Fishing rod

Artwork of a player with a fishing rod from Animal Crossing: New Horizons

A fishing rod is a tool used to catch fish, which can be found in the sea, ponds, and the river running through town. Catching and donating fish is required to complete the museum's collection. All fish that are caught with a fishing rod are recorded in the player's encyclopedia.

Usage

A fishing rod is the only tool that can be used for fishing. Fish can be found as dark fish-shaped silhouettes seen swimming underneath the surface of water and vary in availability between the river, waterfalls, ponds and the sea. Fishing rods can only be used near water; pressing the A Button will cast a line into the water. When a fish spots a nearby lure, they will approach it and gently nibble at it. When the fish bites the line they will create a splash, and the line must quickly be reeled in by pressing the A Button before the fish swims away and disappears. Fish can be scared away by reeling in the line too soon, running, knocking balls or snowballs into the water, or using other tools near the fish. A fish can nibble the line a maximum of four times before biting on the fifth, though many fish will bite sooner.

More advanced versions of the fishing rod that have unique effects can be obtained. The Silver Rod and Golden Rod have increasingly attractive lures and increase the time in which the line can be reeled in.

In New Horizons, villagers can be seen carrying and using fishing rods (however, they are never seen catching anything). Gifting a fishing rod to a villager will replace the Fishing Rod item as their default fishing rod.

Obtaining

In Animal Crossing

Fishing rods in Animal Crossing

#	Item	Image	Buy price	Sell price	Available from
60	Golden rod		Not for sale	Cannot be sold	Tortimer
64	Fishing rod		500 Bells	125 Bells

Includes data sourced from the Data Spreadsheet for Animal Crossing (N64, GCN), compiled by TimeSword3D, AlexBot2004, Cuyler, Ruthless Cutie, SuperHamster, vmario, and Chubby Bub.

In Wild World

Fishing rods in Animal Crossing: Wild World

Item	Image	Buy Price	Sell Price	Available From	Info
Fishing rod		500 Bells	125 Bells	Tom Nook's store	Standard fishing rod
Golden rod		Not for sale	125 Bells	Tortimer (after catching every fish)	Improved lure

In City Folk

Fishing rods in Animal Crossing: City Folk

Item	Buy Price	Sell Price	Available From	Info
Fishing rod	500 Bells	125 Bells	Tom Nook's store	Standard fishing rod
Silver rod	500 Bells	125 Bells	Tom Nook's store (randomly replaces normal rod after first upgrade)	Improved lure Easier catches
Golden Rod	Not for sale	125 Bells	Tortimer (after catching every fish)	Improved lure Significantly easier catches

In New Leaf

Fishing rods in Animal Crossing: New Leaf

Item	Buy price	Sell price	Available from	Note
Fishing rod	500 Bells	125 Bells	Timmy and Tommy's store Isabelle (if the player does not have one for her introductory tasks)	Standard fishing rod	-
Silver rod	500 Bells	125 Bells	Museum Shop (after donating 30 fish/sea creatures)	Improved lure Easier catches
Golden rod	Not for sale	125 Bells	Fishing Tourney (after catching every fish)	Improved lure Significantly easier catches

In New Horizons

Fishing rods in New Horizons will break after a specific amount of uses. Making a successful catch with a fishing rod, whether that is fish, trash, or a Water Egg, will reduce its durability. A fishing rod's durability is not reduced when casting the rod or failing to catch anything.

Fishing rods in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

#	Item	Buy price	Sell price	Available from	Durability	Customizable
30	Colorful fishing rod	2,500 Bells	625 Bells	Nook's Cranny (upgraded)	30	Yes
41	Fish fishing rod	2,500 Bells	625 Bells	Nook's Cranny (upgraded)	30	Yes
43	Fishing rod	Not for sale	600 Bells	Crafting	30	Yes
45	Flimsy fishing rod	400 Bells 100 Nook Miles	100 Bells	Timmy Nook's Cranny Wilbur Crafting	5–10	No
56	Golden rod	Not for sale	10,400 Bells	Crafting	90	No
87	Outdoorsy fishing rod	2,500 Bells	625 Bells	Nook's Cranny (upgraded)	30	Yes

Includes data sourced from the Data Spreadsheet for Animal Crossing New Horizons, compiled and edited by 6480, noizhub, Ricky, chaiinchomp, saberslime, robotic_scarab, mollumisc, sunmarsh, kyrokey, obstinateRixatrix, jackiwi, Zalex, SuperHamster, kait, hyuum, Azarro, Czarcasm, cinnamon_swirlix, astronomyfortwo, Welcius, glowtopia, BriKun, Alyrei, dodocodes.com, StevieCoops, sneeze, Shiny190, TwistedPeach, LavaToaster, capstone, vmario, rocklamp, Alexis, Aeon, and PanchamBro.

Other appearances

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Isabelle hooks Snake with her fishing rod.

The fishing rod appears in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as Isabelle's side special move, acting as a high range command grab to pull far way enemies towards you. When activated, Isabelle casts the bobber out a little ways away from her. The bobber pulls foes in if it hits them, then allowing Isabelle to throw them in any of the four directions by holding that direction. If she misses, however, the bobber will sit there until Isabelle presses B again to reel it back in. However, the bobber can still grab on the way back, effectively setting a trap for less knowledgeable opponents. It can also be used to help her recover, being used as a tether recovery.