Pokemon Sword and Shield: How-to Fish

Our Pokemon Sword and Shield How-to Fish guide will walk you through the simple process of fishing in this brand new set of games! If you're looking for some quality water type Pokemon out in the wilds, then you can't do much better than tossing out a line and seeing what nibbles.

How-to Fish in Sword and Shield

In most Pokemon games you will eventually come across a fisherman that is very enthusiastic about fishing. This NPC will then give you a fishing rod, and you will then be able to cast it in any water and catch a Pokemon... which is usually a Magikarp! In these previous games you could also upgrade your fishing rod from old, good, and super! Now-a-days there's just a single fishing rod that you use to catch water type Pokemon.

Sword and Shield is a bit odd because you literally just start out with a Fishing Rod in your Key Items. There's not much tutorial to it, so I can see how it's a bit confusing to some. You can't really go fishing until you reach the Wild Area. Here you will start to see ripples in the water. Get close to these from the shore and press the A button. If you were close enough, you will then cast your fishing line into the water. Then you need to wait until you see an exclamation appear over your head:

Once you see that hit the A button again! If you hit the button in time you will engage in a battle against a water type Pokemon of some sort. The type of Pokemon you encounter are usually based on the area you are in when you are fishing. There's lots of different spots to fish in across the map! You can even fish in Motostoke, which is the first major city you come across after the Wild Area.

What About Wild Pokemon in the Water?

You might see some Pokemon swimming or flying over the water. You can't fishing for these ones or call them over to you from shore with your whistle. To engage in battle with these, you will need to obtain a bike and upgrade it to allow you to ride on water. You'll then be able to just run into them normally and hopefully catch one!