Novice Ocean Fishing Guide by Caimie Tsukino

[Caimie_Tsukino]

Some recent successes in terms of catching Spectral fish under Patience/Patience II using Precision Hookset instead of Powerful Hookset at Ciedalaes and Northern Strait.
Tyonto's advice in terms of Precision Hookset for Spec in these areas is working well for me so far!

[Caimie_Tsukino]

Btw, the PLACODUS EXISTS!!!!



I have to thank Tyonto for reminding me the power of Makeshift Bait!

Btw, I know Snagging doesn't do anything... But ever since I took it off, I had been having a streak of terrible voyages. But when I put it on, something good happens. I then took it off again, and I was bumping into walls everywhere. Then I put it back on, and luck seems to be on my side again. Call me superstitious, but since Ocean Fishing ultimately requires a lot of luck, there's no point to fight with a lucky charm. I'm gonna keep that lucky charm on me! :P

[Hasrat]

Hanging sentence under the "How do you register or check sailing schedule?" bit, third point just ends with "Although registration"

I've also put off this Ocean Fishing stuff for a while, so a guide is nice. And this does sorta help a little bit. But, feels less useful to me, not being 90 with max GP. So, hopefully I can either adapt, or might just have to put off the biggest scores for a while. From the sound of it, tho, the mount/minions ought to still be within reach, if I'm clever.

[Caimie_Tsukino]

Hanging sentence under the "How do you register or check sailing schedule?" bit, third point just ends with "Although registration"

I've also put off this Ocean Fishing stuff for a while, so a guide is nice. And this does sorta help a little bit. But, feels less useful to me, not being 90 with max GP. So, hopefully I can either adapt, or might just have to put off the biggest scores for a while. From the sound of it, tho, the mount/minions ought to still be within reach, if I'm clever.

Definitely got distracted there by something when I was updating the guide! LOL!
Thanks for pointing it out!

I have also recently added new chapters about Intuition Fish (including the 5-star blue fish), and updated some of the older sections.

[Hasrat]

I suppose I can say this is a success story, after parsing some information and trying to follow along, managed to hit 10k first try. It was kinda a bad voyage overall, really. Or, at least, bad luck for me, not managing to get much worthwhile. I think the only thing that saved me was getting lucky on Double Hooking 4 large Floating Saucers.

Not bad, but still mulling over how best to balance GP usage. I can see how that's maybe the most critical part of the whole thing. Feels smart to try not being capped at all, and probably trying to keep Hi-Cordials used close to cooldown perhaps... Patience sounds good for building stacks, but.. hm. Maybe Chum is just too much gambling...

[Caimie_Tsukino]

I have caught 4/7 of the 5-star blue fish so far.
After happening 3 times, I can confirm that even after the Intuition buff expires, one can still catch 5-star fish as long as the Cast was made before the Int buff expires.
That is to say, similar to how Patience / Patience II works, the Int effect actually remains active as long as the Cast was done before the Int buff timer hits zero.

I feel like there's a need for the developers to change the Intuition buff's expiration animation a bit. They really should just make its expiration animation to be like Patience / Patience II, which the buff logo remains there until your final Cast catches or misses something. Currently, when the timer hits zero, the buff logo falls off, and it's VERY VERY misleading. Even if I have made a Cast before it expires, I thought I'd have no chance of getting a 5-star fish. But that is clearly NOT true!

You can see from my pics below. Both cases, I caught the 5-star fish LONG after the Intuition buff had expired. In the second pic, my final Cast was made when the Int buff had only 3 sec left. Clearly, the fish bit AFTER the Int was long gone.

[ACE135]

I don't necessarily think it needs a change in the buff's animation but rather an information to the player that it's always the time of the cast that matters. It's the same when you want to catch a timed fish and make the cast 1 second before the time window closes and you could still catch it 30 seconds after the window closed as long as you make the cast before the window closes. It's the same "mechanic" but for that there is no indication at all unless you know it.

[Dikatis]

When would it be more worthwhile to use Patience over Double Hooking and Triple Hooking? Fishers I've met explicitly avoid Patience to save GP to hook the best fish for big points.

[Hasrat]

Personal thoughts, maybe not great, still learning:

Open with Patience II at the start of the voyage. This lets you start building anglers stacks, and also lets you pop a cordial, while the large fish you're hopefully reeling help with points. Opening with Patience feels safe, assuming a spectral won't be spawning immediately.

Patience I feels viable to use in the last, say, 2 minutes of any location, assuming a spectral is unlikely to spawn in that last stretch (sometimes it might, tho...). This can help burn off some GP if you're sitting too high, and/or gives opportunity to use stacks to recover GP if you're capped on those.
Patience I may also/alternatively possibly be viable at the start of a location, for similar reasons, if you're staying on top of keeping your cordials popped on cooldown.
I wouldn't use Patience II in either of those scenarios, just to maintain GP hovering in the high range and generally being prepared for spectral to pop.

But also I'm only 80 and missing TH and Prize Catch, so, ymmv. But, personal thought, nobody is really "saving" GP if you're sitting capped on it. Keep that recovery ticking.

[Caimie_Tsukino]

When would it be more worthwhile to use Patience over Double Hooking and Triple Hooking? Fishers I've met explicitly avoid Patience to save GP to hook the best fish for big points.

I agree with Hasrat, but it can be even more complicated than that.

Theoretically, when OUTSIDE Spectral Current, it's better to have Patience or Patience II active in order to collect Angler's stacks. BEFORE the The large fish are also worth more points. DURING a Spectral Current, it's usually better to cancel any active Patience or Patience II, so that you can be free to use DH or/and TH.

Theoretically, your Hi-Cordial is also supposed to be constantly on cooldown, which allows you to use more of it. And your GP gauge should never be full, so you can constantly earning more GP. This maximizes the GP you can spend on during the voyage.

However, in reality, YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHEN THE SPEC WILL BE SPAWNED! That means any time you spend GP to use Patience, it's a gamble. And any time you use Patience II, it's an even bigger gamble! Because the worst thing that can happen, is to use Patience/Patience II, and suddenly a Spectral pops! That means your investment of GP all turns into bubbles. Not only do you not have enough GP, your Hi-Cordial could be on cooldown, you probably haven't earned enough Angler's stack yet either, and you're "fxxked" because you can't have enough GP to spend during the Spectral Current. Because you always want to have enough GP available during a Spectral Current (ideally at least 1650 GP), so that you can use your strongest combo on your most desired fish during Spectral Current.

So how can one minimize the risk?

1) Plan ahead of time to decide when to invest GP on Patience or Patience II.

E.g. if your trip is going to be like this (the fish listed below are the proposed 'best' ones that you are aiming to use your '1650 GP combo' on during Spectral Current for each area):

The Ciedalaes (Ragworm for Spectral Fish/Current)
Nighttime: Bad… Plump Worm 2-6s !!! for Jetborne Manta, 75 pts, DH 4x, TH 7x [525 pts per TH]

Rhotano Sea (Plump Worm for Spectral Fish/Current)
Daytime: Plump Worm 5-8s !!! for Executioner, 216 pts, DH 4x, TH 7x [1512pts per TH]

Rothlyt Sound (Plump Worm for Spectral Fish/Current)
Sunset: Krill 6-9s !! for Knifejaw, 465 pts, DH 2x, TH 3x [1395 pts per TH]

... then clearly, the first area's spectral isn't that great anyway. So you might as well do Patience II at the very beginning of Ciedalaes (and immediately use a Hi-Cordial), and gamble for the Spec NOT to be spawned early in that area. If it DID spawn early, it hurts, but it doesn't hurt as bad. You can still pull together whatever remaining GP you have and try to spend as much as you can. It's clearly more important to save up enough GP for the 2nd area's Spec and 3rd area's Spec.

By contrast, another e.g. If your trip looks like this:

Galadion Bay (Krill [or Plump Worm] for Spectral Fish/Current)
Sunset: Plump Worm 4-11s !!! for Funnel Shark, 213 pts, DH 4x, TH 7x [1491 pts per TH]

Southern Strait of Merlthor (Krill for Spectral Fish/Current)
Nighttime: Bad… Ragworm 2-4s ! for High-Aetherlouse, then mooch for !! Aetheric Seadragon, 245 pts (TH 3x) (CANNOT use Identical Cast or Prize Catch, can only use Triple Hook... sad...)

Rhotano Sea (Plump Worm for Spectral Fish/Current)
Daytime: Plump Worm 5-8s !!! for Executioner, 216 pts, DH 4x, TH 7x [1512 pts per TH]

... then clearly, it's more important to have enough GP in the 1st and 3rd area. So I wouldn't start off with Patience II. I'd instead start off with Patience in that first area of Galadion Bay (and without using Hi-Cordial, so it's available any time if the Spectral pops).

Rotano Sea, Rothlyt Sound and Galadion Bay are areas which we usually refer to as "point areas" since they have higher potentials in getting more points during a Spectral.
Ciedalaes is slightly weaker, but can still be pretty good sometimes.
Southern Strait is definitely NOT a "point area". It has very little potentials for getting points.

Therefore, while it's good to keep using Patience/Patience II/Hi-Cordials/avoid GP gauge being full, it's even more important to be fully prepared for "point areas". Make sure you do NOT deplete your GP right before a Spectral in a "point area".



2) About management of GP AFTER a spectral (just as Hasrat mentioned), as well as taking Mission Objectives into consideration.

Should you be using Patience/Patience II after a Spectral to regain stacks, ready for the next area's spectral? Or should you be spending GP to accomplish mission objectives? This will come down to what objectives you got for the trip, and what is the best "fish" for those objectives. If the mission objectives are very demanding, you may even need to consider spending GP during Spectral Current, just so you can catch 7x large fish (that contributes to mission objective and get points at the same time) with a single Prize Catch + Triple Hook to conserve GP. This part of "GP management AFTER Spectral" or even "during Spectral" highly depends on the players' experience to make good judgements.

E.g. If your route is:
Southern Strait -> Galadion Bay -> Northern Strait
... and yet you have a mission objective of catching "13 Jellyfish or Crab".

Very quickly look through Lulu's Tools, and you will see that there is NO crab in Southern Strait, but there is "La Noscean Jelly", which you can potentially catch 7 using Triple Hook.
This is really great, so perhaps you should think about spending GP early in Area 1 on this instead of immediately going for Patience II. But let's analyze further before making that decision...

Now, if the Spectral pops here at Southern Strait, will there be Sea Nettles available since that is another kind of Jellyfish? If it's not Sunset, then Sea Nettles are not available, so that is even better to spend on La Noscean Jelly.

How about Area 2? Well, there's no Crab nor Jelly in Galadion Bay.

How about Area 3? Well, there's Net Crawler outside Spec, and there's Bartholomew the Chopper during Spec. However, if the time frame is nighttime, then perhaps you plan to go after "Mopbeard" instead of "Bartholomew". So you will be using Krill instead of Ragworm. That means you should catch most of your Jellys or Crabs BEFORE you arrive this Spectral of Area 3.

So for me, perhaps I'll start off Area 1 by trying to catch a La Noscean Jelly first, Identical Cast it, Prize Catch, Triple Hook it. If I'm lucky, that'll take care of 8/13 Jellys already. Then I'd regain some GP, and use Patience to grab some Angler's stacks. Hopefully, the Spectral spawns late or never spawns, then my Hi-Cordial will be available again in time.

However, if Sea Nettles are available during the Spec of Area 1 (only Sunset), then I'll consider gambling on those instead, since they are the highest point value fish available during Spec of Area 1. So Sea Nettles can fulfill both POINTS purpose and MISSION purpose. So I'll start off Area 1 with Patience to quickly prepare the Angler's Stacks, and forget about spending GP on La Noscean Jelly.

If a Spectral is spawned early in Area 1, that will mean plenty of time to regain GP before Area 2. So if I didn't catch Sea Nettles during that Spec, I'll definitely try to execute a Triple Hook on La Noscean Jelly AFTER the Spec in Area 1 to get more Jellies before Area 2. However, I need to think ahead and check Area 2 (Galadion Bay). If it's Sunset which Funnel Sharks are available, or it's Daytime which Nimble Dancers are available, I wanna make sure I go into that Spec of Area 2 with full GP. By contrast, if it's going to be nighttime in Galadion Bay, then I don't really care if I blew every single bit of GP before entering Area 2.

Then in Area 3, I will consider catching some Net Crawlers. If my mission is fulfilled before the Spectral, I may use Krill during Spectral for Mopbeard. But if my mission is FAR from done, then I will consider using Ragworm for Bartholomew during the Spec. If the Spec is done, and I'm still far from completing the mission, then I'll keep fishing for Net Crawlers and spend GP on those.


Here's another e.g. If your route is:
Ciedalaes (Daytime) -> Rhotano (Sunest) -> Rothlyt (Nighttime)
... and yet you have a mission of catching "13 fugu" and a mission of "39 !".

39 is a daunting number, so I don't even think too much about this until later. If I can get it along the way, sure, but if I can't get it along the way, I won't waste my GP on that mission. It's more important to make sure I have GP for Spectrals. After all, completion of a 3rd mission is only 10% bonus (so only as few as 800 pts even if you have a base score of 8K), while being able to catch the "right" fish in a Spectral is easily worth ~3K to 5K pts.

Triple Hook on Metallic Boxfish in Ciedalaes is NOT a effective way of getting fugu since it only gives 3 yield. However, since Ciedalaes isn't exactly a great "point area", it's actually OK to spend a bit of GP early in this area as a small gamble.

So I may gamble for a late or no-spectral here, by investing GP on Triple Hooking Metallic Boxfish ONCE very early in Area 1. Then very quickly use Hi-Cordial. After that, I can use Patience to slowly build up Angler's stacks.

Alternatively, I can pop Patience early in Area 1, and save enough Angler's stacks, and then spend some GP on catching Mythril Boxfish during Spectral here. Mythril Boxfish comes in 7 per Triple Hook, so it's a much more GP efficient way of meeting the objective. However, this also means fewer GP to spend for Jetborne Manta or Devil's Sting.

So before making that decision, I will look into the remaining areas...

For Area 2 (Rhotano), there are some good opportunities for fugu. There's Lampfish outside Spectral, and there's Silencer during Spec. During Spec, Sweeper, Executioner and Floating Saucer are NOT available at Sunset. So that means the Silencer is one of remaining best choices there anyway. So I might as well blow my GP on Silencers there, as it will give 7 yield per Triple Hook.

For Area 3 (Rothlyt), clearly there are also plenty of opportunities for fugu. Outside spec, there's Crow Puffer Fish and Honeycomb Fish, which Honeycomb Fish has a nice 7 yield on Triple Hook. This is a fish I will consider using GP for mission. During spec, there's Pearl Bombfish (which happens to be the best choice for points as well) and Garum Jug.

All these fugu will also fulfill the other mission for "!". So investing on any fugu with yield of 7 from Triple Hook is definitely a smart way of spending GP.

With these considerations, I probably won't spend GP in Area 1's spectral on Mythril Boxfish. I'd probably spend GP on Jetborne Manta or Devil's Sting instead.


It's a lot of information to go through your head within a few seconds at the beginning of a voyage when you receive your missions. But with experience, it'll come naturally. This is the same kind of "skills" that we DoH and DoL acquire along with playtime. I had the same "training" when I was doing Expert Recipes as a DoH. At the beginning, I need 5 to 6 min to do 1 craft, now I need only 3 min per Expert craft. I can very quickly make those decisions on the spot.