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.
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 Pondis 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 a Steam Achievement and the “Fish Fear Me” Wonder.
- Masu – Upper River
- Wakasagi – Lower River, Goddess Pond
- Scad – Ocean
- Blackmouth – Bass Turtle Pond
- Spotted Char – Upper River
- Calamari – Ocean
- Red Sea Bream – Ocean
- Yamada Lower – River, Turtle Pond
- Salmon Lower – River, Goddess Pond
- Ahi – Ocean
- King Salmon – Upper River
- Eel Lower – River
- Arowana Goddess – Pond, Turtle Pond
- Lobster – Ocean
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 Steam 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.
