How to Catch a Shark in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

How to Catch a Shark in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Animal Crossing: New Horizons isn’t just about catching esoteric things like Wisp spirits or picking up transmitter parts for a comatose seagull who fell overboard out of what we reckon is drunkenness. No, it’s all about making money, actually, and some of the most lucrative ways to make money involve selling local flora and fauna. Enter our guide on how to catch a shark in Animal Crossing: New Horizons to make those big bucks. 

How Many Bells Are Sharks Worth?

So, you want to catch a shark in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Well, you’re going to need (on average) a ton of hours to kill, along with a bunch of luck. Sharks are rare for a reason – they sell for a whole ton – and as such, they’re correspondingly difficult to get a hold of.

Depending on which hemisphere your deserted island is in, it’s going to be more or less difficult for you to get a shark. We’ve listed Shark Seasons for the different hemispheres below, and currently, if you’re in the Northern hemisphere you’re out of luck if you’re not a time traveler:

• Southern hemisphere – December to March
• Northern hemisphere – June to September

If you want to catch particular sharks, we’ve got how much they sell for at Nook’s Cranny and also when during the day you’ll be able to find them. As they’re sharks, they’re always caught off the beach as they are sea-dwelling creatures, though you might end up lucking out and using your Nook Miles to head to an island with a bunch of sharks in the sea. Who knows!

1. Great white shark – 15,000 Bells – caught between 4 pm and 9 am
2. Hammerhead shark – 8,000 Bells – caught between 4 pm and 9am
3. Saw shark – 12,000 Bells – caught between 4 pm and 9 am 
4. Whale shark – 13,000 Bells – caught all day

You catch a shark in Animal Crossing: New Horizons much in the way that you catch any other fish. Throw your line out when you see their distinctive sharky silhouette (topped off by a fin) and pray that you’re fishing up a shark and not a suckerfish.

Sharks are large, so you want to keep the size of the fish’s sprite in mind as well and not just throw your lure in the pond for any old thing. When the shark bites and the lure sinks below the surface, press A to reel your line back in and collect your shark.

If you want a comprehensive table of what all the fauna is worth in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, check out this handy site but together by Twitter user Fugiman which details all the prices of the creatures and when they’re available to be caught.

Now that you’ve got our guide on how to catch a shark in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, it should be a little bit easier for you (if you have the luck at hand, that is). With all the different types of sharks kicking about, you would think that it’d be a little bit easier to actually get one within a couple of hours of trying but they’re actually few and far between.

As mentioned above, shark season differs between hemispheres, so don’t get too discouraged if you’re not able to get one natively. If you don’t have a copy of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, you can pick one up using this link from Amazon and support Prima Games at the same time.

Once you’ve got a copy of the game, head on over to our dedicated guides hub and check out the tips and tricks that we’ve prepared for Island Representatives like yourself:

• How to Catch the Cherry Salmon in Animal Crossing: New Horizons
• How to Upgrade Nook’s Cranny in Animal Crossing: New Horizons
• Who is Gonzo in Animal Crossing: New Horizons?