Red Dead Redemption 2 has 14 Legendary Fish Locations. Finding all legendary fish in RDR2 is needed for A Fisher of Fish Stranger Mission and they count as a collectible for 100% completion. They are also needed to complete the Fish Compendium under the Progress Menu. Only the first 13 legendary fishes are needed for 100%.
Legendary Fish are bigger and heavier versions of the normal fish and are harder to hook and catch. Along the way you’ll automatically unlock the trophy “It was THIS Big!” for catching a fish weighing 16lbs (7.3kg).
First you should accept the Stranger Mission “A Fisher of Fish” given by Jeremy Gill. You must mail the fish to him via the post office. Bigger fish must be put on the back of your horse and brought back to the post office. Smaller fish go in your satchel automatically. In case you lose a big fish from your horse (or die after catching it) you can simply catch the fish again. Jeremy Gill gives you a map of 13 fish locations but it’s not very accurate so we’ll go through them in more detail on the in-game map. The mission start is shown in the image below (the white question mark symbol):
Legendary Fish Map
How to Catch Legendary Fish
You must first get Special Lures from the Bait Shop in the Bayou, in the east of the map (location image below or see How to Get Fishing Bait & Lures).
Buy these 3 lures:
- Special Lake Lure – $20.00
- Special River Lure – $20.00
- Special Swamp Lure – $20.00
The Special Lures are needed to hook legendary fish! It won’t work with your default lures. Bait is not needed, just the special lures. Legendary Fish aren’t attracted to bait.
Now head to the fishing spots below and equip the fishing rod from the item menu ( 
/ 
to open weapon wheel, 
/ 
to switch to item wheel, select fishing rod in bottom right) and then again press / to select the appropriate lure for the water type, at the bottom of wheel. Don’t select any bait. The correct lure will be pointed out in the location guide. However, any of the 3 special lures will work for every fish, using the correct lure just helps get a bite more quickly, you can try around with these if you wish.
Put the lure in the water at a legendary fishing spot. Make sure it’s at a place where you can see fish under the water (you can see little “waves” where they swim). Very slowly reel in the lure by turning the Right Stick 
clockwise. It may take a minute to get a bite. If you don’t get a bite, press 
/ 
(only once) to attract fish. Pressing / too often will scare the fish away, use this only when you haven’t got a bite in a minute. If nothing bites then cast a new lure at a slightly different spot.
Lastly, keep in mind that big fish must be put on the back of your horse and brought to the post office to mail them to the quest giver (take the fish off your horse and carry it to the post master, press 
to mail it). Small fish go directly in your satchel but still need to be mailed.
Legendary Fish Locations
We’ll collect them from north to south in the order they are closest to each other.
#1 – Legendary Steelhead Trout
Lure: Special River Lure
#2 – Legendary Perch
Lure: Special Lake Lure
#3 – Legendary Muskie
Lure: Special River Lure
#4 – Legendary Longnose Gar
Lure: Special Swamp Lure
#5 – Legendary Bullhead Catfish
Lure: Special River Lure
#6 – Legendary Lake Sturgeon
Lure: Special River Lure
#7 – Legendary Bluegill
Lure: Special Lake Lure
#8 – Legendary Chain Pickerel
Lure: Special River Lure
#9 – Legendary Sockeye Salmon
Lure: Special Lake Lure
#10 – Legendary Smallmouth Bass
Lure: Special Lake Lure
#11 – Legendary Rock Bass
Lure: Special Lake Lure
#12 – Legendary Redfin Pickerel
Lure: Special Lake Lure
#13 – Legendary Largemouth Bass
Lure: Special River Lure
#14 – Legendary Catfish
The last catfish is only available after having caught and mailed the other 13 back to Jeremy Gill. Then Jeremy will send you an invite in the mail after 1-2 days. You can get it from the post office, open the Satchel and find it under documents, invitations. Read the invite, he will want you to meet him at a hut and then goes with you to Rio Bravo in New Austin to catch the Legendary Catfish. The Legendary Catfish is NOT required for 100% completion.
This finishes A Fisher of Fish Stranger Mission and checks off the Legendary Fish in your Collectibles log of the Progress Menu.
For all other RDR2 Collectibles and Animals, check out the full Red Dead Redemption 2 Collectibles Guide.
How do i mail the fish?
You must bring them to the post office (if it’s a big fish take it from the back of your horse and walk with it to the postmaster), then press
to mail it to the quest giver. You must have accepted A Fisher of Fish quest first.
Even with Big fish you can just drive up to the post office and go in and mail them. You DO NOT have to remove the fish and take it into the PO with you. When you interact with the postmaster and click send main there will be a list of items to send. No matter how many you have e. If it’s one fish, one letter or ten each. Send one or send all. The only place you need to remove a cactus from your horse is possibly at the trapper in Saint Denis. But even there as long as your horse is standing to where the trapper can see the horse and carcus directly, he will buy them. But this does not relate to fish and the post office.
How do I get paid?
After mailing the fish off, in a few days game time you will have mail waiting to be picked up at the post office. Your payment for the fish will come as mail. He sends you back money and other various items for different fish. Then when done he will write you for meeting him. And then he will have a special request for you to do.
You don’t have to use special lures. I just hooked and caught a legendary gar with the default swamp lure.
Encountered a bug that voids 100% Was trying to catch the blue gill legendary and left to get more bait. Got killed by an alligator and when I respawned, I got a notification saying I abandoned my legendary fish. Is there anyway to retrieve it?
Yeah, even if it has an X on the spot and you lost it you can still catch it again. That being said the Bluegill is a small fish and goes into your bags. I don’t think you can lose it. I’ve died with a large fish and lost that and had legendary fish in my bag and didn’t lose those. As you say though, bug.
Well I never even got caught him which really confuses me. Also any idea how long it take for them to respawn? Thanks for the help.
How do I catch the legendary catfish?
How do you land the Catfish? Nothing but bass for me. I have tried every lure.
You dont use every lure, the moment you choose Fushing Rod from the wheel near the water a notification will pops up in the above center of your screen telling you what kind of area you are fishing at (Lake, River, or Swamp) .. this will help you to chose the right bait .. also if you are trying to catch a legendary fish just make sur to pick the (special lure) of the area ..
It doesn’t work for me to send the big fishes.. even if I walk into the post office with the fish. Tried to inspect the business card before and several post offices but nothing works. Please help if you know something else..
I used a correct special lure but i cant catch legendary . Its big very fish i catch but not legendary . What can i do ?
Cast your line in the exact spot marked with legendary fish on your map, when I figured this out I caught each fish on the first try
How do I get the catfish after the story is over? I’ve tried 2 canoes and a rowboat to get back to Sisika but they just start filling with water and sinking halfway across
I had the same problem. It depends where you row your boat. You have to go in a straight line from the coast to the fish spot and don’t get too far to the right. When you drift a bit to the right it counts as “outside the map” and just sinks the ship. There are also those heavier metal ships, they don’t sink as easily as the wooden canoes. Sometimes they just randomly sink for no reason.
Just use your horse.
Hi i lost one of the leggendary fish, but the fish have a x in the spot, i pass many in game days but i can’t catch him again, i only get normal fishes, can you help me please?
You can still mail it at the post office if you lost the fish. They can’t be caught again.
I caught a legendary fish and lost it, what do i do? When i try to sell it it doesn’t appear in the post office
Hi i have 14 legendary fishes but in the compendium shous that trere are 15 of them, am i missing something?
I am having the same problem
The Legendary Northern Pike is part of The Veteran questline and isn’t required for The Fisher of Fish
Does the Legendary Northern Pike no longer exist after the Veteran mission?
I have to catch a standard northern pike in the Kamassa River, with the Special River Lure, due east of O’Creagh’s Run?
i fishing for 2 hour and small mouth bass never show it for what?
For each legendary fish sent, there is a reward? Because for my last 4 i didnt receive any reward and i slept for ages… Ive been bugged?
He only sends payments after so many and not for each I’m pretty sure. I noticed its kind of random. And sometimes items instead of money.
I caught a legendary fish and lost it inside the river. I couldn’t catch. I fish for hours & did not get the legendary fish again
Can john catch the fish
Yes, you can’t even complete this with Arthur (this requires John to complete).
Do you have to send the fish to the postoffice or is catching them only enough for the 100% ?
Yes you must actually “Mail” them at any post office for it to count. This is because you are sending them to the guy that you met who started this quest for you “Jeremy Gill” I believe is his name. See he wants you to catch these fish for him and mail them to him so he can mount them and act like he was the one who caught them. And I’ve noticed even if a fish is on your horse you don’t need to take it off the back of the horse to mail it. Just ride up to the post office, go up to the window, press send mail, and then it will show you a list of all the things you have that can be mailed. Select the fish and then it will be mailed. Same as taking something to the butcher…it can be on the back of your horse still but when you walk up to him it will let you select the item for sale. 🙂 Hope this helps. Cheers!
I can’t catch the perch any reason why? Yes
Head to the shore at the north west of the waterfall, not the southern shore, it should be pretty easy from there (I caught it first cast once I abandoned the little rocky islands in the south of the pool).
I had the same problem with the perch so I went to another location and decided to catch another legendary fish. After doing that I mailed the other fish and decided to go back for that perch. It finally showed up so I guess you can leave the area and it might help or save your game in a different area then reboot your game and go back for the fish. Hope you find it.
How do I check how many fish I’ve mailed?
Tap Left d-pad. and scroll to legendary fishes. It will show how many out of thirteen.
When you land on Sisika do the guards shoot at you?
Has anyone caught the catfish which doesn’t require 100% completion?