"The fish got away..."?

[StouterTaru]

so it checks your level as well? earlier in coerthas i was useing updated gear at a hole where the only fish that was a higher level than me was one that required a mooch but i was still getting it on non mooch attempts.
so im guessing this just means i can just expect random stupid failed attempts till i completely overgear?

You shouldn't be getting mooch only fish on non-mooches. Your bait will snag anything up to about 5 levels above itself, and you need high enough gathering to actually pull it in.