Fishing needs a total overhaul

[Bloodbeat]

So, from my observation of the Shark Tuna window in Costa Del Sol:

I identified 15 opportunities to catch the fish in question.

I had ONE eligible bite, which failed (at appropriately geared level 90)

I had 8 silver sharks from a variety of large fullmoon sardines and Mooch II when available

I had 6 fullmoon sardines, that were not large, and Mooch II was not available

This is not a worthwhile experience. It's far too many layers of RNG. Ultimately, when a player catches these fish, they cannot reasonably claim any input besides they had enough gathering/perception, and they were fishing at the appropriate time/weather, That's it. It falls short of what I'd consider actual gameplay.

The solution(s) seem fairly obvious.

Get rid of Mooch II. Large fish are acting as pseudo-HQs, It's unnecessary. Mooch with *any* fish will still require the RNG of time/weather as well as actually getting the eligible fish to mooch with, as well as getting the correct catch from the Mooch.

Fix Fish Eyes: Longer duration/Persistent duration, lower GP cost, Makes only timed fish catchable for duration.

Introduce a threshold in gathering/perception where fish cannot get away.

Yes, I know, nobody forces people to fish. It's not mandatory for progression, but at the same time, don't make it this unwelcoming for people that choose to do it.

[Brightamethyst]

I had 6 fullmoon sardines, that were not large, and Mooch II was not available

Between Patience 2 and Makeshift bait you should be able to Mooch almost 100% of the time.

[Bloodbeat]

Between Patience 2 and Makeshift bait you should be able to Mooch almost 100% of the time.

Perhaps, but it's that gruelling RNG again. You have the mooch success RNG, then the correct moochable fish RNG, then the mooched catch RNG.
Let's not forget you have to bypass ALL of that in 9 minutes before you start relying on Fish Eyes and the weather not changing.

[Bloodbeat]

Perhaps, but it's that gruelling RNG again. You have the mooch success RNG, then the correct moochable fish RNG, then the mooched catch RNG.
Let's not forget you have to bypass ALL of that in 9 minutes before you start relying on Fish Eyes and the weather not changing.

Oh, I also forgot the "fish doesn't feel like being caught" RNG

[Brightamethyst]

Let's not forget you have to bypass ALL of that in 9 minutes before you start relying on Fish Eyes and the weather not changing.

Fish Eyes doesn't affect big fishing in the first place. It's just for regular timed fish.

From the 5.4 patch notes: "This action has no effect on legendary fish, fish found when ocean fishing, or any fish introduced from Stormblood onward."

[Fruity_Snacks]

So, from my observation of the Shark Tuna window in Costa Del Sol:

I identified 15 opportunities to catch the fish in question.

I had ONE eligible bite, which failed (at appropriately geared level 90)

I had 8 silver sharks from a variety of large fullmoon sardines and Mooch II when available

I had 6 fullmoon sardines, that were not large, and Mooch II was not available

This is not a worthwhile experience. It's far too many layers of RNG. Ultimately, when a player catches these fish, they cannot reasonably claim any input besides they had enough gathering/perception, and they were fishing at the appropriate time/weather, That's it. It falls short of what I'd consider actual gameplay.

The solution(s) seem fairly obvious.

Get rid of Mooch II. Large fish are acting as pseudo-HQs, It's unnecessary. Mooch with *any* fish will still require the RNG of time/weather as well as actually getting the eligible fish to mooch with, as well as getting the correct catch from the Mooch.

Fix Fish Eyes: Longer duration/Persistent duration, lower GP cost, Makes only timed fish catchable for duration.

Introduce a threshold in gathering/perception where fish cannot get away.

Yes, I know, nobody forces people to fish. It's not mandatory for progression, but at the same time, don't make it this unwelcoming for people that choose to do it.

So reading this I don't think the issue is (so far) an issue with fishing. It's an issue with how you're fishing.

As Brightamethyst said, you should be using Patience II and Makeshift bait while Mooch II is on cooldown. Not doing so is hooking yourself in the foot and you're making it harder on yourself.
Shark Tuna is up rather consistently compared to other fish, the layers of RNG for shark tuna are there - but are pretty much bog-standard fishing rng. You'll find plenty of other fish in a similar boat as shark tuna.
You can also increase your changes (affect the RNG) by using certain baits. For example, using a Versatile lure on fullmoon sardine instead of say - Spoon worm - you're going to see a lot of issues and are (again) putting yourself at a disadvantage.

The game does tell everyone these things - when Patience II is good, which baits are better in what environments, etc. There's very little (outside of window information) that the game DOESN'T tell you about fishing mechanics, or when to use certain skills. It's not well presented, or... people just don't read things like tooltips.

Fishing is equivalent to bluemage, but for DoL's. It was a limited job before limited jobs were a thing. Comparing it to and expecting it to be like MIN/BTN is just going to set yourself up for frustration. It's a minigame tied to a job.