Fishing

Where to Start

Choosing Your Skills

Obviously you will need fishing skill, start your character with 50 skill, or if you’re adapting an existing character buy it as high as you can from the fishing guildmaster. Next you will need some way to combat the sea serpents you’re likely to encounter once you get off shore. Magery is a good option, but you could also consider mysticism, archery or, if your character is a gargoyle, throwing. Each of these will need some ‘support’ skills, meditation and evaluate intelligence for magery, focus or imbuing for mysticism, tactics and anatomy, maybe also chivalry for archery or throwing. Cooking is also a skill worth considering, especially if you have the high seas expansion and would like to make fish pies.

Casting your Line

Wherever you choose to fish you will need to move around. Fishing spots run out and you will get the message ‘the fish are not biting here’. At 50 fishing you should fish from shore, Magincia is a good location. As your skill increases gradually work your way along the dock to deeper water. A crystal ball of knowledge is really helpful in deciding where on the dock you need to be. Your catch at this level will consist of:
Footwear: The beginning fisherman will catch a lot of these, a skilled fisherman catches less, but he still catches them. Sell them to the cobbler to raise a little extra cash or feed them to a tame goat.

Normal fish you usually get when fishing. They yield 4 fish steaks each when cut with a knife (double click the knife, target the fish). Cut them as you get them to keep your weight down. Consider adding a pack animal or giant beetle to your team.

Accounts upgraded to ‘High Seas’ booster catch a larger variety of fish These fish are caught with increasing frequency as skill rises, gradually replacing normal fish. Normal fish become completely phased out at approximately 80 skill. If you plan to take the skill past grand master you will need these fish to complete fishing quests, the source of power scrolls for the skill. Store them in your bank, house or, if absolutely necessary, the hold of your boat (but don’t forget to refresh it!).

Leaving the Land

When you reach 75 skill you’ll be at the end of the dock and ready to take to the seas. Read the ships guide to help you decide what type of boat would suit you best and how to handle it. You need to be a minimum of 14 tiles from land or a server boundary to be in ‘deep water’.

At 80 skill, you can start to catch White Pearls, Delicate Scales and magic fish. Also sea serpents!

Prized Fish:

• Adds 8 – 12% your Intelligence for 150 seconds when eaten (no cooking needed).

Wondrous Fish:

• Adds 8 – 12% to your Dexterity for 150 seconds when eaten.

Truly Rare Fish: Adds 8 – 12% to your Strength for 150 seconds when eaten.

Highly Peculiar Fish: Restores 10 points of stamina when eaten.

Now you are catching sea serpents you will find some have ‘soggy parchment’, ie treasure maps, some have special fishing nets and some have ‘a bottle with a message in it’. For more about messages in bottles read the page ‘Sunken Treasure’.

Treasure maps can be dug, if you have the relevant skills, read the page Treasure Map Quests for more information, sold to other players or handed in for clean up points. Maps give the same points value for clean up whether you have dug the related treasure or not.

If you have the High Seas expansion save those deep sea fish, and maybe take some quests to add a little variety. Fishing for crustaceans can also gain you skill

Net Fishing

Special Fishing Nets can be found as loot on sea serpents or in fished up treasure chests. When used, the net sinks slowly into the sea with some bubbles, another wave of bubble heralds the arrival of a set of 3 or 4 nasty monsters consisting of water elementals, sea serpents, deep sea serpents, or kraken. The nets can be found in various colors but only the plain, green, one is usually used in fishing, the colored ones being much in demand as decor.
          

Trophies

Some special fish can be made into trophies using a Taxidermy Kit. Do not cut any of these fish up or they will lose their unique property. When caught, a big fish may land at your feet, not in your back pack. Their weight is random, the heavier it is, the more rare. Both weight and fishermans name will be displayed on the trophy, but only if the fish weighed more than 20 stones.
Big fish can only be found in deep water, various varieties of rare fish spawn in specific areas