Dark Cloud/Fishing

This is a minigame where you collect fishing points by catching fish in certain locations in villages. These points are then exchanged for various prizes, mostly weapon attachments. Fishing uses bait which you can get as treasure in villages and dungeons and as drops from some monsters. It’s a good idea to go fishing whenever bait items start to collect in your inventory as you have limited amount of space.

To begin, complete Alnet’s House in Norune Village; Alnet gives you a fishing rod as a reward. For Norune and some other locations, you must release the Pond from Atla and place it in the georama.

Mechanics
Check the sign near the fishing spot and choose Fish to enter fishing mode. In fishing mode you can move normally except you can only move a few feet from the edge of the water. Press psx: S to bait you hook or change bait; items useable for bait are usually listed as fishing bait in the item description, although some items can be used as bait that are used primarily for something else. See the bait section for a list. Face the water and press psx: X to cast your line into the water. In most locations you can see the fish swimming around and it may speed things up to cast the line close to them. Once your line is cast, assuming it lands in the water, you can use psx: Neutral Lstick to move the pole left and right or psx: X to pull the line out. In spots where you can see the fish you may notice them sniffing at the bait.

Fish seem to be more interested if the bait moves a bit, so you might try moving the pole to pique their interest. If the fish don't seem interested then try different bait; some baits don't work at all in some locations and different fish like different bait.

When a fish starts to nibble at the bait, you'll feel the controller vibrate and the float on the line will move slightly. Don't try to set the hook yet though because it's only a nibble. When the fish swallows the bait you'll see the float go under water, so set the hook by pressing psx: X. Be quick about it though because if you're too slow the fish will get away and take your bait with it. Two important points to remember are to not try to set the hook until you see the float go completely under water and to react quickly when you do see it.

Once the hook is set, hold psx: X down to reel in the fish, it is automatically measured and you get fishing points depending on its type and size. You throw the fish back and you can now re-bait the hook to go after the more fish. You can’t catch the same fish twice and eventually the number of fish in the pond decreases until it’s difficult to catch any more.

When you're out of bait or there are no more fish, press psx: C exit fishing mode. The pond will will be restocked the next time you start.