Thoughts on fishing...Follow

If you go to the Fisher page in the wikibase and scroll to the bottom, you'll find my writeup on fishing in FFXIV. Check it out and see if you have anything to add.

http://ffxiv.zam.com/wiki/Fishing_Guide

Edit: Stickied, and title changed slightly. Seemed a bit egotistical to sticky a post called "My thoughts on fishing"

Edited, Sep 23rd 2010 8:31pm by Wint

Yeah I forgot to talk about the animation and sound. I was hoping the rod would jiggle in the direction you needed to jig or some such, but it doesn't really work like that.

I also need to expand on Spearfishing, but there doesn't seem to be as much technique involved with that, it's pretty much just hitting "Fish" over and over.

I'm going to sticky this for now, if people find new things, please post them here and either I will update the wiki article, or you can too if you wish

Thanks for a great guide :D

just to touch base on fishing that i have noticed.. and actually helped early on for me at least..

i starting in the city with the fishing guild.. got the first 2 or 3 three levequest
went to teh starting area did 2 of the leve then with that starting gil i grabbed 2 stacks of bait sold in the camp(i think lugworms) these were hella better to use starting out then the 2 stacks of bait given i went from level 2 to level 8 opn one stack and enough fish to either start cooking or sell them out right.. and have started using the second stack on grade 2 fish ill know more once i log in again.

Secondly when you jig for the first time try to hit the C in cast or T in cast and watch the pole if you get the ping(basicly blue or green flash on your fishing pole) the next jig stop to the left if using C as your starting spot or right if using T.
If you dont get a flash the next jig if C stop in between the T am the right boarder of the screen and reverse if that happens at the T. Note: no matter what messange you get about reeling in or fish taking line this method i found to be more reliable.

Unnamed fisherman in ffxiv

Quick Update:

While in Limsa Lominsa's lower decks (Bulwark Hall specifically) I was giddy to find I could fish in the little puddle around the stone pillar. While doing so, I caught tiger cod time after time using the exact same approach:
wait for "bite" > hard left > caught fight, can't reel in/fish is tired > medium right > caught the fish. (and as before, if the fish gained line at any time, I just chose the mirrored side of the gauge and it hit a good spot quite often.)
This was quite encouraging, but maybe tiger cod are simply becoming too easy for me (R6 feeshermang).

Any input?

Tiger cod are easy to catch, cheap fish aswell if you look at how much the NPC sells them for, I find the Ocean Cloud is the hardest of grade 1 fish to catch, and needs a lot of precision, atleast for a rank 8 fisher.

I began to fish today for the first time. I am currently rank 5 in fishing and I have to say those ranks came pretty quick. But I do have to say rank 1 was pretty rough. It took me a bit to figure things out, but once I did there was nothing to it. I'll contribute to this post, but I will admit that as a rank 5 I don't have a ton of experience, but I think I am getting it. I have about 90 catches/got aways under my belt but really have only been paying attention to my last 40 or so casts.

My observations:

Location: Area right outside of Ul'Dah at the crater lake in the northwest part of the beginning area \
Type: fresh water
Bait: Moth Pupae? (can't remember if its Moth or Muth or close to that. just look for the Pupae bait)

My main problem starting out was that I thought if I got a bite my first jig should be in the center of the meter. I was wrong and this is where my problems stemmed. If you do this you will most assuredly get the most ambiguous hint message of the hint messages: "You hooked something but can't reel it in". This message really means nothing except "you suck" as far as I can tell. I've tried a few things in reference to this message with no clear rhythm to the results (I'll detail more below).
But in general, like I said above, there really isn't much to fishing. For instance, you get a message that says "you feel a nibble". Just wait once and the fish will bite. (Only once has this not worked. I got a nibble twice then I got the "You get no bite" message.) After the fish bites, select jig. I read Wint's guide before I began this post, and I have to say I agree with Wint's assertion of the "sweet spot". I aim for this spot every time and when I hit it it has given me the best results. So, I always begin my first jig aiming for the sweet spot described in Wint't guide (I always go right to begin though). These are the messages I have gotten and my reaction/results...

The fish has tired, but you still cannot reel it in

Response
Aim for the exact same spot. Getting very close to it (being off by about 1/3 of the circle) is
usually good enough.

Results
I have yet to lose a fish given this message and responding in this manner. The only time I have lost a fish is when
I was late on clicking the stop button and stopped the circle too far from the blue spot (the first stop marker).

You take in a great deal of line

I need more experimenting with this one. I have only gotten it twice and have yet to catch a fish with it.
Response
(1) Stopped the orange circle about a full 1.5 circles below the blue circle
(2) Stopped the orange circle with about (1/3) of the orange circle over lapping the blue circle

Results
(1) No catch but I was close enough for the system to tell me the type of fish that got away
(2) Only received the no catch message

You've hooked something but cannot reel it in

I have yet to figure out the rhyme or reason behind this message as is clear from my results.

Response
(1) Stopped the orange circle in the EXACT same spot as the blue circle
(2) Stopped the orange circle very close to the blue circle (orange circle was mostly over lapping the blue)
(3) Stopped the orange circle about one full circles length below the blue circle
(4) Stopped the orange circle in the exact (or very close to it) spot as the blue circle but on the opposite side of the meter
(5) Stopped the orange circle at an arbitrary spot on the opposite side of the meter from the blue circle

Results
(1) Succeeded in doing this three times: 1 catch and 2 no catch
(2) Did this quite a few times: Zero catches
(3) 2 no catches and 1 no catch but very close (yeah I know >_<)
(4) 1 catch and 2 no catch
(5) 3 catches and 2 no catch

Aiming for the "sweet spot" has yielded me quite a few first jig catches. I got 5 first jig catches in a row once. So my best advice when it comes to fishing is to hit the "sweet spot" described by Wint (I would describe it but Wint's pics do the best job ;) ). I've also gotten quite a few "the fish has tired" messages by aiming for this spot.

These are my results, methods, and messages that I have ran across. My conclusions seem to be pretty close to Wint's so I guess this confirms some of Wint's theories. Well they seem to be working for myself anyways. But at any rate, just remember once you get the basic responses down, fishing is easy... unless you get "You've hooked something but cannot reel it in" then just do something and hopefully you get your fish.

I'd also like to invite discussion on everyone else's results and ideas for dealing with "You've hooked something but cannot reel it in" because I am at a loss.



Edited, Sep 7th 2010 2:28am by Raionn

Yeah, I have had more experience with "You've hooked something but cannot reel it in" I am pretty convinced it just means you are on the wrong side of the meter. It is becoming less of a conundrum for me. Although my above results still seem odd and the reasons behind them eludes me.

But I do find it interesting that you have lost catches with the "The fish tires..." message using the method I discussed. I have still yet to lose a fish when I target the same location of the blue circle after receiving that hint.

For myself though, I still find fishing pretty straight forward. I am getting better at understanding the hints and my responses seem to be correct. Now I/we are still low level fishmen, and I haven't done much salt water fishing. This means I haven't experienced a whole lot of what fishing has to offer. It may have many secrets we haven't even thought could exist. And I am sure weather/time of day have effects which we still need to uncover. One experiment I've been thinking about doing is figuring out the effects of the depth. My theory is you will probably have relatively the same success at different depths (seems that way so far anyways) but maybe different rare fish hang out at certain depths. Don't know, something I think I will look into. Maybe fish a stack or half a stack of bait at each depth and see what results (at the same location of course).

Only rank 5 Fisher so far.

From my observations on normal fishing:

Best results for me on first jig is at the 10 o'clock or 2 o'clock angle (approximately where Wint mentioned in the guide).

If it says "You've hooked something but cannot reel it in", I think it means that you're targeting on the wrong side of the radial. E.g. if your first jig was at around 2 o'clock and half the remaining stamina bar runs out, you're definitely aiming at the wrong side. I found more success by targeting the opposite side straight away, say either 10 or 11 o'clock.

The best indication that this technique works is that I have generally received "you take in some line" or "the fish is tiring" (something like that eh) when I aim immediately for the other side. One way to prove it is to keep targeting the "wrong" side which wiped out about half of your remaining stamina - usually the fish will get away or take more line.

This is awesome. Now all we need is that Auction HouseSpoilerplease

Gonna finally log on to do some fishing. When I next check in I'll either have an apparently stubborn notion in my head as per usual, or will return with an apology for it. (I like playing Devil's advocate [i.e. being a pain in the ass])


Hey now: watch your fishin-hatin ways, landlubber. |:<

You guys need to practice fishing in challenging areas, grade 2 as rank 9 for example.

"You have caught a fish but can not reel it in" is not a default message, it means you are off, it is almost equiv to "the fish is taking line"

Sometimes I will jig on a nibble and get I am taking a bit of line or even catch the fish 1st go although its usually grade 1.

My theory is simply, as soon as your 1st jig, there is a spot on the bar you need to find and get close as possible to as many times as possible. And BTW "the fish is tired" means you are only slightly off, if its a very hard fish to catch and you know getting it spot on again wont help, aim afew pixels to one side or another of it, that way you at least give yourself a 50% chance of catching the fish.

Some other notes: Chocobo lure is not for salt water fishing. Fishing in salt water with the wrong bait will have you continously catch malm kelp, malm kelp can bite. o.0

Edited, Sep 10th 2010 4:15pm by MaFi0s0

Whoa, what? When did you become an Admin, Wint?

Okay, just spent a crazy amount of time fishing. 98+ Fish in the bag (sold near a dozen while clearing inventory room near the start). Unless noted none of the catches were in an actual School of fish.

Ferry from Limsa Lominsa to Western Thanalan (Grade 1) - Fisher lvl 6 - Short time period using bloodworms. Caught some Malm Kelp, and a few Marlgikor(I forget the spelling).

Central Thanalan
Various Grade 1 Locations (24,23/21,28/22,31/(In a Cave NE from 22,31) - Bait Chocobo Fly. 95-100 Skill 460+exp per Catch. My fisher level was 6.
Following fish were all caught in each location. Maiden Carp/Crayfish (all depths), Brass Loach (Nearly only above center), and 1 sandfish at 24,23 from a school of fish (Lowest depth).
24,23 Also had a 6 toss Spearfishing Node in a bush (can be spotted by a white sparkle) - Caught 6 bloomworms, and one Lugworm.

Grade 7 node at 36,30 (No agro Mobs)- Caught no higher level fish, but did catch various Grade 1 fish consistently for 120-127 Skill/481exp per catch. Also a grade 7 node at 34,33 (Lots of Agro mobs)- Caught one Maiden carp, then was crushed for 2400+ damage.

Node at 26,31 - Fishing option came up, but when I hit fish I got the Message - You can't fish here.

Eastern Thanalan
Only fished the Grade 2 node at 22,38 - Baits Bloodworm, Chocobo Fly and Rat Tail. (Rat tail had alot of no bites). 108-115 skill/481 exp per catch. (The Ali Mhigans did give 118 the odd time). Fisher Level 7-8.
Fish caught on all lure types. All the old Grade 1's, several sandfish at the Lowest depth, and Ali Mhigan Fighting Fish Lower 1/2 of the depth scale only.

Western Thanalan
Grade 3 node 27,15 (Which I now call Azure Lac)- Baits Bloodworm, Rat Tail bites maybe 1 in 8 casts. Chocobo Fly bites 1 in 3. (Assuming higher ranked lure that did the trick). Fisher level 8.
I caught only 3 crawfish 121 - 131 skill/481 exp per catch.
There are Dark bass and Black Ghost to be caught here... I caught sight of a few with the chocobo fly, but alas... the just barely managed to slip the hook at the last moment.
I'm guessing I'm just barely high enough to even get them to bite. Supposing higher fisher level/Fishing pole is needed (Still have the starter one).
Grade 3 Spearfish Bush. Still only 1 shot each reset.. but I got two tries in, and saw someone else harvest it.
I myself caught 1 Azure Lac Bugs two times. Seems spearfishing is easy even with a higher grade. Got 35 skill each time. The other person caught 2 black scorpions, and 2 purpure lac bugs.

Made over 12K Exp in total. Last observation. I tended to go jig just to the right side of 'cast'. If I got the "You've hooked something, but cannot reel it in" line. I'd move 1/3 of the way to the left. 75% of the time I hit the sweet spot. If I got, You take in a great amount of line, I moved left one circle size. Caught it. If I got, You take in line, I moved 2 circles right. Caught it or just missed and saw the fish but lost it. If I let out any line I went all the way to the left, and caught 1 in 2. I think over all.. I maybe lost maybe 1-2 fish after I got this down pat.

On the subject of spearfishing, you maybe just want to add that not all spearfishing places are found in the water. Some are located in bushes near the water. All have a distinctive white glow. Perhaps just add in a nice screen shot of the glowing brush.

Only thing I was upset about was when walking through a marshy area that had water that wasn't deep enough for fish, it would have been neat to have spearfishing for Frogs and Snakes.

Hasn't worked for a while :/