Animal Crossing Fishing Tourney Guide

In this post, we decided to tell you more about Animal Crossing Fishing Tourney which occurs several times per year and brings awesome rewards.

The Fishing Tourney is an event where you participate in catching fish. It happens in different seasons and through different Animal Crossing series:

• Animal Forest
• Animal Crossing: Population Growing
• Animal Forest e+
• Animal Crossing: Wild World
• Animal Crossing: City Folk
• Animal Crossing: New Leaf
• Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp
• Animal Crossing: New Horizons

While the principle of the fishing tourney remains the same across the series, each incarnation has different variations.

Winning the tourney awards trophies. In New Leaf, there are 3 trophies for the top 3 places and special fishing themed furniture to gain. In New Horizons, the player earns points for catching fish, with the points redeemable toward fishing swag items; three trophies can also be earned for high lifetime point totals.

First of all, each series has different timelines when Animal Crossing Fishing Tourney occurs:

• October to May (Animal Crossing: City Folk and Animal Crossing: New Leaf)
• Every Sunday in June and November (Animal Crossing or Animal Crossing: Population Growing)
• 2nd Saturday of January, April, July, and October (Animal Crossing: New Horizons)

Also, depending on the series you will meet special characters during the event. Chip in AC, AFe+, CF, NL, PC, Tortimer in Animal Crossing: Wild World, and C.J. in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

Below we will share notes from wiki about Fishing Tourney in different Animal Crossing series.

Fishing Tourney in Animal Crossing and Animal Forest e+

Summer Fishing Tourney

In Animal Crossing, in June, Chip the beaver will host a fishing tournament every Sunday, where the player can win furniture for record-breaking fish. Chip will give the player a prize for every fish they turn in to him that beats the previous record for the day, however, only fish from the bass family will count for the tourney. Any other fish the player gives him won’t count, but he’ll still take them if they agree. For each other fish, he’ll have some comments about how he likes to cook them.

Unlike in Wild World and City Folk, the player can actually see villagers participating in the tourney. The animals will wear fishing vests and have their bobbers in the water. However, the player will not see any villagers catch any fish.

Start with the smallest fish first in order to maximize the loot; if the player plans to fish on the day of the tourney, they should wake up early in the morning when the big fish are biting. However, fish caught before the tourney can also be turned over to Chip for prizes, so it’s a good idea to store fish in advance. If the player has the top record at the end of the day, they will receive a Redd or Lottery (*may require high Feng Shui) item as a gift in the mail. Also, talk to Tortimer at any time during the Tourney to receive the Angler Trophy.

Fall Fishing Tourney

The Fishing Tourney reappears every Sunday in November. All the info above is the same for this tourney, but this time Tortimer will give the player the Fishing Trophy after speaking to him.

	Recurrence
Date	Day	Month
1st	Sunday	June
2nd	Sunday	June
3rd	Sunday	June
4th	Sunday	June
1st	Sunday	November
2nd	Sunday	November
3rd	Sunday	November
4th	Sunday	November

Fishing Tourney in Animal Crossing: Wild World

Although the tournament starts at 12 P.M., the player can use any previously caught fish in it. Take the fish to Tortimer, who is outside of the Town Hall. If it is the biggest caught fish that day, the player will receive the prize of a random item. However, a villager may later submit a larger fish, so the player has to keep trying. If at 6 P.M. still have the largest fish caught, the player will win the Fish Trophy, which is mailed to them. If the player doesn’t have a fishing rod at the beginning, just talk to Tortimer for a free one. The shark would be the best one to submit to Tortimer because it is the biggest fish (17.6 feet on average). If it is winter, the best thing would be to submit a tuna, as sharks cannot be obtained in the winter months. A good technique would be to catch a shark and then save it until the fishing tourney arrives.

	Recurrence
Date	Day	Month
3rd	Saturday	January
4th	Sunday	February
3rd	Sunday	March
4th	Sunday	April
3rd	Sunday	May
2nd	Sunday	October
4th	Sunday	November
3rd	Sunday	December

Fishing Tourney in Animal Crossing: City Folk

In City Folk, there are two types of tourneys, with different fish to catch each time. Chip returns to the front of the Town Hall with his tent full of coolers, and is standing eagerly for contestants to bring in fish to be measured, after which he eats the player’s submission. Winning the tourneys will get the player a Gold or Silver Trophy, depending on which tourney they entered, and which will arrive by post the next morning. Additionally, the player will receive a piece of common furniture from Chip every time they beat a previous record.

During the tournaments held on the second Saturday of the month, any fish is accepted. The largest fish wins a Gold Trophy.

During the tournaments held on the third Saturday of the month, only specific fish will be accepted in the competition (although Chip will eat any type of fish handed to him). For each of those tourneys, the specific fish is chosen at random from a potential three each month. The prize is a Silver Trophy that Chip sends in the mail.

		Recurrence
Date	Day	Month	Fishes
3rd	Saturday	January	Dab, Horse Mackerel, Pond Smelt
2nd	Saturday	February	–
3rd	Saturday	March	Crucian Carp, Loach, Sea Bass
2nd	Saturday	April	–
3rd	Saturday	May	Black Bass, Red Snapper, Sea Bass
2nd	Saturday	October	–
3rd	Saturday	November	Black Bass, Carp, Horse Mackerel
2nd	Saturday	December	–

Fishing Tourney in Animal Crossing: New Leaf

Due to the new updates to the fishing mechanics, the player will automatically measure the height of the fish they catch upon catching them. The tourney begins at 9:00 AM and ends at 6:00 PM, with the player able to enter Chip’s tent in-between the times of 6:00 and 9:00 PM to watch or participate in the award ceremony. When the winners are announced here, the characters who are first, second, and third stand on a plinth, with other villagers looking on. The winners are then given either a Gold, Silver, or Bronze trophy depending on their rank, followed by everyone letting off party poppers to conclude the ceremony. This allows for a photo opportunity using the 3DS internal camera. The next day the winners of the tourney are given a mention on the Bulletin Board, congratulating them on their win.

The player receives random furniture each time they break the current record. If the record was broken with a fish especially big for its species, Chip will comment on this and give the player a Fishing Series item.

If the villagers place and win a trophy, they will receive a trophy item to display in their home or sell. If the player did not attend the ceremony, they can still receive their trophy if they won one the next day when it arrives in the post instead.

Fishing Tourney in Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp

In Pocket Camp, the Fishing Tourney is held at either Saltwater Shores or Lost Lure Creek. There are three to four Tourney fish to catch at each Tourney, but the types of fish that can be caught and count towards total-size goals change with every Tourney, and the Tourney fish available at one Tourney are no longer available after the Tourney ends nor at the next Tourney. Turning in the fish to the host will lead to them measuring the fish and rewarding the player for reaching certain total-size goals. There are other tasks regarding the amount of tourney and non-tourney fish caught as well, with rewards counting towards total measurements. The host of the Fishing Tourneys varies.

Fishing Tourney in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

In New Horizons, the Fishing Tourney is hosted by C.J. and held on the second Saturday of January, April, July, and October in both hemispheres. While C.J. is present on the island, he will also buy any other fish that the player wants to sell. Unlike his regular random appearances, he does not offer crafted models of specific fish provided by the player during the Fishing Tourney. C.J accepts tournament entries between 9 AM and 6 PM, and remains at his tent to buy fish and redeem tourney points for prizes until 8 PM. The first tourney of the day is free, but the player can participate in more tourneys until the deadline by paying an entry fee of 500 Bells for each one. Once a tourney round starts, all fish previously seen around the island will be reset, so fish will only start appearing after a round has started.

During the Fishing Tournaments, the player’s villagers will be seen fishing across town in fishing gear. Unlike New Leaf, they do not serve as competition and are not awarded trophies following the conclusion of the tournament. Some villagers will stay inside their homes during the duration of the event, having unique dialogue about their not participating if they are interacted with.

Note that during the 3 minute timer, Fishing Rods will not break, but will lose durability during the time given, and if the player catches a Fish during the final seconds of the timer with their Rod at the lowest durability, upon closing the initial text box, the player’s Fishing Rod will break. This also applies to Nets during the Bug-Off.

Fishing Tourney Scoring

In a departure from previous tourneys, the players will have 3 minutes to catch as many fish as they can. Every fish is valued at one point and can be sold or retrieved from the cooler at the end of the timer. The player will receive 2 bonus points for catching more than 3 fish. For playing co-op, if 5 fish are caught between all players on the island there will be an additional 5 points awarded to every player, even if they did not catch any fish. If you are playing on a friend‘s island, you will receive twice as many points.

Points earned from tourneys can be redeemed for fishing swag with C.J., with each swag item costing 10 points. There are a total of 13 items to collect, and the player will receive a different one until all 13 have been rewarded, after which subsequent prizes will be random repeats. In addition, after achieving a net 100 points, C.J. will mail a bronze fishing tourney trophy to the player’s home the next day, while 200 points awards a silver trophy and 300 points awards a gold trophy. C.J. will save any of the player’s unspent points for future fishing tourney days.

Fishing Tourney Prizes

Name	Price (Sell)	Source	Customize?
Fish pochette	210 Bells	C.J.	No
Fish-print tee	160 Bells	C.J.	No
Fish doorplate	90 Bells	C.J.	Yes
Fresh cooler	450 Bells	C.J.	No
Tackle bag	175 Bells	C.J.	No
Fish print	700 Bells	C.J.	Yes
Fish wand	1,500 Bells	C.J.	No
Fish drying rack	750 Bells	C.J.	Yes
Fish rug	375 Bells	C.J.	No
Fish umbrella	80 Bells	C.J.	No
Fishing-rod stand	300 Bells	C.J.	Yes
Marine pop wall	805 Bells	C.J.	No
Anchor statue	1,400 Bells	C.J.	Yes

Recurrence
Date	Day	Month
2nd	Saturday	January
2nd	Saturday	April
2nd	Saturday	July
2nd	Saturday	October

In every game of the series except Pocket Camp and New Horizons, it is possible to submit fish that were not caught during the tourney (such as sharks caught at the Island), yet still fulfill the tourney’s requirements (i.e. one type of fish only or all types of fish), making it very easy for the player to win if they plan ahead of time.

In City Folk, if the player does not have a fishing rod in their pockets when talking to Chip, he will offer to sell the player a fishing rod for 500 bells, so that they may participate in the event.

During the pre-release of New Horizons, the Fishing Tourney of March 2020 in Pocket Camp was hosted by Tom Nook, Timmy and Tommy. The event took place from March 12th, 2020 to March 19th, 2020.