Monster Hunter Wilds Goldenfish location

Monster Hunter Wilds Goldenfish caught by hunter with fishing rod — (Image credit: Capcom)

The Monster Hunter Wilds Goldenfish is easy to catch but hard to find the location of, as this shimmering fish only appears in dark pools away from sunlight. There aren't many such places in Monster Hunter Wilds, but we'll help you narrow down what you need, so you can complete the special side quest from Kanya, Seeking the Goldenfish, with locations and more besides to work from.

How to catch a Goldenfish in Monster Hunter Wilds

Monster Hunter Wilds Goldenfish cave pools marked on map — (Image credit: Capcom)

I found the cave system in Areas 14 and 15 in the Windward Plains to be the best location for catching Goldenfish in Monster Hunter Wilds, but you must catch one with the fishing rod equipped with the Golden Bughead lure to complete this side quest.

You'll unlock the Groundwater Vein pop-up camp in Area 14 after the Monster Hunter Wilds Rey Dau boss fight for easy fast travel to that cave system. It's almost directly below the Oasis campsite in Area 13 in the south of the Plains map. From the camp, head out the southeast cave and towards the water area visible on your map. Run right to the edge and you'll see a large, deep pool which you can cast your fishing line into with the Golden Bughead lure. Alternatively, you can take the north exit out of the camp and dive into the water to reach a narrow cave area with a small and shallow pool that you can fish from.

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Monster Hunter Wilds Goldenfish in dark cave pool marked by arrow — (Image credit: Capcom)

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Make sure you equip your fishing rod and use the D-Pad to scroll through your lures to find the Golden Bughead. Now you can cast your line into either of the fishing spots outlined above and slowly reel in and move your line by moving the left stick. When the fish bites, press R2/RT to reel it in automatically.

Note that you can catch Goldenfish using the net as well, just like how you would capture a Monster Hunter Wilds tracktail lizard, for example, but this does not count as a catch for the purposes of Kanya's Seeking the Goldenfish side quest – you must use the fishing rod.

Goldenfish are quite rare given that they appear in such specific areas but they're valuable since they drop Golden Scales which can be sold to the provisioner back at base camp for 1000 Zenny a piece. Zenny is hardly difficult to get in Monster Hunter Wilds, but if you do find yourself running low, catching a few Goldenfish and selling their scales can certainly help!

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Will Sawyer is a Guides Editor at GamesRadar+ with over five years of experience in writing online guides, news, and features, and has a BA (Hons) in Journalism. Starting as a freelancer, Will contributed to startmenu and Game Rant before joining the GamesRadar+ team in August 2021. Since then, he has written hundreds of guides about a huge range of games, with shooters and action games being his areas of expertise. Outside of writing about games, Will hops between multiplayer shooters with friends, such as Darktide and Helldivers 2, and delves into whatever has been on his backlog for far too long. He also tries to get through his never-ending Warhammer pile of shame of grey Tyranids, Aeldari, and Chaos Space Marines.