A Fishing Question

[stu]

Do lures increase your chances of getting a catch, or do they only temporarily raise your skill level?

[Xanthippe]

I'm not positive, but I think that raising your skill level  increases your chances of getting a catch.  Lures temporarily raise skill level.

My fisherman is about 360 or so.  I haven't fished for a couple of months.

[Merusk]

Yeah, my understanding is increased skill is an increased chance of a catch, as well.   So, if you're using a +100 lure to get you to an area where you're at the min. skill you're going to get a lot of "the fish got away" messages.

The part I'm not sure on is if you have to make a catch to raise you skill.  I  haven't fished since i hit 300 pre-bc.  I got so damn burnt-out trying for those last 10 points.

[Morat20]

I was informed -- this is through Guildchat, so I'm not certain it's true -- that fishing got changed in TBC. It's now a skill point for every 8 to 10 or so fish you catch, and you can skill up in the lake in Goldshire if you want for the exact same time invested as anywhere else.

As far as I can tell, it appears to be true. Admittedly my main has a ludicrously low fishing skill (130 or so -- and only that high because I was grinding Darnassus rep and did some fishing quests in Darkshore), but I didn't notice a difference fishing in Southshore versus Plaguelands (except for the type of fish I caught).

I seemed to skill up at exactly the same, slow rate in both places. About all increased skill does is allow fishing, and make it quicker/easier to catch fish. (I was getting a lot of "fish got away" messages in the Plaguelands, and none in Darkshore).

[Dren]

You do need a catch to raise skill, but the level of fish makes no difference.  If you are just going for skill, fish out of the lowest level area and you'll gain regardless.  It starts off with a point every 5 fish and by the time you get to 375 it is 10 fish per skill point.

Your skill at the time of the catch has to meet the mimum for the fish you catch.  If you are lower, the fish will get away.  If you are higher than all the fish in the body of water you are at, you'll catch something every cast.

I just hit 375 two days ago.  I went from 180 to 375 in about a month of pretty casual fishing.  I mainly do it to supply all my alts with food buffs in instances, etc.  Golden Darters for healing food on my Pally for the most part.

[stu]

Much oblige. I've been meaning to get that cleared up for a while now.

[ajax34i]

From my observations in the past (pre-BC) the lure increases your skill AND makes it so a fish bites within the first half of the "fishing" bar more often.  This was trying to level up in Redridge with a +25 lure, and comparing fishing times when my skill was at 125 + 25 lure vs. skill only at 150 + no lure.

[Dren]

I saw a forum post from a blue awhile back that confirmed that fishing times are not affected by skill level.  I don't know about pre-BC, but I can attest that this is true.  I didn't notice any difference from 180 to 375.  Most of the time, the fish bites in the latter half of the timer bar.

Believe me, I wish that weren't true...

[ClydeJr]

The best fishing guide page I've found: El's Extreme Anglin'

At the highest levels (300+), it takes over 10 successful catches to raise a single point.

[Ralence]

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=102789457&pageNo=1&sid=1#5

  Is a great guide for levelling fishing skill and cooking skill at the exact same time, which makes the most of the time you spend fishing, if you scroll down a few posts, it also details the quests at 225? for each skill, and breaks down Horde and Alliance spots.

[stu]

Ah, these are all very helpful! Thanks again.

[Paelos]

Fishing was changed in a recent patch. As far as I know now, each fishing area has a defined level. If your skill is above that level with/without a lure, you ALWAYS catch a fish.

[Dren]

Fishing was changed in a recent patch. As far as I know now, each fishing area has a defined level. If your skill is above that level with/without a lure, you ALWAYS catch a fish.

Not true.  I can fish at certain spots in Outlands and sometimes get fish and sometimes not.  The ones I land are always the same.  I believe that the ones I'm missing are higher level fish and my level isn't high enough.

In Skettis, I can land about 1 out of 8 fish and that is with an equivalent 495 skill (375 base + 20 rod + 100 lure.)  Even at max level I can't catch the fish up there.  I need to attend the fishing contests to get the better rods now.

There is a certain level you have to be to even attempt some bodies of water, but it will tell you that and not even let you cast.

[Simond]

Yeah, but that could mean that the 'trivial' skill (to use an EQ phrase) for that particular body of water is, say, 575 skill or something.

I'd bet that if you came back with a L80 character with maxed out fishing in a year or so...you'd catch something on every cast.

[Paelos]

Trivial skill in Skettis is 500. I wear a pair of those +5 fishing boots with my +20 lure and +100 lure. I never miss.

[Dren]

Trivial skill in Skettis is 500. I wear a pair of those +5 fishing boots with my +20 lure and +100 lure. I never miss.

CRAP!  I knew I was just missing it by 5.  I need to get those boots.

[Typhon]

Trivial skill in Skettis is 500. I wear a pair of those +5 fishing boots with my +20 lure and +100 lure. I never miss.

Have you spoken to Mr Pinchy?  Did he give you a Magical Crawdad Box?  If so, then yes, I'm very jealous.

Edit: typing is hard!

[Kalei]

I'm not sure about the changes after TBC since my fishing is already maxed, but I know I could have skilled up to 300 in the Stormwind canals at the time I did it.

The level you are in the profession only means where you could fish.  It has nothing to do with skilling up, meaning you don't have to go to a harder area to skill up, but you do have to go there to catch better fish.  Plus you need the skill to get those higher types of fish.

The lure adds to your base skill.  So if an area requires 275 Fishing skill and you only have 270, you could fish there if you put on a lure that added +5 to fishing.

No matter what lure you use, you still have to catch a fish in order to skill up.  You don't get anything for "Your Fish Got Away!".  And the more you skill up, the more fish you have to catch to get the next point.  The estimate posted of about 10 fish catches to skill up one point towards the end sounds about right.

[Ironwood]

Wait, Water Difficulty doesn't affect skilling up ?

Really ?

[Calantus]

Yes. You coul level to max fishing just outside goldshire if you wanted to. the only reason to fish in progressively higher fishing areas is to cook/sell your catches.

[Typhon]

Yes. You coul level to max fishing just outside goldshire if you wanted to. the only reason to fish in progressively higher fishing areas is to cook/sell your catches.

and to meet Mr Pinchy!

[Ironwood]

I did not know that.  Thanks.

[stu]

I've been spending much of my game time fishing since it's highly lucrative on the Auction Houses and I don't have time for anything else but Battlegrounds from time to time. My question is, are there any fishing mods worth getting? I googled this and came up with Fishing Buddy, but I'm always weary of downloading these since there's no telling how often they will be updated.

I went to TenTonHammer which listed it as broken, but another site says it's been updated. Anyone here have experience with this one?

[Drubear]

I can recommend Fishing Buddy - and it gets updated to be current with new fish & zones and releases consistently. There's not much more for it to do so no real updates in that sense.

I love the enhanced fishing sounds, fish/zone tracker, and double-click casting/loot. Makes it way easier to skill up. Auto-apply lures is just icing on the cake...