FFXI Fishing Guide

Contents

1) Introduction

2) Version History

3) Skill Gain Trivial Chart

4) Poles and Rods

5) Baits and Lures

6) Credits

(1) Introduction

Most of the basics of fishing can already be found in other guides and probably do a better job of explainig than I can. The meat of this guide is the skill gain chart found in section (3), which lists when you will expect to stop gaining on a certain fish. The other sections, (4) and (5) are my personal thoughts on Rods and Baits on what I've experianced with fishing, and from what I've heard and read from Japanese players and Japanese Fansites.

I take no credit other than the translation for the chart found in section (3) of this guide. Information for the Skill Cap list was all translated from here: http://www.geocities.co.jp/Playtown-Bishop/7994/index.html

(2) Version History

1.0 First Translation, anything with a '?' after it still needs to be verified

1.1 68 ??? changed to "Ides Catfish?"

1.2 Greedie will bite on minnow lure.

Greedie, Zafmlug Bass, Cobalt Jelly can be caught with the worm lure.

? removed from Giant Catfish on "Sinking Minnow" lure, this was verified

Thanks to Hattori, Midgardsormr for these verifications!

Yellow Globe can be caught with Lugworm, thanks OmenCat!

Slice of Carp verified for Crayfish, thanks TheWatcherUatu!

Sabiki Rig verified for Zamflug Bass, thanks Yolos of Odin!

Minnow verified for Giant Catfish and Dark Bass by me.

1.3 Changed Layout, added (5) Baits and Lures

Updated section (4) Poles and Rods,

1.31 Cobalt Jellyfish added, Silver Shark verified, and No Gain verified on some items

Thanks again Akira!

(3) Skill Gain Caps

Again, I take no credit for the information provided below, other than the translation of it from Japanese to English. The original is found on this page: http://www.geocities.co.jp/Playtown-Bishop/7994/index.html

Anything with a "?" after it has not confirmed. Guild Price is what the Fishing Guild in Port Windurst would BUY these fish for from me with 13 Charisma, so prices may vary. If Guild Price lists "x" it means I couldn't find a guild vendor that would buy that fish.

Name	Skill Cap	Water Type	Bait	Guild Price	Size
Cobalt Jellyfish	3-6?	Salt	Little Worm, Worm Lure, Sabiki Rig	17?	Small
Crayfish	7	Fresh	Little Worm, Slice of Carp	23	Small
Bastore Sardine	10	Salt	Lugworm, Sabiki Rig	16	Small
Moat Carp	11	Fresh	Little Worm, Insect Ball	30	Small
Greedie	14	Salt	Lugworm, Minnow, Worm Lure	17	Small
Copper Frog	16	Fresh	Fly, Frog Lure?	58	Small
Yellow Globe	17	Salt	Sabiki Rig, Lugworm	45	Small
Quus	19	Salt	Lugworm, Sabiki Rig	45	Small
Cheval Salmon	21	Fresh	Fly	58	Small
Fat Greedie	23	Salt	Worm Lure, Lugworm?	x	Small
Tricolored Carp	27	Fresh	Little Worm, Insect Ball, Shell Bug?	115	Small
Pipira	29	Fresh	Meatball, Minnow	135	Small
Tiger Cod	29	Salt	Sardine Ball	115	Small
Nebimonite	30	Salt	Crayfish Ball, Shrimp Lure?	154	Small
Giant Catfish	31	Fresh	Frog Lure, Slice of Carp?, Sinking Mnnow, Minnow	225	Large
Dark Bass	33	Fresh	Little Worm, Insect Ball, Minnow, Worm Lure?, Slice of Carp?	50	Small
Ogre Eel	34	Salt	Peeled Shrimp, Sliced Sardine	73	Small
Crystal Bass	35	Fresh	Little Worm, Insect Ball, Worm Lure?, Slice of Carp?	x	Small
Shining Trout	37	Fresh	Fly, Slice of Carp?	58	Small
Nosteau Herring	39	Salt	Shrimp Lure	180	Small
Gugru Tuna	41	Salt	Sliced Sardine, Shrimp Lure?	278	Both?
Zafmlug Bass	43	Salt	Lugworm, Worm Lure, Slice of Carp?, Sabiki Rig	87	Small
Gold Lobster	46	Salt	Sliced Sardine	430	Small
Black Eel	47	Fresh	Little Worm, Peeleded Crayfish, Worm Lure	439	Small
Ice Fish	49	Fresh	Little Worm, Sabiki Rig	442	Small
Sand Fish	50?	Fresh	Little Worm	58	Small
Giant Donko	50?	Fresh	Peeled Crayfish, Shrimp Lure, Sinking Minnnow?, Minnow?, Slice of Carp?	x	Large?
Monke-Onke	51	Fresh	Peeled Crayfish, Shrimp Lure, Sinking Minnow?, Minnow?, Slice of Carp?	675	Large
Red Terrapin	52	Fresh	Shall Bug, Frog Lure	780	Small
Blue Tail	55	Salt	Sliced Sardine, Shrimp Lure?	675	Small
Gold Carp	56	Fresh	Little Worm, Insect Ball	675	Small
Bhefhel Marlin	60?	Salt	Peeled Shrimp, Slice of Blue Tail?, Minnow?, Sinking Minnow?, Shrimp Lure?	898	Large
Shall Shell	61?	Salt	Crayfish Ball	675	Small
Blade Fish	64	Salt	Sliced Sardine, Sinking Minnow?, Minnow?	900	Large
Crescent Fish	64	Fresh	Frog Lure?	990	Small
Noble Lady	66	Salt	Sliced Sardine, Sinking Minnow?, Minnow?, Shrimp Lure?	1000	Large
Gavial Fish	67	Fresh	Meatball, Sinking Minnow?, Minnow?, Slice of Carp?	1500	Large
Ides Catfish?	68	Fresh	Peeled Crayfish, Minnow?, Sinking Minnow?, Slice of Carp?	x	Large
Silver Shark	76?	Salt	Meatball, Sliced Cod?	1500?	Small?
Three Eye Fish	78	Salt	Slice of Blue Tail?, Minnow?, Sinking Minnow?	x	Large
Bastok Bream	86	Salt	Minnow?, Sinking Minnow?	1350	Both?
Black Sole	89	Salt	Shrimp Lure	1575	?
Grimmonite	87	Salt	Shrimp Lure, Sinking Minnow?, Minnow?	1711	Large?
Coral Butterfly	??	Salt	?	374	Large?
Zebra Eel	??	Salt	?	1200	Large?
Forest Carp	??	Fresh	Little Worm?, Insect Ball?	45	Small
Elshimo Frog	??	Fresh	Fly?	152	?
Elshimo Newt	??	Fresh	?	524	?
Jungle Catfish	??	Fresh	Frog Lure?, Slice of Carp?, Minnow?, Sinking Minnow	1800	Large
Abyssal Fish? 10/17/03 legend	??	Salt	Meatball	3200?	?
?????? Giant ancient fish of legend?	??	Salt	Meatball	x	?
Sea Zombie? Giant Sea Raw ??? insects of legend	??	Salt	Meatball, Only on Pirate Route	x	?
Gingham Toss Kid? Giant Soft body Animal of Vision?	??	Salt	Slice of Blue Tail?	x	?
Rag Mackerel? 08/27/03 legend	??	Fresh	?	x	Large?
Giant Crustaceans? 9/?/03	??	Fresh	?	x	Large?
Pamtam Kelp	No Gain	Salt	Anything?	17	Small
"Rusty" Items	No Gain	Both?	Anything?	x	Large
Gil	No Gain	Fresh?	Anything?	x	Small

(4) Poles and Rods

My thoughts on rods, I've used at least 10 of each on many different fishing areas, baits and types of fish and broken them all. Mithran I've only broken once on Large ocean fish. I've set to break a composite. Note: I haven't used Lu Shang's.

Mithran Rod - Good for Fresh Water fishing, this can catch all "Small" sized fish without breaking, as well as be able to withstand the weight of the occasional "Rusty" item. This rod will last you for a good amount of time. If you do manage to break it, you should be able to sell the broken rod for almost as much (if not as much) as a brand new one.

Carbon Rod - OK for "Small" fishing. But it will break with "Rusty" items. I would recomend this item only for Salt Water fishing using the Sabiki Rig for best results. When and If you do break one of these on a rusty item, you can sell the broken rod for about half the price of a new one.

Composite Rod - Best for Salt Water and Fresh Water "Large" fishing. Broken can be sold for about half to three forths the price of a new one.

Lu Shang's - Best for "Small" fishing. From what I hear, it is unbreakable. The Quest for this rod is in Port Sandoria.

Clothespole - Best "Cheap" rod, I still recomend a Mithran over it, but I know how it is to be tight on cash. Upgrade to Mithran as soon as possible. Can sell a broken one for less than half the price a new one costs.

Bamboo - I'd use a Clothespole over it personally, but I highly recomend just saving and getting a Mithran instead. Not worth selling broken.

Yew - see "Bamboo", not worth selling broken.

Willow - see "Bamboo", not worth selling broken.

Fast Water - see "Bamboo" broken is worth half of the price of "new".

Tarutaru - see "Bamboo" broken is worth half of the price of "new".

Glass Fiber - see "Bamboo" broken is worth half of the price of "new".

Single Hook - see "Clothespole", broken is worth half of the price of "new".

- How fishing rods work -

"Big fish" rods can catch small fish, just not ALL small fish. The way fishing works, in very basic terms, each time you cast, the game factors in weather, time of day, moon phase, what bait you have, what skill you have. From that it decides if you hook a fish or not. Then, probably randomly within a set of max and minimum it can come up with, it decides how "big" the fish is.

You see this more with the larger fish like Giant Catfish, where it actually displays the fish size in its description after you fish it up.

Then finaly, it checks what rod you are using. If that weight is within the minimum range, you will catch the fish. If that weight is beyond the maximum, the line breaks or the rod itself breaks.

In the japanese version of the chart in section (4) it actually shows what range fish can be in, I was tired, and feeling a bit lazy at that point and just wanting to get the guide done and out there so I just simplified everything to "Small" or "Large". The way they showed it was by classifing fish sizes by chance of how often it was small or large, and something else that I couldn't translate. I'll improve this at a later point possibly. But pretty much, 1/4 the time while fishing with a Big Fish rod you will get the "too small" message, 3/4 the time you will actually catch the small fish.

This is another reason why I recomend the Mithran Rod. It seemingly has a better chance of catching the smaller "small" fish than other Big Fish rods. I assume it has a lower minimum number, as well as a smaller maximum which is why I recomend the Composite for actual "Big" fish fishing, as I've broken a mithran rod fishing for "Big" fish.

(5) Baits and Lures

Not going to list all baits and lures here, because they all have their time and place. The chart in section (3) should tell you what works with what, and what doesn't. The Baits and Lures listed below are just what I've personally seen work best.

Sabiki Lure - Great Saltwater fishing lure for 0 fishing to low 20's. This can catch you up to 3 fish at once.

Minnow - Good for 10+ fishing skill along with a "Big Fish" pole, I personally say only use this along with a Composite Rod. You will tend to catch bigger fish with this, I've personally broken a Mithran Rod using this lure.

Sinking Minnow - See "Minnow", same basic idea, just slightly differn't fish, and and seemingly bigger fish.

Shrimp Lure - Great Saltwater fishing lure for 20-30+ skill, best results with Ocean fishing, done off a boat. I tend to hang out on the Selbina- Mhaura boat with this lure for great results. Only use Composite with this lure unless you have a very large supply of Gil.

Insect Ball - This along with a Mithran Rod in fresh water can be a nice money maker. Go to areas with Moat Carp like Windurst and sell in 12 stacks on Auction House. Or save those Moat Carp for a certain quest =)

(6) Credits

The skill chart was translated from Japanese to English by Brian "Trent" Bunge from: http://www.geocities.co.jp/Playtown-Bishop/7994/index.html

Most of the translation was done with: http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/tr

Stuff that couldn't be translated by Babel Fish was translated by Japanese friends in game. Special thanks to Akira of Quetzalcoatel for most of the Japanese to English help. Doumo arigatou gozai-masu Akira. ^^

All trademarks and copyrights 2003-2004 of their respective holders. This guide may be reproduced only with my written permission and as long as it remains credited to Brian "Trent" Bunge and http://www.geocities.co.jp/Playtown-Bishop/7994/index.html