[Fishing] Catching the rare and legendary fish

[DJAd]

I've hit 120 fishing and have a few baits saved up to try. Is there anything I need to know before trying to fish up these beauties?

For example I was thinking about going for a Golden Tuna. Do I just go to any deep water in Tokuno and fish the same spot, or move around?

Do I have to use bait to catch the rare and legendary fish, or is 120 skill enough on its own?

The fishing quests are getting a bit tedious now so thought I'd try going for the "special" fish for a bit of a change.

 

[Doubleplay]

In my experience, the baits only give you a slight chance to improve an enchanted catch to a rare catch when you are using a rare fish bait. When you are using an enchanted fish bait, you will notice an increase in the enchanted fish caught over not using the bait at all. Just fishing for fish to fulfill the quests should pretty much get you all the enchanted fish, but it will take a lot of work getting the rare fishes. I think the rare fish catch chance is much greater in the dungeons than in the sea. If you want to catch lots of enchanted types, get some Cora points and turn them in for one of the fish finders at the rewards npc in cove. You will be tossing enchanted overboard.

Some rares are extremely hard to catch. For me the blue marlin and tunnel crab were very hard to get. Others have had a hard time with the zombie fish. The lantern fish and bull fish are hard because of the environment, but at least the drop rate is much higher than the rate above ground.

 

[Adol]

Some rares are extremely hard to catch. For me the blue marlin and tunnel crab were very hard to get. Others have had a hard time with the zombie fish. The lantern fish and bull fish are hard because of the environment, but at least the drop rate is much higher than the rate above ground.

Not true in my experience; the fish break into Rare and Legendary types, but all fish in that group have the same odds; I had a good run of Crystal Fish in my Prism of Light tutorial, but that was a coincidence... the Lantern Fish took as long as most of the other Legendary however, I was there quite a few hours too, maybe 15-20 hours, and I had bait. Some people are just luckier on the roll than others, and stop after they catch the Legendary so they can't easily calculate the correct odds compared to other fish... they assume one must be lower odds because it came quicker than others.

Basically, there isn't any real trick outside the bait and the Fishing Suit. If it's listed as "Ilshenar" it's any water in that area, doesn't matter where. If you're after the Twisted Weald fish remember the Mushroom Cave outside doesn't count, as it's on the Ilshenar map, but it is counted as a Dungeon. Golden Tuna then is any Deep Sea around Tokuno, just sail about fishing. It is true the mobs may limit where you can fish, again the Prism only really has one spot you can safely do it, but the fish is catchable anywhere in the lake.

 

[Doubleplay]

You are right, Aldol. The larger the data set, the more accurate the statistical conclusions, that is a fact. I only offer my experience with a small amount of samples which should be combined with those of many others. In my case, for example, I fished trammel for two years or more, almost daily before I caught a blue marlin. I caught three black marlin in a week period, fishing a total of about 5 hours in felluca. I guess it is easy to make unfounded conclusions, and I am sorry I did that. However for the record, for me: One week in felluca resulted in 3 black marlins. 100 plus weeks in trammel resulted in 1 blue marlin. Looking at that small data set, not knowing the actual odds in each location would lead to the primary assumption that the odds are different in each location as a first guess. This assumption would be much more likely to be true than assuming that the rng just rolled that way this time. Without knowing for a fact that the programmers made the odds equal for the two fish, you would need a lot of test data to prove that is in fact the case. Do you know if the devs have defined the programmed odds or have led anyone to believe that all enchanted fish or all rare fish have the same odds location to location?

 

[Adol]

Oh, I wasn't personally criticizing you, and I'm sorry if it came across that way... and I don't have much more information than you, except we know that the Devs have divided the fish into groups from The Order Of The Dragonfish Books; there's some confusion as UOGuide and Pinco's UI both call the more common trophy fish "Rare", but the Books class them as "Enchanted", and the "Magical Fish Finder" from the Void Pool rewards locates them, but most people think of Magical fish as being the mess of small fish that give the temporary buff... however everyone agrees on the harder group being called "Legendary". Books 5 and 6 list what they are, and describe all of them as being rumours or mythical. Whether any have a particular intentionally higher set of odds is impossible to really know without the Devs confessing; I tend to agree with you that the Blue Marlin seems much, much rarer... but at the same time, I haven't tracked how much time I've spent actually fishing; if I'm in Trammel I'm also fighting sea serpents, cutting them up, handing in the scales, tracking MiBs, recalling off to unload fish or hand in fishing quests... I'm not sure if I'm logical that I'm actually spending the same time fishing as I was when I was chasing the Legendary; for some of those I wouldn't move except to swap spots for hours, in dangerous places not even to take fish home, I'd cut them up to save time instead. But... they could be the only one with higher odds to maintain the rarity because everyone's likely to be fishing in Trammel... My own belief is they probably just coded one rarity level for each group and left it at that, because it would be simpler. I can't prove it though!

 

[Doubleplay]

Oh, no offense taken. I wish more people would share their experiences with fishing, especially when something strange occurs. BTW the fish listing I work with is the one Petra has organized on Stratics: http://uo2.stratics.com/skill-guides/skills-and-professions/fishing/fishing-in-the-high-seas

 

[Adol]

Oh, no offense taken. I wish more people would share their experiences with fishing, especially when something strange occurs. BTW the fish listing I work with is the one Petra has organized on Stratics: http://uo2.stratics.com/skill-guides/skills-and-professions/fishing/fishing-in-the-high-seas

*nods* Slight error there, the link to book 6 shows they are known as Legendary in that, I'll PM Petra...

Meanwhile, I just completed a 140/280 point quest... and got Not-Legendary Summer Dragonfish bait! *sobs*