Fishing
Fishing can be done actively and passively. Fish are necessary ingredients for cooking and oil making. Fishing requires bait and finding a good place to fish.
Fish
The following fish may be caught:
- Carp (common)
- Herring (common)
- Zander (uncommon)
- Salmon (uncommon)
- Cod (rare)
Which fish is caught and how quickly you get a bite depends on these factors:
- Fishery quality
- Tier and quality of the fishing rod
- Quality of bait
- Whether or not a lure is active
Cod and salmon are more likely when these factors are fulfilled by high quality requirements such as Rich Fishery, a Master's Fishing Rod, worms, and having a lure active.
Fisheries and Condition
Fish can be caught in any water deep enough to swim in. "Fisheries" are an area of water divided up into rough squares a few meters across, similar to the image below. The image below is to understand the concept of fisheries generally, not an exact indicator of where fishery lines are or their exact shape or size. There is no way to see the exact size or edge of a fishery. Throwing your bait every few steps will give you a good idea as you see condition levels changing.
There are 4 qualities of fishery:
- Rich
- Average
- Poor
- Exploited
A fishery in higher condition results in faster catches of fish and a greater likelihood of catching rarer fish like salmon and cod. A fishery's condition will decrease over time as more fish are caught. Fishing also decreases the condition of all adjacent fisheries, at a slower rate. Over time, all these fisheries will replenish.
To find the condition of the fishery, equip your fishing rod, and use the bait. When the bait touches the water, you will begin fishing and display the condition. It is a good idea to throw out bait many times, running along the shore. You will see various water conditions as you explore. It may take some time before you find an average or rich fishery.
A quick way to do this without wasting bait is cast, see the quality, immediately jump, move down the shore, and repeat. Because the fishing animation is several seconds long and the bait will be used if you let the animation complete, so jumping to interrupt it allows you to see the fishery condition information without using a bait. Catching a fish will always use 1 bait.
Fisheries near capital and in safe zones are much more likely to be Poor or Exploited than fisheries further away. It may take quite a while to find a rich fishery.
Bait and Lures
There are 3 types of bait. Using a better bait increases your chance for a better fish. Although fish themselves are not organized into tiers like other items are, salmon and cod are used in higher tier recipes and are generally harder to catch.
Breadballs: Low quality bait. Made by disassembling bread (also good for leveling cooking).
Grubs: Medium quality bait. Found when weeding crops or digging in the dig pit.
Worms: High quality bait. Found when weeding crops or digging in the dig pit.
Lure: Bought at the Glory vendor for 800 Contribution points or in the Supporter Shop for 150 ambers. A lure improves the speed at which you catch fish, decreases the rate of exploitation of the fishery by 50%, and increases your chance to catch salmon or cod.
The lure itself shows up on the map as an icon that any player can see. This means players looking for PvP might come find you! A lure is NOT the same thing as bait.
Active Fishing
Active fishing is the fastest way to catch fish. To actively fish, equip a fishing rod, and put your bait on your hot bar. To cast your line, use your bait, hover the mouse over water, and click. After a few seconds, you will get a bite. Follow the indicators on the mini-game to reel the fish in.
Fishing in higher quality water will yield fish more quickly and you have a higher chance to catch salmon or cod. As you fish, the quality of the water will deplete, and you will need to move after a while to a new location.
Passive Fishing
To passively fish, simply equip a fishing rod, cast your line once and leave it. The minigame will still activate, but eventually you will catch a fish. Passive fishing is much slower than active fishing and may be dangerous to AFK. Fisheries are still depleted while AFK fishing, so beware how long you remain idle in one place.
Fish Traps
Fish traps are the slowest and most passive way to fish. Fish traps are craftable constructions in the Engineering profession. A fish trap can be placed in any water deep enough to swim in, and may be looted by enemies, but not allies. It is a good idea to check the fishery quality with your rod and some bait before throwing your trap in the water. Placing the fish trap in a better fishery will catch fish faster. Due to the limit of 2 fish of each type, checking your trap regularly is important.
You can only have 1 fish trap active at a time.
A fish trap must be interacted with once every 3 days or it will despawn.
If you consistently find that your fish trap is empty, it's likely it's being looted by an enemy. Try to find a better spot!
