple of tries to get right is reeling the fish in. Generally, the fish will swim towards the float and nibble at it 2 or 3 times, though sometimes it will pull it under straight away. You have to pay attention so that you don’t miss your opportunity to reel it in. To catch a fish, you have to press as soon as the fish pulls the float under the water and makes a distinctive *plop* sound.

Now that you know how to fish, what exactly can you do with them?


 * Donate them to the Museum: The museum is empty until you start donating things. Blathers is more than happy to take a newly caught fish from you, as long as you haven’t already donated that specific breed. Once you’ve donated the fish, you can check the Fish section of the museum and see all the fish you have donated.
 * Sell them: You can sell any fish you have at Re-Tail or Nookling Junction. The price differs depending on species and whether you have the Wealthy Town Ordinance enacted. Some fish sell for 200 bells, while other fish (like the Stark) can sell for 15,000 bells! This is handy to help pay off that mortgage!
 * Give them to a resident: Every so often residents in your town will want certain items. Usually these items are clothes, furniture, bugs or fish. If you are able to provide the villager with the fish (or item) they requested you will usually receive a reward. This can be money or another item.
 * Display them in your house: There are certain fish that you will be proud of catching. Sharks make interesting talking points when you have friends in your town. It is also handy to store larger fish in your house while you wait for the fishing contest.

Fishing areas
The fish available to catch depend on several different factors such as time of day, month, and even weather conditions. If you are trying to get a particular fish first be sure you are fishing in the right area.

There are five different fishing locations.
 * Pond
 * River
 * Ocean
 * Island
 * Waterfall

There are also a number of times that certain fish will be available to catch. Here they are split up into 4 different sections:
 * Morning: 4:00am-9:00am
 * Noon: 9:00am-4:00pm
 * Evening: 4:00pm-8:00pm
 * Night: 8:00pm-4:00am

Other information
Fish aren't the only items that you can get when fishing. Every so often you will catch tin cans, old tires or old boots. These items look like fish when they are in the water, so there is no way of telling when you will get these. Don't leave these 'rubbish' item lying in your town, Re-Tail or Nookling Junction will dispose of them for a small fee.

List of Fish
Here is the list of all available fish, when and where you can catch them, and how much you can sell them for. There are a number of fish that you can catch all year round; however, most fish are only available for a couple of months out of the year. This means you’ll have to fish for the whole year in order to catch them all.