Sterling is in my town as well, he's boss.
Sterling is pretty boss. His house apparently smells like a gym.
My only piece of advice: locate the rarest fishes (depends on day, hour and meteorological condition: rain is good) and I bait Tom Nook won't bother you in a reasonable ammount of time, reasonable being dependant of the point of view used, expressed in months with a daily basis of 1 hour fishing/selling and 1 hour doing whatever, including shopping.
The pun hurt a bit, but I'll keep it in mind. Mostly I've just been fishing to add to the museum, once I start selling more fish I'll try to keep track of what they sell for.
So basically Tom Nook owns the Mayor? Sounds like in New Leaf he's become the closest thing the series has to a mob boss.
Essentially, yes. Though I will be fair, and say that he's at least a nice mob boss, not the kind that breaks your legs for not paying.
At least, not yet.
And thank you. Like I said, I'm liking the game, at least based on these two days, so I should be able to keep this up.
