Why am I not getting any fish?

[Tom Nook (he/him)]

Ive spent most of this year trying to do my fish bundles, but I'm never getting any fish. I'm level 7, use a fiberglass pole and normal bait. Out of 100 catches, maybe 5 of them are fish. I've spent a good amount googling for specific fish, when and where, I'm just getting trash no matter what I do. Please help :(

EDIT: I'm a complete moron. This was an issue of my own making. I downloaded fishing made easy suite mod to help me with fishing because honestly, I hate the fishing mini game. It has a setting to "exclude fish from minigame" which I assumed was skipping the minigame. This just meant that I wouldnt be getting that fish when fishing, essentially. Thank you to everyone who gave me tips and advice. Regardless of my own stupidity, I learned a lot!

[BirbNotBird]

Did you check the luck of your day? Bad luck day means too many trash and good luck is opposite, at least to my own observations.

[Tom Nook (he/him)]

Originally posted by - EMPTY -:

You unlocked the catch 25 and 100 fish achievements the last 2 days.
Concerning

How is that concerning? I have a bunch of crab pots around and they're doing amazing, but doesn't help me towards the remaining fish I need for the bundles :(

[Buffmania]

If your bobber hits too close to shore, you catch more trash. Try eating food that increases your fishing skill. IIRC, if you hook a fish that's too powerful compared to your skill you'll end up with trash. Some areas such as your farm and the mine fishing pools have higher trash rates.

[Tom Nook (he/him)]

Originally posted by BirbNotBird:

Did you check the luck of your day? Bad luck day means too many trash and good luck is opposite, at least to my own observations.

Yes, I've tried with both bad luck and good luck but it doesn't seem to make much of a difference. I downloaded the fishing made easy suite just to toggle off trash, but now I'm just getting algae. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. Is there a better fishing pole or bait I could be using? This darn chub eludes me!

[Tom Nook (he/him)]

Originally posted by Buffmania:

If your bobber hits too close to shore, you catch more trash. Try eating food that increases your fishing skill. IIRC, if you hook a fish that's too powerful compared to your skill you'll end up with trash. Some areas such as your farm and the mine fishing pools have higher trash rates.

Oh thats a good advice, I'll try that. Appreciate it!

[dalgo]

I fish the mountain lake below the mines (from that little one tile peninsula by the bridge) and hardly ever catch trash. In fact my recycling machines are seriously under employed.

Your fishing level and tackle are fine, as mentioned cast as far out as possible (MAX or close to it).

[Útost Alronbem]

Originally posted by - EMPTY -:

You unlocked the catch 25 and 100 fish achievements the last 2 days.
Concerning

These count non-fish (and presumably non-trash) successful catches, man.
I. e. vanilla game will give an achievement if you'll lift up all seaweed in the ocean.

[Tom Nook (he/him)]

Originally posted by DrinkFromTheCup:

Originally posted by - EMPTY -:

You unlocked the catch 25 and 100 fish achievements the last 2 days.
Concerning

These count non-fish (and presumably non-trash) successful catches, man.
I. e. vanilla game will give an achievement if you'll lift up all seaweed in the ocean.

This is exactly what happened. I struggled with fishing so I overcompensated with crab pots, not to mention all the other stuff I did manage to fish up. It was a strange achievement to get for sure lol

[Tom Nook (he/him)]

Originally posted by dalgo:

I fish the mountain lake below the mines (from that little one tile peninsula by the bridge) and hardly ever catch trash. In fact my recycling machines are seriously under employed.

Your fishing level and tackle are fine, as mentioned cast as far out as possible (MAX or close to it).

This was very good advice, I got the fish I needed there. Thanking you :D

[collet]

That fishing rod you said you're using only catches easier fish if I'm not mistaken.. try using the normal one or the iridium one:)

[JVC]

If you've got fishing level 7, buy the iridium rod as soon as you can. It unlocks at fishing level 6 and is much better than the previous tiers.

[OrganizationOatmeal]

I know you saw this resolved lmao but if you want to skip the fishing minigame and want to get fish -- CJB Cheats allows you to insta-catch.

[aY227]

LOL, I saw this post and problem looked really weird so I subbed - totally worth it xD

[Tom Nook (he/him)]

Originally posted by collet:

That fishing rod you said you're using only catches easier fish if I'm not mistaken.. try using the normal one or the iridium one:)

I did end up getting the iridium and now Im having a much easier time fishing, thank you!

[Tom Nook (he/him)]

Originally posted by OrganizationOatmeal:

I know you saw this resolved lmao but if you want to skip the fishing minigame and want to get fish -- CJB Cheats allows you to insta-catch.

I don't have the self restraint to have CJB Cheats running in my game. I use mostly QoL mods and try to keep the game changing mods to a minimum. I will not be missing the fishing minigame lmao