While not officially considered a life skill, fish meats intertwines with many of their recipes. It can be used to make delicious dishes from the culinary profession and, sometimes, Douglas at the guild center might request some for his cargo.

To unlock fishing, we will need to progress the main story and complete the quest titled [ꜰɪʀᴇᴡᴏʀᴋs ꜰᴀɴᴛᴀsʏ ɴɪɢʜᴛ], afterwhich a new mission will appear: [ɪɴᴠɪᴛᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ꜰʀᴏᴍ ᴛʜᴇ ꜰɪsʜɪɴɢ ɢᴜɪʟᴅ]. Speak with the ɴᴘᴄ fishing guild member in Asterleeds to begin.

A fishing rod and bait are needed to catch fish. These can be purchased directly from the fishing menu [ᴠ] when fishing mode is enabled. Various qualities of rods are available for purchase, each offering better stability than the latter; alongside some boons such as increased reeling speed and slower generation of tension. Catching a fish decreases the rod's durability by a certain amount until the rod breaks. At which point, we will need to replace it with a new one.

As for baits, better quality offers the convenience of ignoring all ocean garbage or increasing the chance for a mythical fish to bite. If we have access to the culinary life skill, baits can be crafted instead of purchased from the shop. This process requires materials gathered from botany and does not use any focus points to make.


To swap tools while fishing, press ʙᴀɪᴛ [ɴ] or ꜰɪsʜɪɴɢ ʀᴏᴅ [ᴍ] to select something else:

ꜰɪsʜɪɴɢ sᴘᴏᴛ
Look for this icon on the map to find fishing locations

Every region cultivates different types of fish for us to catch. When nearby, a prompt can be activated to enter fishing mode. When fishing, there are three main things to look out for: the floater, the tension and reeling.

When first casting the line into the water, the bobber will float above the surface until a fish eats the bait. When that happens, the bobber will move underwater and an exclamation❗mark will appear on the screen. It's time to begin reeling!

ᴛɪᴘs
By observing the bobber's behavior, toppling in and out of the water prior to a bite, we can determine if a legendary fish is on the line. If it topples 5 times, it's a legendary!




The main goal of "reeling" is to catch the fish. To do so, we must use the [ʟᴇꜰᴛ ᴍᴏᴜsᴇ ʙᴜᴛᴛᴏɴ] to bring the fish closer to us. This movement is indicated on the progress bar as the fish moves towards our character. If it changes direction, the fish is getting away!




Holding the [ʟᴇꜰᴛ ᴍᴏᴜsᴇ ʙᴜᴛᴛᴏɴ] will reel the line at a steady pace, while pressing it on and off will be slower but with more control. Which method we use depends on the tension level of the rod. In general, we would want the tension to be in the green or yellow. Once it becomes red, we need to stop reeling as the rod might break or the fish could get away faster.

To manipulate the tension level, it's important for our character to pull the rod in the same direction where the fish is swimming. For example, if the bobber is towards the left side of the screen, then we should align the rod towards the left also. And the same goes for the middle, and right side. Mindfully aligning the rod and fish together like this plays a major part in how well and how long it takes to reel them in. Watch for the arrows on the screen for guidance and use the keyboard letters [ᴀ] and [ᴅ] to move the rod left and right.

ᴛɪᴘs
The trick is to find a good balance between tension and reeling. Stop reeling if the tension is too high and realign the rod. Patience and practice is key 🐠

We may encounter another type of fish on our journey. One that doesn't require a fishing rod. These unique fishes are in fact unlocked from the [ʙᴏᴛᴀɴʏ] life skill and do not have anything to do with the fishing system itself. This sea life roams free in the water of specific areas and can be caught by hand simply by swimming nearby. Let's be mindful however, as exciting as catching fish barehanded can be, that running out of stamina while in the water will cause drowning and we will respawn at the nearest teleport...

Fishing areas can be crowded at times, making it difficult to concentrate or differentiate which floater is ours. Thankfully, there are settings to remediate this issue. In fishing mode, we can press [ᴏ] to select options like hiding weapons, ɴᴘᴄs and other players.

The fishing archive acts as a marine life encyclopedia and can be opened from [ꜰɪsʜɪɴɢ ᴍᴏᴅᴇ] > [ᴠ]. Here, we'll find basic information about each fish, coral, legendary creatures and garbage. This is particularly useful for keeping track of the size and star rating of our best catches!


Higher level guilds have the option to use the boon fountain to activate temporary buffs that can help increase drop rate.



While we can use our proudly caught fish for [ᴄᴜʟɪɴᴀʀʏ] meals and [ɢᴜɪʟᴅ ᴄᴀʀɢᴏ], it can also be used to unlock fishing boons like increased chance of catching 5-stars, slower tension and increased time for pulling, to name a few. These can be unlocked by donating a certain quantity of fish to the research center. Note that this isn't done automatically; the fish we caught is stored in our inventory and needs to be donated manually for the "donated quantity" to go up. Once enough has been given, the boon can be unlocked and further improved for greater %.

The menu to research and equip a buff can be found in [ꜰɪsʜɪɴɢ ᴍᴏᴅᴇ] > [ʀᴇsᴇᴀʀᴄʜ]. We'll be greeted with a list of unlocked fish and basic info cards that explains the bonus each one can provide. When ready, select a fish to donate, upgrade or equip. These bonuses are permanently unlocked (not consumable) and can be interchanged indefinitely.

ᴛɪᴘs
It's possible to change boon while fishing. This means we can use one to help with catching legendaries, and then quickly pressing [ʙ] to switch to something more helpful for reeling.

This quest can be initiated by speaking with Amos who is located near the fishing spot at the beach in Asterleeds. He begins to tell a story and requests a [ɴɪɢʜᴛ ʟᴀᴍᴘ] to continue. If we don't have one already, it can be farmed at the fishing spot beside him. Hand it over to complete the quest and earn [ᴀsᴛᴇʀɪᴀ ʀᴇᴘᴜᴛᴀᴛɪᴏɴ].

If needed for culinary meals, the seafood store in most major cities sell additional ingredients. Their selection changes frequently so it's worth visiting often! Meanwhile, the recycler will gladly purchase our ocean trash to promote the importance of keeping our waters clean. Look for these icons on the map:

sᴇᴀꜰᴏᴏᴅ sᴛᴏʀᴇ
Get fish meat and other seafood ingredients

ᴏᴄᴇᴀɴ ɢᴀʀʙᴀɢᴇ ʀᴇᴄʏᴄʟɪɴɢ
This npc will buy our ocean trash

ɢᴏᴏᴅs ʀᴇᴄʏᴄʟᴇʀ
This npc will buy our old rods and any unwanted bait

Finally, there are milestone rewards for leveling fishing. These include [ʀᴏsᴇ ᴏʀʙ (ʙᴏᴜɴᴅ)], profile badges, emotes and costume headgear amongst other things. In the main menu [ꜰɪsʜɪɴɢ ᴍᴏᴅᴇ] > [ᴠ], tap the fishing level at the top of the screen to view all the rewards.

¹ ˢᶜʳᵉᵉⁿˢʰᵒᵗˢ ᵗᵃᵏᵉⁿ ᵃⁿᵈ ᵉᵈᶦᵗᵉᵈ ᵇʸ ᵐᵉ
² ᶠᵒⁿᵗ ˢᵐᵃˡˡ ᶜᵃᵖˢ ᶠʳᵒᵐ ˢᵐᵃˡˡᵗᵉˣᵗ[smalltext.io]
³ ᵗᵒᵖᵖˡᵉ ˡᵉᵍᵉⁿᵈᵃʳʸ ᶦⁿᶠᵒ ᶠʳᵒᵐ ᵐᵃˣʳᵒˡˡ[maxroll.gg]
⁴ ˢᶦᵈᵉ ᵠᵘᵉˢᵗ ᴬᵐᵒˢ ᶠʳᵒᵐ ᵐᵃˣʳᵒˡˡ ⁻ ᶦ ᵃˡˢᵒ ᵛᵉʳᶦᶠᶦᵉᵈ ᶦⁿ⁻ᵍᵃᵐᵉ[maxroll.gg]

Thank-you! ☆