Animal Crossing: New Leaf/Tortimer Island

Tortimer Island is not available from the start of the game. The player has to complete various tasks in order to open up the option. It is possible to unlock it as early as the 4 day in game.

When you are visiting the Island there are many things you can do - going on Tours, catching rare bugs & fish, collecting fruit or flowers. It's always tropical on the Island which means you can possibly catch bugs & fish out of season.

Unlocking the Island

To unlock the island, the player who is the mayor must first pay off his or her initial mortgage, upgrading from a tent to a house. That player must then pay off the first home loan at the ABD. The next time you boot up your game, Isabelle will introduce you to Tortimer, the former mayor of your town and the owner of the island. You must go to the dock on your town's beach to talk to him in person. The next day, Kapp'n will be sitting in his boat by the dock. You can talk to him to go to the island for 1,000 Bells.

Farming Technique

Now the first thing you to do is to get rid of the flowers (this prevents Emperor Butterflies from spawning), trees and bushes are fine, then when nighttime comes, go to the Island and catch many rare bugs and fish in 40 slots in the basket! Here are the bugs and fish you want to avoid and catch:

Useless bugs

• Warf Roach 200 bells (common)
• Fruit Beetle 100 bells (very common)
• Tiger Beetle 1,400 bells
• Hermit Crab 1,000 bells
• Migyam Stag 2,000 bells
• Horned Dynisaid 2,000 bells
• Saw Stag 2,000 bells
• Lanternfly 1,800 bells
• Oak Silk Moth 1,400
• Emperor Butterfly 2,500 bells
• Longhorn Beetle 600 bells

Useful bugs

• Scarb Beetle 6,000 bells
• Golitah Beetle 6,000 bells
• Atlas Beetle 8,000 bells
• Elephant Beetle 8,000 bells
• Cyclomatis Stag 8,000 bells
• Giant Stag 10,000 bells (rare)
• Rainbow Stag 10,000 bells (rare)
• Horned Hercules 11,500 bells (really rare)
• Golden Stag 12,000 bells (extremely rare)

Useless Fish

• Sea Bass 200 bells (common)
• Horse Markel 110 bells (extremely common)
• Red Snapper 3,000 bells
• Clownfish 535 bells
• Ocean Sunfish 4,000 bells (tricks you if isn't a Shark)
• Moray Eel 2,350 bells
• Ribbon Eel 600 bells (looks like the river counterpart except it lives in ocean at the Island all day)

Useful Fish

• Barred Knifejaw 5,000 bells (rare)
• Hammerhead Shark 8,000 bells (rare)
• Blue Marlin 10,000 bells (really rare)
• Napleonfish 10,000 bells (really rare)
• Saw Shark 12,000 (extremely rare)
• Whale Shark 13,000 bells (extremely rare)
• Shark (regular) 15,000 bells (really and extremely rare)

Enjoy your bug catching and fishing and bringing them back to Re-Tail to sell them for lots of money.