Fishing (The Sims 3)

Fishing is a skill in The Sims 3.

The Sims 3 incorporates a fishing skill that is gained by Sims fishing in the ponds or ocean around the map. The higher their skill, the more types of fish they can catch. Books can be found at the bookstore showing the bait that can be used to catch specific fish, but a Sim can determine the bait through trial and error by simply selecting a bait and seeing what they catch. Water can be inspected to see what known fish can be caught there, and whether the fish are active.

The skill is augmented by the Angler and Loves The Outdoors traits. Sims with the Childish and/or Insane traits can fish in swimming pools.

With The Sims 3: Ambitions expansion pack, players can register as a self-employed fisher.

Statistics
Number Caught, Fish Types Caught, Heaviest Fish Caught, Most Money Earned from Selling a Fish, Total Money Earned from Fishing.

Challenges

 * Amateur Ichthyologist
 * Amateur Ichthyologists have caught at least one of every fish type (21) or at least 20 out of 34 fish types with The Sims 3: World Adventures and The Sims 3: Late Night. Their deep understanding of aquatic life helps them catch bigger fish than normal Sims.


 * Commercial Fisherman
 * Commercial Fishermen have caught at least 350 fish. They often catch more fish in less time than normal Sims.

Abilities
Every two levels the game announces the Sim can catch more fish and to check the bookstore.

The Sim can learn the bait type for a specific fish species by buying and reading the fishing books from the bookstore or just by successfully catching a particular species once using the right bait type. Fishing books are not available in the community public library.

All aquatic animals caught fishing can be kept as pets in an aquarium or they can be used to stock a pond.

Trophies
Fish can be mounted on walls by clicking on a fish in a Sim's inventory and choosing "send to be mounted" and paying a small fee around 70 Simoleons. The trophy should arrive the next day in the mailbox.

Fish can also be put in fish bowls or an aquarium. Fish bowls can be bought in buy mode. All fish fit in a bowl, one fish per bowl or six fish per tank. Fish are nameable, but must be fed each day or they will die. Fish can be scooped out of bowls, and put back in a Sim's inventory.

Stocking Ponds
If a Sim has 10 or more fish of one type in their inventory, they can stock any pond with that fish. By stocking fish, a new type of fish is introduced in that pond. Then, the pond will contain an unlimited supply of that fish type for fishing.

Any type of fish or any type of pond will do, including Deathfish and ponds not on playable lots. Ponds can be in residential lots owned NPC Sims, or in community lot like pond in the park. There is no limit on how many different fish types there can be in one pond. To get a better Death Fish easier, just buy 10 Alley Catfish and stock them in a pond to get a perfect Alley Catfish then go and fish out 10 Angel Fish and do the same with them, by midnight to 5am the angler should have at least a very good or perfect Death Fish.

In the case of the Death Fish, they can be caught any time of the day in such a pond. This will enable a Sim to fish for Deathfish (or any other fish, for that matter) at any time of the day.

Strange Occurrences
Sometimes a Sim may fish up an old box which will give them various things. The box randomly picks and grants the Sim one object from the following list:
 * Laptop computer
 * Audio-Lite stereo
 * Ducksworth of Bathington rubber duck
 * Guitar
 * World's Brew Bubble Bath
 * Mood-Lite candle
 * Birthday Inferno Birthday Cake
 * Flame Fruit
 * Death Flower
 * Money Tree seed
 * Omni Plant seed
 * Life Plant seed
 * Sleeping Gnome McMulty
 * Mysterious Mr. Gnome
 * Death Plant seed
 * Skeleton Keystone
 * Escape Dust

Bugs
There is currently a bug with the fishing skill which suddenly prevents the sim from fishing. There have been several suggestions to fix it:
 * 1) Move the family to another lot.
 * 2) Read a fishing book.
 * 3) Clean out the sim's inventory and refrigerator.

If you are unable to fish or have any interaction with the supermarket, try clearing all the Unknown Special Seeds from your Sim's inventory (You can temporarily give them to another sim, put them on the ground, or simply plant them).