Fishing Notes

Fourth Day of the First Hand of the Third Month in the Year 10165 Contasta Ar (May 23, 2013 by the Earth calendar)

Tal:

I have spent the past week doing a study on fishing with the G&S rod and hud. It was not for the food really, but to do a statistical analysis on the catch rates. (I am a Scribe after all).

This is based on over 1,600 casts. I recorded each cast and whether I received nothing, a fish, or a “goodie” and processed the results in Excel. I am sure most of you will think I am high on kanda, but here are the notes and results:

1) Where you fish
In my experience, where you fish, absolutely matters. From my tests it can matter a lot.

a) There are areas where you fish and fish and nothing seems to be biting. If you do about 10-15 casts maximum and get nothing, it is time to find a new spot.

b) Do not fish directly out towards a sim edge. There is a good chance the lure will go past the sim edge and you will never get fish. If you are at a sim edge, fish parallel to the shore at an angle slightly out towards the water and make sure you are landing in real water.

c) Fish “seem” to like shore banks that slope down rapidly and “seem” to prefer deeper water. This is just my experience and may not be true for everyone.

d) You will know when you have found your secret hidden fishing spot where you are getting fish on a regular basis, WRITE DOWN THE EXACT COORDINATES. Try to remember what angle you were to the shore. If you return to the same spot, the fish will continue to bite in that spot no matter how long you fish there. You should be getting a 20% catch rate for it to be counted as useful. Sometimes you will get better rates, up to around 28%. I have not consistently managed to get higher than that.

e) Without changing your avatars coordinates, move where your lure drops slightly out further and slightly more inland by rotating your avatar. Sometimes you have a good spot that gets better if you move where your lure drops. Sometimes it gets worse. You will have to test this for yourself.

2)  You do not have to see your lure to fish, the hud will turn green at the same time as the lure. Turning down  your draw distance will speed up the process slightly and reduce your own viewer lag. You can also use the main G&S hud. The choice is up to you and it has no affect on catch rates.

3) To really have confirmation that your spot is a good spot, you need to fish at least 10-20 casts in that spot. Mark them down and if you are not getting 3-4 catches after 20 casts, move and find another spot.

a) Share spot locations, they do not appear to be related to a single avatar. I have fished with jm at my lil spot and he catches fish at about the same rate as me. This will need some more testing to confirm.

4) Getting goodies. Goodies are other items apart from fish. Some have a lot of value some have less. So far, I have managed to catch the following other items: broom, beer, paga, gold basket and kanda. (I have no idea what to do with a broom). Please let me know if you have caught other items apart from those and I will update the list.

a) There does not seem to be any consistency when it comes to getting goodies. I think that location has an effect, but I cannot be positive how much of an influence that has. I know that if I am in a good spot and move my angle only, that it appears to help increase the goodie rate. However, the chance of getting a goodie is very low. So if you find a spot where you keep getting goodies at a higher rate than normal, then that mark it down. Those types of spots are awesome.

Alum Dagger
Scribe