Fisherman Zombie

Casts line to pull far plants to him.

Everyone is tired of Fisherman Zombie's fishing stories. He's always bragging about the size of his catch. Time and time again, he claims to have caught "the big one." But the fact of the matter is, no one has seen him actually catch a fish. Not once. It's more than a little suspicious.

**Fisherman Zombie** is the 12th zombie encountered in Big Wave Beach in *Plants vs. Zombies 2*. He pulls the nearest plant to the right one tile at a time (unless there is a surfboard, then he will pull it across the surfboard.) until it either falls into the water or it reaches the Fisherman Zombie itself, after which he will throw his catch from the lawn, destroying it. He cannot hook plants considered "low to the ground," such as the Iceberg Lettuce, but they may still be pulled forward from behind via another hooked plant.

## Description

The Fisherman Zombie wears a light green bucket hat that is decorated with fishing bait. The bait on it features a white and red colored egg, a blue and red colored egg, and a red colored fish on it. He wears a light red collared aloha shirt with aquamarine colored flowers as designs on it. Plus, he also wears a green colored fishing vest buttoned up with pocket on his lower left and right respectively. The Fisherman Zombie also sports in a black colored lifebuoy with white linings, allowing him to hold his position on the ocean for fishing. His fishing rod is colored orange.

## Almanac entry

**Fisherman Zombie**

TOUGHNESS: Dense

Casts line to pull far plants to him.

Special: Pulls plants to the right
Special: Plants next to him are tossed off the lawn

Everyone is tired of Fisherman Zombie's fishing stories. He's always bragging about the size of his catch. Time and time again, he claims to have caught "the big one." But the fact of the matter is, no one has seen him actually catch a fish. Not once. It's more than a little suspicious.

## Overview

Fisherman Zombie absorbs 1000 damage per shot and degrades at 500 damage per shot when he loses his left arm, just like the other zombies when they reach half health.

## Encounters

Big Wave Beach: Days 22, 23, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, Tiki Torch-er, and Piñata Party

## Strategies

Even though the Fisherman Zombie cannot eat your brains by himself, his special ability can easily allow other zombies, who *are* capable of eating your brains, through your lawn. Because he does not move and stays at the back column of the lawn, he is often safe from close-range plants like Snapdragon, Chomper, and Bonk Choy, while long-range plants will have trouble killing him before he can drag down multiple plants and ensure that zombies like Surfer Zombies and Deep Sea Gargantuars absorb all of the plants' projectiles.

Aside from instant-kill plants like Cherry Bomb and Tangle Kelp, the Magnifying Grass can kill him the quickest with two shots at 100 sun. Banana Launcher, Laser Bean, Strawburst and Missile Toe are good choices, especially when given Plant Food, as they can send an attack at any tile on the board, bypassing all other zombies. Planting a column of Banana Launchers, Strawbursts or Missile Toes in the back-most columns, then a row of defensive plants ahead of the row to be pulled forward by the Fisherman is a very effective strategy. That way, if octopi are on top of your defensive plants, you can bombard them with those attacks. Slowing plants like Winter Melon may also help against these zombies.

The Infi-nut's Plant Food shield is immensely effective as it will block all incoming hooks, rendering all Fisherman Zombies useless as long as the shield lasts and that the plants are behind the shield.

Like the Octo Zombie, the Fisherman Zombie will always target the front-most plant first, so the player can plant literal "bait" to distract him by using sacrificial plants such as Puff-shrooms or extra Sunflowers and Sun-shrooms, forcing the Fisherman Zombie to waste time hooking them instead. Be careful as the Fisherman Zombie will ignore some types of plants even if they are in the front, such as Potato Mines, Iceberg Lettuce, and Lily Pads. Instant use plants like Blover are also useful to prevent them hooking plants. Simply put one in the same row as soon as the Fisherman Zombie tries to hook other plants. He will hook the instant use plant and provide as a one time shield. You could also leave a A.K.E.E., Electric Peashooter or Laser Bean in the back so they can target all zombies in their lane. A Spring Bean in the tile in front of the zombie, with a Lily Pad will also block the hooking, due the fact that it will be at the floor and can't be hooked. Rotobagas, Ghost Peppers, and Caulipowers are also good distractions since they won't sink without Lily Pads due to them having the ability to fly over water.

Note: Coconut Cannon and Citron are useless against this zombie as they require a clear path to destroy him. Besides, they have a very slow recharge which is their main weakness as Fisherman Zombie acts quite fast. However, feeding Plant Food for them will be helpful to take out the Fisherman Zombie (be aware that in Citron's case, as its light-blue plasma ball may not hurt the Fisherman if there is a Deep Sea Gargantuar in front of it). Electric Blueberry is also a bad choice as they tend to get distracted by other zombies while the Fisherman Zombie can easily drag them around due to its slow recharge.

### Big Wave Beach - Day 30

Fisherman Zombie is at his deadliest in this level. When he pulls a endangered Guacodile, he will immediately rush across the lane, causing you to lose the level. Infi-nut's force field will help as it can prevent them from pulling plants. Primal Wall-nut can also help with its fast recharge. Be sure to back the hard shell plants up with some area-of-effect plants like Laser Bean or Fume-shroom or instant kills like Primal Potato Mine to prevent hordes of zombies from destroying your defenses.

### Tiki Torch-er

Fisherman Zombie is one of the hardest zombies to tackle in this Endless Zone. That is due to the fact that he does not move and can instantly kill your plants by dragging them into the ocean. His position makes it hard for close-range plants (Bonk Choy, Chomper, Snapdragon) to attack him without being attacked themselves, while simultaneously protecting him from long-range plants by letting him hide behind faster and stronger zombies (Surfer Zombie, Octo Zombie, Deep Sea Gargantuar). A combination of Banana Launchers, strong offensive plants (Melon-pult, Winter Melon, Bowling Bulb), and Infi-nut's Plant Food is recommended to stop Fishermen Zombies from dragging plants. Keep a Cherry Bomb, Jalapeno, Squash, Ghost Pepper, Tangle Kelp, or Imitater version ready in case the zombies do break through the Infi-nut's shield.

### Chinese version (China only)

Radish cannot prevent the Fisherman Zombie from pulling it as he is not using mental energy to pull plants, so do not use them to counter this zombie.

## Gallery

### *Plants vs. Zombies 2*

HD Fisherman ZombieAnother HD Fisherman ZombieFisherman Zombie's sprites and assetsAlmanac entry part 1Almanac entry part 2Fisherman Zombie in-gameFisherman Zombie dyingFisherman Zombie about to pull a Twin SunflowerFisherman Zombie pulling a Twin SunflowerAn advertisement with Fisherman ZombieAnother Fisherman Zombie advertisementInfi-nut's shield can block the attackSpring Bean cannot be pulled if it is about to bounce a zombieFisherman Zombie pulling Sun-shroom over a lava poolPoisoned Fisherman ZombieVarious examples of underground plants being moved onto a Lily Pad by Fisherman Zombies. Normally they cannot be planted there.Hypnotized Fisherman Zombie (possible in Penny's Pursuit)
### Chinese version (China only)

FisherAlm.pngAlmanac entry (note that he is on land)
## Trivia

* He is the third zombie added to stay at the back of the screen without moving and provide support for the invasion. The first being Imp Cannon, the second being Zombie King.
* Fisherman Zombie's ability is the only way to move underground plants onto Lily Pads. They do this by pulling the plant behind the underground plant forward, pushing it onto the Lily Pad.
	+ Cactus can be pulled onto a Lily Pad without a plant behind it. This is because it does not hide from Fisherman Zombie's line, and thus is tall enough to be hooked.
* This is the only zombie in the specific world that doesn't wear open shirt, excluding Dr. Zomboss.
* Fisherman Zombie and Zombie King do not have their speed listed in the Almanac.
* His rubber ring is similar to Pea-nut's costume.
* He sometimes raises his thumb when he dies. This is a reference to ending of the movie *Terminator 2: Judgment Day*, where the T-800 raises his thumb before he finally sunk into the molten steel he had himself lowered into.
* When his head falls off, the same sound effect plays as when the Zombie King dies, since they both have the similar dying animations.
* If he's killed by an explosive plant such as Cherry Bomb, he will die regularly instead of burning into ashes.
* Like Prospector Zombie, Zombie King, and any zombie facing backwards via pterodactyl, he dies instantly if he is the only zombie left on the lawn due to the inability to eat the player's brains.
* If his lane has only one plant, when he tries to pull that plant, digging that plant will make his fishing rod move further and suddenly back to his position.
* He will pull plants past surfboards if they are a tile behind one.
	+ The plant will hop 2 tiles over, past the tile the surfboard is on.
* He can pull Ghost Peppers if the plant behind the Ghost Pepper is being pulled to the furthest right tile.
	+ Fisherman Zombie, Gargantuar Prime, Surfer Zombie, Mecha-Football Zombie, Imp Porter, Troglobite, Arcade Zombie, and Hair Metal Gargantuar are the only zombies that can kill Ghost Pepper.
* There can only be one Fisherman Zombie per lane. This trait is shared with Zombie King.
* If the player plants on the tile where this zombie will appear, they will be tossed off the lawn. This does not apply to instant-use plants, Ghost Pepper, and Guacodile.
	+ If the plant is somehow invincible, such as a boosted plant via Plant Food, when this zombie spawns on the plant's tile, the game will crash.
* Fisherman Zombie is invulnerable for a short period of time after entering the lawn. This trait is shared with Zombie King.
* If he failed to hook plants, his fishing rod suddenly came back but after the 3.1 update, if failing, the Fisherman Zombie will drag his rod instead.
* In his Almanac entry in the Chinese version, the Fisherman Zombie is on land opposed to water.
	+ This trait also share with the Zombot Sharktronic Sub.
* In the 3.5.1 update, when the Fisherman Zombie pulls a plant to water, the plant would go flying off stage. In addition, Fisherman Zombie could push and pull offstage Rotobagas. It was fixed in the 3.6.1 update.
* If a Fisherman Zombie tries to hook a plant and there is a lava puddle in between, the plant will jump over and be hooked to the next tile. This is similar to the case with surfboard.
* The only time his legs are seen is on the banner for Big Wave Beach part 2.
* In the Chinese version, the Fisherman Zombie appears to be lacking eye pupils. However, this was fixed.
* The Fisherman Zombie is one of the few zombies that aren't present in Modern Day.

## See also

* Qigong Zombie
* Excavator Zombie
* Mecha-Football Zombie
* Fly Fishing Fail

ru:Зомби-рыбак
vi:Fisherman Zombie