Fishing needs a total overhaul

[Fruity_Snacks]

Did that change recently? The 5.4 patch notes literally say:

The actual specification for Fish Eyes is "does not work on big/legendary fish introduced in Stormblood onwards".

It definitely works on all of the fish in ARR/HW.

As of patch 6.0 Fish eyes now applies to all Stormblood fish, except for Legendary fish (so, Ruby Dragon, Stethacanthus, Drepansis, Xenacanthus, Warden of the Seven Hues, and Unconditional)

[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.

[NamazuFanatic]

Big fish don't need such a high chance to get away, they are already rare enough.


The bait system is stupid, outdated, and it clutters the inventory. Get rid of it.

[Deveryn]

Big fish don't need such a high chance to get away, they are already rare enough.


The bait system is stupid, outdated, and it clutters the inventory. Get rid of it.

Just use versatile lure if you're so against the bait system. It'll be no different if they scrap bait altogether.

[NamazuFanatic]

Just use versatile lure if you're so against the bait system. It'll be no different if they scrap bait altogether.

That doesn't even work for big fishing.

[Deveryn]

That doesn't even work for big fishing.

Oh well. One less thing to do.

The right bait helps focus in on getting a specific fish and you want to eliminate that. Versatile Lure's equal chance to catch everything is where we end up with no bait to mess with. Think about what you're asking for before you go and ask for it. Maybe fishing is not for you.

[NamazuFanatic]

Gosh, imagine defending having to carry over two bags' worth of bait.

[Deveryn]

Gosh, imagine defending having to carry over two bags' worth of bait.

If you're carrying two bags worth of bait, you're really making your life so difficult. I only ever carry a few at a time while I work on clearing the log.

[Brightamethyst]

That doesn't even work for big fishing.

Yes it does. It'll probably take a lot longer because it's much less targeted, but I've caught big fish with versatile lures and boilies before.

[Fruity_Snacks]

That doesn't even work for big fishing.

Fun fact!

Versatile Lure will catch all fish in the game except for straight catch legendary fish (so like, Cinder Surprise, Aquamaton, Sea Butterfly, etc).

After ARR, there's a huge amount of bait that you can get rid of once you caught the fish, even more you can get rid of if you go the Versa route.
Bait bloat is mostly an ARR problem, and once you clear that out (or just ignore it and buy like, 20 at a time when you go fishing cause it's cheap) - bait management is significantly easier.