Farm Pond
| Farm Pond | |
|---|---|
| Type | Location |
Farm Pond is the name for any body of water sitting on the farm itself, and what it is worth depends entirely on which farm layout the save started with. Every pond refills a Watering Can, every pond irrigates Rice Shoots and Taro Tubers, and every pond takes Crab Pots exactly as a river or a lake would. Fishing with a rod is the part that varies: the Standard Farm's water yields only rubbish, while the Riverland Farm pulls up the same fish as the Pelican Town river. For a farmer who wants to fish without leaving home, the pond is either the best feature on the map or a decorative puddle, and that is decided at character creation.
Area
Ponds sit differently on every layout. The Riverland Farm is cut through by so much water that the farmable ground shrinks noticeably, and the Forest Farm and Wilderness Farm both lose space to extra ponds and cliffs. The Four Corners Farm has one large pond in its southwest quadrant and a small one in each of the others. The Meadowlands Farm has three separate ponds in a row, and the Beach Farm has two.
Whatever the shape, the water is useful ground rather than wasted ground, because it is the only place on the farm where Crab Pots work and the only way to refill a can without walking to a Well.
Fishing
Rod fishing is where the layouts separate.
The Standard Farm's pond only gives rubbish, which is why farmers on that map fish in town instead. The Riverland Farm is the opposite extreme and the reason the layout exists: most casts bring up town river fish, and the rest bring up the fish found in the Cindersap Forest pond. That makes a Riverland pond a complete fishing spot without a single step off the property.
The Forest Farm sits in the middle. A small share of casts hook a Woodskip, and daily Luck moves that share up and down, which makes a lucky day on a Forest Farm the easiest Woodskip in the game. Most of the rest are forest pond fish, and the remainder is rubbish.
The Hill-top Farm pulls forest river fish about half the time. The Wilderness Farm reaches the mountain lake list instead, which is the only way to fish lake species at home. On the Four Corners Farm the large southwest pond behaves like the Forest Farm's water, while the three small ponds give rubbish. The Meadowlands Farm splits its three ponds between rubbish, Crayfish and Periwinkle, and the Beach Farm's two ponds give rubbish, which is beside the point on a map that borders the ocean.
Notes
Crab Pots are the equaliser. A pot dropped into any Farm Pond counts as fresh water, so it produces the freshwater catches: Crayfish, Periwinkle and Snail, along with the usual rubbish. Each pot needs baiting every day unless the farmer has taken the Luremaster profession, which removes bait entirely, and the Mariner profession stops the pots catching rubbish at all. A row of pots in a Farm Pond is the cheapest passive income in the game, because the catch can be walked to the shipping bin in seconds rather than hiked up from the beach.
Taro Tubers and Rice Shoots are the other reason to keep water on the farm. Both need tilled soil next to water to grow, which makes pond edges the only spots on a mainland farm where they can be planted.
A Fish Pond bought from Robin is a different thing from the water the map starts with, despite the similar name. That building breeds a single species for produce, while the natural pond is simply water the farmer fishes in, dips a can into and drops pots into.
All Locations
Every entry in this group, with its key details.
