Fishing in Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life might not be the most lucrative pastime you can focus on in the game, but if you’re looking for a way to pass those rainy days where your crops don’t need watering, there are worse activities you can do. Here, we’ll run you through how to get the fishing rod, all fish and where to catch them, the different sizes they can come in, and how you know where a ‘lucky’ fishing spot is each and every day!
Unlocking the Fishing Rod in SoS: A Wonderful Life
The Fishing Rod can be purchased from Van for 500 Coins. Van is a traveling merchant that visits Forgotten Valley (your town) twice each month. The first time he’ll visit will be on the third day of Spring in Year 1.
While 500 coins may sound like a lot to get in the first three days of A Wonderful Life, you can easily rack this up by simply selling the milk from the cow Takakura gives you to get you started in your farming life. We also found picking the various flowers around town and then selling them to Van when he arrives in town on Day 3 was an easy way to rack up a few hundred Coins. The same method works for going to the mine, digging all day and selling items from here to Van, too.
Can You Upgrade the Fishing Rod?
Yes, you can upgrade the fishing rod by speaking to Van after catching a set amount of fish. Each upgrade requires you to catch 100 fish and increases with each upgrade. We’ve listed all upgrades you can purchase from Van below.
- Copper: Purchase the fishing rod and catch fish. The upgrade can be bought for 1,000 G.
- Silver: Buy the Copper fishing rod and catch a set amount of fish. The upgrade can be bought for 10,000 G.
- Gold: Buy the Silver fishing rod and catch a set amount of fishing (potentially 100). The upgrade can be bought for 50,000 G.
Fishing in Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life
To go fishing, select the Fishing Rod from your inventory and then press the Use button. This is Square on PlayStation, X on Xbox, and Y on Nintendo Switch.
Once your character has cast their line, you need to wait for a shadow of a fish to approach your float. They’ll bite a few times before the float disappears. When the float goes under the water and an exclamation mark appears, press the Use button again to reel the fish in.
Be careful not to press the Use button too soon as the fish is nibbling the line, otherwise you won’t catch it and you’ll need to try again.
Where to Catch All Fish in Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life
| Fishing Rod | Copper Fishing Rod | Silver Fishing Rod | Gold Fishing Rod | |
| Goddess Pond | Wakasagi | Wakasagi, Bucketmouth Bass | Wakasagi, Bucketmouth Bass, Rainbow Trout | Wakasagi, Bucketmouth Bass, Rainbow Trout, Bonytongue |
| Turtle Pond | Bucketmouth Bass | Bucketmouth Bass, Amur Catfish | Bucketmouth Bass, Amur Catfish, Stringfish | Bucketmouth Bass, Amur Catfish, Stringfish, Bonytongue |
| Upper River | Masu | Masu, Spotted Char | Masu, Spotted Char, Stringfish | Masu, Spotted Char, Stringfish, King Masu |
| Lower River | Wakasagi | Wakasagi, Bucketmouth Bass | Wakasagi, Bucketmouth Bass, Rainbow Trout | Wakasagi, Bucketmouth Bass, Rainbow Trout, Unagi |
| Beach | Scad | Scad, Calamari | Scad, Calamari, Ahi | Scad, Calamari, Ahi, Langouste |
You’ll notice that you can actually catch certain fish from various areas around the valley, depending on the rarity of fishing rod you have.
How to Get Bigger Fish in SoS: A Wonderful Life
Each of the different types of fish you can catch in Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life can come in three different sizes — Li’l, Large and Huge. For the most part, this is random whenever you cast your line out. However, as you’re exploring your town, keep an eye out for different animals nearby the different ponds and rivers, as this indicates that you’ll be ‘luckier’ when fishing here.
In the original version of the game, this meant that you’d be more likely to catch rarer, more valuable types of fish from that location. In our experience in Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life, these animals indicate that you’ve got a better chance of catching ‘Huge’ variants of each fish, which can be sold for more.
The animals to keep an eye out for are:
- Turtle: By Turtle Pond north of the beach.
- Yeti: By the Goddess Pond.
- Chihuahua: By the dig site.
As we find other animals lurking around the different areas of Forgotten Valley, we’ll update this section of the post.
Getting the Blessed Fishing Rod
The Blessed Fishing Rod can be obtained by completing a request for Gary after you’ve bought the Gold Fishing Rod from Van.
The request requires you to catch any ‘Huge’ fish. You’re more likely to catch any ‘Huge’ fish on a day when your luck is high. You can check your luck by watching the television channel with a heart icon in your house each day.
Hand a Huge fish over to Gary and he’ll give you the Blessed Fishing Rod. This rod allows you to fish up the the Golden Axe from the Goddess Pond, as well as a Message in a Bottle and a Blade of Legend from the beach/ sea. It also increases your chance of catching ‘Huge’ fish whenever you use it, which means you can make money from fishing!
Now that you’ve mastered fishing in Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life, we reckon you ought to take a gander at some of our other helpful guides below, including our take on whether the premium edition is worth your hard-earned Coins.
