silver sovereign...it can't be this bad, can it?

[LineageRazor]

Catching Mahi-mahis does not mean you missed catching a soverin.

Actually, it might. It depends on how SE chose to calculate fish odds. If you cast the line, you have a 100% chance to hook a fish. This 100% is divided among the catchable fish. For an example using entirely made-up numbers:

10%: Sea Cucumber
15%: Vongola Clam
15%: Moraby Flounder
20%: Pebble Crab
20%: Tiger Cod
15%: Rothlyt Oyster
5%: Silver Sovereign

If you add in an additional fish, now, that fish has some percentage chance to be hooked. Since the total percentage can't go over 100% the percent chance of at least one other fish has to lower to make room. If SE was kind, the percentages of only fish that aren't Silver Sovereign will be lowered. However, if SE was kind, they would not be having us fish up 20 HQ of these wretched things in the first place. So, I tend to think that adding Mahi-Mahi to the mix DOES lower the odds of catching Silver Sovereign, at least a little:

9%: Sea Cucumber
14%: Vongola Clam
14%: Moraby Flounder
19%: Pebble Crab
19%: Tiger Cod
14%: Rothlyt Oyster
7%: Mahi-mahi
4%: Silver Sovereign


It may not be a noticable difference, but after you've spent enough time staring dead-eyed at the screen, watching for the tug of the line, and dying a little inside when you reel in yet another fish that is not HQ Silver Sovereign, you start looking for any possible way to improve your odds. :P

[Shadygrove]

Snip

http://na.ff14angler.com/ has the exact odds on catching any fish divided up by bait.

SS = 5.9%

[Garlyle]

http://na.ff14angler.com/ has the exact odds on catching any fish divided up by bait.

SS = 5.9%

Those numbers, however, are displayed based on total fishing at that location - not in any way reflecting things like when the fish became available, or what happens to rates based on other conditional aspects (such as fish that are time or weather gated at a location).

[Shadygrove]

Those numbers, however, are displayed based on total fishing at that location - not in any way reflecting things like when the fish became available, or what happens to rates based on other conditional aspects (such as fish that are time or weather gated at a location).

True but the SS is an all day any weather fish.

[LineageRazor]

True but the SS is an all day any weather fish.

But Mahi-Mahi is a day-only. Adding Mahi-Mahi to the pool of catchable fish may change the percentage chance of catching Silver Sovereign - and THAT is not reflected on ff14angler.com. That website only displays overall percentage catch chance, day AND night, built by averaging out submissions from fishers.

To present an exaggerated case to illustrate my point, suppose you had a fishing hole with only two fish, one available all the time (Silver Sovereign) and one only available during day (Mahi-Mahi). If you fish at night, your catch rate of SS is 100%. If you fish during the day, you catch 50% SS and 50% MM. If you looked up the Silver Sovereign on ff14angler.com, it would list the catch rate of SS as 75%, the average overall catch rate. Smart fishers, though, would fish only at night, since it brings their catch rate of SS to 100%.

Bottom line, unless you need/want Mahi-Mahi, it's a better idea to fish for Silver Sovereigns only at night, as the addition of Mahi-Mahi to the pool very likely impacts the likelihood of hooking a Silver Sovereign (even if not by much).