Fish Shadow Guide!

[Mayor Jack]

Hi everyone!
Since I am trying to complete my encyclopedia in ACNL, I've been looking at what fish I need and how big their shadows are but couldn't find any good pictures of how big the shadows looked so I've decided to create this thread to help people who are looking for specific fish. I've taken these photos this morning on the island and once I got the fish out of the water I checked what shadow size it was on a website. Please let me know if you think I made a mistake and I will fix it. These are the fish sizes for ACNL not any other games so please don't use this guide for any other games other than ACNL as it may be wrong. I hope this helps a lot of people out who are looking for specific sized fish!

Spoiler: Tiny Shadow

Fish with this sized shadow
-Bitterling
-Clownfish
-Goldfish
-Guppy
-Killifish
-Neon Tetra
-Pale Chub
-Popeyed Goldfish
-Sea Butterfly
-Seahorse
-Tadpole

Spoiler: Small Shadow

Fish with this sized shadow
-Angelfish
-Bluegill
-Butterfly Fish
-Crawfish
-Crucian Carp
-Frog
-Freshwater Goby
-Horse Mackerel
-Loach
-Mitten Crab
-Nibble Fish
-Piranha
-Pond Smelt
-Surgeonfish

Spoiler: Medium Shadow

Fish with this sized shadow
-Barbel Steed
-Barred Knifejaw
-Blowfish
-Char
-Cherry Salmon
-Dab
-Dace
-Puffer Fish
-Red Snapper
-Softshell turtle
-Squid
-Sweetfish
-Yellow Perch
-Zebra Turkeyfish

Spoiler: Large Shadow

Fish with this sized shadow
-Arowana
-Black Bass
-Carp
-Catfish
-Football Fish
-Koi
-Olive Flounder
-Rainbow Trout
-Saddled Bichir
-Salmon

Spoiler: Very Large Shadow

Fish with this sized shadow
-Dorado
-Giant Snakehead
-Giant Trevally
-Lobster
-Moray Eel
-Pike
-Ray
-Sea Bass

Spoiler: Huge Shadow

Fish with this sized shadow
-Arapaima
-Blue Marlin
-Coelacanth
-Gar
-King Salmon
-Napoleonfish
-Oarfish
-Stringfish
-Tuna

Spoiler: Skinny Shadow

Fish with this sized shadow
-Eel
-Ribbon Eel

Spoiler: Finned Shadow

Fish with this sized shadow
-Hammerhead Shark
-Ocean Sunfish
-Saw Shark
-Shark
-Whale Shark

 

[LadyDestani]

That is very helpful. I can't believe no one has thought to do this before. Thank you for taking the time to put this together!

 

[Mayor Jack]

That is very helpful. I can't believe no one has thought to do this before. Thank you for taking the time to put this together!

Thank you, LadyDestani! It actually only took about three hours - photo taking included. I hope it helps you out.

 

[heyimsobored]

Oh, I didn't even know that the shadows mattered. i just thought they were random. Anyway, thank you so much. This is gonna be pretty useful

 

[Mayor Jack]

Oh, I didn't even know that the shadows mattered. i just thought they were random. Anyway, thank you so much. This is gonna be pretty useful

Yeah, a lot of people don't even realise they're a thing. It's quite cool though.

 

[StarrySkye3]

I love this guide, great job!!

 

[Mayor Jack]

I love this guide, great job!!

Thank you so much!

 

[Mayor Jack]

Bump! I want people to be able to see this guide and use it!

 

[dasheranne]

Oh wow, this is really helpful! I knew some fish tended to be certain sizes, but for some reason it never occurred to me that it could be turned into something to reference. Nice work! c:

 

[Blood Eclipse]

Bookmarked! Thanks!!

 

[Mayor Jack]

Thank you!

 

[Sweetley]

That's a pretty nice guide, I didn't even knew about certain fishes and how their shadows actually looks
like (I mistaken them quite often over time). Very helpful, good job and thank you for making this guide!

 

[Catharina]

thank you so much it is very helpful im trying to finish my encyplopedia

 

[pinkbunny]

This is so useful!! Thank you for putting this together! :3
I've never been a fan of fishing because you can never really see what you're trying to fish up, but this can help that ahaha.

 

[Mayor Jack]

Thank you, everyone!

 

[Vanilla Coffee Bean]

Hi, Mayor Jack!

Thank you so much for this! This is very helpful and accurate, it's helped me so the process is slightly quicker on which fish I need to catch next. It's more detailed than other New Leaf guides. Some guides just show a generic shadow image, which meant the large and the huge shadow sizes weren't much different to each other. So now there are some photos of the actual shadow sizes, it's definitely the best guide going for ACNL fish shadow sizes!



Edit: I just read what I wrote it and I meant to write "It's helped me because now it's slightly quicker to find which shadow size I'm looking for".

I also forgot to mention how grateful I am for the lighting. The brightness has a huge effect, it's bright enough to see, and not so bright that it's blinding. I'm trying to catch a gar at night, hehe. I think I should try at 7 or 8am, it might give me time. But then again, it's been raining for three days in my town and that might mean I will have to wait until it's all cleared up because rainy days mean it's too dark outside. Sigh.

 

[Mayor Jack]

Hi, Mayor Jack!

Thank you so much for this! This is very helpful and accurate, it's helped me so the process is slightly quicker on which fish I need to catch next. It's more detailed than other New Leaf guides. Some guides just show a generic shadow image, which meant the large and the huge shadow sizes weren't much different to each other. So now there are some photos of the actual shadow sizes, it's definitely the best guide going for ACNL fish shadow sizes!



Edit: I just read what I wrote it and I meant to write "It's helped me because now it's slightly quicker to find which shadow size I'm looking for".

I also forgot to mention how grateful I am for the lighting. The brightness has a huge effect, it's bright enough to see, and not so bright that it's blinding. I'm trying to catch a gar at night, hehe. I think I should try at 7 or 8am, it might give me time. But then again, it's been raining for three days in my town and that might mean I will have to wait until it's all cleared up because rainy days mean it's too dark outside. Sigh.

Thank you, I'm glad you found it useful after all these years, haha. I'd almost forgot making this it's been so long.