Fishing

Fishing is a recreation that is commonly seen in the Pokémon world.

In core series games
Fishing is a way to  in the water. In fact, some Pokémon can only be caught by using a fishing rod. There are three fishing rods that are given out throughout the course of most, and each one is given out by a Fishing Brother. Generation V includes only the Super Rod, which is given out by Looker or Cedric Juniper. In Generation VII, Pokémon Sun and Moon include only a Fishing Rod, given out by Lana. The Fishing Rod may additionally reel in items instead of Pokémon.

Generation I and Generation II
In Generation and, fishing is simply a matter of standing next to water and using the rod. Sometimes, it will hook a Pokémon and start a. Other times, it will catch nothing. There is a random chance of either happening, so if the rod catches nothing, players can cast it out again. The player can only fish from land, not while surfing.

Generation III
Starting with Generation III, the fishing mechanic became more complicated, as the undefined would have to pay attention and confirm as soon as the rod hooked a Pokémon, or else it would get away. A series of ellipses appear prior to the text "Oh! A bite!", which is when the player should press the A Button. In, this required a series of confirmations to reel in better Pokémon. Generation III also introduced the ability for Pokémon Trainers to fish off the back of a ing Pokémon, which may be required to catch. This also made fishing on possible. Starting from Emerald, if the first Pokémon in the player's party has the ability or, the player is more likely to get a bite.

Generation IV
In Generation IV, when the undefined uses the rod, an exclamation mark-like sign pops up above the undefined, noting that they should push the A button to start the battle with the Pokémon they've encountered. As with Generation III, the Pokémon will go away if the player takes too long.

Generation V
In Generation V, fishing mechanics are mostly unchanged from Generation IV. However, by fishing in, different Pokémon can be caught, generally being rare Pokémon or the evolved forms of the Pokémon normally found. As such, this allows certain Pokémon such as and  to be caught in the wild, while normally they would not. Furthermore, the Old and Good Rods are no longer available, only providing the undefined with a single rod to fish for Pokémon with.

Generation VI
In Generation VI, fishing mechanics remain mostly unchanged, with the removal of rippling water and the addition of consecutive fishing. The Old and Good Rods return in this Generation.

Consecutive fishing describes reeling in the same Pokémon in the same area repeatedly. Hooking multiple Pokémon in a row increases the chances of hooking a Shiny Pokémon, reaching a maximum chance of approximately 1% for a streak of 20 or more Pokémon. The game increases the chances of finding a Shiny Pokémon by generating extra personality values in an attempt to find one that results in a Shiny Pokémon, with the number of attempts depending on the size of the current streak. For every Pokémon added to the streak up to 20 Pokémon, the game will make two extra attempts to find a Shiny personality value; i.e., the number of attempts at any given point in the streak is, and caps at a maximum of 41 attempts when the streak is at least 20 Pokémon long. This effect stacks with the Shiny Charm's effect.

The player is allowed to defeat, catch or simply run away from any encounters found this way without the chain breaking. The only ways to break the chain are by not reeling in any Pokémon, reeling in a different Pokémon or by exiting the area. It is possible to check the longest chain done by the player with a fishermen in Route 16.

Fishing near rocks and other impassable spaces (not including spaces occupied by Trainers) will raise the chances of hooking Pokémon. The more sides (north, south, east, or west) around the space where the bobber lands that are blocked by such obstacles, the higher the chances of hooking a Pokémon are. A space of land may also count as an obstacle on one side of the bobber, so long as it is not the only one. If three sides are blocked, every cast will hook a Pokémon.

Generation VII
In Generation VII, the player can no longer fish in any body of water. Instead, in certain areas, there are piles of rocks at the bottom of the water where the player can fish to find Pokémon. Sometimes when the player reels in their line, they may find an item instead of a Pokémon. In each area with fishing spots, at least one of the rock piles will have bubbles rising from it to the surface, and if the player fishes at that spot, they will be able to more commonly find Pokémon that would be rare at the other spots. As soon as the player reels in their line after they find any Pokémon or item from such spots, the bubbles will disappear until the player re-enters the area. The bubbles will also disappear if the player moves too quickly near the spot, if they move over it, or if they reel in their rod too quickly. Once the bubbles disappear, the encounter rate returns to that of other fishing spots.

In the Alola region, there are fishing spots at Seaward Cave, Kala'e Bay, Melemele Sea, Paniola Town, Brooklet Hill, Akala Outskirts, Malie Garden, Secluded Shore, Seafolk Village, Poni Wilds, Poni Breaker Coast, Vast Poni Canyon, Poni Meadow, Poni Gauntlet, and Routes, , , , , and.

The different types of fishing rods are also all replaced by a single "Fishing Rod" in Generation VII. This Fishing Rod cannot be used from the Bag, but instead, when the player approaches a fishing spot, the game prompts the player with the option to press the A button to use the Fishing Rod. Some fishing spots may be accessible from land, while others may only be accessible from water. If the player wishes to fish at a spot in the middle of water, they can only do so using the Poké Ride Paddle.

PokéPark: Fishing Rally DS
PokéPark: Fishing Rally DS is a game focused on fishing for Pokémon. Points are earned for the size, rarity, and species of the caught Pokémon. Up to five Pokémon can be stored at once, and high scores could be seen at s, while the game was still available for download.

Pokémon: Magikarp Jump
Pokémon: Magikarp Jump is a game where player fishes and trains generations of Magikarp to jump as high as they can and win Magikarp jumping leagues. Magikarp are fished with Old Rod, with the player being given increasingly better variants of Old Rod (So-So, Good, Great, Rare, Pro's, and Supreme) as they progress that can fish new Magikarp patterns.

In the main series
Numerous episodes of the have featured the group fishing. Rather than using bait, lures with Pokémon designs are used. In the first episode of the anime, Pokémon - I Choose You!, was shown fishing shortly before Ash runs in to her. At the, a fishing rod is distributed with the s, as seen in EP035. and Misty both participated in a Seaking Catching competition in Hook, Line, and Stinker.

In Whiscash and Ash, a fisherman named Sullivan believed that the secret to catching the Whiscash he was looking for, was finding the right lure. In On Olden Pond, Ash and his friends visited a lake, which had used to be a popular fishing resort. Ash,, and tried fishing from the lake, with Ash eventually hooking up a. Ash attempted to battle the Crawdaunt with his, but the Ruffian Pokémon was soon defeated by its evolved form, which then proceeded to destroy the group's loaned fishing rods. It was later revealed that the Crawdaunt belonged to a man named Mr. Saridakis, who had once tried to purchase the lake in order to build an amusement park over it, but, the owner of the lake, had refused to sell it. As a result, he had unleashed his Crawdaunt to the lake to scare off the people who came to fish there. After being saved from drowning by a living in the lake, Mr. Saridakis decided to cancel his plans. has a collection of lures, including a special lure based on herself that she believes is the best. She sent it to as a gift in The Unbeatable Lightness of Seeing. Ash used this lure in Buizel Your Way Out of This to try to catch a powerful.

In Facing Fear with Eyes Wide Open!, used his fishing skills to catch a  that was preventing Ash and  from retrieving plants at the bottom of a lake to cure their ed Pokémon. Like others before him, Cilan uses a fishing lure based on himself. In A Fishing Connoisseur in a Fishy Competition!, Cilan showed his fishing skills again by catching a in 's fake fishing competition. In SS027, Cilan was seen using his fishing rod once again, this time hooking up a wild. Later in the episode, he used his rod in an attempt to pull Gyarados back to its home lake, but was disturbed by Amer and his robotic. A Super Rod made its debut in the anime in Climbing the Tower of Success! as the item had to find for a scavenger hunt. In Best Wishes Until We Meet Again!, Cilan mentioned that Mr. Briney from Dewford Town was going to host the Old Rod Fishing Rally soon, prompting him to depart for Johto in order to participate in the said competition.

In Going for the Gold!, Ash and his friends met a fisherman named Rodman, who was trying to fish up a  with a Magikarp-shaped lure. Ash,, and decided to try fishing too, with Ash giving the inexperienced Serena instructions of how to do it correctly. While fishing, Serena hooked up a, which she tried to battle with her , but it simply hid itself behind Serena when Corsola tried to use on it, causing the Coral Pokémon to get away. Afterwards, Rodman let Ash and his friends keep the fishing rods he had loaned them. The same rods reappeared in An Undersea Place to Call Home!, where Ash used one of them to hook up a. A fishing competition was a part of the Pokémon Summer Camp, as shown in Day Three Blockbusters!. The Pokémon hooked up during the competition included Ash's, Serena's , Clemont's , 's Magikarp, 's , and 's. also participated the competition, but her possible catch wasn't shown.

In SS037, Clemont and Bonnie participated in a fishing competition held in Lumiose City. Clemont intended to use his high-tech fishing rod to win, but Cilan, also taking part in the competition, commented him on his way of approach to fishing. With Cilan's advice, Bonnie managed to reel in a, which, due to it then proceeding to attack them, was driven away by Cilan's Stunfisk, by which time the competition already ended. Later in the episode, Clemont and Cilan combined Clemont's rod and Cilan's fishing skills to save Bonnie from a runaway subway cart.

In Yo, Ho, Ho! Go, Popplio!, took the Pokémon School class on a fishing lesson, which he gave  to lead. Lana, being the most skilled fisher of the group, managed to fish up many different Water Pokémon, while Ash and were having trouble finding anything at all, and  was too busy programming his high-tech rod to even try. , however, managed to surprise everyone by hooking up a, but her line snapped before she could reel the Tender Pokémon in, causing it go get away.

Team Rocket was seen fishing in The Sun, the Scare, the Secret Lair! while attempting to catch new Alolan Pokémon, but to no avail. Jessie used a lure based on, James's based on , and 's based on himself.

Fishing was a central plot element in Big Sky, Small Fry!, where both Ash and Lana as well as Team Rocket tried to fish up the Totem Pokémon of Brooklet Hill. While Team Rocket was taken away by in the middle of their fishing, Lana managed to hook up the Totem Pokémon, a , almost immediately, and proceeded to battle it. She was eventually able to defeat the Totem Pokémon, receiving a Waterium Z as a reward.

In Pokémon Origins
Fishing was featured a couple of times during Pokémon Origins.

obtained an Old Rod from the Vermilion Fishing Guru in File 2: Cubone, and a Super Rod from the Silence Bridge Fishing Guru in File 3: Giovanni. Soon after obtaining the latter, he was seen using it to capture himself a.

Red was also seen fishing with the Super Rod in File 4: Charizard, although he did so merely to get some time to think about in Cerulean Cave.

In the Pokémon Pocket Monsters manga
The Old and Super Rod appeared in Pokémon Pocket Monsters.

Trivia

 * In Generation I, it is possible to fish in the bottom of the statues in Gyms (except for the Saffron and Cinnabar Gyms) or any room of the Elite Four at Indigo Plateau. However, when using the Super Rod in any Gym or Elite Four room other than Cerulean Gym or Lorelei's room, the game will say "Looks like there's nothing here."
 * In Generation I, the only Pokémon that can be fished out by the Old Rod is, all of which would be Level 5.
 * It even lures Magikarp where wild Pokémon can't normally be caught, such as Lorelei's room at the Indigo Plateau.
 * In, the exclamation point will occasionally appear above the partner Pokémon instead of above the undefined's sprite.
 * The Super Rod is the only fishing rod that is obtainable in Generation V. The Old and Good Rods, while still existent in the game's programming, cannot be obtained without hacking and cannot be used; if hacked in, they can be held by a Pokémon unlike legitimate Key Items.