History Main / FishingForSole

* In an episode of ''{{Pokemon}}'', Misty hooks a tea kettle after a surprising struggle.

* ''{{Torchlight}}'' and the ''{{FATE}}'' series involve fishing minigames where the fish sometimes contain items. It's usually jewelry or gems, but sometimes other things. There are also actual fish, which when fed to your pet turn it into a [[PowerUpFood powerful]] PetMonstrosity.

[[AC:{{Folklore}}]]

*** Actually a ChekovsGun back to a comment made about the first bottle you receive.

* In ''SamuraiSentaiShinkenger'' episode 7, the blue ranger has to go fishing for his mecha. He's shown pulling up a boot, which he adds to a pile of trash.

* Happens in ''[[TheSims The Sims 2: Seasons]]''. Not only do you catch boots, but you can put them in your blender and drink them and watch your Sims have wacky reactions to boot smoothies.
* Mercilessly destroyed in (what else?) ''FamilyGuy'', where Peter's terrible fishing trip results in a tire, a boot, a tin can and [[LampshadeHanging a book of cliches]].

* Parodied extensively in the ''{{Futurama}}'' episode "The Deep South", when the crew goes fishing. Leela catches a boot with a ''harpoon''. Then she gets something that must be good, since it's twenty times heavier than a boot... and it's a crate containing ten pairs of boots. She gets confident about the next one since the thing is clearly moving... and then pulls up a boot being eaten by Zoidberg. And they were fishing this at the exact center of the Atlantic Ocean.
* While fishing in ''WorldOfWarcraft'' with fishing skill lower than the required for the zone, significant part (up to ''all'' of them) of catches will be useless junk, like twigs, for some reason specifically lacking boots. However, even at high enough levels to not catch any junk, plenty of ''actual fish'' is useless to the degree of not even being a worthy VendorTrash. It also sometimes is inverted, with rare non-fish catches being more valuable, or at least [[CosmeticAward cosmetic]].
** And once you reach a high enough skill level, [[http://www.wowhead.com/items=4?filter=sl=8;cr=69;crs=1;crv=0#0-2+1 you *can* fish up footwear]].
* It can happen in the ''AnimalCrossing'' series. You can get boots, cans, and tires. It's impossible to know that they're junk ahead of time, since they look and fight back just like real fish. (No idea how or why they fight, but they do.) In City Folk, some villagers may end up locked out of their houses, leaving you to fish for the key.
** The fisherman in TheMovie has increasingly bad luck.
* Happened on ForrestGump, when they were shrimp fishing; only with a greater variety of junk, including a toilet seat.
* Every {{Suikoden}} game since the second have included a fishing-game, and the 'Boot' has always been a possible alternate catch. Two amusing details: Those Boots are actually equippable an an Accessory item, which is somewhat odd unless they always come in pairs. And you actually have a 'biggest size caught' listing for the Boot as well as the various types of fish, only instead of being measured in centimeters, it's measured in boot size...
* Happens in ''[[TheSims The Sims 2: Seasons]]''. Not only do you catch boots, but you can put them in your blender and drink them and watch your Sims have wacky reactions to boot smoothies.
* Mercilessly destroyed in (what else?) ''FamilyGuy'', where Peter's terrible fishing trip results in a tire, a boot, a tin can and [[LampshadeHanging a book of cliches]].
* ''TheLegendOfZelda: Twilight Princess'' both plays this straight and subverts it. Non-fish objects that you can catch include the usual junk like sticks, cans, and old cartwheels, but also some good things such as an empty bottle, a bag of rupees, or the most effective fishing lure in the game. The sign in the fishing hole area warning people not to throw junk in the water might be a Lampshade Hanging, or it might just be a clue about dredging up the good stuff.
** The game even seems to imply that fishing up an Empty Bottle is a more valuable treasure than any fish and snagging it helps with the litter problem since you're recycling the bottle.
*** Actually a ChekovsGun back to a comment made about the first bottle you receive.
** And ''Link's Awakening'' has a guy fishing up a "necklace" belonging to the local mermaid (in the Japanese version, it's her bra).
* ''UltimaOnline'' had this happen and decrease in likeliness as you gained more skill. Due to poor balancing the boots were a far better catch then the fish; food was in abundant supply and boots sold for more.
* [[UnderTheSea Maraqua]] from {{Neopets}} has "Underwater Fishing", where boots, tin cans, driftwood, broken fishing poles, and other pieces of junk are frequent catches.

* In the folktale ''The Fisherman and the Genie'', the title fisherman pulls up several useless items(including a dead donkey) before finding the genie's jar.
* Occurs in some of the ''HarvestMoon'' games that feature fishing, such as ''Friends of Mineral Town''.
** In Harvest Moon DS, you actually have to catch a Bottle so you can [[spoiler:propose to the mermaid, Leia.]]
* Happens also in the fishing minigames at GaiaOnline. Interestingly enough, you can trade your garbage for special hats at the fishing shop, which in turn managed to create a market for lake garbage. Like the saying goes, one man's rubbish is another man's treasure...
** The short-lived minor meme: "Johnny K. is a litterbug", referring to the amounts of trash that could be dredged up by Gambino Island.
* There's actually a special enhancement exclusively used to invoke this trope in ''FinalFantasyXI'', although the situation is reversed compared to ''WorldOfWarcraft'', as most items fished up really ''are'' junk, and most of the fish will result in a better profit(Although the junk was more valuable before, but it got heavily nerfed due to massive RMT exploiting).
* In {{Runescape}}, there's a chance of catching a boots with a big fishing net. With that method, it's also possible to receive gloves.
* In ''ChronoCross'', one of the fisherman Korcha's special attacks has him reel in a monster that hits the enemies. Sometimes, however, he'll reel in a boot that does nothing.
* A José Carioca comic book short features a sort of inversion. Being as poor as he is, he fancies the idea of a free pair of boots, and continues fishing for the other boot. Cut to an annoyed Joe sitting in front of a large pile of ''fish'' but still just one boot.

* Swedish board game ''Old Pike'' features, in addition to the titular Old Pike and a big deck of different small fish: an old boot, an old hat, an "electric eel" (which looks a bit like a fluorescent tube bent like an S) and a tin of sardines. The two last cards are the reason that the rulebook states you need seven ''live'' fish to win. Emphasis from the original.
* ther "7Seas" MiniGame in SecondLife has a variety of boots you can catch with your fishing pole. Like the {{Suikoden}} example above, these are wearable items and often have shiny {{bling}}.
* Taken to [[RefugeInAudacity ridiculous extremes]] in one episode of ''DetectiveConan'': fishing in a rain-swollen river, Kogoro hooks something huge...and discovers to his horror that he has hooked '''''his rental car''''', which was swept away in a flash flood.
* Almost invoked in ''RedDwarf'', in which Lister notes that his fishing trips were mainly ForTheLulz and, if anything, he went condom fishing.
* {{MMORPG}} ''VideoGame/Mabinogi'' has a fishing skill and minigame. Aside from fish, catches include any number of different items, including quests, clothing and armour, crafting items, etc. Some items can only be found via fishing. The higher the player's rank, the more valuable the items (and fish) that can be caught.

* ''{{Torchlight}}'' and the ''{{FATE}}'' series involve fishing minigames where the fish sometimes contain items. It's usually jewelry or gems, but sometimes other things. There are also actual fish, which when fed to your pet turn it into a [[PowerUpFood powerful]] PetMonstrosity.
** The really funny part is when you get an [[GridInventory eight-grid-cell]] artifact shield [[FridgeLogic out of a one-cell fish]].

## The second, wackier version is to replace the crab pot in question with something else entirely. The examples shown in the series were a porta-potty and ''[[RefugeInAudacity a wrecked pickup truck]]'', the latter of which [[MagnificentBastard impressed even the victims]]!
* The fisherman Ai sits with in the OVA series ''VideoGirlAi'' catches a boot which she keeps for a bit.

*** Actually a [=~Chekov's Gun~=] back to a comment made about the first bottle you receive.

** And once you reach a high enough level, [[http://www.wowhead.com/items=4?filter=sl=8;cr=69;crs=1;crv=0#0-2+1 you ''can'' catch boots]].

* Happens constantly in RuneFactory3. Which wouldn't be so bad, except that they don't ''stack''. Hopefully you wanted that entire inventory of boots and cans.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/JoeFish.jpg
[[caption-width:252:It's never what you want to catch.]]

* {{MMORPG}} [[MabinogiFantasyLife Mabinogi]] has a fishing skill and minigame. Aside from fish, catches include any number of different items, including quests, clothing and armour, crafting items, etc. Some items can only be found via fishing. The higher the player's rank, the more valuable the items (and fish) that can be caught.

* Mercilessly destroyed in (what else?) ''FamilyGuy'', where Peter's terrible fishing trip results in a tire, a boot, a tin can and a book of cliches.

* Happens rarely in ''WorldOfWarcraft'' fishing. That junk is actually more valuable than the fishes themselves due to a massive nerf put in place to deal with fishing bots. Of course, the same nerf also made it extremely unlikely that you get anything but fish. Interestingly, fishing's gotten a lot more profitable of late due to the fact that fish tend to make the best source of materials for cooking recipes, but the junk still has a higher vendor sell value.
** And sometimes you actually catch something mildly useful. I once caught a disenchantable wooden shield.

* ''[[Torchlight]]'' and the ''[[FATE]]'' series involve fishing minigames where the fish sometimes contain items. It's usually jewelry or gems, but sometimes other things. There are also actual fish, which when fed to your pet turn it into a [[PowerUpFood powerful]] PetMonstrosity.

Compare IGotARock for similar lucklessness when trick-or-treating.

* Parodied extensively in a ''{{Futurama}}'' episode; Leela catches a boot with a ''harpoon''. Then another one. Then she gets something that must be good, since it's twenty times heavier than a boot... and it's a crate containing ten pairs of boots. She gets confident about the next one since the thing is clearly moving... and then pulls up a boot being eaten by Zoidberg.
** Weren't they also in the middle of the ocean?

* [[UnderTheSea Maraqua]] from {{Neopets}} has "Underwater Fishing", where boots, tin cans, driftwood, broken fishing poles, and other pieces of junk are frequent catches. OrSoIHeard.
** That's true, although some items are valuable, others (and most fish) are priced at 1 NP. It'll probably change a bit during a limited time (with new customization items and Neohome V2 conversions), but...

** not to mention the first episode where she hooks Ash. "Aw is just a kid,"