A comprehensive guide to help you catch all the fish in A Wonderful Life and get the “Fish Fear Me” achievement, as well as the three achievements for the message in a bottle, golden axe, and legendary sword.
Fishing Basics
Fishing in A Wonderful Life is very simple. You’ll first need to get your first rod from Van on Spring 3rd, then you can take it to any of the fishable locations and use it like any other tool. You will see a fish in the water begin to nibble at the bobber and even pull it down below the water, but ignore all of that. You will be looking for the little red exclamation point and the chirpy sound effect to let you know to reel it in. You only need to press the use button once to reel it in, there’s no benefit of spamming it.
Fish come in four sizes: little, normal, large, and huge. Catching huge fish adds a special marker for that fish in the encyclopedia. Large and huge fish are the most profitable to sell, and little or normal fish should be saved for gifting villagers or cooking.
Villagers that like fish as gifts are: Charlie, Daryl, Sebastian, Gary, Nina, Gavin, MukuMuku, & Baddoch.
Fishing Locations
There are a total of five fishing spots within Forgotten Valley, and each spot will only give you certain fish. The five locations are the Turtle Pond, Goddess Pond, Upper River, Lower River, and the Ocean.
The Goddess Pond is located north from your farm directly across from the dig site. You can cross the upper river area to get here from the dig site by walking across the rocky water path.
You’ll also see the Sprite Tree here.
The Upper River is around the waterfall area by the dig site, and extends somewhere between there and before the bridge.
The Lower River is below the bridge between town and Vesta’s Farm, and extends all the way down toward the ocean.
The ocean is beyond Gustafa’s tent.
Turtle Pond is located next to Daryl’s lab, Gustafa’s tent, and Gordy’s trailer. There’s a large turtle with a red necktie here sometimes.
Fishing Rods
To acquire your first fishing rod you’ll buy it from Van and can get it on his very first selling day which is Spring 3rd. It costs 500 G. Upgrading your fishing rods will have requirements before Van will offer them in his shop.
The first upgrade costs 1,000 G from Van. You’ll upgrade to the Copper Fishing Rod once you’ve
- Reached the 8th of Summer (Year 1)
- Caught at least 50 fish
The second upgrade costs 10,000 G from Van. You’ll upgrade to the Silver Fishing Rod once you’ve
- Reached the 3rd of Spring (Year 2)
- Caught at least 200 fish
The third upgrade costs 50,000 G from Van. You’ll upgrade to the Gold Fishing Rod once you’ve
- Reached the 3rd of Spring (Year 3)
- Caught at least 500 fish.
Lastly, you will be able to upgrade to the Goddess Fishing Rod starting in Spring of Year 4. To get this one you’ll need to accept a request from Gary on the bulletin board. He will want one huge sized fish.
Gary must have high friendship status with you for you to get this request, and he becomes UNGIFTABLE after year one! Be sure to befriend him before moving on to year two. I was able to max his friendship exclusively gifting him herbs like the aromatic herb, but he also likes fish.
Encyclopedia of Fish
As you upgrade your fishing rods you’ll gain access to new fish to catch. Fish have no season or weather requirements. You will always be able to catch the fish from previous rods as well.
You can check your encyclopedia by your bedside to check which fish you’ve caught, and fish marked with a gold crown have been caught in their ‘huge’ variety. Catching every fish will net you an Achievement and the “Fish Fear Me” Wonder.
| Fish | Location | Rod |
| Masu | Upper River | First Rod |
| Wakasagi | Lower River, Goddess Pond | First Rod |
| Scad | Ocean | First Rod |
| Blackmouth Bass | Turtle Pond | First Rod |
| Spotted Char | Upper River | Copper Rod |
| Calamari | Ocean | Copper Rod |
| Red Sea Bream | Ocean | Copper Rod |
| Yamada | Lower River, Turtle Pond | Silver Rod |
| Salmon | Lower River, Goddess Pond | Silver Rod |
| Ahi | Ocean | Silver Rod |
| King Salmon | Upper River | Gold Rod |
| Eel | Lower River | Gold Rod |
| Arowana | Goddess Pond, Turtle Pond | Gold Rod |
| Lobster | Ocean | Gold Rod |
Non-Fish Catches
There are three special item catches that can only be caught with the Goddess Fishing Rod and therefore can only be caught after at least year 4. Each one comes with a self-titled achievement and an unlocked Wonder.
The Golden Axe
This Golden Axe is caught from the Goddess Pond. Catching it will unlock the “True of Heart” wonder.
The Legendary Sword
This is caught from the Ocean. Catching it will unlock the “The Chosen One” wonder.
The Message In The Bottle
This is caught from the Ocean. Catching it will unlock the “I’ll Never Tell” wonder.
I’m very sure that the fish you get with the golden rod are renamed lol. I got the “lobster” from the ocean, but its named “Langouste”
Hi! I caught a Large Amur Catfish in Turtle pond using a copper fishing pole!
oh my gosh I have no idea how I missed the catfish, I was sure I had it!
Hi, I never maxed my friendship with Gary because I didn’t know he would stop accepting gifts. Is there any other way to increase his friendship or did I just flub my chance at getting the goddess rod?
you haven’t missed your chance, you can still raise his friendship by opening your shop at the plaza and sell him things. He is around the plaza around 2-3 pm on days Van isn’t in town (so every day except the 3th and 8th). It goes relatively quickly. As far as I know it doesn’t matter what you sell him it will increase his friendship by the same amount. You can sell him 3 items per day before he stops buying things.
That’s a perfect solution with selling things in your shop stall. You can boost friendship points a bit by choosing the sale price option with the slight discount, the “_ for you” choice. Just keep an eye on when he’s near the shop stall & open it up for him as often as possible, you should definitely be able to get it by the time the Goddess Rod would be available!
I just reached year 3 and he is giftable again! So don’t waste a bunch of time on the shop method, just start giving him fish and herbs in year 3, you’ll have plenty of time to max him.
Fished up a Huge Bonytongue in the Goddess Pond