
Animal Crossing New Horizons: How to Catch a Catfish
We show you how to catch a catfish for yourself in Animal Crossing New Horizons.
Animal Crossing New Horizons has a lot of fish to catch, but if you're willing to go searching in the mud you might be able to get a catfish. In this guide we'll show you how to catch a catfish and how many bells you can make off them.
On this page:
- How to Catch a Catfish in Animal Crossing New Horizons
- Catfish Shadow Size
- How Much Do Catfish Sell For?
How to Catch a Catfish in Animal Crossing New Horizons
To catch a catfish in Animal Crossing New Horizons, you need to make sure you're in the conditions and time frame in which they'll appear. Equip a fishing rod and follow these tips to catch a catfish for yourself.
- Catfish appear in May-October (in the Northern Hemisphere) and November-April (in the Southern Hemisphere). They do not appear outside of this time period.
- During this time of the year, catfish appear overnight, between 4:00 PM and 9:00 AM. There's no way to catch one during the day.
- They can only be caught in ponds, not in rivers or oceans.
- Catfish are pretty common. Once these conditions are met, it shouldn't take you long to catch one. If you're having trouble getting them to spawn, create some new ponds on your island with the Island Designer app, which you can unlock by following this guide.

Catfish Shadow Size
Catfish shadows are medium-sized, not especially small or large. That being said, most fish that spawn in ponds tend to have small shadows, so they should stick out when around.
How Much Do Catfish Sell For?
Catfish sell for 800 bells when sold to Nook's Cranny, or 1200 when sold to CJ, a fairly decent price. Alternatively, if you're just trying to fill Blathers' Museum and aren't fussed about value, we can also show you how to get a frog from your ponds over here.
We're not catfishing anybody when we say we've got some of the best Animal Crossing content available here at USgamer. Enjoy Caty's ode to the May Day Maze here, or see how people have used Animal Crossing to protest over here.
In other news
Marvel's Avengers Has Yet to Make Back Its Development Costs
Square Enix is saying it will continue pushing toward making the game profitable, however.
Kate Bishop's Marvel's Avengers DLC Has a New Launch Date and Time Travel Shenanigans
The first story content drop from Crystal Dynamics and company is coming next month.
The Last of Us Part 2 and Hades Lead 2020's Game Awards Nominees
Supergiant and Naughty Dog have racked up the nods at this year's Keighley-tastic show.
Ubisoft's Skull and Bones Studio Just Lost Its Managing Director, but He Hasn't Been Fired
Hugues Ricour, once the boss at Ubisoft Singapore, will remain employed in a different position after a leadership audit.
You may also like
Cyberpunk 2077 Review: Death by a Thousand Cyber-Cuts
Even if you get beyond the bugs, it's just not worth it.
PlayStation 5 Update Lets You Know If You're About to Play the PS4 Version of Game
Check yourself before you last-gen yourself.
Stardew Valley Just Got Beaches, Fish Tanks, Swimming Ducks, and a Whole Lot More
Nearly five years on, Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone just pushed what he says is Stardew's "biggest update yet."
Alien: Isolation Is Free on Epic and Just As Good as It Was in 2014
Get the motion tracker and don't go in the vents.