When it comes to gathering various materials and items in Nier Replicant, you will eventually unlock fishing, which allows you to catch various fish and junk parts required for different quests and upgrades. The most notable questline that requires you to catch different fish is "The Fisherman's Gambit", and your first real challenge with that is to catch ten sardines.
However, this challenge isn't as easy as catching a shaman fish, so you might need a little help. Sardines are also required in other quests too, as well as being a type of baitfish, so whatever you need them for, this guide is going to tell you exactly where to catch some sardines.
How to Unlock Fishing
First of all, you need to have unlocked the fishing feature if you haven't done so already. When the story guides you to visit Seafront to collect a shaman fish for Yonah, you will need to speak to the man on the docks (as shown above) and he will give you a rod and lure. This is also the NPC that gives the "The Fisherman's Gambit" quests.
How to Find Sardines
Catching sardines is trickier than shaman fish as they require a specific bait. So first up you want to visit the Tackle Shop in Seafront. It is close to the other shops in the area, as shown below.
The bait you need for sardines is Lugworms, but while you're here, you might as well stock up on other available bait too. Once you've got your bait, it's time to go fishing!
Sardines can be found in any area you can fish from in Seafront, so the western beach, the docks near the "The Fisherman's Gambit" NPC, or the eastern docks are all viable locations.
Wherever you have chosen to fish, approach the body of water and choose the "Fish" option, which will prompt you to select your bait. Choose "Lugworm".
After throwing your bait in the water, a fish will normally nibble a couple of times before it takes a full bite, so wait until the red float disappears beneath the water before you pull back. When it comes to fishing, you need to move in the opposite direction of the fish. If the fish goes left, you go right.
The trick to fishing is not just to go left or right, but to pull your analog stick backward at the same time — you'll know you're doing it right as the fish's health gauge will go dark blue and start to deplete if you are in the right position.
Once you've landed ten sardines, you can hand them to the "The Fisherman's Gambit" NPC to further his questline. As mentioned, there are other quests that require sardines, but you can actually cheat with those by simply buying them.
After handing in your sardines for the "The Fisherman's Gambit" NPC, both the Tackle Shop and the Fish Shop in Seafront will begin to sell sardines.
