By Akirussan on Allakhazam Trade Forums, 3/25/2005; last updated 4/9/2006

Reposted here with permission.

About this Guide

This guide is an accumulation of everything I have learned about fishing from my own experience and that of other players, and is basically everything I wish someone had told me when I started leveling fishing way back when Final Fantasy XI was first released in North America. Would you believe it if I told you that dinosaurs roamed the earth back then? How about if I told you that a level 1 fisher had to wait an agonizing 14 seconds between casts? Or that a Rusty Cap (not a repaired Padded Cap) sold to vendors for 1656 gil? Or that a mid level fisher with a Lu Shang's Rod could make nearly as much as a level 100 fisher? Or that you could expect as many as 8 "you didn't catch anything" messages in a row? Or that any NPC in the game would gladly pay you over 1000 gil for a Bastore Bream or Black Sole? Or that in nearly 70 levels of fishing I didn't loose a single lure? Or that it used to be possible to fish entirely by sound?

Well it was all true (except for the part about the dinosaurs), but several patches and the last major update have drastically changed fishing, in my opinion for the better. But don't take my word for it, next time you are in Port Windurst stop by and talk to Laughing Lizard by the Fishing Guild. He'll tell you:

Quote: "Hmph! You dang kids these days ain't got no respect for your elders. Can't you see I'm trying to learn this new fandangled fishin' method? In my day, all we had to do was cast a line and wait for the baby to tug. Why, back then it was so easy. I could catch a fish while I was sleepin'! But now you gotta work for your meal! Let me tell you how it's done..."

Since the update most of the fishing guides and online resources are a little outdated, so I've decided to compile a complete list of what I feel are the best locations and rod/bait combinations for leveling fishing 0-100 depending on whether you want to focus on completing the Lu Shang's Quest, making money, or skilling up as quickly as possible.

Why Fish?

The main reason to level fishing is that fishing is profitable. But fishing is not the only way to make gil in this game. There are many other profitable crafts like Alchemy, Woodworking, and Goldsmithing, and most of these are a greater source of income in the highest levels than high level fishing. But these crafts also require huge gil investments in order to level them up to the point where they are highly profitable, while fishing merely requires an investment of time. This makes fishing an ideal craft for new players since they start the game with very little gil, but plenty of time.

In addition, with fishing you can actually make significant profits while you skill up, unlike the other crafts in the game in which it's usually best to separate your skillup sessions from your profit sessions. Also, from what I've heard the HQs and failures of other crafts can feel a little like a roller coaster, but fishing is more of a steady climb.

In other words, with fishing you'll never craft a Haubergon +1, but you'll never lose a Damascus Ingot either, and you don't have to dump millions into something before it begins showing returns.

Harvesting, excavation, logging, mining, and farming are also popular ways to make gil, but once you locate the logging/mining/mob spawn points and familiarize yourself with the particular area, you are not guaranteed to make any more profit per hour after your 100th hour harvesting/excavating/logging/mining/farming than you made after your first. But every hour you spend fishing will potentially raise your fishing skill, and a higher fishing skill has the potential to increase your profits per hour. What this means is that every hour you spend fishing can be considered an investment.

Fishing Basics

• How do you Fish?
• How Can you Tell what Caught the Hook?
• Summary: What Caught my Hook and What Should I Do?
• Fishing Tips
• Fishing Rods
• Is the Lu Shang's Fishing Rod Really Necessary?
• Breaking Fishing Rods
• Is Woodworking Required for Leveling Fishing?
• Fishing Bait
• Fishing Gear
• Fishing for Items/Rusty Items
• Fishing in Areas with Higher Level Monsters
• Fishing Fatigue
• Skill Cap Test Fish

The last update made fishing a lot more interactive, and as a result a lot of players are interested in giving it a try. This section will cover a lot of the basics for those that are just starting out, as well as provide some more advanced information and strategies.

How do you Fish?

In order to fish your character must be facing an unobstructed body of water and have a fishing rod and bait equipped in the ranged and ammo slots. Once these conditions are met you can begin fishing by typing "/fish" or by hitting a fishing macro. The most common fishing macros are:

Once you have cast your line into the water, you will need to wait for the "Something caught the hook!/!!!" message and then attempt to fight your catch until the stamina bar is depleted enough for you to reel it in successfully. It is important to note that in most circumstances it is not worth attempting to reel in a catch until the stamina bar is completely depleted since there is a good chance your line will snap if any stamina remains.

According to the Playonline Update Notes, under the new system once something catches the hook your rod will be pulled sharply to the left or the right. You can deplete the stamina bar of the fish, item, or mob at the other end of your line by pressing the 4 or 6 keys on the numeric pad in the opposite direction of the rod's movement. While the rod is in the neutral position pressing the 4 or 6 keys will actually allow your catch to regain stamina.

However, it seems that there are actually 5 distinct rod positions that correspond to 10 o'clock, 11 o'clock, 12 o'clock, 1 o'clock, and 2 o'clock on the face of an analog clock. The rod may stay in positions 10, 12, or 2 for several seconds, but will only occupy positions 11 or 1 for a moment.

My own experience and that of the other fishers I've talked to seems to indicate that the most effective way to deplete the stamina bar depends on what exactly caught the hook:

• For items, mobs, and fish at or below your level, it is best to hold the 4 or 6 keys down when the rod is in the 10, 11, 1, or 2 positions, while being careful not to press 4 or 6 while the rod is in the neutral position.


• For high level fish or fish that cap significantly higher than your current skill level, it is best to rapidly tap the 4 or 6 keys when the rod is in the 10 or 2 positions, and be sure to stop tapping as soon as the rod moves into the 11, 12, or 1 positions. This minimizes your chances of pressing the 4 or 6 keys at the wrong time and allowing your catch to regain stamina unnecessarily.

How Can you Tell what Caught the Hook?

You should be able to get a fairly good idea about what exactly caught your hook from the message you get after something catches your hook and after fighting with your catch for a few seconds. Since different strategies for depleting the stamina bar are more or less effective for certain catches, it will be important for you to make the necessary adjustments and decide on the best strategy for each particular catch as soon as you think you know what exactly you are dealing with.

For general reference here are the six possible messages you can get immediately after something catches your hook:

• 1. You have a good feeling about this one!/!!!
• 2. You don't know if you have enough skill to reel this one in!/!!!
• 3. You are fairly sure you don't have enough skill to reel this one in!/!!!
• 4. You're positive you don't have enough skill to reel this one in!/!!!
• 5. You have a bad feeling about this one!/!!!
• 6. You have a terrible feeling about this one!/!!!

It is important to note that the message you receive is based on your "fishing instinct", which improves in accuracy as your fishing level increases. Fishing Instinct is largely misunderstood by most fishers. It is very important to realize that your fishing instinct does not indicate whether or not you have hooked a valuable/good fish or item, but instead merely indicates how difficult it will be for you to reel in whatever is on the other end of your line.

The "good feeling" message, for example, merely indicates that your character has a good feeling about his or her chances of depleting the stamina bar of whatever caught their hook. In other words, if you get the "good feeling" message, then there is a good chance that the stamina bar will be easy to deplete and you should have little trouble successfully reeling in this particular catch. However, this can actually be a bad thing when the "Something caugh the hook" message is followed by three exclamation marks (!!!), which indicates you have hooked either a large fish, monster, or Arrowwood Log.

For example, let's say you are fishing in Sea Serpent Grotto (Lake) for Grimmonite (a large unstackable fish). It is important to note that the catchable monsters in Sea Serpent Grotto range all the way up to level 67 and can be very dangerous. So you get the "Something caught the hook!!!" message followed by the "good feeling" message. Most fishers assume that this means they have hooked a Grimmonite, since Grimmonites are "good" fish as far as they are concerned in terms of gil/skillups. Most fishers would proceed to deplete the stamina bar and reel in their catch only to be killed pretty quickly by a Stygian Pugil. I have heard many fishers in this kind of situation blame their fishing instinct for their death, when in reality their fishing instinct should have saved their life.

Again, remember that your fishing instinct merely indicates how easy it will be to reel in this particular catch, so that "good feeling" means in effect "easy catch". But Grimmonite are large, heavy, unstackable, high level fish, and as a result, they should actually be pretty difficult to reel in. Monsters, on the other hand, are always easier to catch than large fish. What this means is that it shouldn't be easy to reel in a Grimmonite, and so the fact that your fishing instinct told you that particular catch would be easy to reel in (good feeling) means that you had hooked a monster. When targeting large, unstackable, heavy, high level fish, what you actually want to see is three exclamation marks (!!!) followed by negative messages (ie terrible feeling) since this means you will have a hard time depleting the stamina bar, and again, this type of large fish should be hard to reel in.

Again, it is important to note that your fishing instinct improves in accuracy as your fishing level increases, but even with a slightly inaccurate fishing instinct there are still several clues that can indicate whether a fish, item, or mob has caught the hook:

Summary: What Caught my Hook and what Should I Do?

Hopefully this section will provide you with some general guidelines that will allow you to tell exactly what type of catch has hooked your line so that you can evaluate whether it is worth taking the time to reel in, and if so, how best to land it successfully. Unfortunately much of this is fairly relative and will require practice and experience to perfect, but this summary should at least get you started.

If you get a positive message (ie 1, 2, or 3) followed by one exclamation mark (!), then you have hooked an item or a small fish.*

• If the rod stays in the neutral position longer than usual and does not swing back and forth very much, and if the stamina bar depletes rapidly, then you have most likely hooked an item. If you are fishing in an area with items capable of snapping your rod or are using a Lure/Rig, then you will probably be best off saving your time and inventory space for actual fish by pressing Esc. If you are fishing in an area where you can catch valuable items or are using Live Bait, you should consider taking the time to catch the item since caught items do not use up any bait, but pressing Esc to reel in your line does.

• If the rod moves back and forth as normal and the stamina bar depletes at a moderate rate, than you have most likely hooked a small fish. Hold down the 4 or 6 keys while being careful not press a key in the wrong direction or while the rod is in the neutral (12) position.

If you get a positive message (ie 1, 2, or 3) followed by three exclamation marks (!!!), then you have hooked a monster or a large fish (message 6 with three exclamation marks is a very good indication that you have hooked a large fish. Also, as your fishing level increases so does the accuracy of your "fishing instinct", and after a certain point the "good feeling" message following three exclamation marks will always be a monster, again excluding Arrowwood Logs).*

• If the rod moves a little less often than it does when you land a large fish around or above your current fishing level, and if the stamina bar depletes a little more rapidly, then you have most likely hooked a monster. Verify that you have actually caught a monster by checking to see if the stamina bar depletes (slowly) while the rod is in the 10 or 2 positions even when you do not press any of the directional keys. Since monsters aren't worth any gil and will not skill you up, you will most likely be better off spending your time catching actual fish. Consider hitting Esc and reeling in your line.

• If the rod moves a little more rapidly than it does when you land a mob, and if the stamina bar depletes at a slower rate, then you have most likely hooked a large fish. Verify that you have actually caught a large fish by making sure that the stamina bar does not deplete when the rod is in the 10 or 2 positions and you are not pressing any of the direction keys. If the stamina bar depletes slowly then you will probably be best off using the "tapping method" by rapidly tapping the 4 or 6 keys when the rod is in the 10 or 2 positions and being careful to stop tapping if the rod moves into the 11, 12, or 1 positions.

If you get a negative message (ie 4, 5, or 6) followed by one exclamation mark (!), then you have hooked an item or a small fish.*

• If the rod stays in the neutral position longer than usual and does not swing back and forth very much, and if the stamina bar depletes rapidly, then you have most likely hooked an item. If you are fishing in an area with items capable of snapping your rod or are using a Lure/Rig, then you will probably be best off saving your time and inventory space for actual fish by pressing Esc. If you are fishing in an area where you can catch valuable items or are using Live Bait, you should consider taking the time to catch the item since caught items do not use up any bait, but pressing Esc to reel in your line does.

• If the rod moves back and forth as normal and the stamina bar depletes at a moderate rate, than you have most likely hooked a small fish. Hold down the 4 or 6 keys while being careful not press a key in the wrong direction or while the rod is in the neutral (12) position.

If you get a negative message (ie 4, 5, or 6) followed by three exclamation marks (!!!), then you have hooked a monster or a large fish.*

• If the rod moves a little less often than it does when you land a large fish around or above your current fishing level, and if the stamina bar depletes a little more rapidly, then you have most likely hooked a monster. Verify that you have actually caught a monster by checking to see if the stamina bar depletes (slowly) while the rod is in the 10 or 2 positions even when you do not press any of the directional keys. Since monsters aren't worth any gil and will not skill you up, you will most likely be better off spending your time catching actual fish. Consider hitting Esc and reeling in your line.

• If the rod moves a little more rapidly than it does when you land a mob, and if the stamina bar depletes at a slower rate, then you have most likely hooked a large fish. Verify that you have actually caught a large fish by making sure that the stamina bar does not deplete when the rod is in the 10 or 2 positions and you are not pressing any of the direction keys. If the stamina bar depletes slowly then you will probably be best off using the "tapping method" by rapidly tapping the 4 or 6 keys when the rod is in the 10 or 2 positions and being careful to stop tapping if the rod moves into the 11, 12, or 1 positions.

*Again, Arrowwood Logs are currently the only item in the game that defy this kind of classification since they result in three exclamation marks (!!!) when they catch the hook but behave like all the other items in terms of rod movement and stamina depletion.

For quick reference, here is a simplified chart that will help you learn how to identify what caught your hook and what you should do:

NOTE: remember that Arrowwood Logs are the exception to this type of classification since they result in three exclamation marks (!!!) when they catch the hook but behave like all the other items in terms of rod movement and stamina depletion. Also, remember that as your fishing level increases so does the accuracy of your "fishing instinct", and after a certain point the "good feeling" message following three exclamation marks (!!!) will always be a monster, again excluding Arrowwood Logs.

Still working on it...