Fishing has always been a massive part of Animal Crossing games, and the latest entry, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, is no exception. Besides selling fish for money, villagers fill out the collections in their museums and compete in seasonal fishing tourneys.
Since Animal Crossing likes to mimic real-world seasons, the fish you might find in the winter aren’t always the same as the summer swimmers. Fish availability can also vary by the time of day, weather, and location. After all, it would be pretty strange to catch a shark in a pond or a river. To fish, you’ll need a fishing rod. You’ll start with a recipe for a flimsy fishing rod, which breaks often. But you can eventually upgrade that and other tools. Catching fish is easy once you know what to look for. Fish often nibble a few times before grabbing on to your line, but when they do, the bob sinks underwater, and you can hear a louder “plop” sound.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons also steps up the realism by adding a Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere option, which will change when fish are available.
New fish available in the Northern Hemisphere include the butterfly fish, clownfish, crawfish, guppy, killifish, neon tetra, seas horse, snapping turtle, surgeonfish, and the zebra turkeyfish. It’s also the last month to catch the blue marlin (until it returns in July), dab, and tuna.
In the Southern Hemisphere, only the dab and yellow perch are newly available. Both are common and don’t sell for many Bells. Leaving are the angelfish, betta, catfish, moray eel, rainbowfish, ribbon eel, snapping turtle, and tilapia.
Here’s a guide to all the fish available right now in each location and how much they sell for
Northern Hemisphere
Anchovy: Ocean, 4 a.m. to 9 p.m. (200 Bells)
Barred Knifejaw: Ocean, all day (5,000)
Barreleye: Ocean, 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. (15,000)
Black Bass: River, all day (400)
Blue Marlin: Pier, all day (10,000)
Bluegill: River, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (180)
Butterfly fish: Ocean, all day (1,000)
Carp – River, all day (300)
Char: River, 4 p.m. to 9 a.m. (3,800)
Cherry salmon: River (Clifftop), all day (1,000)
Clownfish: Ocean, all day (650)
Coelacanth: Ocean, during rainy days, (15,000)
Crawfish: Pond, all day (200)
Crucian carp: River, all day (160)
Dab: Ocean, all day (300)
Dace: River, 4 p.m. to 9 a.m. (240)
Freshwater goby: River, 4 p.m. to 9 a.m. (400)
Golden trout: River (Clifftop), 4 p.m. to 9 a.m. (15,000)
Goldfish; Pond, all day (1,300)
Guppy: River, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (1,300)
Horse mackerel: Ocean, all day (150)
Killifish: Pond, all day (200)
Koi: Pond, 4 p.m. to 9 a.m. (4,000)
Loach: River, all day (400)
Neon tetra 4: River, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (500)
Oarfish: Ocean, all day (9,000)
Olive flounder: Ocean, all day (800)
Pale chub: River, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (200)
Pop-eyed goldfish: Pond, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (1,300)
Ranchu goldfish: Pond, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (1,300)
Red snapper: Ocean, all day ( 3,000)
Sea bass: Ocean, all day (400)
Seahorse: Ocean, all day (1,100)
Snapping turtle: River, 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. (5,000)
Squid: Ocean, all day (500)
Surgeonfish: Ocean, all day (1,000)
Tadpole: Pond, all day (100)
Tuna: Pier, all day (7,000)
Zebra turkeyfish: Ocean, all day (500)
Southern Hemisphere
Anchovy: Ocean, 4 a.m. to 9 p.m. (200 Bells)
Angelfish: River, 4 p.m. to 9 a.m. (3,000)
Barreleye: Ocean, 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. (15,000)
Betta: River, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (2,500)
Black bass: River, all day (400)
Bluegill: River, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (180)
Carp: River, all day (300)
Catfish: Pond, 4 p.m. to 9 a.m. (800)
Char: River, 4 p.m. to 9 a.m. (3,800)
Cherry salmon: River (Clifftop), all day (1,000)
Coelacanth: Ocean (During rainy days), all day (15,000
Crucian carp: River, all day (160)
Dab: Ocean, all day (300)
Dace: River, 4 p.m. to 9 a.m. (240)
Freshwater goby: River, 4 p.m. to 9 a.m. (400)
Golden trout: River (Clifftop), 4 p.m. to 9 a.m. (15,000)
Goldfish: Pond, all day (1,300)
Horse mackerel: Ocean, all day (150)
Koi: Pond, 4 p.m. to 9 a.m. (4,000)
Mitten crab: River, 4 p.m. to 9 a.m. (2,000)
Moray eel:Ocean, all day (2,000)
Olive flounder: Ocean, all day (800)
Pale chub: River, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (200)
Pike: River, all day (1,800)
Pop-eyed goldfish: Pond, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (1,300)
Rainbowfish: River, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (800)
Ranchu goldfish: Pond, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (4,500)
Ray: Ocean: 4 a.m. to 9 p.m. (3,000)
Red snapper: Ocean, all day (3,00)
Ribbon eel: Ocean, all day (600)
Sea bass: Ocean, all day (400)
Sea horse: Ocean, all day (1,100)
Snapping turtle: River, 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. (5,000)
Sturgeon: River mouth, all day (10,000)
Tilapia: River, all day (800)
Yellow perch: River, all day (300)
Zebra turkeyfish: Ocean, all day (500)
Editors’ Recommendations
