Official: Fishing in Elanthia (Wyrom's Guide)

Quote from GM Wyrom:

Fishing has been around for a long time, but I realize not a lot is known about fishing by the masses.

Getting a fish on the line.

The first set of checks determine the rarity of fish.

There is a seasonal bonus, it's better to fish in the spring and summer. Fall is neutral. Winter has a penalty. This isn't really suppose to be revealed, but given seasons aren't the same across the world, these seasons are reflected on the United States.

There are bonuses to fishing during certain hours of the day. This isn't meant to be revealed. It's not a random thing.

There are bonuses for the area you're fishing in (is it a good/hot spot).

Your lure has a bonus as long as it's used in the right depth of water.

Then there is just a random element entirely for those that don't know what they are doing.

Reeling it in!

Once the fish is on your line, there are a new set of checks.

The only stat that is used in strength.

The fish's strength is determined by the phase you're in. Did you just hook it? Is it wearing down? A fish just hooked is strong. Bigger fish are harder to catch from having an inherited strength bonus.

There are some random elements to both the fisherman and the fish here as well. Think of these as "critical catches." But it also helps players who don't have strength or aren't waiting to tire the fish out.

Snapping your line.

If you put out too much slack, you're giving yourself a huge penalty. You will be messaged when you do this. Learn what is good enough.

Reeling in too early has a bigger chance to snap your line.

Leaving the fish on the line longer tires the fish out, but it also weakens your line.

The catch!

The fish that went on your line was determined at first bite. There are 5 tiers of rarity for fish. There are 3 depths. Each depth has the 5 tiers.

Fishing now tracks your total fish caught, as well as which which tier it came from.

Wyrom, PM

Quote from GM Wyrom:

Are you talking about towns (Landing vs Icemule vs EG) when you say area or distance & depth?

No. I'm talking about if the area is set up to be a hot spot. This is something a GM does.

Do lures that are made specifically for a specific depth provide a different bonus?

The ones sold at EG are intended to ease the understanding of the system. Not all lures are created this way.

When we PULL - are we changing the distance, or is distance only changed when the messaging changes?

When you say distance, are you meaning depth?

This is your slack, pay attention to the messaging to see if it's working for you.

Could you also share anything related to time?

No, but it's not just random hours of the day. Google real fishing guides, the person who made this did a lot of research and/or was a fisherman themselves.

Are we wasting our time if we wait longer then X seconds in a specific distance & depth?

Pay attention to the messaging. Learn when is a good time to try reeling it in.

Does PULL "reset" the timer or scare off the fish?

No, but you can stress your line or even snap it.

If we just leave the bait sitting there, will it eventually catch something or do we have to be in the hot spot/good area?

Just leaving it there is a good way to not catch anything/snap your line. Hot spots are just bonuses where I said they are looked at. Nothing other than that.

Wyrom, PM

For what it's worth, I went something like 43 for 45 yesterday using the following approach, which I was sharing with folks as liberally as I could with noticeable effect (this is largely the same as Beldannon's approach, with a mild tweak which increased my success):

Soon as you get a bite, PULL. Then wait for RT to resolve, count off 8 seconds, and PULL again. Repeat this pattern until you get message about no more slack. When you see that message, stop pulling until you see different messaging (any other messaging). As soon as you see said different messaging, PULL again, and resume PULLing 8 seconds after each RT resolves.

The general 'form' of the whole thing seems to be: PULL until you run out of slack, sit there for a bit, then slowly start to PULL it in once it's tired itself out. I've only once seen a fish return to 'no slack' status, so once you're past it, you should be good so long as you're patient.

Caveat 1: Sometimes the line just snaps. Seems to happen ~10% of the time, and with odd timing. There appears to just be a catastrophic failure chance in the system.

Caveat 2: The Strength portion of the system appears to be no joke. Oubar has 100 Strength, and was reeling fish in left and right. The punier races seemed to have less luck.

Caveat 3: This system really takes some experimentation. The creator did a very good job with it. You have to get a 'feel' for it, and the only way to do that is to snap lines for a while.

Trick 1: I found that if you use a weight on your rig, you get an extra line of messaging which seems to indicate that your next PULL will land the fish. Near the end of the process, you'll get a message that your line sinks to the bottom (or something close to that). Next PULL lands your fish.

Has anyone seen a 'rare' fish caught? I've seen blobfish, stargazers, opahs, monkfish, slivers (or something like that), frogfish, mullets, and I think that's it. I've found some fun things (and some truly awful prizes), but haven't seen anything great found. Just curious if there's a particular type of fish I need to be hoping for (Orcas, maybe?)

I caught two moray eels this morning. Nothing extra special to them though.

Dumb question, but how do you get a prize when fishing? Do you reel in a box instead of a fish?

You have to have a knife of some kind in the other hand, then CUT your [whatever]. You get a filet of whatever type of fish (which you can cook in the fire one room west of the fishing area) and some prize. Nice prizes are spell preps, crap prizes are 2 seashells, a twig, or the like. I haven't seen anything else 'nice' that wasn't a spell prep, though.

also swellsharks, permits, and hatchefish to the list, but none appeared to be special.

Does wizard strength help fishing, or is it based only on the stat? Does encumbrance matter?

My proudest catch!

You carefully examine the brown-striped swellshark and determine that the weight is about 20 pounds. Roundtime: 5 sec.

You raise your brown-striped swellshark high into the air, displaying your catch for all to see!