Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a game designed to keep players engaged over many months, even when the game itself doesn’t move very quickly. One such example of this is the amount of rare fish, such as the Golden Trout, that players may have to search for for hundreds of hours.
New Horizons loves to make its rarest fish that extra bit harder to catch by including extra conditions to them even spawning. The Golden Trout is no different, it requiring you to be a good bit into the game before you have a chance of catching it.
Here’s all the info you need to catch the Golden Trout in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. If you need a whole load more New Horizons guides, we have you covered.
Golden Trout Quick Facts
| Name | Location | Time of Day | Price | C.J. Price | Seasonality |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Golden Trout | Clifftop River | 4PM-9AM | 15000 | 22500 | March-May, September-November |
“I caught a golden trout! But the real treasure? Friendship.”
The Golden Trout casts a medium sized shadow, so don’t overlook shadows of that size if you’re hunting it down.
Golden Trout Location & Time of Day
The Golden Trout, similarly to the also rare Coelacanth, can only be found under certain conditions.
The Golden Trout spawns in clifftop rivers, meaning that you will have no chance of catching one until you have unlocked the ladder tool. It also only turns up between 4PM and 9AM, so you may have to stay up late in the hopes of catching it.
As always, you will need at least a flimsy fishing rod to catch the Golden Trout. If you’re having trouble finding one, don’t forget to craft bait with clams so more fish will spawn in front of you, while also checking that you are fishing during the right times.
Golden Trout Price
Once you’ve caught a Golden Trout in New Horizons, don’t forget to turn it into Blathers at the museum to add it to his collection.
Here’s what Blathers has to tell you about the Golden Trout:
“The golden trout is a beautifully colored fish that can only live in very clean waters. They are difficult to come across since they are found only in high mountain streams. As a side note, I find it much easier to appreciate fish that aren’t such prima donnas about everything.”
When you catch your second Golden Trout, you can then sell it to Nook’s Cranny for 15000 Bells. This makes it one of the best fish to sell for Bells, it wiping off a decent chunk off some of your debts.
You can also hold onto it until C.J. arrives on your island, who will then buy it for 20% more than usual for a price of 22,500 Bells. You can also give him three of them and he will give you a Golden Trout model in return.
When Are Golden Trout Available Until?
Golden Trout in New Horizons are actually one of the few fish in the game who spawn multiple times throughout the year. Your first shot to catch them is between March and May, and then later in the year between September and October.
While it might be gutting to miss out on them due to the seasonality, they do spawn for half of the year and New Horizons isn’t exactly a game to be played at breakneck pace, so you may as well wait.
If you can’t wait, there’s always the option to time travel, though that comes with its own pros and cons.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which is out now exclusively for Switch, is fall in love with fish. From our review:
“New Horizons is a great continuation of an already fantastic series of games, and paying back Tom Nook’s loan has never been so fun.”
MORE NEW HORIZONS:
– Animal Crossing: New Horizons: All New May 2020 Bugs
– Animal Crossing: New Horizons: All New May 2020 Fish
– What Does the Server Do?
Some of the coverage you find on Cultured Vultures contains affiliate links, which provide us with small commissions based on purchases made from visiting our site. We cover gaming news, movie reviews, wrestling and much more.
