I have been fishing non-stop and I have caught everything but this silly stringfish! I know they're in season and in the river, but what size are they and what times do they come out? Please, It's the last fish one of my characters needs... and it's the final fish for the museum.

I caught one a few days ago.  it was a really big shadow - the biggest one I've seen in the river since I started playing on release day.  the "encyclopedia" thing on the game [where it lists the fish you've caught..] says that it's 60 in.  I can't remember what time I caught it, though.

Hey just to let you know I literally JUST got one.

About 5 minutes after reading this because I didn't know how to catch it either.

yeah, it's big, the biggest shadow in the rivers this time of year, and I caught it at 18:56 AA:WW time >_<!

I caught one this morning before 6am.

As the others said, it'll be the biggest shadow in the river.  

I've caught three total.  One yesterday was at 7 PM and one this morning was at 8AM.  
The first one I caught was last week, and was donated to the museum, forget the time though.

I don't know how helpful this is but the Prima guide lists the Stringfish as being out in the morning or evening.

I caught mine in the evening, probably around 8pm.

And yes, it's huge compared to the other fish in the river.

Nikki

I've gotten three so far myself, and only saw the shadow when I wasnt fishing.  I was just walking around or had just come out of the house from starting the game, there he was!  They do like the bridges, and often hang out underneath them.

The Stringfish shadow looks kind of like a Sea Bass in the river.  Both it and the Pike are close to the same size shadow and both have been rather picky when it came to me catching them!  Good luck on your search for the elusive Stringfish!  

I think the shadow is bigger than a pike, you cant mistake it. i caught mine in the evening around 7-730pm almost a week ago.

I've only ever caught, and even seen them, when it was snowing out. My total is only 3, though, so I don't know if that means anything.

I saw what was probably one, the shadow was bigger than the pike - hands down the biggest one I've seen since 11/22 when I started the game - but the fool thing got scared by the waterfall... it RAN AWAY!

The shadow is the same size as a pike, and this size is bigger than a sea bass, the same size as a tuna shadow.  There is no trick to catching them because they are easy to catch. There is only luck when it comes to one generating in the game. If they follow the same timing as previous game versions, they'll be available between 4 p.m. and 9 a.m.  In my game, at least, more seem to generate when it's snowing but even so I've only caught two or three.

Thanks guys! I'll keep fishing away. I'll keep ya'll posted on my progress.

I know this won't help you at this moment in time but I've always found that I have better luck catching the rarer fish for my museum on Fishing Tournament days. The game has to generate more fish and a variety for the tournament so just make sure you fish for a few hours on those days.

I've caught 2 so far, 1 to the museum and 1 to nook for 15000 bells. I caught both in the same evening within 20 minutes of each other. I  spent 2 hours fishing last night however and the biggest thing I caught was a sea bass, no tuna or stringfish Which I'm desperate to stockpile as I want to enter one into the fishing tournament on Sunday as I'm out most of the day visiting people before xmas and dropping presents off.

Argh!

I sold one to Sydney for 22,000 bells after I rejected Clyde's offer of pastel-dot rug. I find the villager is the best way to sell rare fish because they pay more than Tom Nook.

That’s true. Villagers will usually buy at a premium to Nooks prices.  They will also try and rip you off when they sell you fish or bugs.  If you play for long enough you will find that they will try and sell it back to you for a heft mark up.

For example I sold Tank an Olive Flounder for just over 1000 bells and later on he tried to sell it back to me for over 4 times what he had paid for it.

>> I sold one to Sydney for 22,000 bells after

Not to go too off topic but...

In the days leading up to the Flea Market keep those fish at home. You can sell them to townies for 2x to 2.5x Nook's buy price.

Ex. a stringfish sells for 15k to Nook. A townie could go as high as 30k to 37,500 bells depending on which townie "type" is buying (fashonista will pay less, sporty will pay more).

Of course - The first fish caught *always* goes to the museum.

I've caught several Stringfish so far. One day last week I caught 4 in one day. They're about the size of a sea bass (in width) and tuna (in length). That's kind of what the shadow looks like in the water.

You catch them in the river and they're usually near a waterfall or a bridge. I've caught them in the late evening hours and very early morning hours (like around 5:00 AM).

They generally nibble 5 times before that last long tug and you can pull them in. They're a lot easier to catch than a tuna.

If your house has good feng shui on both the East (red) and West (yellow) walls, your chances of catching rare fish will improve greatly because better feng shui creates more opportunities to catch the rarer fish.

On your East wall, try putting a red snapper, red roses, and red tulips there before you go out fishing. On your West wall, try putting seven 1000 bell bags along the entire wall.

This sounds silly, but it does really help to boost your feng shui while you're fishing. Then when you're done, you can remove the extra items.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the advice Ellie!  I will have to try that on my next fishing outing in Cary and see if I can't snag some more of those rare fish!  

I caught one this morning around 5:50 am.

I caught one the other morning while searching for Opals key.  I'm leery since it's my 1st, but it was an easy fish to catch for me.  Much easier than Fossil Fishy who still eludes me.

drew

Yep, Drew, that's why I say the stringfish aren't hard to catch at all. Once they're on your hook, they pretty much stay there.  They've been that way through all three games, which makes them one of my favorites. I only wish I would find more of them in CF.

That was the thing worrying me, was ever finding one.  

I was suprised it took this long.  Maybe that's how they balance out the bell value?  They are so rare, that even tho they are easy to catch, Tom still pays well for them?  

drew

Apparently. Some of the other more rare fish like the tuna are definitely trickier to catch but I've seen quite a few more of them. I think I've only caught two or three stringfish in CF.  Of course I haven't actually had time to devote hours of stalking the river for them at a single time, either. It seems, though, like they're much rarer than in WW where I usually catch one per day, even if I only play for an hour or so. Once in a while I won't catch one but usually on those days I catch a couple of tuna so it all evens out.

If a flea market day is close, I much prefer saving fish like that and selling them to villagers than to Nook. In my WW game I have one room with mainly junk and fish and all my other three characters have several stringfish in their pockets for the next FMD.  We don't actually have another FMD in CF until the end of January, so I'm hoping during January to be able to catch some to save for FMD.

I tend to think more in the lines of long term when it comes to Animal Crossing. What is worth 15,000 bells today could be worth close to 45,000 if I exercise a little bit of patience.