Fishing Like a Pro 1-100 by Pepen

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CAUTION!
This article is only a guide. Information expressed in a guide is usually more opinion than fact and should be taken as such. Guides are written by players, based upon their experiences, successes and mistakes, and are meant to aid other players. However, there may be differing opinions than those expressed in a guide.
Strategies and information in guides may not work for everyone.



Introduction

My name is Pepen and I've got quite a bit of experience with fishing in FFXI over the game's lifespan. This guide will be a WIP for the coming days/weeks/months. I will evolve/update this guide as more fishing content becomes available on HorizonXI. This is my personal route that I've always taken when leveling fishing and I believe it to be quite efficient and good at generating skill and gil over the long journey from 0-100. I will also be splitting the guide between a pure skill up section and a section for if you want to balance skill ups with progress toward Lu Shang's Fishing Rod. You can also follow the former up until 61 and then go back and work on Lu Shang's at your own pace too. The guide format will be as follows: 

      Example Fish (Skill Cap), Rod, Bait/Lure, Zone
  • Great-Blue This is a long running JP fishing resource that's been translated to English over the years. From my usage of it I have found it to be fairly accurate with it's information so I wanted to leave a link to it here for easy of access to the information.
  • FFXIclopedia.com- General FFXI bible some info is out of era but the stuff I link to should be relevant.

Fishing Tips

  • You can start fishing at any level with any job and it does not contribute to the shared 40 skill distribution between other crafts past 60 which means there is NO reason to have a "fishing mule"
  • You're going to want to buy the level 1 fisher's 4 piece set as soon as possible, it's major contributor to your early success and will allow you access better fishing spots earlier than without it.
  • While you can catch fish more than 20 skills above your current skill level, you are much more likely to get skill ups if the skill cap of the fish is within 15 skills of your own level.
  • If you hook a monster or item you can tap your CANCEL input to end the cast to avoid fighting or losing time/space to unwanted items but doing this will expend your bait.
  • You get whatever you put into it when it comes to fishing like any other craft the benefits will come over a long period of time before you can build your empire.
  • The fishing system is quite simple to understand, when you land a fish you'll see a stamina bar appear above your character's head along with silver and gold arrows. Simply tap your MOVEMENT input in the corresponding direction of each arrow, the silver depletes some stamina and the golden arrows deplete a significant amount of stamina. Once the stamina bar is empty you can hit the CONFIRM input to attempt to reel the fish in and if done correctly you will pull up either a fish or a miscellaneous item. Failing to deplete the bar before hitting CONFIRM will cost you your bait/lure. If your skill is significantly lower (more than 30) than the skill cap of the fish you may get a "lack of skill" message. This guide will avoid almost all of these situations. Fish that are way out of your skill range will be impossible to reel in so you can safely CANCEL those.
  • Get Lu Shang's ASAP. It is the penultimate fishing rod second only to Ebisu which does everything Lu Shang's does but better and is totally unbreakable. I will be covering how to fish for Lu Shang's rod while getting skill ups in this guide and please keep in mind that this section will be a bit slower for skill ups as a result but remember that fishing is a marathon not a sprint.

Promotion Requirements

  • Every ten skill levels, you are required to prove to the guild that you "have what it takes" by catching (or buying) a Fishing item of the guild's choosing. This item can be turned in once you have reached an "8" in skill (8, 28, 48, etc.) or higher (up to the cap). Once you have the requisite skill, speak with the Guild Master, Thubu Parohren.
Level Item Requested Rank Acquired
8-10 Moat Carp Recruit
18-20 Cheval Salmon Initiate
28-30 Giant Catfish Novice
38-40 Gungru Tuna Apprentice
48-50 Monke-Onke Journeyman
58-60 Bhefhel Marlin Craftsman
68-70 Bladefish Artisan
78-80 Three-eyed Fish Adept
88-90 Gigant Squid Veteran
98-100 Tiger Shark Expert


Fishing Messages

You will get various messages when something catches your line they are as follows: 

   Small fish: "Something caught the hook!"
   Large fish: "Something caught the hook!!!"
   Non-fish targets: "You feel something pulling at your line."
   Monsters: "Something clamps onto your line ferociously!"

   No line break/Rod Break will occur: "You have a good feeling about this one!"
   Line break may occur: "You have a bad feeling about this one."
   Line break/Rod break may occur: "You have a terrible feeling about this one..." 

  "You're fairly sure you don't/You don't know if you/You're positive you don't" have enough skill to reel this one in.": The fish is 8+ levels above your skill+gear. 
  You can still reel it in until about 30+ above your level, where even if you deplete its stamina, it might cancel out with something along the lines of "You lost your catch due to your lack of skill."

   "This strength... You get the sense that you are on the verge of an epic catch!": Occurs on large fish bites that happen to have above average size/weight parameters.

About Lu Shang's Fishing Rod

This can be an incredibly time consuming task to obtain as you need to complete The Rivalry/Competition quest to obtain it which requires a combination of 10,000 Moat Carp AND/OR Forest Carp to be turned in. Yes, that's right TEN THOUSAND. Be aware that this rod CAN break but if you obtain one at the recommend time by using this guide you will never have to worry about it breaking all the way to 100. It will only break when fishing up legendary fish for the Ebisu Fishing Rod quest which will be outside the scope of this guide.

Why do I Care?

  • This rod can catch both small and large fish efficiently so you won't ever lose any catches to "This fish is too big/small for this rod" messages.
  • Most fish in the game can't break it or snap the line aside from legendary fish (skill 100+)
  • It's much easier to catch fish with one of these rods which boosts your gil per hour later.
  • It is required for maximum efficiency @55+ skill as there will be many times you'll lose fish due to line snaps or too big/small messages that will be unavoidable.
  • From my own testing (and stubbornness) I have found that attempting to level fishing from 55-100 without Lu Shang's will actually take LONGER than just buying or catching the 10,000 carp due to the aforementioned issues.
  • It's really not as bad as you might think to obtain all of the carp.
  • Virtually required if you ever want to obtain the ultimate fishing rod, the Ebisu.
  • Receives BOTH bonuses from synthetic and wooden rods.

Bait vs Lures

Bait

Bait is inexpensive and easily accessible to newer players due to being sold by many NPC vendors across the world. Bait will be used when you can isolate a target fish that cannot be done with lures, Moat Carp for example. It will also be used instead of lures to prevent losing them to line snaps or rod breaks as bait is very expendable and lures can be expensive to replace. The disadvantage of bait is when you have to cancel your cast you will lose it and at worst it could cause a supply issue. This is by no means an exhaustive list but it will be some of the most common bait you'll use in this guide.

  • Little Worms- These will be your bread and butter early on, sold from various NPCs for dirt cheap ~3 gil/ea
  • Insect Balls- You will upgrade to these shortly after you start your fishing journey. If you can afford them on the Auction House these are preferred to little worms but don't worry they will pay for themselves soon after you start.
  • Crayfish Balls- Commonly used for cephalopods and Bastore Breams or Black Sole later down the line if for some reason you don't have Lu Shang's to protect your lures against line snaps.

Lures

Infinitely reusable as long as your rod doesn't break or have a line snap. All fish caught will be pure profit since you won't have to worry about bait supply issues. These are great at isolating fish within a specific skill range and should not be undervalued. Some of the lures you will be using can cost upwards of 20k in rare cases depending on current server prices. Which is why it's very important to have the basics of fishing down before attempting to use them. As with the bait section I'll list the lures we'll be using in this guide below.

  • Sabiki Rig- A lure that can catch multiple fish at a time, which can be a real time saver for certain cooking/alchemy recipes. This will be used for Bastore Sardines and Yellow Globes. You won't always catch 2 per cast but the lure will never be at risk so that's just an added bonus.
  • Minnow- Primarily a saltwater lure. This will be one of your most used lures in the mid 30s-55+ and for selling fish namely Bluetail which you will be catching A LOT of if you decide to delay Lu Shang's because they NPC for 300g each. Depending on current Moat Carp prices, selling those to an NPC and buying them is better than fishing carp directly making this lure a MUST have.
  • Fly Lure- A cheap lure that will be used briefly at first but much more later down the line when you have Lu Shang's. Used mostly for fresh water fishing.
  • Shrimp Lure- A key saltwater lure for catching Gold Carp and later with Lu Shang's this little profit monkey will be the building block on which your empire stands. Used for Bastore Bream with Lu Shang's which a stack will NPC for over 7k gil and you will be catching A LOT of these on your way to 100.
  • Sinking Minnow- Used for larger saltwater fish not super important until the higher skills when you're catching Black Sole.

Fishing Rods

Obviously, only use these if you don't have Lu Shang's yet. And all other rods besides the ones I've listed here are to be considered GARBAGE and will only lead to your frustration. Only use other rods if for whatever reason you cannot get one of these and even then I'd advise to wait until you have a Hume Rod at the very least.

Synthetic Rods

These will drain stamina slower than wooden rods but will keep the fish on the line longer they are also more resistant to breaking than wooden equivalents. Generally, you will want to use these types of rods when using lures to better protect them especially when profit fishing.

  • Halcyon Rod- For small fish only, this will be one of few rods you will use until Lu Shang's and will pay for itself a hundred times over buy it as soon as you can.
  • Composite Fishing Rod- For large fish only, only legendary fish will break this from my experience and research. Line snaps can still occur on some larger fish though.

Wooden Rods

These will drain stamina more quickly, break more often and won't keep fish on the line for as long but are good to use against fish much lower skill than you for quicker catches.

  • Hume Fishing Rod- For small fish only, good starter rod (costs around 2k on the AH) if you cannot afford a Halcyon right off the bat. My preferred rod for catching Moat Carp in general but especially when catching them for Lu Shang's.
  • Mithran Fishing Rod- For large fish mostly, this rod is VERY hard to break and pretty resistant to line snaps. You can catch smaller fish with this but it's still prone to "too small" messages.

Other Gear

There are a lot of things to cover in terms of fishing specific gear but most of that is advanced stuff I would consider out of the scope of this guide so I won't include them here but I may add a section for it later down the road. For now this will be the most important stuff to be aware of.

  • Fisher's Set- Some pieces are much cheaper than others but for this guide I will assume you have all 4 pieces. If you cannot afford them all off you will be able to after you start selling some Moat Carp on the Auction House at the beginning of the fishing segment. There is a level 15 version of the set but it does nothing different from the level 1 version so stick to that.

Guild Point Items

I want to include a few items that you should work toward with your daily Guild Points you'll acquire from the Fisherman's Guild.

  • Waders- (Journeyman Rank) The first GP item you should get. It costs 70,000 GP but it adds +2 to your effective fishing skill for a total of +5 with the other pieces of the fisher's set until you get the next item on the list.
  • Fisherman's Apron- (Artisan Rank) This will reduce the rate at which you hook items thus increasing the chance to hook actual fish which will boost profits/efficiency later down the line. Super worth it, costs 100,000 GP.

Pure Skill Fishing

This section will be if you want to skill your fishing up quickly/already have a Lu Shang's or plan to buy/farm one later. We will target small fish because unlike large ones they stack and save inventory space. NOTE: You CAN use the Hume rod longer than posted but I don't recommend it due to possible line snaps on some of these fish.

0-11

Crayfish (7), Any Rod, Little Worm Most Freshwater bodies, I'd recommend catching these at Knightswell in West Ronfaure You can catch these while you get Moat Carp at the same time. Crayfish have limited uses outside of early cooking skill ups.

Moat Carp (11) Hume Rod,Halcyon Rod, Insect Paste, West Ronfaure Knightswell- Same as above just with paste to isolate out the crayfish or use little worms if you don't mind getting crayfish too. Save all of your moat carp for Lu Shang's or sell on AH if you need gil. Save one for TEST ITEM

11-27

Yellow Globe (17) Halcyon Rod, Sabiki Rig, Mhaura OR Buburimu Peninsula- Caught by the truck loads with this set up in either zone, preferred Mhaura but if you find it over camped go to Buburimu instead. Used in alchemy for poison powder, sell on AH or NPC.

Cheval Salmon (21) Halcyon Rod, Fly Lure East Ronfaure- Catch these just outside of Southern San d'oria in the stream until 18 or 20 if you prefer to stay here longer. Shining Trout will also bite here which may be difficult to reel in which is why I recommend you only stay here until 18. This is a TEST ITEM turn it in, NPC the rest and immediately head to the next target.

Nebimonite (27) Halcyon Rod, Crayfish Ball/Shrimp Lure,Ship bound for Mhaura/Selbina- Ferry fishing can be a drag but catching these are very profitable even if crayfish balls are 6-7k per stack which is the bait I'd recommend although you CAN use the shrimp lure but it can hook fish that will break your rod/snap your line but you can cancel those, still not time efficient but figured I'd give an option. Fish these up til cap and sell on AH you should easily make the cost of bait back plus a nice profit. Fish on the stairs and angle your character diagonally to avoid the lower deck monsters if you are low level also have Sneak available too.

  • TEST ITEM Giant Catfish Just buy this on the AH there should be plenty of stock.
27-39

Shining Trout (37) Halcyon Rod, Fly Lure, East Ronfaure- Same spot you caught the Cheval Salmon except now you can get those pesky trout easier. Fish these to cap and NPC everything or move on to the next fish instead.

Nosteau Herring (39) Halcyon Rod, Sardine Balls,Lower Jeuno, Qufim Island- On the cliffside as you come out of the sea tunnel. -These are impossible to isolate from Tiger Cod which isn't a bad thing since they both sell quite well on the AH and for a nice profit compared to bait cost. If you have cooking close to 46 make them into Pickled Herrings and NPC for massive profits while you twirl your mustache with glee.

TEST ITEM Gugru Tuna (41)- Buy off AH they're cheap and not worth the headache of catching yourself.

39-61

Cone Calamary (48) Halcyon Rod, Minnow, Batallia Downs- These will NPC pretty well and you'll also catch some Bluetail with this set up at the same time although you may lose some of them to "lack of skill" messages but nevertheless it's still worth your time as you'll grow into catching them here soon enough and the NPC profits start to get kind of crazy here.

TEST ITEM: Monke-Onke- Buy off AH shouldn't be expensive

Bluetail (55) Halcyon Rod, Minnow, Qufim Island NW shore. This set up will isolate out the cone calamary and all of the other nasty fish that will break your rod/line. Fish these up until cap they NPC for 300g each and will be your primary target toward buying the moat carp for the Lu Shang's quest.

Bhefhel Marlin (61) Mithran Fishing Rod/Composite Fishing Rod, Slice of Bluetail, Ship bound for Mhaura/Selbina- I decided to add these because I don't think they are too much trouble to catch but have been reported to break Halcyon Rods and Hume Rods. That could be a bonus if you're in the market of repairing broken rods with Alchemy or Woodworking. This combination will also target Cone Calamary as well as Silver Shark although you may or may not have difficulties catching them. These will be the "!!!" bites you have chance at reeling in, the others will be legendary fish that will snap your line or break your rod and will be impossible to reel in so cancel those. These could also be a decent target to grind for your Lu Shang's Rod because they sell quickly for 2.5k each on the AH at the time of writing but your mileage may vary. Used for Inside the Belly for Pirate's Chart Quest TEST ITEM

Farming Lu Shang's

I am going to assume you have Lu Shang's for the rest of this section, if you do not then grind on either Moat Carp directly or Bluetail and NPC them and buy stacks of Moat Carp for 2.5k-3k each. Your Bluetail will NPC for 3600G per stack and you should be able to catch them efficiently now. My own experience suggests you can catch 6 stacks per hour which will translate to roughly 8 stacks of moat carp per hour. I suggest going to Purgonorgo Isle and fishing on the docks right when you get off the boat with the same set up used previously. This location also isolates Bluetail and has a higher stock than Qufim. There is an NPC just off the docks behind a bush you can NPC your bluetail to. Catching Moat Carp directly is an option but I found that I lost a lot of time to crafting more insect paste and still averaged about 6 stacks per hour with a Hume Rod.

55-76

Crescent Fish (69) Fly Lure, Yuhtunga Jungle, East Sarutabaruta- These NPC for just over 400g each and you can isolate them in East Saruta at the west lake. Yuhtunga is also a decent option but if you want to isolate them you'll have to go through Ifrit's Cauldron to get to the waterfall location. Otherwise you may catch other fish. I haven't gone there personally but I've heard good things. I stayed In E.Saruta until about 61 and moved onto Silver Shark. The stock here can be iffy especially if other players are around so you may have to wait until they refresh every now and then.

TEST ITEM Bladefish- Catch in East Sarutabaruta with Meatballs (Seaside) or buy off AH if you want to save time

Silver Shark (76) Meat Ball, Batallia Downs- These use to be killer profits at 500g each to an NPC but on Horizon it was nerfed to about 225g each so not great but it will still cover the cost of bait. I spent 8k per stack on meatballs and still made a small profit per stack. I stayed here til about 71 but you could stay to cap if you want.

71-96

Bastore Bream (86) Shrimp Lure, Port Windurst, Port Bastok, I haven't found either one to be the better zone but I lean towards Windurst. Both zones have a pretty mediocre bite rate but at ~8k per stack to an NPC it's hard to complain about slow skill ups.

Black Sole (96) Sinking Minnow Qufim Island NE cliffside in front of Delkfutt's Tower OR NW cliff. Well, you made it to the promised lands... These will NPC for about 8k per stack similar to Breams BUT I'd advise selling these on the AH instead as they're used in Sole Sushi and sell like hot cakes for about 9-10k per stack. If you catch them faster than you can sell them, then by all means NPC excess.

TEST ITEMS Your final test items Three-eyed Fish and Gigant Squid Can all be caught while you're fishing Black Sole if you switch your bait to Minnow and Slice of Bluetail respectively. Both of which sell well on the AH

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