Fishing is a recreation that is commonly seen in thePokémon world.

In core series games

Fishing is a way to use a fishing rod tocatchwild Pokémon in the water. In fact, some Pokémon can only be caught by using a fishing rod.

Fishing rods

From GenerationI toVI, there are three different fishing rods: theOld Rod,Good Rod, andSuper Rod. These fishing rods can be used in almost any body of water. Each fishing rod allows the player to encounter different Pokémon. In theKanto andJohto games, each one is given out by aFishing Brother. The Good Rod normally allows encountering higher level Pokémon than the Old Rod, and the Super Rod normally allows encountering higher level Pokémon than the Good Rod.

Generation V includes only the Super Rod, which is given out byLooker^BW orCedric Juniper^B2W2 during the post-game. FromGeneration VII onward, there is only one rod, theFishing Rod. In these games, each location only has one set of fishing encounters, rather than three. Unlike the earlier rods, the Fishing Rod can only be used in designated fishing spots. Games set inAlola haveLana grant the player the rod after her trial, while inPokémon Sword and Shield, the Rod is obtained automatically at the start of the game.

Catching Pokémon

Generation I

InGeneration I, fishing is simply a matter of standing next to water and using the rod. The Old Rod will always land awild Pokémon and start abattle. The Good Rod has a 2/3 chance of landing nothing each time the player uses it, while the Super Rod has a 1/2 chance.^[1] If the rod catches nothing, players can cast it out again. The player can only fish from land, not whileSurfing.

Generation II

InGeneration II, fishing functionally works the same as inGeneration I.^[2]

While there are many locations in which the player can fish, there are only 10 distinct fishing encounter tables. These locations share fishing encounter tables with each other.

• Cherrygrove City,Olivine City,Cianwood City,Cerulean City^GS,Dark Cave (B2F),Route 34,Route 40,Route 14* andRoute 19
• New Bark Town,Olivine Port,Pallet Town,Vermilion City,Cinnabar Island,Route 41,Route 27,Route 26,Route 20,Route 21
• Dark Cave,Union Cave,Slowpoke Well,Mt. Mortar,Tohjo Falls,Mt. Silver Cave,Cerulean Gym^GS,Route 42,Route 24,Route 25,Route 9,Route 10
• Violet City,Ecruteak City,Blackthorn City,Viridian City,Ruins of Alph,Ilex Forest,Route 30,Route 31,Route 35,Route 43,Route 44^C,Route 28,Mt. Silver,Route 22,Route 6
• Dragon's Den
• Route 45
• Route 32*,Route 12,Route 13
• Route 44*^GS
• Lake of Rage andFuchsia City
• Whirl Islands

Generation III

Starting withGeneration III, the fishing mechanic becomes more complex, as theplayer must pay attention and confirm as soon as the rod hooks a Pokémon, or else it will get away. A series of ellipses appear prior to the text "Oh! A bite!", which is when the player should press the A button exactly once. InPokémon Ruby, Sapphire, andEmerald, this requires a series of confirmations when using better rods, and the Pokémon will also get away if the player presses A or B at the wrong time.Generation III also introduces a feature wherePokémon Trainers can fish off the back of asurfing Pokémon, which may be required to catchFeebas. This also makes fishing onRoute 4 possible.

In Pokémon Emerald, when the player casts any of the three fishing rods, the game generates a random integer and checks whether it is even or odd, resulting in a value of either 0 or 1 respectively; if the value is 1, the player gets a bite on the rod, meaning the chance of getting a bite is 50% by default. However, if the first Pokémon in the player's party has the AbilitySuction Cups orSticky Hold, an additional check is performed before the default check, during which a random integer between 0 and 99 is generated; if this integer is greater than 14, the player gets a bite, giving the check a success rate of 85%. The chance of both of these checks failing is 0.15 * 0.5 = 0.075, or 7.5%. Therefore, the overall chance of getting a bite with Suction Cups or Sticky Hold is 92.5%.

If the first Pokémon of a player's party has the AbilityHustle,Pressure, orVital Spirit, there is a 50% chance that the Pokémon the player fishes up will be the highest possible level. Since Pokémon that have been fished up are not generated until after the player has confirmed a bite, the AbilitiesIntimidate andKeen Eye have no effect when fishing in Emerald.^[3]

Generation IV

InGeneration IV, when theplayer uses the rod, an exclamation mark-like sign can pop up above the player, noting that they should push the A button to reel in the Pokémon they've encountered and start the battle. As withGeneration III, the Pokémon will go away if the player takes too long.

Each of the three rods has a different base rate of getting a bite when it is used.^[4] The Old, Good, and Super Rods have base rates of 25%, 50%, and 75% respectively, with the exceptions of the following cases:

• OnRoute 222 inPokémon Diamond and Pearl, the Old, Good, and Super Rods have base encounter rates of 45%, 70%, and 95% respectively.
• In the two fishing spots onVictory Road inPokémon Platinum, the Old, Good, and Super Rods have base encounter rates of 25%, 55%, and 75% respectively.
• In theSafari Zone inPokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, all three rods have a 100% encounter rate.

In Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum,Suction Cups andSticky Hold do not increase the probability of bites, due to a typo in the function that applies Ability-based multipliers to the encounter rate.^[5] This was fixed in HeartGold and SoulSilver, where if the first Pokémon in the player's party has either of these Abilities, the base chances for each rod to get a bite are doubled, to a maximum of 100% for a guaranteed bite.

In HeartGold and SoulSilver, the exclamation point will occasionally appear above thewalking Pokémon instead of above the player's sprite. Also in HeartGold and SoulSilver, the odds of getting a bite are impacted by thefriendship of the player's walking Pokémon, with a high friendship resulting in the chance of a bite being greatly increased. At 99 friendship or lower, the boost is 0%; upon reaching a friendship of 100, 150, 200, and 250, the boost is 20%, 30%, 40%, and 50% respectively. This boost is applied before the bite chance is doubled by Suction Cups or Sticky Hold.^[6][7]

Generation V

InGeneration V, the Old and Good Rods are no longer available, only providing theplayer with a Super Rod to use for fishing. Additionally,rippling water can sometimes appear in these games, and fishing in a ripple changes the Pokémon that can be caught. For example, evolved Pokémon such asMilotic andPoliwrath can be caught directly in the wild, but only by fishing in rippling water.

The base chance of getting a bite with the Super Rod in these games is 50%, except when fishing inCastelia Sewers (30%), or inRoute 17,Route 21, orP2 Laboratory (80% each). Leading with a Pokémon that hasSuction Cups orSticky Hold doubles these chances, up to a maximum of 100%.

Generation VI

InGeneration VI, fishing mechanics remain mostly unchanged, with the removal of rippling water and the addition of consecutive fishing. The Old and Good Rods return in this Generation.

Consecutive fishing describes reeling in the same Pokémon in the same area repeatedly. Hooking multiple Pokémon in a row increases the chances of hooking aShiny Pokémon, reaching a maximum chance of approximately 1% for a streak of 20 or more Pokémon. The game increases the chances of finding a Shiny Pokémon by generating extrapersonality values in an attempt to find one that results in a Shiny Pokémon, with the number of attempts depending on the size of the current streak. For every Pokémon added to the streak up to 20 Pokémon, the game will make two extra attempts to find a Shiny personality value; i.e., the number of attempts at any given point in the streak is1 + 2 * streak_size, and caps at a maximum of 41 attempts when the streak is at least 20 Pokémon long. This effect stacks with theShiny Charm's effect. Thus, with a streak of 20 Pokémon or more, the chance of finding a Shiny Pokémon is capped at1 - (4095/4096)^41 (roughly 1%) without the Shiny Charm, and1 - (4095/4096)^43 (roughly 1.04%) with the Shiny Charm.^[8]

The player is allowed to defeat, catch or simply run away from any encounters found this way without the chain breaking. The only ways to break the chain are by not reeling in any Pokémon or by exiting the area. InPokémon X and Y, it is possible to check the longest fishing chain performed by the player by talking to a Fisherman onRoute 16.

The base chance of hooking a Pokémon is 49%. Fishing near tiles that cannot be traversed with Surf will raise the chances of hooking Pokémon, with each side (north, south, east, or west) around the space where the bobber lands that cannot be traversed with Surf increasing the chance of hooking a Pokémon by 20%. This does not count the tile the player occupies or water tiles occupied by other Trainers. Additionally, fishing during themorning or evening increases the chance of hooking a Pokémon by 20%. Leading with a Pokémon that hasSuction Cups orSticky Hold doubles these chances, up to a maximum of 100%.^[9]

Generation VII

InGeneration VII, the player can no longer fish in any body of water. Instead, in certain areas, there are piles of rocks at the bottom of the water where the player can fish to find Pokémon. Sometimes when the player reels in their line, they may find an item instead of a Pokémon. In each area with fishing spots, at least one of the rock piles will have bubbles rising from it to the surface, and if the player fishes at that spot, they will be able to more commonly find Pokémon that would be rare at the other spots. As soon as the player reels in their line after they find any Pokémon or item from such spots, the bubbles will disappear until the player re-enters the area. The bubbles will also disappear if the player moves too quickly near the spot, if they move over it, or if they reel in their rod too quickly. Once the bubbles disappear, the encounter rate returns to that of other fishing spots.

In theAlola region, there are fishing spots atSeaward Cave,Kala'e Bay,Melemele Sea,Paniola Town,Brooklet Hill,Akala Outskirts,Malie Garden,Secluded Shore^SM,Seafolk Village,Poni Wilds^SM,Poni Breaker Coast,Vast Poni Canyon,Poni Meadow,Poni Gauntlet, andRoutes7,8,9,13,14, and15.

The different types of fishing rods are also all replaced by a single "Fishing Rod" in Generation VII. This Fishing Rod cannot be used from the Bag, but instead, when the player approaches a fishing spot, the game prompts the player with the option to press the A button to use the Fishing Rod. Some fishing spots may be accessible from land, while others may only be accessible from water. If the player wishes to fish at a spot in the middle of water, they can only do so using thePoké RideLapras Paddle.

Generation VIII

InPokémon Sword and Shield, the player receives a Fishing Rod at the start of the game when they equip their Bag.

Unlike prior games in the series, the player cannot use the fishing rod from the Bag menu—instead, there are rippling spots on bodies of water that can be interacted with by pressing the A Button. If the player presses the A Button again in time, the Pokémon will be reeled in and the battle will begin.

The Fishing Rod only comes in one model, which is obtained at the start of the game. It cannot be upgraded like in previous games of the series. The area where the player is fishing will determine what type of Pokémon is caught and the rarity percentages are determined in the same way as normaltall grass encounters.

Fishing at the same spot repeatedly can increase chances of encounteringBrilliant Pokémon.

Generation IX

As ofPokémon Scarlet and Violet, fishing is not present inGeneration IX.

Appearance

Old Rod model from Generation VI	Good Rod model from Generation VI	Super Rod model from Generation VI	Fishing Rod model from Generation VII	Fishing Rod model from Generation VIII

In the spin-off games

Hey You, Pikachu!

InHey You, Pikachu!, the Gone Fishing! missions allowPikachu to fish for Pokémon of various sizes, from three different fishing holes. The Pokémon available to fish in this game are:Magikarp,Goldeen,Seaking,Tentacool,Tentacruel,Staryu,Starmie,Horsea,Seadra,Krabby,Kingler,Poliwag,Poliwhirl,Dratini, and eventuallySquirtle, who only becomes available after catching one of every other Pokémon. If Pikachu catches six or more Pokémon in one day the player will be rewarded with a Fishing Flag.

Advanced Pico Beena series

InPokémon Diamond & Pearl: Search for Pokémon! Adventure in the Maze!, there is a minigame whereAsh Ketchum is fishing forWater-type Pokémon.

Pokémon Channel

Main article:Pokémon Channel

Pokémon Channel features a fishing mini-game in the Secret Cove of theCobalt Coast area, where Water-type Pokémon can be caught by Pikachu.

PokéPark Fishing Contest DS

Main article:PokéPark Fishing Contest DS

PokéPark Fishing Contest DS is a game focused on fishing for Pokémon. Points are earned for the size, rarity, and species of the caught Pokémon. Up to five Pokémon can be stored at once, and high scores could be seen atPokémon Centers, while the game was still available for download.

Pokémon: Magikarp Jump

Main article:Pokémon: Magikarp Jump

Pokémon: Magikarp Jump is a game where player fishes and trains generations of Magikarp to jump as high as they can and win Magikarp jumping leagues. Magikarp are fished withOld Rods, with the player being given increasingly better variants of Old Rod (So-So, Good, Great, Rare, Pro's, and Supreme) as they progress that can fish new Magikarp patterns.

In animation

Pokémon the Series

Many episodes ofPokémon the Series featureAsh andhis friends fishing. Rather than using bait, fishing lures withPokémon designs are used.

Pokémon the Series: The Beginning

In the first episode,Pokémon - I Choose You!,Misty was shown fishing shortly before Ash runs in to her.

At theSafari Zone, a fishing rod is distributed with theSafari Balls, as seen inEP035.

Pokémon the Series: Gold and Silver

Ash and Misty both participated in aSeaking Catching Competition inHook, Line, and Stinker.

Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire

InWhiscash and Ash, a fisherman namedSullivan believed that the secret to catching theWhiscash he was looking for, was finding the right lure. InOn Olden Pond, Ash and his friends visited a lake, which had used to be a popular fishing resort. Ash,Brock, andMay tried fishing from the lake, with Ash eventually hooking up aCrawdaunt. Ash attempted to battle the Crawdaunt with hisCorphish, but the Ruffian Pokémon was soon defeated by its evolved form, which then proceeded to destroy the group's loaned fishing rods. It was later revealed that the Crawdaunt belonged to a man namedMr. Saridakis, who had once tried to purchase the lake in order to build an amusement park over it, butTiffany, the owner of the lake, had refused to sell it. As a result, he had unleashed his Crawdaunt to the lake to scare off the people who came to fish there. After being saved from drowning by aDragonair living in the lake, Mr. Saridakis decided to cancel his plans.Misty has a collection of lures, including aspecial lure based on herself that she believes is the best. She sent it toAsh as a gift inThe Unbeatable Lightness of Seeing. Ash used this lure inBuizel Your Way Out of This to try to catch a powerfulBuizel.

Pokémon the Series: Black & White

InFacing Fear with Eyes Wide Open!,Cilan used his fishing skills to catch aStunfisk that was preventing Ash andOshawott from retrieving plants at the bottom of a lake to cure theirpoisoned Pokémon. Like others before him, Cilan uses a fishing lure based on himself. InA Fishing Connoisseur in a Fishy Competition!, Cilan showed his fishing skills again by catching aBasculin inTeam Rocket's fake fishing competition. InBWS01, Cilan was seen using his fishing rod once again, this time hooking up a wildGyarados. Later in the episode, he used his rod in an attempt to pull Gyarados back to its home lake, but was disturbed byAmer and his roboticQwilfish. ASuper Rod debuted inClimbing the Tower of Success! as the itemIris had to find for theWishing Bell Festival scavenger hunt. InBest Wishes Until We Meet Again!, Cilan mentioned thatMr. Briney fromDewford Town was going to host theOld Rod Fishing Rally soon, prompting him to depart forJohto in order to participate in the said competition.

Pokémon the Series: XY

InGoing for the Gold!, Ash and his friends met a fisherman namedRodman, who was trying to fish up aShinyMagikarp with a Magikarp-shaped lure. Ash,Serena, andClemont decided to try fishing too, with Ash giving the inexperienced Serena instructions of how to do it correctly. While fishing, Serena hooked up aCorsola, which she tried to battle with herFennekin, but it simply hid itself behind Serena when Corsola tried to useWater Gun on it, causing the Coral Pokémon to get away. Afterwards, Rodman let Ash and his friends keep the fishing rods he had loaned them. The same rods reappeared inAn Undersea Place to Call Home!, where Ash used one of them to hook up aSkrelp. A fishing competition was a part of thePokémon Summer Camp, as shown inDay Three Blockbusters!. The Pokémon hooked up during the competition included Ash'sAlomomola, Serena'sStaryu, Clemont'sCorphish,Tierno's Magikarp,Shauna'sTentacool, andTrevor'sWailord.Bonnie also participated the competition, but her possible catch wasn't shown.

InXYS06, Clemont and Bonnie participated in a fishing competition held inLumiose City. Clemont intended to use hishigh-tech fishing rod to win, but Cilan, also taking part in the competition, commented him on his way of approach to fishing. With Cilan's advice, Bonnie managed to reel in aClawitzer, which, due to it then proceeding to attack them, was driven away by Cilan's Stunfisk, by which time the competition already ended. Later in the episode, Clemont and Cilan combined Clemont's rod and Cilan's fishing skills to save Bonnie from a runaway subway cart.

Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon

InYo, Ho, Ho! Go, Popplio!,Professor Kukui took thePokémon School class on a fishing lesson, which he gaveLana to lead. Lana, being the most skilled fisher of the group, managed to fish up many different Water Pokémon, while Ash andKiawe were having trouble finding anything at all, andSophocles was too busy programming his high-tech rod to even try.Lillie, however, managed to surprise everyone by hooking up aMilotic, but her line snapped before she could reel the Tender Pokémon in, causing it to get away.

Team Rocket was seen fishing inThe Sun, the Scare, the Secret Lair! while attempting to catch new Alolan Pokémon, but to no avail.Jessie used a lure based onEkans,James's based onKoffing, andMeowth's based on himself.

Fishing was a central plot element inBig Sky, Small Fry!, where both Ash and Lana as well as Team Rocket tried to fish up theTotem Pokémon ofBrooklet Hill. While Team Rocket was taken away byBewear in the middle of their fishing, Lana managed to hook up the Totem Pokémon, aSchool FormWishiwashi, almost immediately, and proceeded to battle it. She was eventually able to defeat the Totem Pokémon, receiving aWaterium Z as a reward.

Fishing once again played a notable role inThe One That Didn't Get Away!. While Ash's classmates were fishing on a reef and managed to reel in Pokémon such asBruxish,Luvdisc,Pyukumuku, andCloyster, Ash and Lana came across apoisonedKyogre chased by ahunter. Lana managed to use her fishing skills to feed Kyogre someAntidote and subsequently to help calm down its rage.

Pokémon Journeys: The Series

InA Little Rocket R & R!, Ash andGoh joined a group of fishers at theResort Area in order to find a mysterious Pokémon said to hide in a local lake. In the process, Gohcaught himself aGoldeen and aMagikarp that he and Ash reeled in, respectively. They eventually managed to also reel in the mysterious Pokémon, which turned out to be agiantMagikarp, which Goh also succeeded in catching.

InOcto-Gridlock at the Gym!, Goh attempted to fish while on a boat headed forCianwood City, but he was unsuccessful. He later revealed that he had caught aChinchou while fishing at Cianwood City.

In a flashback inWhittle While You Work!, a youngCynthia was shown reeling in aFeebas, which would later become her Milotic.

InA Fated Face-Off!, Ash and Misty had a fishing battle to try to decide which of them would get to catchClauncher. When neither of them succeeded in reeling Clauncher in, they instead decided to have aPokémon battle to settle the issue.

Pokémon Horizons: The Series

Ludlow is often seen fishing duringPokémon Horizons: The Series, as first demonstrated inFor Sure! 'Cause Sprigatito's with Me!. He tends to do this even when there's nothing to fish, either due to theBrave Olivine being on land or too high up in the air.

InFlying Pikachu, Rising Higher and Higher!,Friede was shown fishing with Ludlow during a flashback, hooking up aSlowbro.

Pokémon Origins

Fishing was featured a couple of times duringPokémon Origins.

Red obtained anOld Rod from the Vermilion Fishing Guru inFile 2: Cubone, and aSuper Rod from the Silence Bridge Fishing Guru inFile 3: Giovanni. Soon after obtaining the latter, he was seen using it to capture himself aPsyduck.

Red was also seen fishing with the Super Rod inFile 4: Charizard, although he did so merely to get some time to think aboutthe mysterious Pokémon seen inCerulean Cave.

In the manga

Pokémon Adventures

Yellow is often seen fishing, having been taught how to use a rod by her uncle,Wilton.

Pokémon Pocket Monsters

TheOld andSuper Rods have appeared inPokémon Pocket Monsters.

This section is astub. You canhelp Bulbapedia byexpanding it.

• 
  Old Rod
• 
  Super Rod

Artwork

Old Rod	Good Rod	Super Rod

Trivia

• InGeneration I, it is possible to fish in the bottom of the statues inGyms (except for theSaffron andCinnabar Gyms) or any room of theElite Four at theIndigo Plateau. However, when using theSuper Rod in any Gym or Elite Four room other thanCerulean Gym orLorelei's room, the game will say, "Looks like there's nothing here." This is because statues are programmed aswater tiles (which is why it is also possible toSurf on statues).

References

This item article is part ofProject ItemDex, aBulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on allitems.

• Articles with section stubs
• Pokémon world
• Game mechanics
• Methods of obtaining Pokémon