At the very beginning of the game, I didn't have much trouble catching any fish: put the bobber in the water, wait for the fish to bite hard enough for the bobber to dip under the surface, press A. Not too complicated. However, in the few days since, I've had noticeably worse luck with my fishing: the fish will quite often escape when I attempt to reel it in, despite the fact that as far as I can tell, I'm not doing anything different. When I'm depending on fishing for my income to some extent, it can be a little frustrating.
Am I doing something wrong, or do fish just sometimes escape, even when you use the proper timing? Is there anything I can do to increase my success rate with fishing?
Best Answer
Fishing in Animal Crossing can be tricky sometimes, even for seasoned players. This is because it has gone through some subtle iterations, so the best "method" of fishing may not be the same across different AC games, and is often hotly debated online.
Informal consensus across previous games in the series is that it was preferable to rely on your other senses -- for example, listening to the sound of the bobber or feeling for the rumble of a bite in games that had it. It is easy to flinch or get distracted by the many things happening in the game's scene, and restricting some of that distraction may prove helpful. New Leaf doesn't support any sort of "rumble pack," so as far as this method is concerned you would be left to depend on sound. You can try this by closing your eyes, and holding down on A as soon as you hear the appropriate "bite" sound.
A more reliable technique is to note the "5 bite limit" of fish in Animal Crossing. They won't ever bite more than five times. If you're waiting for the fifth bite, then it may be better to have your eyes open to hold down A just as soon as the fish touches the bobber.
After you progress far enough in the game, you will have the opportunity to acquire a "silver" or "gold" fishing rod. These upgrades will make catching fish easier because they will bite down longer. Hopefully by the time you are eligible for those upgrades, your fishing prowess will make them unnecessary! Otherwise...
Silver Fishing Rod:
Gold Fishing Rod: