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While there are a number of enjoyable diversions to enjoy in Like A Dragon: Ishin, fishing is easily one of the most profitable. This is especially true when it is paired with the Another Life section of the game. You will need fish to sell, and you will need them to cook dishes. And you will often be looking for specific fish. This guide is here to point you in the direction of every single fish that exists in Like A Dragon: Ishin.
Like A Dragon: Ishin - Best Ways To Make Money
Money talks and in the world of Like A Dragon: Ishin, there is a lot of talking to be done. This guide will show you the best tricks for cashing in.We will walk you through the basics of fishing, instruct you on the different fishing poles, tell you where to find the different types of bait, and lead you to all four fishing locations. This is meant to be a comprehensive guide. With its help, we are absolutely certain that you will rule the seas, and conquer the rivers.
Updated October 17, 2023: In anticipation of the Game Pass release of Like A Dragon: Ishin, we've done a once-over on this guide. This guide is exhaustive and should be able to get you every last fish your heart desires.
How To Fish
The actual mechanics involved in catching a fish couldn't be simpler. Once you have attracted a fish, just let them nibble until your controller vibrates, then press the action button and pull them in. Alternatively, if you don't want to depend on the rumble, you can watch the red mark on your lure. Once that red mark hits the water, yank that fish in. Of course, getting the right fish's attention in the first place is where the real challenge lies.
Your primary objective is to have your lure come in contact with a fish while it is swimming. Fish generally swim from side to side; typically, in a direct line. So, you need to assess where your desired fish is traveling and place your lure on its path. There is a trick, though; your lure needs to be still when the fish encounters it. If, on the other hand, the fish collides with your lure when it is still bobbing from you having cast it, then the fish will ignore it and move on. You want your lure to have settled by the time your target fish gets within a foot of it. Of course, the other tricky element is that if you are too early, another, less desirable, fish may come around and get hooked instead.
Swimming Patterns
For the most part, fish either swim left to right or right to left across the water. While this isn't always the case, it is true the vast majority of the time. The primary variance you are going to see is speed.
- Some fish are extremely lethargic. The righteye flounder and the electric catfish, for example, barely move. With these fish, you just need to get your lure close to them. Once they see the bait, they will come swimming for it. Easy. We will say, the nishikigoi seemed to need the lure to be particularly close. It is clearly the least motivated fish of the bunch.
- Some fish, on the other hand, are extremely fast. Salmon and whitebait are examples of fish that zip across the screen. You will need to have cast your line when these fish are about half of the width of the body of water away in order to get your lure steadied by the time they intersect with it. Tuna are a hair slower, but you still probably want to aim for the same distance: launch your lure when the tuna is half a screen away.
- Existing in between the extremes are the majority of fish you will encounter. These fish aren't hard to intercept. You will be able to get a read on their direction and place your lure down in front of them pretty easily.
There is one more type of "fish" (spoiler, most of them aren't actually fish, but for the sake of convenience we are going to refer to them as such) that you are going to have to look out for. You will probably notice that some fish appear as three dots as opposed to having a fish's silhouette. Well, most of these fish have a unique pattern to their movement. They will slowly drift in one direction, then, they will suddenly shoot forward in the opposite direction that they had been drifting.
You never place your lure in the path of their drift. You always place the lure opposite the direction they are drifting in. So, as an example, if you see one of these fish drifting to the right, you will place your lure to the left of said fish. Softshell Turtles and Tiger Prawn both have this pattern.
Size And Shape
When you are looking for a specific type of fish, their size and shape are going to play a huge role in determining which fish is which. As an example, if you are fishing at The East Coast, the giant fish will be a Great White Shark, the super long, snake-like fish swimming in the distance will be an Oarfish and the shorter Snake-like Fish swimming near the shore will be a Conger Eel.
Using a fish's shape, size, swimming pattern, and location, we will be able to pretty accurately pinpoint each specific fish. There are instances where there are fish that share a lot of qualities that are clustered together, but for the most part, you will be able to use the data provided in this guide to accurately locate every fish without much difficulty.
Fishing Poles
First of all, let's get the obvious stuff out of the way. You will use the fishing poles with "river" in their name when you are fishing in a river, and you will use fishing poles with "sea" in their name when you are fishing in the sea. This is pretty straightforward, right? We're just crossing t's and dotting i's, here. Of course, there are two exceptions. Your Easy Starter is your first pole for both river and sea fishing. The other exception is the Peerless Pole, which is the ultimate fishing pole no matter where you are fishing. If you are wondering where you buy your fishing poles from, they are all purchased from the Shinto Temple with Virtue.
There are two elements that are determined by your fishing pole. Distance, and efficacy. The Easy Starter fishing pole is, unsurprisingly, the worst at both aspects. The Classic fishing poles are more effective at catching fish but have the same limited range as the Easy Starter. There are certain fish (such as the Righteye Flounder), that will not bite for the Easy Starter but will bite for the Classic. Then there is the Master class of fishing poles. These poles greatly extend your range and are highly effective. The final fishing pole is the Peerless pole. Not only is this pole more effective at catching fish than the Master poles, but it is also the best pole for both river and sea fishing.
At the end of the day, fishing poles are cheap. It isn't hard to get Virtue in Like A Dragon: Ishin. On top of that, fishing generates Virtue at a pretty startling rate. Every fish brings in a little Virtue, and you will frequently be completing fishing-based goals for your Diligence Record. So, don't be afraid to dump a little Virtue into buying fishing poles. They will pay for themselves in short order.
We recommend that you get both the Rivermaster and the Seamaster as quickly as you can. There is nothing you can't catch with these rods. Then, when you have the Virtue to spare, pick up the Peerless Pole.
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Easy Starter |
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Free |
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River Classic |
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400 Virtue |
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Rivermaster |
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1500 Virtue |
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Sea Classic |
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400 Virtue |
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Seamaster |
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1500 Virtue |
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Peerless Pole |
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4000 Virtue |
Bait
Bait is used to attract fish to your location. It doesn't actually help you catch the fish when they are already present. However, if you are seeking some of the rarer fish, you will definitely be better off using bait. There are four types of bait: Bait, Quality Bait, Special Bait, and Top-grade Bait. As you would imagine, the more expensive the bait, the more fish it will attract.
The effect for each bait will last for three minutes. So, don't squander your time.
You can buy regular Bait and Quality Bait at Ichikura's shop in Fushimi. Special Bait and Top-grade Bait, on the other hand, need to be purchased from the Bait Monger. You can find him running around in Rakunai.
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Bait |
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500 mon |
Ichikura's Shop, Bait Monger |
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Quality Bait |
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1000 mon |
Ichikura's Shop, Bait Monger |
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Special Bait |
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2000 mon |
Bait Monger |
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Top-grade Bait |
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5000 mon |
Bait Monger |
Uji River
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Location |
The Uji River is located southeast of the Teradaya Inn. |
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Available Fish |
Carp, Crucian Carp, Crawfish, Electric Catfish, Ghost Koi, Nishikigoi, Rainbow Trout, Softshell Turtle, Salmon |
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Easy Starter Catchable |
Carp, Ghost Koi, Crucian Carp, Nishikigoi, Rainbow Trout |
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Names |
Silhouette |
Details |
|---|---|---|
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Carp |
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Carp are a stationary fish with a standard silhouette. Just plop your lure down in front of it. The Carp can be found in the lower half of the water. |
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Crawfish |
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The Crawfish looks like a line of three circles clustered together while in the water. Cast your lure to the opposite side of their drift direction. Found in the lower section, near the pier. |
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Crucian Carp |
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The Crucian Carp is the only triangle-shaped fish you will encounter in the Uji River. It is located all around the lower half of the water. |
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Electric Catfish |
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The Electric Catfish are slow-moving fish with a standard silhouette. They are found in the upper half of the water. |
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Ghost Koi |
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The Ghost Koi can be one of the more difficult fish to catch. Using bait to lure them out is a good idea. They move at a moderate speed and hang around the center of the water. |
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Nishikigoi |
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These are stationary fish that simply require you to drop your lure directly in front of them. They are easy to confuse with the carp, but they are typically smaller. The Nishikigoi spends most of its time in and around the center. |
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Rainbow Trout |
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The Rainbow Trout is a fast-moving fish. You will need to drop your lure quite far ahead of them so it settles by the time they collide with it. These fish can be found in the top half of the water. |
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Softshell Turtle |
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The Softshell Turtle has the same swimming pattern, and appearance, as the Crawfish. However, they are much larger and are found in the top half of the water. |
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Salmon |
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Salmon are one of the rarer fish found in the Uji River. So, if you are looking to score some, make sure to bring bait. They like to zip across the center of the water. They look the same as the Rainbow Trout, are located in the same area, and have the same swimming pattern. So, just cross your fingers. |
Kamo River
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Location |
This is the only fishing spot not located south of the Teradaya Inn. Instead, you will find it on the docks of Mukurogai. So, you won't be able to get here until you have finished Chapter 2 The Man Named Saito Hajime. |
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Available Fish |
Crucian Carp, Crawfish, Electric Catfish, Freshwater Eel, Rainbow Trout, Salmon, Stringfish, Sweetfish |
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Easy Starter Catchable |
Crucian Carp, Nishikigoi, Rainbow Trout |
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Names |
Silhouette |
Details |
|---|---|---|
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Crawfish |
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The Crawfish in the Kamo River are just like their Uji counterparts. They are also found in the lower section. |
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Crucian Carp |
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Much like in the Uji River, the crucian carp is the only triangle-shaped fish you will encounter in the Kamo River. It is located in the lower section. |
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Electric Catfish |
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The Electric Catfish is a slow-moving fish with the standard silhouette. In the Kamo River they spend all of their time hanging around the lower half of the water. |
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Freshwater Eel |
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The Freshwater Eel is easily distinguished from its peers due to its elongated shape. You will find these Eels all along the bottom half of the water. |
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Rainbow Trout |
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The Rainbow Trout is present in the Kamo River as well. They are found in the more distant section of the water. |
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Sweetfish |
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Sweetfish are exclusive to the Kamo River. They are found in the top half of the river, and are easy to tell apart from the other fish due to their diminutive size. |
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Salmon |
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The Salmon in the Kamo River are speeding across the whole body of water. They are much easier to catch here than in the Uji River. |
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Stringfish |
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The stringfish is located in the deepest section of the water. They are fast-moving, like the salmon and rainbow trout, but they are bigger than both of those fish. |
The Fishing Bank
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Location |
The Fishing Bank is accessed by speaking to the fisherman standing by the boat south of the Teradaya Inn. |
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Available Fish |
Common Octopus, Tiger Prawn, Sea Bream, Scorpionfish, Goby, Porcupinefish, Japanese Puffer, Thread-Sail Filefish, Squid, Whitebait |
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Easy Starter Catchable |
Scorpion Fish, Thread-Sail Filefish, Whitebait, Common Octopus, Goby, Japanese Puffer |
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Names |
Silhouette |
Details |
|---|---|---|
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Common Octopus |
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The common octopus is one of the many creatures that have the same shape and pattern. It appears as those three balls in a row. Like most creatures that share that shape, you need to cast your lure to the opposite side the Octopus drifts toward. It is found on the left side of the map, near the center of the water. |
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Tiger Prawn |
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The tiger prawn is another fish shaped like three balls. It is dealt with in the same manner as the octopus. The tiger pawn is found in the lower part of the water. |
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Squid |
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The squid looks and behaves just like the octopus. However, they are typically located close to rocks. |
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Scorpionfish |
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The scorpionfish looks like the octopus, squid, and tiger prawn, but it swims in a straight line and is fast. So, it is extremely easy to distinguish it from the other fish that share the same shape. The Scorpionfish is typically located in the center of the water. |
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Goby |
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If you are fishing in the Fishing Banks, and you see a long, snake-like fish, you are looking at a goby. These fish spend their time hanging around the lower half of the water. |
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Porcupinefish |
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Oh no, it is another pill-shaped fish. Thankfully, while the porcupinefish does share the same shape and pattern as so many fish on the Fishing Banks, this one spends its time in the deeper water in the back. Unfortunately, it does share some space with the similarly-shaped Japanese puffer. |
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Japanese Puffer |
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The Japanese puffer has the same shape, size, and swimming pattern as the porcupinefish. It is also the rarer of the two fish. Your best bet is to use Top-grade Bait and cross your fingers. Don't worry, while you will catch a bunch of porcupinefish as you try to catch a Japanese puffer, you will still catch plenty if you keep at it. They seem to stick to the right side of the water. |
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Thread-Sail Filefish |
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The thread-sail filefish is one of two triangular fish located in the Fishing Banks. It hangs out near the center of the water. |
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Sea Bream |
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The sea bream is the other triangular fish present in the Fishing Bank. Unlike the thread-sail filefish, the sea bream hangs out in the lower section of the water. |
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Whitebait |
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The whitebait is a small fish that swims left and right across the middle of the stage. There is really nothing to mistake it with. |
The East Coast
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Location |
The East Coast, like the Fishing Bank, is accessed by speaking to the fisherman standing by the boat south of the Teradaya Inn. |
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Available Fish |
Bluefin Tuna, Conger Eel, Great White Shark, Marlin, Oarfish, Righteye Flounder, Spider Crab, Thread-Sail Filefish, Whitebait |
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Easy Starter Catchable |
Thread-Sail Filefish, Conger Eel, Great White Shark, Whitebait |
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Names |
Silhouette |
Details |
|---|---|---|
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Whitebait |
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The whitebait is featured here as well. This time they are zipping around the bottom half of the water. |
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Conger Eel |
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The conger eel is the elongated fish swimming around the lower part of the water. While there is another snake-shaped fish in this stage, there is a massive size difference. The conger eel is the smaller of the two. |
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Great White Shark |
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You won't struggle to figure out which fish is a great white shark. These things are massive and they are everywhere. |
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Thread-Sail Filefish |
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The thread-sail filefish is a triangular fish that zips around the very bottom of the screen. If you see a fast fish shaped like a triangle, that is the thread-sail filefish. |
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Righteye Flounder |
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The righteye flounder is one of the two triangular fish located in the East Coast. It is found in the lower half of the water. While the thread-sail filefish may look like it, they behave completely differently. The righteye flounder is a slow-moving fish. |
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Spider Crab |
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The spider crab is the lone pill-shaped fish you will encounter in this stage. You will find them floating around the midsection of the water. Like the majority of fish they share their silhouette with, you want to cast to the opposite side that they drift. |
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Oarfish |
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The oarfish is another giant monstrosity. It is a huge, long, snake-shaped fish. It is impossible to mistake this fish for anything else. It will be smack-dab in the middle of the screen. However, you will probably need some Top-grade Bait to get it to show, as these fish are a little on the rare side. |
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Marlin |
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The marlin is another giant fish. It is easy to confuse it with the bluefin tuna. However, the marlin is almost always at the farthest point in the water. So, if you see a big fish out as far as you can go, that is likely a marlin. This is another fish that should be caught using Top-grade Bait. |
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Bluefin Tuna |
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The bluefin tuna is one of the other massive fish on this stage. They mostly hang out near the top of the screen, though not quite as far out as the marlin. If you are catching great white sharks when you are going for the tuna, aim your sights higher. If you are chasing a giant bluefin tuna, make sure to come with a healthy amount of Top-grade Bait! It is worth noting that one Bluefin Tuna seems to do a circuit near the bottom left section of the screen. So, if you see a large fish swimming in a circle in that section, that is a Bluefin Tuna. |
How To Complete The Fishing Diligence Records
This section is going to be pretty brief as there are only five diligence records directly associated with fishing. Apprentice Angler, Astute Angler, and Authoritative Angler simply require you to catch a certain amount of fish. After you catch 100 fish in total, you will complete all three of these requirements.
The other two challenges associated with fishing are the Bluefin Beginner and Bluefin Boss challenges. The Bluefin Boss is a challenging enough achievement that we dedicated the below section to it. The Bluefin Beginner requires that you catch ten bluefin tuna. However, unless you are absurdly lucky, you are likely to do that in the process of completing the Bluefin Boss requirement.
How To Catch A Giant Bluefin Tuna
If you want to achieve everything there is to achieve in the Another Life section of the game, that means catching a bluefin tuna that is over 7 shaku long. As far as the methodology, it is hard to say definitively what the best way to go about doing this is. As an example, some have claimed that the giant bluefin tuna will always be the first one you catch, so if your first catch isn't a giant bluefin tuna, then you should leave The East Coast and come back again. While we don't know if this is true, when we did catch ours, it was the first tuna we reeled in. So, we would say that this is plausible.
We are not sure if the Bluefin Tuna can only be caught from this location, but when we caught our giant bluefin tuna, it was circling the bottom left corner of the screen, near the boat. The picture above shows its swimming pattern. Once again, we cannot say with certainty that this is the only place you can catch it from, but we caught well over fifty bluefin tuna, and the only place that yielded a giant tuna for us was this area.
Unfortunately, you can't tell if a bluefin tuna is giant or not from its silhouette.
So, our recommendation is to bring lots of Top-grade Bait, look to catch the bluefin tuna that is circling the bottom left corner of the screen, and reset the location if the first bluefin tuna you catch isn't a giant one. This method will guarantee that you will eventually catch a bluefin tuna, though, unless you are lucky, it won't be a quick process. However, inevitably, you will nab that Ishin tuna and become the Bluefin Boss.