Animal Crossing New Horizons: How to Get a Fishing Rod and Catch Fish

You can catch fish in Animal Crossing New Horizons using a fishing rod. You won't have one right away however, and there are a couple of ways to get one early on. In this guide we'll be revealing how to get a fishing rod in Animal Crossing New Horizons and give you some helpful tips on catching fish. We'll also take a look at how to make bait for fishing.

On this page:

• How to Get a Fishing Rod
• How to Get a Better Fishing Rod
• How to Fish
• Fishing Tips
• How to Make Fish Bait

How to Get a Fishing Rod

To get a fishing rod in Animal Crossing New Horizons you can buy one from Timmy, located in Resident Services. This will cost you 400 Bells, but if you hold off until day 2 you can take Tom Nook's DIY workshop. Here, he'll give you the recipe for crafting a flimsy fishing rod. You'll need the following:

• 5 Tree Branches (more on getting those in this guide)

How to Get a Better Fishing Rod

The flimsy rod will only get you so far in Animal Crossing New Horizons, mostly as it will break often. To get a better rod you'll need to purchase the Pretty Good Tools recipe from Nook Stop. It will cost you 3000 Miles. Here's what you'll need:

• Flimsy fishing rod
• 1 Iron Nugget (more on getting those here)

How to Fish

To start fishing in Animal Crossing New Horizons, just equip the rod and head to a body of water. We recommend walking along the beach at first, as the open waters of the ocean are easier to practice in. You'll come across the silhouettes of fish. Position yourself with your rod pointed toward the water. Press A and you'll cast a line. The trick is to land your hook in front of the fish. Once it sees it, the fish will make a break for the hook. It will bite a certain amount of times before grabbing the hook, this can be anyway between 1 and five times, and you'll need to pay attention for when it bites properly. Your controller will vibrate, and the hook will dip below water. Press 'A' at this moment and you've caught the fish!

Fishing Tips

You may find fishing a little difficult at first though don't worry, practice makes perfect. To help you get better, we've listed some handy fishing tips below:

• If you're worried about not getting streaks, know that casting your line won't break them, only not catching a fish after it has taken a bite.
• Increase your inventory to catch more fish.
• Change the camera angle to an overhead view by pressing up on the right stick, this will make it easier to catch fish.
• Try to catch a good mix of sea and river fish, this will help you catch new species faster.

How to Make Fish Bait

To get fish bait in Animal Crossing New Horizons you'll need to dig up a manilla clam. These can be found on beaches, indicated by little holes that appear on the ground. Use a shovel to dig them up and you'll learn the recipe (which incidentally only requires one manilla clam a piece).

That's it for fishing in Animal Crossing New Horizons. If you're wanting more, head here for a look at some great Roald fanart. Elsewhere, there's also our official review.