Fishing
Fishing is a calm way of passing the time in this game. To start your anglig journey, you need to buy a Fishing Pole from Van the traveling merchant. He opens his shop by the Bluebird Cafe on the 3rd and 8th of every season. The basic Fishing Rod will cost 500 G.
There are five distinct areas for catching fish:
- The Forest Spring pond next to the Nature Sprites' house
- The Upstream area spans from the waterfall by the dig site to the southern-most tree on the east side of the river, just to the northwest of Vesta's farm.
- The Downstream area spans from the southern-most tree on the east side of the river, past the bridge, and down to the ocean.
- The Ocean area is along the southern edge of Forgotten Valley
- The Marsh space is the turtle pond behind the Lei-Over Inn and east of Gordy's workshop
Fish are not seasonal, as you'll find the same fish all year long and in every chapter. The varieties of fish that appear will depend on the quality of your fishing pole, whereas the size will be random. You don't need to buy bait.
To catch a fish, stand next to a body of water and press the tool button to cast a line. A fish shadow will soon appear next to the hook. When the fish bites and a ! appears above the protagonist, press the tool button again (one time) to reel in the fish. You can reel back the line at any time before the fish bites by pressing the tool button, such as if you're trying to catch a large fish and don't want to catch fish with small shadows.
Fish can be sold to Van the traveling merchant. The larger the size of the fish, the more money Van will offer.
Fishing Rod Upgrades
Increasing the strength and quality of your rod will allow you to catch rarer fish and use less stamina while reeling in a fish. You can still catch lower-level fish when using an upgraded pole.
Most of these upgrades can be purchased by Van the traveling merchant once you've met the in-game time and usage requirements. Van will swap out your old rod with a new one:
- Fishing Rod to Copper Fishing Rod: Summer 8 of Chapter 1 or later and you have caught at least 50 fish. 1000 G.
- Copper Fishing Rod to Silver Fishing Rod: Spring 3 of Chapter 2 or later and you have caught at least 200 fish. 10,000 G.
- Silver Fishing Rod to Gold Fishing Rod: Spring 3 of Chapter 3 or later and you have caught at least 500 fish. 50,000 G.
The last upgrade is from the Gold Fishing Rod to the Goddess Fishing Rod. Keep an eye on the Bulletin Board next to the Lei-Over Inn starting in Spring of Chapter 4. If you have at least 90 friendship points with Gary, he'll post a request on the board for a Huge-size fish. Any fish will work to complete Gary's task as long as it is HUGE.
Bring him the fish and he'll tell you how he bought this fishing rod long ago. After Nina had a fit when she learned how much Gary spent on a fishing pole, Gary was so embarrased that he put it in storage and never used it. He doesn't have the strength to go fishing anymore and hopes that you'll find a use for this fancy fishing rod.
The Goddess Fishing Rod won't help you catch any rarer fish, but it can pull up some unique items.
Fish List
There are 15 species of fish to catch in Forgotten Valley. You can see which fish you've caught by looking at the notebook next to the farmhouse television set, then browsing the Fish section of the Encyclopedia. Any fish species that you've caught the Huge-size of will be marked with a gold crown on its encyclopedia page.
| Fish Name | Location | Rod | Profit |
|---|---|---|---|
Masu | Upstream | Regular | Li'l: 25 G Reg: 35 G Large: 60 G Huge: 90 G |
Wakasagi | Downstream Forest Spring | Regular | Li'l: 20 G Reg: 30 G Large: 50 G Huge: 80 G |
Scad | Ocean | Regular | Li'l: 25 G Reg: 40 G Large: 65 G Huge: 100 G |
Spotted Char | Upstream | Copper | Li'l: 40 G Reg: 60 G Large: 100 G Huge: 160 G |
Blackmouth Bass | Downstream Forest Spring Marsh | Regular | Li'l: 15 G Reg: 25 G Large: 40 G Huge: 60 G |
Amur Catfish | Marsh | Copper | Li'l: 35 G Reg: 55 G Large: 90 G Huge: 140 G |
Calamari | Ocean | Copper | Li'l: 40 G Reg: 60 G Large: 100 G Huge: 160 G |
Red Sea Bream | Ocean | Copper | Li'l: 45 G Reg: 70 G Large: 115 G Huge: 180 G |
Stringfish | Downstream Marsh | Silver | Li'l: 90 G Reg: 135 G Large: 225 G Huge: 360 G |
Rainbow Trout | Downstream Forest Spring | Silver | Li'l: 95 G Reg: 145 G Large: 240 G Huge: 380 G |
Ahi | Ocean | Silver | Li'l: 105 G Reg: 160 G Large: 265 G Huge: 420 G |
King Masu | Upstream | Gold | Li'l: 160 G Reg: 240 G Large: 400 G Huge: 640 G |
Unagi | Downstream | Gold | Li'l: 200 G Reg: 300 G Large: 500 G Huge: 800 G |
Bonytongue | Forest Spring Marsh | Gold | Li'l: 150 G Reg: 225 G Large: 375 G Huge: 600 G |
Langouste | Ocean | Gold | Li'l: 175 G Reg: 265 G Large: 440 G Huge: 700 G |
Other Fishy Things
You can catch three special items when using the Goddess Fishing Rod. Two of the items will be displayed inside your farmhouse. You can catch these items once you reach Chapter 4 or later in the game.
Golden Axe
Go to the Forest Spring and cast your Goddess Fishing Rod line into the pond. If you're lucky, you'll catch a Golden Axe! You'll hear a mysterious voice from the pond asking if you toss in a Silver Axe or a Golden Axe? Either way, you must be pretty lucky to catch one of the Goddess' personal belongings. The voice hopes you can take it home to enjoy the shiny object. You'll then take the special axe home and mount it to the wall behind your television set.
Legendary Sword
Go fishing at the Ocean with the Goddess Fishing Rod, and you might pull in an extraordinary sword. Tei watches your haul from a distance and runs up when he realizes what you've caught. Maybe it is the legendary tsurugi sword?!
Tei explains he's seen something like this while traveling around the world. There was one that was stuck in a rock! The story was that anyone who could pull the sword from the stone would become the owner of the legendary sword. Tei gave it a try, but the sword did not choose him as its owner. He heard a voice telling him he wasn't good enough to pull the sword from its prison. Tei was annoyed then, but now he understands as he sees you with the sword in your hands. Tei congratulates you on your prize.
You'll return to the farmhouse and mount the sword on the wall behind your TV.
Message in a Bottle
Use the Goddess Fishing Rod at the ocean to pull up a bottle with a letter inside. The letter is addressed to an anonymous person across the sea. The author says they feel suffocated and wish they could escape. They are thinking of anyone out there across the ocean, so they wrote down their thoughts and tossed it into the water. The letter's author is your child.