Salmon

Salmon is a fish that can be caught in the river in Pelican Town or Cindersap Forest during Fall. It can also be caught in the waterfalls in southern Cindersap Forest during Fall at any time, and Magic Bait allows it to be caught regardless of season or time of day. Salmon may also be obtained from garbage cans during Fall, bought from the Traveling Cart for a random price, or gifted by a cat with maximum friendship.

Salmon has several uses beyond shipping or cooking. It can be used in the Sewing Machine to create the Faded Denim Shirt, and it can also be used as a red dye in the dye pots at 2 Willow Lane. In a Fish Pond, Salmon reproduce every 2 days. The pond starts with a capacity of 3 fish and can be expanded to 10 through three quests. The only fish pond product is light red Salmon Roe.

The fish pond quests follow a fixed progression:

• From 3 to 5 capacity, the possible quest items are 3 Acorns, 10 Bug Meat, 3 Maple Seeds, or 3 Pine Cones, and the reward is 30 Fishing XP.
• From 5 to 7 capacity, the possible quest items are 3 Gold Ore, 1 Maple Syrup, or 5 Mixed Seeds, and the reward is 30 Fishing XP.
• From 7 to 10 capacity, the possible quest items are 1 Crayfish, 1 Honey, 2 Jade, or 1 Periwinkle, and the reward is 30 Fishing XP.

The pond’s daily production is heavily weighted toward Salmon Roe. At populations from 1 to 10, the pond has a 90% chance to produce roe and a 10% chance to produce nothing. The overall daily chance to get roe ranges from 21% at low population to 86% at high population, and producing roe grants 12 Fishing XP.

Salmon is also useful for Help Wanted and Special Orders requests. In Fall, one Salmon may be requested on the Help Wanted board for an item delivery quest, and Demetrius or Willy may ask for 1 to 4 Salmon for a fishing request, with the fish kept after delivery. Demetrius may also request 10 Salmon for the Aquatic Overpopulation special order during Fall; the reward is gold equal to the selling value of the fish plus the Farm Computer recipe.

Because Salmon is seasonal, it is easiest to collect in Fall when river fishing in Pelican Town, Cindersap Forest, or the southern waterfall area. Magic Bait is the most flexible way to target it if you want to catch Salmon outside its normal season or time window.