I've caught every fish in the game. So here's my take:

1) Fishing in this game is hobby status. The reason fish take so long to gather is because 95% of them don't matter except as a little lore entry so it's no big deal if they simulate real life and make it take forever. The 5% that do matter are very common under the right conditions apart from Emperor Fish (which are farmable from other peoples' retainer ventures so nbd)

2) Again hobby status and right conditions. Being able to "choose" the fish is antithetical to the premise of fishing - you're just presenting a trojan horse not knowing what fish is going to be the idiot. This is unlike botany and mining where you see the tree and node and it's not going anywhere unless it's unspoiled 9_9

3) The only thing out of this list which is incredibly stupid is weather > weather. Caravan Eels were jerks when trying to farm Olgois but with Patience you have no excuse anymore. Not being able to 100% a Nepto Dragon is also fine because fish aren't dumb and you're still just using a little hook to reel in a 25-foot long monster.

4) Patience alone is better than every single new ability (and most old) they gave to BOT/MIN. Patience II is even better. Chum is fine, Yield+1/+2 skills take 4-5 RL minutes to generate. Now Fish Eyes? that can go to hell. Hooksets also work fine, you're just using them wrong - faint tug=precision, everything else=powerful. Of course precision is more costly because the majority of mooches start with tiny fish.

5) I have 5 types of bait on me for HW fish because the rest I can easily purchase from the housing ward NPCs. Even during the big fishing heyday I could get away with carrying a dozen types of bait and lures. Stop blaming the game and do your research so you can stop carrying useless stuff.

Personally, all I want out of fishing, everything else is nbd:
If they're going to make it the only source of reducible water/ice clusters I'd like the output per fish be increased to match the rate a MIN/BOT can gather. The windows for fish are smaller than the overall windows for MIN/BOT and most are mooch fish or need scrip bait for a decent bite rate.