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Animal Crossing Mahi-mahi: How to catch a Mahi-mahi and find the pier location in New Horizons

How to catch this rare fish in New Horizons.

The Mahi-mahi is one of the hardest fish to catch in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

This rarity is partly down to how it can be found exclusively on the pier, which is located along one of the shores of your island.

Catching a Mahi-mahi will help you complete both the fish section of the Critterpedia and the fish exhibit for the Museum, while also working towards unlocking the Golden Fishing Rod DIY recipe.

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Where and when can I catch a Mahi-mahi in Animal Crossing: New Horizons?

Below you'll find all the important information you need to know about the Mahi-mahi in New Horizons:

  • Mahi-mahi months - May to October
  • Mahi-mahi times - 24 hours
  • Mahi-mahi location - Pier
  • Mahi-mahi selling price - 6,000 Bells
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Where is the pier and how do you catch a Mahi-mahi there?

Just like the Blue marlin, Giant trevally and Tuna, the Mahi-mahi can only be caught on the pier in New Horizons. It's important to remember that this pier can be found attached to either east or west shore of your island and is not the jetty where Dodo Airlines is located.

Make sure you fish from this pier!

Before you head to the pier though, we recommend crafting fish bait - a lot of fish bait.

This means that first you'll want to go for a beachcombing session, digging up the spots of sand that spit water to find the manila clams hidden beneath. Each manila clam equals one bag of fish bait and, since this bait can stack, we recommend bringing at least a hundred bags of bait.

This will not guarantee you a Mahi-mahi, but it will be a good solid try and you can quite easily repeat this process - crafting fish bait, searching for rare fish - until you get the one you need. Though we do recommend doing it every few days, rather than one after the other, to prevent it from becoming too repetitive.

We also recommend that you combine your Mahi-mahi hunt with another rare fish to save you time. This could be one of the many sharks, another rare pier-only fish like the Giant trevally or the rare Barreleye fish. Have a look at our specific fish guides to learn their schedules, so you can plan out your fishing trips well.


The Animal Crossing 2.0 update and Happy Home Paradise is here! We can help you with the new additions - including where to find Brewster, Gyroids, new villagers, ordinances, new fences, storage shed, new hairstyles, Froggy Chair, group stretching and Kapp'n boat tours. Cooking is now unlockable, so you need to know how to make both flour and sugar, as well as how to grow carrots, potatoes and tomatoes. Meanwhile, if you're new to Animal Crossing, our New Horizons tips can help with the basics. From the off, there's fish and bugs to catch, flowers and fruit to grow with. One long term goal is building your Happy Home Academy score. Finally, you need tools such as the new ladder and vaulting pole to fully explore.


Finally, don't give up - Mahi-Mahi can be found in the sea between the months of May to October and can be caught throughout the day and night. Even if you're in the final days of it being on your island, you still have a good chance of catching a Mahi-mahi despite its rarity.

If you'd like to learn more about the fish that visit your island in New Horizons, you can check out our fish guide or one of our dedicated fish guides, which include the Barreleye, Blue marlin, Giant trevally, Golden trout, Sturgeon, Stringfish, Tuna and both the Salmon and King salmon.

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