Is the chance to catch non-trash extremely low? Trying to catch some uncaught fish, so went to level 100 (Fishing level 10). After 15 attempts of nothingness I went up to level 60. All in all, in 20 attempts I got nothing but trash, algae and a few cans of coke. In the 21st attempt at least I got a Ghostfish. It was on a lucky day too, though I don't think fishing is affected by luck.
Sounds about right. Level 100 is very very painful if you're not at lvl 10 fishing.... even then it can be bad.
The lava eel is IMHO the hardest fish to catch. It takes awhile to even hook one and then they’re as hard to land as any of the legendaries.
Ouch, could take a while then. Think I had one on ages ago, but had zero chance to reel it in. The Octopus was pretty darn challenging too, at level 10 with a bobber. It's good that there are real challenges in the game, but it's not great fun to keep 'catching' trash and wasting tackles.
Woot! Having just written that, I went back next day and got it! Brickface on 20th after many tries, Ice Pip on 60th, then down to 100th level. First throw, and something wild bit. Yay =)
For the harder fish, eating food with +Fishing seems to help. I'm at max so maybe it doesn't go higher but maybe the illusion of a buff helps. =P Except the fish called The Legend - that's a right bastard and refuses to be caught.
Myself, it's the Glacier Fish that tends to make me get cranky. I don't find the Lava Eel extremely hard, but they do get away on occasion and it's a true pain because it's so difficult to get one to bite. The "exotic" fish, the ones in the mine, the desert, the woodskip etc. I only look to get one of each in a playthrough, but my favorite by far is the Ice Pip. I don't know why, but over time it's become the one I talk to the most vociferously. He hasn't got a chance, and he knows it. Still I tell him it's a good thing. Today's his last bad day ever. EDIT: You got the Stonefish and the Ice Pip, with only 4 Ghostfish? That's actually really good! I think it's common to get like 6 or 8 Ghostfish before hooking either one of the other two. Also, I notice there the description of the Lava Eel says it's lava. I think it was the game logic thread it was mentioned that it might be just hot red water, so that the logic worked better, but... Nope.
I remember the Lava Eel being difficult, but the worst for me were the winter and spring legendaries and the octopus. I needed +fishing food on all of them. The trap tackle is my go-to. I'm right proud of my eye patch on that save. <--
I always save back at least 10 sardines and a gob of potatoes from Spring of year one, and buy the hash-browns recipe from Gus, so that I can cook Dish of the Sea(+3 fishing) early in the game. I eat that stuff like candy when I'm after tough fish. That and the trap bobber. EDIT: 10 Sardines is 5 Dish of the Sea(DotS). Also the Sandfish is common to find on the traveling cart. I'll almost always buy one so that I can complete the Specialty Fish bundle in early summer, before unlocking the bus, to get the 5 DotS reward. I really do eat a lot of those.
It's been my experience that I get far more trash than fish in the mine lake, and for every 4 or 5 Ghostfish I might get one fish that's special to the floor. Probably 5 trash to one ghostfish, so about every 20 trips I'll be able to land one stonefish, ice pip, or lava eel...
Sounds like I was very fortunate in that second trip then, and the first was more representative (20 throws with nothing to show for it). As the screenshot above shows, I did get a pretty big bag of algae, but sounds like good going for catching all three specials. Especially the lava eel was very fortunate. First throw, and managed to reel the bugger in too. Not easy. Later in the save there was a very long kertuffle with a scorpion carp in the Desert. Must have spent at least a full minute back and forth before I finally managed to get the upper hand. Some of these fish are seriously wild. I used to call them Rubberball Trout.
unless you are on a mission to catch every fish, don't even bother with the mines, almost nothing but trash
Haven't eaten Fishing-boosting food before; it was kind of an eye-opener. Got the Winter legend hooked 3 times. Did get it to around 80% once, but in reality didn't stand a chance to reel him in. Too wild and going all over the place with no rhyme or reason. Had a Fish Stew (+3 Fishing) in a chest (think I bought it from the travelling cart at some point), so gulfed down that. It lasts for a good while, the whole day. First time I got the legend on, it was much less wild in the 'jumps' and I reeled it in without too much trouble. The green bar is a decent chunk bigger too, which makes it a little easier. Not a great deal, but every bit helps against these wild ones. Noticed a difference in pretty difficult normal fish as well, such as pikes and lingcod. The latter can be fairly rough to reel in, even with a trap bobber. Thanks for the tip. Will surely need to do this for the other legends too, at least the toughest bugger of them all, The Legend.
Another one bites the dust (of my backsack). The Legend. Tried fishing from the little 'pier' on the south side of the island in the middle of the lake, and he bit. Didn't have any boosts at the time, not even a trap bobber, so no chance in hell to get him to land. Later there was a day of thunder, and I hoped that counted as rain (as per the wiki). Wolfed down lobster bisque and tried from the same island. No go after 7 hours of non-stop fishing, so I moved to the western landside. Funnily enough, the first fish to bite was the Legend. Such a fierce struggle and I gave up and let the bar drop. Then the fish dropped down to the other bar climbed from 'redlined'. So I started trying again, and after a very long struggle finally managed to reel him in. Very proud! Very, very tough catch, even with effectively level 13 fishing.
