You're standing on the pier. It's raining. Your pockets are stuffed with Manila clams you spent twenty minutes digging up, and your thumb is hovering over the A button like a nervous twitch. You’re hunting the Mahi-mahi, or maybe the Giant Trevally, and you’ve already caught forty-seven Sea Bass. Most players give up here. Honestly, filling out the list of all fish in Animal Crossing isn't really about luck, even though it feels like the game hates you personally. It’s about understanding the internal clock of a simulation that cares way too much about the lunar cycle and the northern versus southern hemispheres.
The grind is real.
New Horizons features 80 unique species. That sounds manageable until you realize some of them only show up for four hours a day, two months out of the year, and only if you’re standing in a very specific spot near a waterfall. If you're playing New Leaf or the older GameCube versions, the numbers and mechanics shift, but the frustration remains identical. You aren't just fishing; you're cataloging a digital ecosystem that mimics real-world biology with surprising accuracy.
The shadow size obsession
Size matters. In the Animal Crossing world, you can’t see what’s on the hook until you pull it up, but the shadow is your only clue. Shadows are categorized from 1 (tiny) to 6 (massive), with a few outliers like the "thin" eel shadow or the "finned" shadow that signifies a shark. If you’re looking for a Coelacanth—the legendary prehistoric fish that only appears when it’s raining—you are looking specifically for a Size 6 shadow in the ocean.
Stop catching the small ones if you're hunting giants. Seriously.
Waste of durability. Every time you cast your rod, you're ticking down its "health" until it snaps. If you’re hunting for the Stringfish in the clifftop rivers, ignore everything that isn't a Size 5. You can actually "scare" away the wrong shadow sizes by running near the bank or vaulting over the water. It saves your tools and your sanity.
Locations you probably ignore
Most people stick to the beach. It’s easy, the music is nice, and there’s plenty of space. But all fish in Animal Crossing are distributed across very specific biomes:
- The Pier: This is the wooden structure where Dodo Airlines doesn't land. It’s the only place you can catch the Blue Marlin, Tuna, and the aforementioned Mahi-mahi.
- River Mouth: This is where the river water meets the ocean waves. Look for the pebbly transition area. This is the exclusive home of the King Salmon and the Sturgeon.
- Clifftop Rivers: Any river on the second or third tiers of your island. If you don't have a ladder or a ramp, you're missing out on the Golden Trout and the Char.
- Ponds: If the water isn't flowing, it’s a pond. You’ll find Crawfish and Killifish here. If you terraform your island into a giant lake, make sure you leave some actual river flow, or half your Critterpedia will stay blank forever.
Seasonality is the ultimate gatekeeper
You cannot catch everything in one day. You can't even do it in one month. The game is tied to the real-world calendar. If you're in the Northern Hemisphere, the Great White Shark isn't coming out in January. It doesn't care how much fish bait you throw into the water.
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This is why "Time Traveling"—changing the system clock on your Nintendo Switch—is so controversial yet popular. Some purists think it ruins the vibe of "living a slow life." Others just want to finish their museum before they turn eighty. Blathers doesn't care how you got the fish, he just wants the donation.
Let's look at the winter drought. In the Northern Hemisphere, December through February is brutal. You’re mostly catching Oarfish and a lot of Pond Smelt. But then March hits, and suddenly the variety explodes. If you're trying to catch all fish in Animal Crossing, you need a checklist that accounts for the months. The Barreleye, for instance, is available all year, but only from 9 PM to 4 AM. It has a tiny shadow. It’s rare. You’ll catch a thousand Horse Mackerel before you see one.
The Fish Bait Meta
Manila Clams are the secret currency of the elite angler. You find them by looking for the little water squirts in the sand. Crafting them into Fish Bait is tedious—one by one, over and over—but it's the only way to force a spawn.
If you are hunting a Pier fish, don't wait for a shadow to appear naturally. It takes too long. Stand at the end of the dock, throw bait, check the shadow size, and repeat. If it's the wrong size, don't even cast. Just throw more bait. This "rerolls" the encounter immediately. Expert players usually stock up on 50 to 100 bags of bait before even attempting to find the rare stuff like the Giant Snakehead or the Napoleonfish.
Common misconceptions about rarity
People think the Coelacanth is the hardest fish to catch. It’s not. It’s just famous. Because it’s available all year (during rain), you’ll eventually stumble into it.
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The real nightmares are the Golden Trout and the Mahi-mahi. The Golden Trout only appears at the highest point of your island during specific evening hours in the spring and fall. The spawn rate is abysmal. I've seen players go through 300 bags of bait without a single hit.
Then there's the "streak" myth. Some players believe that if you catch ten fish in a row without failing, your chances of a rare spawn increase. There is zero evidence in the game’s code (documented by dataminers like Ninji) to support this. Rarity is a flat percentage based on the pool of available fish for that specific time, location, and shadow size. The only thing that changes your odds is being in the right place at the right time.
Why the Museum matters
Donating your first catch of every species to Blathers isn't just a completionist flex. The museum's fish gallery is one of the most visually impressive parts of the game. The lighting changes, the tanks are massive, and you can actually see the biological relationships between the species. Plus, completing the collection nets you the DIY recipe for the Golden Rod.
The Golden Rod has the highest durability of any fishing tool in the game. It’s not unbreakable—a common lie told on early 2000s forums—but it lasts a very long time. It also has a slightly larger "attraction" radius, meaning fish will notice your lure even if you don't drop it perfectly in front of their nose.
Practical steps for your collection
If you're staring at those empty slots in your Critterpedia, stop aimlessly casting. You need a surgical approach.
- Check your hemisphere and date. Use an app or a site like Nookipedia to see what is currently "in season." If the fish you need is three months away, decide now if you're going to wait or time travel.
- Farm Manila Clams. Spend an hour on the beach. Dig up every squirt of water. Craft as much bait as you can stand.
- Target one biome at a time. Don't wander. If you need the Sturgeon, park yourself at the river mouth and stay there.
- Listen, don't watch. The "plop" sound of a fish biting is much more reliable than the visual animation. Many experts close their eyes once the fish starts nibbling and wait for the specific heavy splash sound to press A. This prevents "early pulling" caused by nerves.
- Check the weather. If it’s raining, drop everything and hunt for the Coelacanth or the Snail (even though that’s a bug). Rain changes the spawn tables in the ocean.
Fishing in Animal Crossing is a test of patience disguised as a cozy hobby. You'll catch a hundred Cans, Boots, and Tires before you find that one elusive shadow that completes your collection. But when that music kicks in and your character holds that rare giant over their head, the grind usually feels worth it.
Check your Critterpedia right now. Look for the "Leaving Soon" tags. If a fish is scheduled to disappear at the end of the month, that is your primary target. Focus on the clifftops and the pier first, as those are the most difficult spawn points to manipulate. If you haven't caught the Stringfish by the end of March, you'll be waiting a long time for its return. Plan your bait runs around the 4 PM to 9 PM window, which is the "golden hour" for many of the game's rarest nocturnal and crepuscular species.