Novice Ocean Fishing Guide by Caimie Tsukino

Launched: 2022-06-07 (Patch 6.1)
Updated: 2022-06-10
Updated: 2022-06-13
Updated: 2022-06-24
Updated: 2022-07-13
Updated: 2022-07-24
Updated: 2022-08-07
Updated: 2022-08-15

Novice Ocean Fishing Guide by Caimie Tsukino


Preface
When I wrote the 1st version of this guide on 7th June 2022, I had done fewer than 10 voyages. I wasn't claiming to be any kind of expert, but I already got my shark mount on my 5th voyage, and was sharing information via this novice guide. As of of 24th June 2022, I have done more than 30 voyages, and have already earned the title "Master of the Sea" by scoring >20,000 pts from a single voyage, demonstrating my competency in scoring points. The beginning chapters of this guide provide the basic information for you to maximize POINTS, which is for getting the Hybodus mount (the shark mount shown in pic above). However, Ocean Fishing has more games than just to score points. By late July, I have become a very experienced Ocean Fisher, and have already accumulated >1 million pts. So I took the game further to go after the 7 legendary "Blue 5-Star Fish". By 5th Aug 2022, I have caught every single legendary 5-Star Fish, and I can comfortably claim to be one of the experts in Ocean Fishing. Thus, in the later chapters, I documented the information and strategies to tackle the Intuition / 5-Star Fish game. This guide is practically my "journey" of Ocean Fishing adventure. I hope this guide will help both the new fishers to quickly get the mount and rising fishers to more easily enter the 5-Star fishing game!

Why Ocean Fishing?
- It is currently the fastest way to level up the Fisher class.
- It gives the Hybodus mount (the glowing shark mount). To get this mount, one must score >10,000 points during a single ocean fishing voyage.
- It gives a few minions, including the Major-General, Dolphin-Calf, Gull, and Much-Coveted Mora minions.

- Left: The Major-General minion - acquired from scoring >5,000 points during a single ocean fishing voyage. Right: The Much-Coveted Mora minion - acquired from accumulating 1 million points from ocean fishing. Both are soooo cute! <3

Where to start?
- NPC Dryskthota at Limsa Lominsa Lower Decks (3.0, 12.7). Closest teleportation point is the Arcanist Guild aethershard (see pic below).


How do you register or check sailing schedule?
- Ocean boat trips are only available EVERY 2 HOURS (real life hours, not Eorzean).
- When you click on Dryskthota, you can either (1) Register to board a vessel, or (2) View sailing schedule.
- (1) Register to board a vessel: Registration to board can be done within 15 min of player recruitment. When it is time for registration, you will see a "!" quest icon on top of Dryskthota (see pic below).
- Once registered, you will basically be queuing on the Duty Finder (DF) system, and it'll try to match you and the others into an alliance of 24 players (3 parties of 8 players). Once 24 players are met, you can then commence the duty.
- If you queued around the last min, and the DF cannot find sufficient players, then it'll just start with whatever amount of players there when 15 min is up. So you may be placed in a party of 7 or fewer people. If your goal is for >10,000 pts within a single voyage, not having enough players in party is unfavorable.
- During quiet hours of the day which very few players are active, only registration within the first few seconds will instantly get you onto a ship. Anything later than that will result in you waiting on the DF for >10 min until the time (real life time) reaches :15. Because of this, I highly recommend registering ASAP (around the first 5 sec) when registration becomes available. This ensures that you get into a party instantly without delay. There was one time I registered 5 min after registration was available, and I had to wait on the DF for ~9 min. In the end, my party was only half-full, and my food that I ate before I registered expired during my voyage... Boy, that was ugly!
- (2) View sailing schedule: Before boarding a trip, you should ALWAYS do ONE of the TWO things here: (i) Check the Sailing Schedule, or (ii) Check Lulu's Tools (Ocean Fishing) (link included a few sections below). This is done in order to plan your trip ahead of time, and determine whether it's a trip worth your time to go if your target is to achieve a lot of points from a single voyage (to get the mount). By the time you finish reading this guide, you should be able to foresee whether a voyage is a "good" one or a "bad" one, based on the "best fish" you can identify during Spectral Current.


- A "!" quest icon will appear on top of Dryskthota when you can register for an Ocean Fishing voyage. Once registered, you will see your queue on the Duty Finder (top right).


Destinations (Routes), Locations (Areas), and Time Frame (Time of Day)

- When you check the Sailing Schedule, you can see that there are only 4 "destinations" (a.k.a. "routes"). Each "route" consists of 3 locations (a.k.a. areas). E.g. the Rothlyt Sound route consists of Cieldalaes -> Rhotano Sea -> Rothlyt Sound. (See route list below)

Route List
Bloodbrine Sea route: Cieldalaes -> Northern Strait -> Bloodbrine Sea
Rothlyt Sound route: Cieldalaes -> Rhotano Sea -> Rothlyt Sound
Northern Strait route: Southern Strait -> Galadion Bay -> Northern Strait
Rhotano Sea route: Galadion Bay -> Southern Strait -> Rhotano Sea

- The 3 locations for each route are CONSTANT. They NEVER change. But the "time frame" (a.k.a. "time of day") assigned to each location changes every voyage.
- For each boat trip, a specific "time frame" will be assigned to each of the 3 locations of a route (see 2nd pic below), and they DO NOT change in the middle of a voyage. E.g. for the Rothlyt Sound route that begins at 6:00 pm on the schedule (real life local time), the 3 time frames for the 3 locations are Sunset (for Cieldalaes), Nighttime (for Rhotano Sea), Daytime (for Rothlyt Sound), and they will remain that way throughout the specific voyage (the "Sunset" for Cieldalaes will NOT turn into "Nighttime" in the middle of your trip while you are still in Cieldalaes).
- IMPORTANT: Time frame (a.k.a. time of day) of a location has NOTHING to do with local time or Eorzean time. So DO NOT bother looking at your real-life clock or in-game clock!
- We care about time frame because certain types of fishes are only available at certain time frame.



- The 1st option at Dryskthota is to "Register to board", and it's only available every 2 hours (1st pic above). The 2nd option opens up the "Sailing Schedule" (2nd pic above). On this schedule, you can check the "Time Frame" of each of the 3 locations of a specific route. You can check the "3 locations" by hovering your mouse over the 3 time frame icons at the top right corner.


Lulu's Tools

A website that you will likely use a lot is Lulu's Tools:
https://ffxiv.pf-n.co/ocean-fishing
This tool is extremely useful for your planning. Not only does it show you everything you can see from the Sailing Schedule (including time of trip, route, locations, time frame), most importantly Lulu's Tools show you what FISHES you can get using what BAIT with what TUG at what number of SECONDS (a.k.a bite time) after cast.




I searched up many guides on Reddit, but found myself being overwhelmed by the amount of information, and some info even contradict with one another. Eventually, the one YouTube video that truly taught me what I needed was this video by Jolsn FFXIV:

One of the most important thing I've learned from Jolsn's video is how to use Lulu's Tools to analyze what FISHES to aim for with what TUG at what number of SECONDS after cast. I strongly recommend you to go through the video to learn how to use Lulu's Tools to conduct your own analysis.


The Basic Rule of Ocean Fishing for Novice Fishers (to maximize points) is:
Plan your trip ahead of time, so you know what route, what location, what time of day, what bait, what tug, and how many seconds from your cast will give you your desired fish during Spectral Current. Then you will know exactly when to spend ALL YOUR GP at once to maximize point gained from that one type of fish.

Experienced fishers will know when they can spend GP outside Spectral Currents to maximize points. But for novice fishers who are unsure, it is best to make sure one has enough GP to spend on the right fish during the Spectral Currents.


Baits for catching Spectral Fish to spawn the Spectral Current

Cieldalaes — Ragworm, for Spectral Butterfly
(use Precision instead of Powerful Hookset if under Patience/Patience II)
Northern Strait of Merlthor — Ragworm (Krill works too, but may be lower chance), for Spectral Sea Bo
(use Precision instead of Powerful Hookset if under Patience/Patience II)
Southern Strait of Merlthor — Krill (Plump works too, but may be lower chance), for Spectral Discus
(use Precision instead of Powerful Hookset if under Patience/Patience II)
Bloodbrine Sea — Krill (Ragworm works too, but may be lower chance), for Spectral Megalodon (Note: it doesn't count as a "shark" for mission objective)
Galadion Bay — Krill (*Plump Worm works too), for Spectral Bass
Rhotano Sea — Plump Worm (Ragworm works too, but may be lower chance), for Spectral Eel
Rothlyt Sound — Plump Worm, for Spectresaur

*Note: According to Tyo'to Tayuun from Ultros, Plump Worm has only a 0.2% higher rate for Spectral Bass than Krill. However, Tarnished Shark is less attracted to Krill than to Plump. Since Tarnished Shark sometimes can have 30+ sec bite time, which wastes a lot of time, this means Krill actually leaves you much more time to fish for Spectral Megalodon. Thus, Krill is actually a better bait than Plump for catching the Spectral. However, if you are aiming for Tarnished Sharks (for mission objective), then Plump is preferred.

Some people are skeptical about my list here, because most guides on the web only state 1 type of bait for catching Spectral Fish for 1 area. Well, just see my picture below - you can definitely catch Spectral Fish using other baits too! In fact, I was told that ALL 3 types of baits can catch Spectral Fish! However, the "preferred baits" recommended above may have a higher chance. Personally, I found that Spectral Fish are rare anyway, so even if you use the "preferred baits", it's still possible to not get a single Spectral Fish in the whole trip.

When an Ocean Fishing voyage starts, I recommend using these "preferred baits" for each respective location to catch a Spectral Fish to have a chance to induce the Spectral Current.

After Spectral Current pops, switch to the right bait for the right time of day for a specific location (see below), and then use the 1650 GP Combo on the best fish you can catch to maximize points being gained.


- This proves that more than 1 type of bait can catch Spectral Fish in a specific area. E.g. It is known that Ragworm is for catching Spectral Sea Bo at Northern Strait. But clearly Krill can do it too. In fact, I was told that actually all 3 types of bait can catch Spectral Fish at any area, but there is a "preferred bait" that gives the highest chance. However, I am unable to verify the difference in probability.


Friendly reminder about "Tug"

The number of ! signs represents what "tug" it is:
! = Weak bite
!! = Strong bite
!!! = Ferocious bite


Spectral Current

When a Spectral Fish is caught, there's a chance that it'll spawn the Spectral Current. You will see a bright pillar of light appearing in the middle of the ocean for a 1-2 seconds and the sky turns bluish green with a rainbow aurora. That's a Spectral Current, and it lasts ONLY 2 MINUTES (or 3 MINUTES if it didn't spawn in the previous area of the voyage). During Spectral Current, the time for fishes to be caught will be greatly reduced, and the chance of large fish will be greatly increased. Thus, there will be a HUGE amount of catches (and a lot of points!) within that short period of time. Also, the fishes available during Spectral Current will be different from those at normal condition. Check Lulu's Tools to find out what fishes are available during Spectral Current at a specific location.

Spectral Current CANNOT be spawned when the timer of an area reaches 1:30 or lower. So any Spectral Fish that are caught after 1:30 will have NO chance of spawning a Spectral Current at all.

Spectral Currents CANNOT appear twice in an area within a voyage.


- When a person successfully caught a Spectral Fish, and it luckily spawned a Spectral Current, you will see this message in the chat box.


The 1650 GP Combo (the “Holy Grail” at the moment as of Patch 6.1):

DH (400 GP) -> IC (350 GP) -> PC (200 GP) -> TH (700 GP)
DH = Double Hook (lv 65), IC = Identical Cast (lv 79), PC = Prize Catch* (lv 81), TH = Triple hook (lv 90)
*Prize Catch guarantees large fish on your next Cast, which doubles your points from a fish.

Need: 900 GP + Hi-Cordial (400 GP) + 6 Angler's stacks (every 3 stacks allow you to use 1x Thaliak's Favor to recover 150 GP) to reach 1600 GP
(The remaining 50 GP you need will just come with spontaneous GP regen with time.)

The power of this combo is shown in the screenshots below. When it is used on the "right fish", you can easily get 3K-5K pts with a single combo.

To identify the right fish to use the combo on, please see "My Recommended List of Best Fish during Spectral Current" a few chapters below.


- This pic here shows how I can obtain 3834 pts (852 + 2982 pts) with a single 1650 GP combo during a Spectral Current at Galadion Bay (Sunset). The 4 Funnel Sharks from the Double Hook was unfortunately average-sized. If they were large, then it would have been 1704 + 2982 pts = 4686 pts from the combo. Funnel Shark appear at a reasonable rate during Spectral Current at Sunset of Galadion Bay. It is one of my favorite fish to aim for!


- Here, I obtained 4884 pts (1776 + 3108 pts) with a single 1650 GP combo during a Spectral Current at Rhotano Sea (Nighttime). Although Floating Saucer gives higher points than Funnel Shark, their don't seem to appear as often as Funnel Shark. You gotta be pretty lucky to encounter them during Nighttime of Rhotano Sea.


- Here, I obtained 4752 pts (1728 + 3024 pts) with a single 1650 GP combo on Executioners during a Spectral Current at Rhotano Sea (Daytime).


- Here, I obtained 4650 pts (1860 + 2790 pts) with a single 1650 GP combo during a Spectral Current at Rothlyt Sound (Daytime). I was using Krill, kept looked for !!, and avoiding 2-3s to try to catch the Pearl Bombfish, which would have been even better than the Knifejaw for points. But when I did my first Double Hook, it turned out to be 2 Knifejaws (and very lucky for them to be large), since Knifejaw is great for points anyway, so I just followed through with the rest of the combo.


- Yet again, I failed to identify the Pearl Bombfish, so I landed a basic Hook on the first Pearl Bombfish (average size), and followed through with the rest of my combo. Still, I got 3555 pts (237 + 3318 pts), which is not bad at all. And I still had a significant amount of GP to spend on something else after the 'half'-combo.


- At Sunset of Bloodbrine Sea, both Oracular Crab & Exterminator are NOT available during the Spectral Current, so I went for the Quartz Hammerhead instead. The lucky large fish on the Double Hook together with the Identical Cast -> Prize Catch -> Triple Hook got me a total of 4600 pts (1840 + 2760 pts), which was a very handsome amount of points.



- At Nighttime of Northern Strait, I went after the Bartholomew. The first pic shows my lucky 1650 GP combo landed 4 large Bartholomews (1768 pts), followed by another 7 large ones (3094 pts), which made up a total of 4862 pts. The accumulated Angler's stacks from the combo allowed me to recover enough GP to blindly do another Triple Hook on a 6s ! bite, which got me another 7 normal sized Bartholomews (1547 pts). That's already a total of 6409 pts from just 2 Bartholomew encounters in a single Spectral Current. If the last 7 were large ones, I'd have accumulated 7956 pts from a single Spectral Current. Who said the Northern Strait is a cursed route again please?


Preparations before registering for your trip

- Bring >40 of each of the 3 kinds of basic baits (Ragworm, Plump Worm & Krill). Baits are sold at the Merchant & Mender NPC at Limsa (3.3, 12.8).
- Bring some good GP food to reach >900 initial GP if possible. Eat the food about 1 min before time for registering.
- Bring some Hi-Cordial.
- Clear your inventory to have at least 28 spaces (This number seems safe >95% of the times, but occasionally, you may need more. If you really wanna be safe, do 30).
- Put on Snagging (EDIT: No fish require Snagging in Ocean Fishing, so this is not needed at all. I am just SUPERSTITIOUS about it, since every time I go on a voyage without it, I tend to do quite bad... So Snagging is like my lucky charm. Since a big part of fishing is about luck, I'm not going to fight with luck...).


Strategy Before Spectral Current of an Area

- Before Spectral Current, everyone should use baits that can catch the Spectral Fish, so as to increase the chance of getting a Spectral Current (see the list above for baits).
- Because you need >6 Angler's Stacks for the 1650 GP combo during Spectral Current, when a boat trip begins, it's better to use Patience II + Precision/Powerful Hookset to catch some large fishes first. Each time you catch a large fish, you will earn 1 Angler's Stack. Precision Hookset is for "!" tug, while Powerful Hookset is for "!!" and "!!!" tug. Ideally, you want to earn 6+ Angler's Stacks with one Patience II. But if you don't, do NOT use Patience II again, as it is very GP-draining. Use Prize Catch instead when your GP is near max, so you just need to spend 200 GP on each guaranteed large fish.
- After using Patience II, immediately use a Hi-Cordial to replenish your GP before you do your first Cast of your voyage.
- Patience II should only be used ONCE at the beginning of a voyage. It should NEVER be used again throughout the remaining of the voyage, because it is a risky investment: If the Spectral Current gets spawned when Patience II is just used, then you will have NO GP and NO Angler's Stacks to utilize the Spectral Current at all. If you need to build up Angler's Stacks again, use Patience or Prize Catch instead.
- AVOID overspending GP on mission objectives before a Spectral Current is spawned in an area. It is important to enter a Spectral Current with ample GP to spend. Keep in mind that even spending GP on the wrong fish during a Spectral Current will still likely yield more points than any of the mission objectives. So prioritize on saving up GP, but feel free to spend some GP on missions if it is maxed.
- If this is the "Rhotano Sea Route", and the voyage starts off with Galadion Bay (Daytime or Sunset), then there's actually a lot of point opportunities in this area's Spectral Current (see the later chapter "My Recommended List of 'Best Fish' during Spectral Current" for details). In this case, it's probably safer to start off the voyage with Patience instead of Patience II, and do NOT use Hi-Cordial so that it's available any time (just in case the Spectral Current is spawned early).


Strategy During Spectral Current

- Catch a glimpse of the timer to keep track of the upcoming 2 min (or 3 min if there was no Spectral Current in the previous area).
- If Patience II (or Patience) is still active (and assuming you have a few Angler's Stacks already), manually cancel it by moving around a bit. This is because having Patience / Patience II active will prevent you from safely using Double Hook or Triple Hook.
- Use bait that can catch the fish that gives the most points. However, make sure you can IDENTIFY the 'best fish' based on what TUG and the number of SECONDS (i.e. bite time) after cast.
- Once you identified your target, use the 1650 GP Combo above.
- If you noticed that your 2 min (or 3 min) is running out, do your combo on something anyway. DO NOT hoard that GP until the Spectral Current is over. Make sure to spend that GP before the Spectral ends.


Strategy After Spectral Current of an Area

- As Spectral Current cannot be spawned twice in an area, this is the best time to spend GP on mission objectives.
- Check the remaining timer of the area to determine if you have enough time to recover your GP before the next area's Spectral Current.
- Also, check if there's great potentials to get points in the next area's Spectral Current. If yes, you may want to accumulate Angler's Stacks again before the next area. If no, you may feel comfortable to spend those Angler's Stacks / GP on Mission Objectives as you see fit.
- Usually, using a Hi-Cordial between 1:00 to 2:00 min left in an area is pretty save to ensure your Hi-Cordial will be available again in the next area's Spectral Current.


My Recommended List of 'Best Fish' during Spectral Current

This list serves to help you identify the "best fish" during Spectral Currents, so that you know when to use the 1650 GP combo. What the "best fish" is can be very arbitrary. Some of my recommendations may not necessarily be the fish that give the highest points, but I still recommended them below because they are more easily identified based on tug & bite time. Identification is crucial, because if you cannot accurately identify the fish based on tug/bite time, then you may end up wasting precious GP on the wrong fish.

The blue or red number stated as "pts per TH" below indicates the number of points one can get by using Triple Hook on the recommended fishes below. Keep in mind that, in the combo we use, the Prize Catch (PC) before the TH will DOUBLE the score for the TH.

NOTE: The bite times were collected from Lulu's Tools, and the accuracy may be off by 1 sec since the data depended on how the Cast macros were set up by the different people who collected the data from Teamcraft.

The Cieldalaes (Ragworm for Spectral Fish/Current)
Daytime: Bad…Krill 7-10s !! (avoid !! at 2-5s) for Devil's Sting, 201 pts, DH 2x, TH 3x [603 pts for TH]
(Plump Worm 4-7s !!! for Callichthyid, 178 pts, DH 2x, TH 3x [534 pts for TH] &
Plump Worm 2-6s !!! for Jetborne Manta 75 pts, DH 4x, TH 7x [525 pts per TH] are also fine choices. As long as you got a !!!, it's ok to just go ahead with the GP combo.)
Sunset: Plump Worm 7-9s !! for Meandering Mora, 283 pts, DH 2x, TH 3x [849 pts per TH]
(Plump Worm 2-6s !!! for Jetborne Manta 75 pts, DH 4x, TH 7x [525 pts per TH] is an alternative)
Nighttime: Bad… Plump Worm 2-6s !!! for Jetborne Manta, 75 pts, DH 4x, TH 7x [525 pts per TH]

Northern Strait (Ragworm for Spectral Fish/Current)
Daytime: Bad… Plump Worm 2-9s !!! for Gugrusaurus, 79 pts, DH 3-4, TH 5-7 [553 pts per TH]
Sunset: Krill 6-9s !! for The Fallen One, 374 pts, DH 2x, TH 3x [1122 pts per TH]
(Ragworm 4-10s ! for Coral Seadragon, 189 pts, DH 4x, TH 7x [1323 pts per TH] is great too, but you cannot safely identify it since Prowler & Wild Urchin are also ! with similar bite time. So you have to catch one Coral Seadragon with Hook instead of Double Hook to confirm it first, then executing Identical Cast and the rest of the combo.)
(Plump Worm 2-9s !!! for Gugrusaurus, 79 pts, DH 3-4, TH 5-7 [553 pts per TH] is also a reasonable choice here. Easily identified.)
(Coral Seadragon & Gugrusaurus are fine choices if you need ! or !!! for mission objectives. Note that Krill can get Gugrusaurus too, so you can use Krill to aim for The Fallen One but switch to Gugrusaurus if no luck with it.)
Nighttime: Krill 4-7s !! for Mopbeard, 198 pts, DH 4x, TH 7x [1386 pts per TH]
(Ragworm 4-7s ! for Bartholomew the Chopper (avoid ! at 2-4s), 221 pts, DH 4x, TH 7x [1547 pts per TH] is great too, but you cannot safely identify it since Wild Urchin is also ! with 2-8s. You can gamble for it with a DH when you got a ! longer than 4s, but you cannot be sure.)

Bloodbrine Sea (Krill [or Ragworm] for Spectral Fish/Current)
Daytime: Ragworm 4-7s ! (avoid ! at 2-4s) for Exterminator, 255 pts, DH 4x, TH 7x [1785 pts per TH]
Sunset: Plump Worm 6-9s !!! (avoid !!! at 2-4s) for Quartz Hammerhead, 460 pts, DH 2x, TH 3x [1380 pts per TH]
Nighttime: Plump Worm 6-9s !!! (avoid !!! at 2-4s) for Quartz Hammerhead, 460 pts, DH 2x, TH 3x [1380 pts per TH]
(Krill 2-7s !! for Skaldminni, 102 pts, DH 4x, TH 7x [714 pts per TH] may be an alternative choice since Quartz Hammerhead is pretty rare.)

Rhotano Sea (Plump for Spectral Fish/Current)
Daytime: Plump Worm 5-8s !!! for Executioner, 216 pts, DH 4x, TH 7x [1512 pts per TH]
(Plump Worm 3-7s !! for Sweeper, 216 pts, DH 2x, TH 3x [648 pts per TH] is a decent alternative that also fulfills shark mission objective)
Sunset: Bad… Ragworm 2-7s ! for Silencer, 89 pts, DH 4x, TH 7x [623 pts per TH]
Nighttime: Krill 4-10s ! (avoid ! at 2s) for Floating Saucer, 222 pts, DH 4x, TH 7x [1554 pts per TH]
(Silencer, 89 pts, DH 4x, TH 7x [623 pts per TH] is a decent alternative)

Rothlyt Sound (Plump for Spectral Fish/Current)
Daytime: Krill 5-6s !! (avoid !! at 2-4s) for Pearl Bombfish, 237 pts, DH 4x, TH 7x [1659 pts per TH]
(6-9s !! for Knifejaw is also very good, 465 pts, DH 2x, TH 3x [1395 pts per TH])
Sunset: Krill 6-9s !! for Knifejaw, 465 pts, DH 2x, TH 3x [1395 pts per TH]
Nighttime: Krill 5-6s !! (avoid !! at 2-4s) for Pearl Bombfish, 237 pts, DH 4x, TH 7x [1659 pts per TH]
(6-9s !! for Knifejaw is also very good, 465 pts, DH 2x, TH 3x [1395 pts per TH])
NOTE: There is a VERY NARROW range of bite time to identify the Pearl Bombfish from the rest of the !! fish. !! at 2s (instant) is Levi Elver, !! at 2-4s is Smooth Jaguar, Pearl Bombfish is around 5-6s or 5-7s. Anything longer than that will be the Knifejaw.

Galadion Bay (Krill [or Plump] for Spectral Fish/Current)
Daytime: Ragworm 10-16s ! (avoid ! at 4-8s) for Nimble Dancer, 444 pts, DH 2x, TH 3x [1332 per TH]
(Ragworm 4-8s ! for Casket Oyster, 222 pts, DH 2x, TH 3x [666 per TH] is actually not so bad. If you can't get Nimble, then just use combo on Casket Oyster instead.
Alternatively, TH on Ghost Shark is a viable way to spend GP if one needs more sharks for a mission objective.)
Sunset: Plump Worm 4-11s !!! for Funnel Shark, 213 pts, DH 4x, TH 7x [1491 pts per TH]
(Plump Worm 3-6s !! for Quicksilver Blade, 213 pts, DH 2x, TH 3x [639 pts per TH] is not a bad alternative, especially if you need sharks for mission objective.)
Nighttime: Bad… Krill 2-6s !! for Merman’s Mane, 94 pts, DH 4x, TH 7x [658 pts per TH]

Southern Strait (Krill for Spectral Fish/Current)
Daytime: Bad… Krill 3-6s !! for Mythril Sovereign, 196 pts, DH 2x, TH 3x [588 pts per TH]
Sunset: Ragworm 4-7s ! (avoid ! at 2-4s) for Sea Nettle, 156 pts, DH 4x, TH 7x [1092 pts per TH]
(If you CANNOT get a Sea Nettle in 5-6 tugs, and if you get a High-Aetherlouse, and if you mooch and get a !!!, just Triple Hook the Roguesaurus for 345 pts, TH 3x)
Nighttime: Bad… Ragworm 2-4s ! for High-Aetherlouse, then mooch for !! Aetheric Seadragon, 245 pts (TH 3x) (CANNOT use Identical Cast or Prize Catch, can only use Triple Hook... sad...)


How to decide whether a route (trip) is good for points using my recommended list above?

If you look at the Route List above again, you can see that the Bloodbrine Sea route and Rothlyt Sound route are similar since they both have Cieldalaes as the 1st area; whereas the Northern Strait route and the Rhotano Sea route are very similar, differing only by the 3rd area.

First, let's consider Bloodbrine Sea route and Rothlyt Sound route, which both starts off with Cieldalaes as the 1st area. Generally speak, Cieldalaes is a bad area. But Bloodbrine Sea & Rothlyt Sound (these two routes' final area) are both very good areas. So the Bloodbrine Sea route and Rothlyt Sound route highly depends on whether the time frame of the 2nd location is “Good” or not (i.e. time frame for Northern Strait or Rhotano Sea). E.g. If the time frame for Northern Strait of the Bloodbrine route is Daytime, which I indicated it as a “Bad” time, then it’s probably not the best trip to take on. By contrast, if the time frame for Northern Strait of the Bloodbrine route is Nighttime, then it's a "Good" voyage to join.

Now, let's consider Northern Strait route and Rhotano Sea route. Both routes consist of Southern Strait & Galadion Bay as the first two areas. Southern Strait is a pretty bad area except when it’s Sunset, while Galadion Bay is generally good except when it’s Nighttime. Anyway, as these areas are both present in the two routes, the only difference of the two routes lies in the 3rd area, being either Northern Strait or Rhotano Sea... TADAAA! Look! It's exactly the same case as the Bloodbrine Sea vs Rothlyt Sound route, which we just discussed in the previous paragraph! Northern Strait is bad at Daytime, but good at Nighttime, while Rhotano Sea is bad at Sunset, but good at Daytime or Nighttime.

In summary, to decide whether a voyage is "good" or "bad", you should check the time frame for each of the 3 areas of a route. Then check my recommended fish list above, and make sure the voyage doesn't contain too many "bads". However, if this is too troublesome for you (or if you're in a rush), then a lazy-man's approach is to just check whether NORTHERN STRAIT (Daytime bad) or RHOTANO SEA (Sunset bad) areas' TIME FRAME to decide whether it's a "good" or "bad" voyage (regardless of which one route out of the four you're looking at). This becomes a very simple rule! But of course, if you have the time, I'd recommend analyzing all 3 areas' good/bad before making a judgement rather than just based on 1 area.


Other Important Strategies and Tips

- Since Cieldalaes is usually a "bad" area, and it's always the 1st area of Bloodbrine Sea route and Rothlyt Sound route, it's almost always a good opener to start off with Patience II on Cieldalaes, just to get more large fishes for Angler's Stacks. If a Spectral Current really spawned early in Cieldalaes and you are out of GP, it hurts but it doesn't hurt too bad even if you're out of GP. Try to get around 3 Angler's Stacks first during the Spectral, and then immediately cancel your Patience II by cancelling your Cast, and then move around a little. Then do what you can with whatever GP you still have to utilize that Spectral Current. The same can pretty much be said for the Northern Strait route, which starts with Southern Strait (another "bad" area generally speaking).

- For the Rhotano Sea route, which starts with Galadion Bay (Daytime or Sunset), it's probably safer to use Patience instead of Patience II, just in case a Spectral Current pops early, because Galadion Bay (Daytime or Sunset) has a lot of potential for points.

- Always pay attention to your timer. You will NOT be able to do any more Cast in an area if the timer is lower than 30 sec left. In other words, you MUST do your last cast before the timer reaches 30 sec. So if your GP is maxed before that, always burn off some GP with Prize Catch. You will then regain some of that GP during the transition from one area to another. If this is the last area of the voyage, then use up ALL your GP for a final cast before the timer hits 30 sec.

- If timer is at around 30 sec left and you do a final Cast, and if the tug is ! or !!, you will still get them before timer reaches 0 sec. But if the wait time is >15 sec and the tug is !!!, the prolonged animation will delay you, and you will likely be kicked out of the area before you can catch that final fish.

- Burn off all your GP before a Spectral Current ends. Spectral Currents only lasts 2 MINUTES (or 3 MIN). If your Spectral Current is nearly over, but you still can't get the best fish you want (to use your GP combo), then you should consider picking another fish that is decent with points (can verify with a single Hook first), use Identical Cast, Prize Catch and then Triple Hook it, just to spend that GP on points instead of doing nothing. This is especially true if the Spectral Current spawned early in an area. Because after the Spectral Current ended, you will still have plenty of time to replenish your GP before the next area. So it's better to utilize all that GP during the Spectral Current before it ends.

- When do you know it's time to spend all that GP on another fish other than the one you want? After Spectral Current started, and after around 6-7 catches of something undesirable, it's about time to spend all your GP on something else (assuming this is a 2-MIN Spectral, and your catches so far doesn't involve any prolonged !!! tugs). If a Spectral ends, and you are still having a full gauge of GP / many Angler's Stacks / Hi-Cordial unused, then you are doing it wrong.

- Triple Hooking 3 fish under the effect of Prize Catch ensures that all 3 fish are large, and so it'll immediately add 3 Angler's Stacks. Thus, after using Identical Cast and Prize Catch (and before you do another Cast for the Triple Hook), if your Angler's Stack is already 9 or 10, you should use 2 to 3 Thaliak's Favor to burn off those stacks for GP instead of using a Hi-Cordial. This way, you will immediately gain back 3 Angler's Stacks right after the Triple Hook, which is equivalent to immediately gaining back 150 GP. This is especially important if you plan to catch a fish that gives 7x from Triple Hook! A single Prize Catch + Triple Hook combo on that fish would give you 7 Angler's Stacks! So it's very important that you reduce your Angler's Stacks before doing that combo, so you don't waste all that precious incoming Angler's Stacks, which could be turned into GP!

- When a Spectral Current appears while you are still having an active Patience or Patience II, you need to make a quick decision to cancel the Patience/Patience II or not. Usually it is better to cancel it by quickly cancelling your Cast, and then move around a little bit. Patience only cost 200 GP anyway, so it's fine to immediately cancel. But if you only JUST started Patience II, then perhaps you should at least catch ~3 large fishes during the Spectral Current before canceling it, so you don't completely waste that 560 GP. The reason for cancelling Patience/Patience II is because you have a high chance of missing the fish if you use Double Hook or Triple Hook. This means you cannot safely execute your 1650 GP Combo during Spectral.

- If you are planning to use Identical Cast + Triple Hook for a shark/ crab/ jellyfish/ fugu to fulfill 1 of the 3 mission objectives, consider using Prize Catch before the Triple Hook (assuming your total Angler's Stacks are 7 or lower). The extra points from the catches may not be a lot, but this move will immediately gain you back 3 Angler's Stacks. So in the end, the Prize Catch costs you almost nothing anyway. Also, sometimes you can plan ahead to Triple Hook on crab/ fugu that gives 7 rather than only 3 when using Triple Hook. It's much more effective this way in spending GP to fulfill mission objectives, and you can gain 7 Angler's Stacks right away.


The 3 Mission Objectives

Plan Ahead, But Improvise!
Although Lulu's Tools provides wonderful information on preferred baits, but it is worth noting that ALL 3 TYPES OF BAITS CAN CATCH PRETTY MUCH ANYTHING (except for some fish, such as intuition fish). So when we receive our 3 Mission Objectives at the beginning of a voyage, we need to very quickly formulate a plan. But along the voyage, you should improvise and change your plan according to what is actually happening along the way.

There are three types of Mission Objectives:
(1) Catch a number of a certain type of creature (e.g. sharks / crabs / fugu (pufferfish) / jellyfish)
(2) Catch a number of 3-star fish
(3) Catch a number of fish of certain tug (e.g. !, !! or !!!)

For (1), if the number is 5-7, it's usually not that difficult. But if the number is 13, one will have to put in some extra thoughts. Quickly browse through the pages on Lulu's Tools, and try to find a creature that gives you "7" yield instead of "3" when using Triple Hook. Imagine spending 350 GP on an Identical Cast and then another 700 GP on a Triple Hook, but only earning 3 extra ones. It is far from being efficient in terms of achieving a mission objective. You simply won't have that luxury to spend that much GP purely for one single mission objective.

For (2), it's a no-brainer. This mission objective is usually a "given". As long as a Spectral Current is spawned, it will automatically be fulfilled.

For (3), it depends on how many fish and of what tug that they ask for. If it's anything 31 or beyond for "!", it's usually pretty hard to achieve unless you spend GP on a fugu during Spectral, such as Pearl Bombfish or Silencer, which comes in 7x when using Triple Hook. If this is just 5x of "!!!", then quickly check to see if there are any fish that you will be aiming for during Spectral Current that will fulfill that. E.g. if you know you're going after the Gugrusaurus during Spectral of Northern Strait, then you know this mission objective of "!!!" will be very easily fulfilled. But if the Spectral at Northern Strait didn't get spawned in the end, then you will have to quickly browse through Lulu's Tools, and find another !!! fish in the next area that can fulfill your objective, and use its preferred bait.

E.g. if we have a mission of catching 13x fugu and a mission of catching 7x !!! fish, and let's say we are on the Rhotano Sea route and is already at the 3rd area (Rhotano). If we still haven't completed both of these objectives, we may consider using Plump Worm to catch some !!! fish (Chrome Hammerhead) for mission or Ragworm for Lampfish (fugu). Here, it'd be helpful to know that Plump Worm can actually catch Lampfish (fugu) too. So we can just use Plump, so you can catch both. However, spending 350 GP Identical Cast and 700 GP to Triple Hook on Lampfish (fugu) would be very foolish, because it will only get you 3 fugu. If you are still sitting around 5/13 fugu at the 3rd area, then it's a terrible choice of GP spending. You might as well save your GP for the Spectral Current to spawn first, because Silencer is available during Rotano's Spectral. Silencer has a much higher point value, and every Triple Hook can get you 7x instead of just 3x! Assuming you got enough Chrome Hammerhead before the Spectral and the !!! objective is done, then. Then during Spectral, instead of using Plump Worm for the Executioner, it's probably better to use Ragworm for Silencer, and execute your GP combo on Silencer instead.

Some examples of alternative baits for mission objective creatures:
At Cieldalaes, both Krill (preferred bait) & Plump Worm can get Tortoiseshell Crab.
At Rotano, both Ragworm (preferred bait) & Plump Worm can get Lampfish (fugu).
At Rothlyt, both Ragworm (preferred bait) & Krill can get Crow Puffer (fugu).


Mission Objectives May or May Not be As Important as Getting Your 'Best Fish'
Note that completion of each mission objective can at most get you a +10% bonus (see chapter on "Bonuses" below). This means if you are only sitting around 6K pts with 2 objectives already completed, completion of a 3rd objective is ONLY worth ~600 pts! Meanwhile, utilizing the 1650 GP combo on the right fish in a Spectral Current can potentially get you between 3K to 5K pts easily. So while it is important to complete your mission objectives, it may be even more important to make sure you have enough GP for your 'Best Fish' during Spectral.

Think this way, if your goal is just to obtain 10K pts in a single voyage for the Hybodus mount. Assuming that you have completed the following bonuses (see chapter on "Bonuses" below):
Type 1 bonus: Completed 2 out of 3 missions (+10%)
Type 2 bonus: Scoring 5,000 pts (+20%)
Type 3 bonus: Catch a 4-star fish (+10%) [easily done from a single Spectral Current]
Type 4 bonus: Catch >15 fish during a spectral current (+10%) [easily done from a single Spectral Current]
Type 5 bonus: As a party, catch 10 or more different fish in TWO areas (+20%)
...Total bonus [easily]: +70%

Now, if you're currently in the 3rd area of a voyage, and having 5000 or fewer points on hand, the 70% bonus will only get you 3500 pts more. So in the end, you will have 8500 pts. If you spend all your GP on your 3rd mission objective, it'll earn you an extra ~500 pts. 5500 pts x 170% = 9350... In the end, you can't even reach 10K! However, if the party managed to get a Spectral Current out in this last area, and you manage to get your 'Best Fish' there, it'll be easily another 3K pts. 5000 + 3000 is already 8000, much higher than 5500 pts (even if you spend GP on some miscellaneous fish and got about 2K pts, you will still end up a lot higher than 5500). So after the 70% bonus kicks in, you will definitely be over 10K pts.

Conclusion: It is very important to have sufficient GP before entering the Spectral Current. Overconsuming GP before a Spectral Current to complete a 3rd mission is very risky and probably not worth it.

By contrast, since bonuses are SCALED according to your base score. If your pre-bonus base score is HIGH, each extra 10% may be worth a lot. So if you are trying to aim for 20K pts in a single voyage for the "Master of the Sea" title, it's rather important to get as many mission objectives fulfilled (but again, you will need to utilize a few Spectral Current to get your base score high in the first place anyway!).


Extra Information about Routes & Their Missions

It is important to know how each route relates to the missions, so as to plan ahead on how to utilize GP... whether to spend outside Spectral or during Spectral!

Bloodbrine Sea route (a.k.a. The CRAB route, because it always asks you to get crabs for Mission #1):
- Cieldalaes: Tortoiseshell Crab (!!), During Spec: Titanshell Crab (!!) [TH7]
- Northern Strait: Net Crawler (!!), During Spec: Bartholomew (!) [TH7, Nighttime only]
- Bloodbrine Sea: Thaliak Crab (!), Bloodpolish Crab (!) [TH7], During Spec: Oracular Crab (!) [TH7, Daytime only], Exterminator (!) [TH7, Daytime only]
Recommended strategy for this route:
If the 1st mission of this route asks for 13 or more crabs, you need to consider spending GP to Triple Hook something that gives 7 yields. And if you're going to spend that much GP on 7 yields, you might as well add Prize Catch, so you immediately gain 7 Angler's Stacks. Next thing to consider is your 3rd mission objective. If you need a lot of "!", then you should go after Bartholomew, Oracular Crab or Exterminator if the time frames of those areas allow you to get them, since these choices also provides a lot of points. If you need a lot of "!!" instead, then you should go after Titanshell Crab instead.

Rothlyt Sound route (a.k.a. The FUGU route, because it always asks you to get fugus for Mission #1):
- Cieldalaes: Metallic Boxfish (!), During Spec: Mythril Boxfish (!) [TH7]
- Rhotano Sea: Lampfish (!), During Spec: Silencer (!) [TH7]
- Rothlyt Sound: Crow Puffer (!), Honeycomb Fish (!) [TH7], During Spec: Garum Jug (!) [TH7, Timeday & Nighttime only] & Pearl Bombfish (!) [TH7, Timeday & Nighttime only]
Recommended strategy for this route:
This route rarely asks for !! fish for the 3rd mission. It's usually either ! or !!!. If it's !, it will likely be asking for 31, 34 or even 39. So you should definitely consider spending GP to Triple Hook something that gives 7 yields. And if you're going to spend that much GP on 7 yields, you might as well add Prize Catch, so you immediately gain 7 Angler's Stacks. If the 3rd mission asks for !!!, Jetborne Manta (!!!) [TH7] during Spectral of Cieldalaes is a good choice, as it pops up at a very high rate, and it's a easy 7 yield with decent points. At Rhotano Sea, you can try to go after the Executioner (!!!) [TH7] during Spectral if it is Daytime, as it gives superior amounts of points. But if the time frame isn't right, or if you didn't manage to get any Executioner during Spec, then your LAST and ONLY remaining choice would be the Chrome Hammerhead (!!!) [TH7] outside Spectral in this area. There is NO 7-yield !!! fish in Rothlyt Sound, so do NOT wait until the 3rd area to try to complete the 3rd mission, or it'll be too late. In the rare case that the 3rd mission do ask for !! fish, it's likely going to be asking for ~18, and it's actually quite easy since you get a lot of !! during the whole trip. Also, Sweeper (Daytime only) in Spec of Rhotano and Knifejaw in Spec of Rothlyt are both !!, and they both give ample points despite giving only 3 yields on TH.

Northern Strait route (a.k.a. The JELLY-CRAB route, because it always asks you to get jellyfish/crabs for Mission #1):
- Southern Strait: La Noscean Jelly [TH5-7], During Spec: Sea Nettle [TH7, Sunset only]
- Galadion Bay: NO jellyfish & NO crab!
- Northern Strait: Net Crawler, During Spec: Bartholomew the Chopper [TH7, Nighttime only]
Recommended strategy for this route:
This route is also commonly known as the "cursed route", because it is the one route that can really make you fail to complete TWO out of three missions if you are not careful! Pay special attention to the time frame of the 1st area (Southern Strait). If it's NOT Sunset, then Sea Nettles are NOT available, then right at the beginning of the voyage, I highly recommend NOT popping Patience or Patience II yet. But to try to catch a La Noscean Jelly, then Identical Cast, Prize Catch and then Triple Hook it. This ensures that you have enough jellys/crabs to complete your first mission. If Southern Strait is indeed at Sunset, you want to aim for the Sea Nettles during Spec, as they give pretty good points. So at the begining of the voyage, use Patience to collect Angler's Stacks. In the 2nd area (Galadion Bay), hohoho, there are NO jellyfish or crabs! Now in the 3rd area (Northern Strait), Net Crawler is a terrible choice because it only gives 3 yield on Triple Hook. If your 1st mission asks for 13 crabs & 3rd mission asks for 31 !, and you didn't get any La Nocean Jelly or Sea Nettles earlier in 1st area, then you are already half-fxxked! Your ONLY savior now will be Bartholomew the Chopper during Spec of this last area. So make sure you catch as many of them as you can! Now, let's rewind time! By contrast to this last ditch of trying to catch Bartholomew, if your 1st mission only asked for 7 jelly/crabs, and you got 6 just from an Identical Hook + Price Catch + Triple Hook of a La Nosean Jelly at the begining of your voyage, it'll make life soooo much easier! If your 3rd mission is for "!!" instead of "!", you can even aim for Mopbeard (Nighttime only) during Spec of the last area, which is easier to identify than the Bartholomew base on bite time.

Rhotano Sea route (a.k.a. The SHARK route, because it always asks you to get sharks for Mission #1):
- Galadion Bay: Tarnished Shark, During Spec: Ghost Shark [TH7], Quicksilver Blade [Sunset only], Funnel Shark [TH7, Sunset only]
- Southern Strait: NO sharks!
- Rhotano Sea: Chrome Hammerhead [TH7, Daytime only], During Spec: Sweeper [Daytime only], Executioner [TH7, Daytime only]
Recommended strategy for this route:
The most important thing is to first determine if Quicksilver Blade & Funnel Shark are available in the 1st area (Galadion Bay). If the time frame is NOT Sunset, and if you only need as few as 5 sharks for the 1st mission, then you should consider Identical Cast + Prize Catch + Triple Hook on a Tarnished Shark at the beginning of the voyage (before you do any kind of Patience or Patience II). This will take care of 4/5 sharks already, and you will likely get a Chrome Hammerhead in area 3 (Rhotano Sea), which will take care of this mission. If Quicksilver Blade & Funnel Shark are available in 1st area, then you DO NOT want to deplete your GP on Tarnished Sharks. You actually want to start the voyage with Patience, and try to collect Angler's Stacks. Hopefully, you'll have enough Angler's collected so that you can do your 1650 GP combo on Funnel Sharks. There are no sharks in area 2. So if you didn't get enough sharks in area 1, you'd hope to spend GP on Executioner during Spec of 3rd area, since it gives very nice points. However, you cannot count on this, since Executioners are relatively rare. So if you fail to get any Executioner, or if the Spec simply failed to be spawned, then you will have to try to spend GP on Triple Hooking the Chrome Hammerheads outside Spectral.



Bonuses

Bonuses are critical to help you leverage your points. There are SIX different types of bonuses.

Type 1: The 3 missions of a voyage
- Each voyage will give you 3 missions to complete. You will see them at the top of your screen when you're fishing on the boat.
- Completion of 1 mission will give you a +5% bonus to your final score.
- Completion of 2 missions will give you a +10% bonus to your final score (does NOT stack with the +5% for completion of 1 mission).
- Completion of 3 missions will give you a +20% bonus to your final score (does NOT stack with the +10% for completion of 2 missions).
- Usually completion of 2 missions is not that difficult. You just need to adjust your strategy a bit, and spend some GP on the right tug or the right type of sea creatures (and pray that a Spectral Current doesn't spawn right after you spent your GP). E.g. if you need crabs, just do an Identical Cast after a crab, and then Triple Hook to get 3 more. It is quite a GP-draining move, so if a Spectral Current appears right after you do this move, then you'll be screaming and swearing. Since Spectral Currents don't spawn TWICE in a single area, you can comfortably do this sort of GP-draining moves AFTER a Spectral Current event. Alternatively, if the timer is already at around 1 min 20 sec or less, and you know you should consume some GP at that point, then spend that GP on this sort of missions. Usually, fulfilling certain number of tugs ("!", "!!" or "!!!") are less GP-draining, since you don't need Identical Cast to tell what tug it is. That should be the easiest mission to accomplish. If it's asking for "!" or "!!", then you probably don't even need to spend any GP to fulfill that mission, since you'll get so many "!" and "!!" fishes during a Spectral Current.




Type 2: Score XXX points or higher (base pts, before adding the bonuses)
- Scoring 2,500 pts or higher in a single voyage will give you a +10% bonus.
- Scoring 5,000 pts or higher in a single voyage will give you a +20% bonus (does NOT stack with the +10% for scoring 2,500 pts or higher).
- Note that scoring >10,000 pts in a single voyage will NOT give you +30% bonus (Found this on 15th June 2022)




Type 3: Catch a 4-star fish / Catch a 5-star fish
- Catching a 4-star fish will earn you a +10% bonus.
- Catching a 5-star fish will earn you a +20% bonus (It DOES stack with the +10% for catching a 4-star fish. However, catching a 5-star fish requires a lot of risky GP & time investment during Spectral Current that is likely going to be unwarrented, and it will likely distract you from catching your most-desirable fish during Spectral Current. Thus, I DO NOT recommended going after this 5-star fish bonus if POINTS are what you are going after).
- Note that catching a 3-star fish or anything lower will NOT earn you any bonus though.






Type 4: Catch 15 or more fish when a spectral current is present
- Catching 15 or more fish during a Spectral Current will earn you a +10% bonus.
- This isn't difficult at all. It is almost like a give-away-bonus. You don't really need to think about it. It just comes naturally.




Type 5: As a party, catch 10 or more different fish in a particular area
- Catching 10 or more different fish in a particular area will earn you a +10% bonus.
- They DO stack. As there are 3 areas per voyage, you can potentially have up to +30% bonus.
- However, this is something really difficult to plan for. Everyone is almost always using the same baits before and during a Spectral Current (same bait to spawn the Spectral Current, and same bait to get the fishes with the highest value). Thus, everyone will likely be catching the same fishes. And if you entered this duty alone, you won't know anybody in the party who will try to achieve this together with you. So if you really wanna try to get these bonuses, you MAY try to switch to other baits once in awhile (such as AFTER a Spectral Current), and try to cover some different fishes in the area. That will help, but there's no guarantee if it will work or not.




Type 6: Cause a spectral current to occur
- If you managed to catch a Spectral Fish, and it very luckily spawned a Spectral Current, you will earn this +10% bonus.





Fishing Macro that counts the seconds for you
/micon Cast
/ac Cast <wait.3>
/echo 2 <wait.1>
/echo 3 <wait.1>
/echo 4 <wait.1>
/echo 5 <wait.1>
/echo 6 <wait.1>
/echo 7 <wait.1>
/echo 8 <wait.1>
/echo 9 <wait.1>
/echo 10 <wait.5>
/echo 15 <wait.5>
/echo 20 <wait.10>
/echo 30



- My trip that got me >16,000 pts and got me the Hybodus mount (mount only needs 10,000 pts). The achievement covered my score here, but it was >16,000. Thus, I got the achievement of "No More Fish in the Sea III".


- This was the first time which I ranked 1st among all 24 players in the alliance. Surely, luck plays a critical role, but sometimes decision-making also plays a role in helping one to get more points.


- Even for a trip that was relatively unsmooth, I can still usually achieve >10,000 pts with the strategy above, as long as it's not super-bad-luck with only 1 Spectral Current (or zero) in the whole trip.


- On 16th June 2022, I was really close from getting the 20K achievement which would give the title "Master of the Sea". Unfortunately, lacking a tad bit of luck, but I knew I'd get it eventually if I kept refining my strategies.


- Evidence that achieving >10K points (base pts before bonuses) actually does NOT give +30% bonus. Also, it was the first time I actually got purple scrips from Ocean Fishing. It turned out "Intuition Fish" gives purple scrips, and I caught one here.


- Claim your mount and minions from the achievement log. The Major-General minion and the Hybodus mount shown here are pretty easy to get. But the Much-Coveted Mora minion requires 1,000,000 pts cumulatively from Ocean Fishing. That one will take awhile.



- Acquisition of the Dolphin-Calf minion (as well as the Gull minion) is completely RNG-based. No planning or strategies needed. It was earned by encountering 3 dolphin pods while ocean fishing (They don't need to be in a single voyage. The encounters are accumulated.).



My First 20,000 pts Voyage!

On 24th June 2022, I got my ultimate points achievement of "No More Fish in the Sea IV", which requires scoring >20,000 pts during a single Ocean Fishing voyage, This is much more difficult to obtain than the shark mount, and it earned me the honorary title of "Master of the Sea".




This above picture is from Lulu's Tools, and it shows the route that gave me the 20K achievement. If you use "My Recommended List of 'Best Fish' during Spectral Current" above, you should be able to come up with the following plan:

Galadion Bay (Plump Worm for Spectral Fish/Current)
Sunset: Plump Worm 4-11s !!! for Funnel Shark, 213 pts, DH 4x, TH 7x [1491 pts per TH]

Southern Strait of Merlthor (Krill for Spectral Fish/Current)
Nighttime: Bad… Ragworm 2-4s ! for High-Aetherlouse, then mooch for !! Aetheric Seadragon, 245 pts (TH 3x) (CANNOT use Identical Cast or Prize Catch, can only use Triple Hook... sad...)

Rhotano Sea (Plump Worm for Spectral Fish/Current)
Daytime: Plump Worm 5-8s !!! for Executioner, 216 pts, DH 4x, TH 7x [1512 pts per TH]

In fact, I strongly recommend you to copy & paste information from my list onto a Notepad document / .txt file or something so you can go back to it several times during a trip. It really helps.

Now, total pointwise, the above route may not look as 'handsome' as some other routes, since Southern Strait - Nighttime is terrible, and the 1491 and 1512 are not as attractive as the >1600 ones shown on the list. However, both Funnel Shark and Executioner were the ONLY !!! during the respective Spectral Current of the 1st & 3rd areas. This makes identification of the "best fish" much easier. Funnel Shark also seem to appear quite frequently during Spectral Current of Galadion Bay. It is definitely one of my favorite "best fish" to go after if it's available in the area.


Details of how I did it in this voyage

Here, I'm documenting my whole experience of the voyage, so one may be able to replicate it if need.

- Before commencing the duty, I put on Snagging, popped my GP food, and selected Plump Worm as my bait.

1st Area: Galadion Bay - Sunset
- Entering the instance, I picked a good spot, and started off with Patience II, immediately consumed a Hi-Cordial, and subsequently used Precision/Powerful Hooksets to build up 5 Angler's Stacks.
- After Patience II is gone, I then used Prize Catch for my next fish, just so that I could reach 6x Angler's Stacks.
- Soon, the Spectral Current popped, and I immediately caught a glimpse of the timer: 3:20. This means the Spectral will end at round 1:20. This means I can keep trying to to catch my "best fish" until around 2:00 (about 6-7 attempts available).


- At around 2:30, I got lucky, and I saw a "!!!". I know it's for sure a Funnel Shark because of my pre-trip analysis. So I used Double Hook, and obtained 4 Average-sized Funnel Sharks (shown in pic above). I subsequently went through the remaining of the 1650 GP combo (which is Identical Cast -> Hi-Cordial -> Prize Catch -> Thaliak's Favor x2 -> Cast -> Triple Hook). That gave me another 7 Large-sized Funnel Sharks (shown in pic).
- I then used ALL Thaliak's Favors available, and kept spending all remaining GP on either TH, DH or Prize Catch something for the remaining of the Spectral Current. Why? Because next area is Southern Strait - Nighttime, and I know there's nothing good there anyway.

2nd Area: Southern Strait - Nighttime
- I set my bait as Krill here.
- My GP was nearly emptied when I started this area, but it's ok. Once the cooldown for Hi-Cordial was available, I immediately used it again at the beginning of this area. I even CANCELLED my cast so that I can use it faster (doesn't matter losing 10-30 pts there cancelling a normal cast outside Spectral time, it's more important to be able to use Hi-Cordial again), because I knew I need its cooldown to be ready ASAP.
- I used another Patience II as soon as I could, and collected Angler's Stacks again.
- When the Spectral was luckily spawned here, my Hi-Cordial was almost done with its cooldown.
- I immediately switched bait to Ragworm.
- I know there's no good fish here, so the key is to just BLOW off GP on something that's not too bad. If you look at the picture below from Lulu's Tools, Aetheric Seadragon and Great Grandmarlin are both pretty good. However, both needed to be mooched using a Hi-Aetherlouse. Note that we CANNOT use Prize Catch before a mooch! It cancels the mooch! You also cannot Identical Cast it, because you can't Identical Cast a mooch fish. So all we could do is to Triple Hook the Aetheric Seadragon or Great Grandmarlin. However, note that Shipwreck's Sail has pretty much the same tug and bite time.

- So yeah, it's terrible... in the end, I decided to use my GP combo on a "!" instead (Hi-Aetherlouse). It's still better than not doing anything at all. The key was just to burn off all GP to get as many large fish as possible here during the Spectral. I had 1 Angler's Stack left untouched for the next area.
- After the Spectral ended, I know I need to prepare for the next area, so I spend the remaining time building up GP, and allowing my Hi-Cordial to finish cooldown. Meanwhile keep collecting more Angler's Stacks.

3rd Area: Rhotano Sea - Daytime
- I immediately switched bait to Plump Worm.
- By the time I reached this area, my Hi-Cordial cooldown was finished, but unfortunately, I didn't have enough Angler's Stacks. So I took the risk, and used another Patience II.
- Unfortunately, the Spectral Current soon arrived, which was a little bit earlier than anticipated. I had recovered a good number of Angler's Stacks, and my GP gauge was filled, but my Hi-Cordial was still on cooldown.
- After about 4 fish, I became impatient. I caught an Average-size Sweeper, and decided to just follow through with it. So I did "IC -> PC -> TH", which got me another 3 Large-size Sweepers.
- Then I recovered as much GP as I could with the Angler's Stacks I earned from the Large-size Sweepers, and soon used a Hi-Cordial too. So I had about 550 GP.
- Finally, before the Spectral ended, a !!! appeared, and I knew it was an Executioner. But the timer for Spectral was ending, and I didn't have enough GP, so all I could do was a Double Hook. So I blindly Double Hook it, and that got me 4 Large-size Executioner (lucky that it was large, so all 4 were large!).
- The Spectral then ended, and I was very busy trying to use up all the Angler's Stacks that I gained from catching the large Executioners. You can see from the picture below how I was just cramming out actions right before the timer reaches "30 sec left". In the very end, I used Identical Cast on a Dark Nautillus, then used Prize Catch, and caught a large Dark Nautillus only 6 sec before the final area ended!
- Note that my pre-bonus final score was 10,076 in the pic below (and it mysteriously became 10,084 on the final score board, before receiving the +100% bonus, and became 20,168). If I hadn't used Identical Cast and Prize Catch, perhaps I would just catch a small fish of some sort but not something that would worth 92 pts, and my pre-bonus final score would be just below 10K. Then even though I managed to have +100% bonus, I would not have scored over 20K in the end. Therefore, if I hadn't fully utilize my GP at this last moment before the voyage ended, I would not have succeeded in achieving 20K.



- Barely made it pass 20K in a single voyage, obtained the achievement "No More Fish in the Sea IV", and received the title "Master of the Sea". This was indeed a lot harder than obtaining the shark mount. Even with 20K, I only ranked 3rd here. Emile Sorciere had nearly 30K. People are just amazing. Note: I clearly got only 10,076 in the screenshot of the boat, but somehow it turned into 10,084 on the Results screen (before the +100% bonus). I am not sure why it happened.

Luck was the most important thing after all
- Although strategies and skills were a 'thing', I had to admit that ultimately it was LUCK that made it possible:
- First, we were lucky to have 3 Spectral Currents in the whole trip.
- Second, I was lucky to have encountered the "best fish" I desired during 1st and 3rd areas. If I didn't encounter the Executioner in the end, and if I didn't utilize my remaining GP to do a Double Hook, I would have failed. And it was pure luck that they were all Large-sized since I didn't use Prize Catch on these.
- Third, all 3 objectives for this trip was so simple that I didn't need to spend extra GP on them, and they were pretty much automatically fulfilled.
- Fourth, somehow the party managed to fulfill "As a party, catch 10 or more different fish in a particular area", and we obtained +10% bonus x3 for all 3 areas.
- All the above led to a handsome +100% bonus in the end, which barely pushed me over 20K pts.


- "Master of the Sea" title obtained!


- When I got my first 20K trip (24th June 2022), this was my cumulative score. Assuming I got about 12K pts on an average voyage, I would have done about 30 voyages at this point before finally getting my first 20K voyage (I did have a 19K voyage on 16th June 2022 though, which was very close).



My Second 20K Voyage


- On the same day 24th June 2022, I had another back-to-back run, and I got over 20K final score AGAIN!

This time the route was:

The Cieldalaes (Ragworm for Spectral Fish/Current)
Sunset: Plump Worm 6-9s !! for Meandering Mora, 283 pts, DH 2x, TH 3x [849 pts per TH]

Northern Strait of Merlthor (Ragworm for Spectral Fish/Current)
Nighttime: Krill 4-7s !! for Mopbeard, 198 pts, DH 4x, TH 7x [1386 pts per TH]

Bloodbrine Sea (Krill for Spectral Fish/Current)
Daytime: Ragworm 4-7s ! (avoid ! at 2-4s) for Exterminator, 255 pts, DH 4x, TH 7x [1785 pts per TH]

There was no Spectral Current at Cieldalaes, so I spent GP on catching some crabs here for 1 of the 3 mission objectives. Luckily, there were Spectrals at the other two remaining areas. In fact, the Spectral on Bloodbrine Sea spawned very, very late. As you can see from the picture above, even after the timer has gone fewer than 30 sec, the Spectral still hasn't finished yet. Very fortunately, I managed to get 8 Exterminators at Bloodbrine Sea (and 8 Mopbeards too at Northern Strait). And finally, at the very last chance of a Cast, I used up all my remaining GP for a Prize Catch -> Triple Hook, and blindly caught 7 Large-size Beatific Vision before the whole voyage ended.

Turned out it was just very lucky that my final blow of GP was on a Beatific Vision, because you can see from the pic above that if I didn't have the final 1078 pts, I would be just below 10K for my pre-bonus score. And if you see the pic below, we didn't get all 3 areas' 10-fish bonuses. We only had 2. So the final bonus was only +90%. If my pre-bonus score was below 10K, then I would have ended up with something just under 20K. Once again, luck really played a critical role here, but my strategy and improvision on the spot were also necessary to make this possible.


- I ended up getting 2nd place in this voyage!


Relationship between Ocean Fishing Score and Gatherers' White Scrips

Ocean Fishing can be an effective way to earn White Scrips. The chart below shows the amount of Gatherers' White Scrips earned by corresponding final scores.




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Beyond the Point Game

This Ocean Fishing guide was originally written only for novice fishers. But as my experience continued to grow, this guide also continued to expand. The parts below were written for fishers who are starting to go beyond the "Point Game" for the mount and minions, and entering the advanced game of "Intuition Fish" (especially the "5-star fish", a.k.a. "blue fish") for achievement purposes.


Intuition Fish

Intuition Fish are special fish that require the Fisher's Intuition (Int) buff to catch.

The Int buff looks like this:


In each of the 7 areas, there is ONE 4-star "green" fish outside the Spectral Current, and ONE 5-star "blue" fish during the Spectral that require the Int buff to catch.


In the picture above (from Lulu's Tools), we can see every fish that can be caught at Southern Strait outside the Spectral Current. In order to catch the "green" fish Little Leviathan, one must first catch 1x Gladius, which grants the Int buff (the little blue logo), then use Plump Worm to catch the Little Levi (the "star" next to the Plump Worm means it's the ONLY bait that can catch that fish). Gladius can only be mooched using a Ghoul Barracuda. That means you must first catch a Ghoul Barracuda (with Krill or any other baits), then proceed to mooch. However, both Gladius and Momora Mora can be mooched with Ghoul Barracuda. So you need to be lucky with the mooch. Also, even after acquiring the Int buff (which lasts 60 sec when outside Spectral Current), it still doesn't mean you can get it for sure. Plump Worm can get Momora Mora as well. So there's a chance that under Int and using Plump, you would still just get a Mora instead. Please note that ALL Intuition Fish can only be caught 1 at a time. Double Hook and Triple Hook has no effect on increasing catches, and Identical Cast cannot be used.

The "green" Intuition Fish outside Spectral Current do worth quite a bit of points (usually around 200-250 pts, and double if large). So if it is something along the way, I'd usually try my luck to get them.

Catching Int fish will also give you Purple Gatherers' Scrips.

Note that TWO "green" Intuition Fish are special in that they have "conservative bites". One is the Shooting Star from Southern Strait, the other is the Ginkgo Fin from Rothlyt Sound (data from Tyo'to Tayuun (Tyonto) from Ultros). When under the effect of Patience or Patience II, most "!!!" fish are better to be caught with Powerful Hookset. But these TWO Intuition Fish are actually more easily caught with Precision Hookset.


- A screenshot of me catching the Little Leviathan at Southern Strait.


- A screenshot of me catching the Bareface at Bloodbrine Sea.


- A screenshot showing the NPC telling us about fish with "conservative bites", and how we need to use Precision Hookset for them. This applies to only 6 fish, which were figured out by Tyo'to Tayuun (Tyonto) from Ultros.


5-Star (Blue) Fish


There are a total of 7 different legendary 5-star fish (blue fish), one from each of the 7 areas. They are the Intuition Fish that can be caught during Spectral Current of each area. Each 5-star fish will give 500 pts (1000 pts if large). However, Double Hook and Triple Hook have no effect on them. Also, because of how difficult it is to catch one of these, they are NOT a reliable source of POINTS. If you are going after POINTS for the shark mount, minions or achievements, then you should NOT be going after these 5-star fish. They are mostly for personal achievement purposes. Catching all 7 of them doesn't actually give you any special items (except the achievements of "Catching every fish available during Spectral Current of an area").

This is why most of these 5-star blue fish appears in time frames that are "bad" for points in an area. And this is why for some of the "bad" voyages for points, there will still be many experienced fishers present.

Despite the lack of rewards in terms of in-game items, the Stonescale can be displayed in a fish tank in FC houses or personal houses. As these blue fish are untradeable, they are not sold on the marketboard. So on that sense, being able to display a Stonescale in your fish tank can be a kind of PRIDE that is absolutely priceless -- anyone who understands Ocean Fishing will know you're an expert, and any house-decoration fanatics will envy you for owning an item that even billionnaires cannot purchase!

Each of the 7 blue fish has its own unique bait and unique requirements to activate the Intuition buff (see from the list below). Some of them require catching TWO different kinds of fish during the Spectral Current to earn the Int buff. The infamous Placodus even require mooching to earn the Int buff and mooching again to catch it.

Note that the duration of the Int buff you obtain during Spectral Current for catching blue fish lasts only about 15 SECONDS, which is much, much shorter than the Int buff outside Spectral.

Thus, when attempting to catch a 5-star fish, I highly recommend LEAVING THE BAIT PANEL OPEN (see pictures below) so one can switch bait swiftly.

With as little as 15 SECONDS to catch the 5-star fish, you can pretty much only make 1-2 Casts before the Int buff expires (Assuming the 1st bite is a "!" or "!!", you should have enough time to make a 2nd Cast attempt before the Int expires. If the first bite is a "!!!", then it depends how long the bite time is, because !!! can sometimes drag on for very long). Important: DO NOT give up yet when the Int buff is expiring! Even after the buff expires, you can still catch the 5-star fish as long as you make the Cast before it expires!.

Usually you will just end up with ! or !! before the Int buff expires. Even if you got that promising !!!, it could still be something else other than the 5-star fish itself. Lastly, even if the 5-star fish did bite during the Int buff, it can still get away in a very disappointing way. This is why it's extremely difficult to catch even 1 of these 7 mythical fish!


Hafgufa
Area: Cieldalaes (Nighttime only)
Intuition condition: 2x Jetborne Manta (bait: Plump), 1x Mistbeard's Cup (bait: Squid Strip or Krill)
Final required bait: Squid Strip
Strategy: Jetborne Manta is the ONLY !!! fish available during the Spectral here at Cieldalaes during Nighttime (the other !!!, Callichthyid, is only available during Daytime). So if you encounter a !!!, make sure you Double Hook (or Triple Hook) it. There's absolutely no reason to try to catch the TWO Jetborne Mantas separately using Identical Cast. It's a total waste of time. Remember, time is precious here, and every second counts! The need to catch 2 types of fish to earn the Int buff is already a burden. So don't create further burden for yourself by trying to catch 3 fish separately. Sometimes, Plump will also attract Mistbeard's Cup. So if the Mistbeard is caught first, so be it... and then Cast again and just wait for the !!! to do a Double Hook (which is exactly the case for me shown in one of the pictures below), and then immediately switch to Squid Strip for the final catch. If you managed to catch the TWO Jetbornes first, then you may switch to Squid Strip to catch the Mistbeard. That way you don't need to switch bait again after the Mistbeard is caught.

Coral Manta
Area: Southern Strait (Nighttime only)
Intuition condition: 2x Great Grandmarlin (bait: mooch with Hi-aetherlouse, which are caught with Ragworm)
Final required bait: Shrimp Cage Feeder
Strategy: Makeshift Bait is probably the most useful skill here (so save up 5 Angler's Stacks). It allows you to mooch even if only a normal-size Hi-aetherlouse is caught. Meanwhile, unlike Patience/Patience II, Makeshift Bait allows the use of Double Hook on any 2-sec !! tug to catch 2x Great Grandmarlin simultaneously. Shipwreck's Sail & Aetheric Seadragon are also !!, but their bite times are slightly longer than the marlin. Even if you are afraid of identifying the wrong !!, you should still gamble with Double Hook. It's better to waste 400 GP, but to make sure you get both Great Grandmarlins at the same time from a single mooch using 1 Hi-aetherlouse. This is because you CANNOT use Identical Cast here for the Great Grandmarlin. And it is absolutely unwise to try to get the 2 marlins separately via 2 independent aetherlouses, as the chance of success would be just too low! So make sure you Double Hook the !!. After the Int buff is up, immediately switch to Shrimp Cage Feeder for the final catch.

Elasmosaurus
Area: Northern Strait (Daytime only)
Intuition condition: 3x Gugrusaurus (bait: Heavy Steel Jig or Plump)
Final required bait: Heavy Steel Jig
Strategy: Elasmosaurus is possibly the easiest 5-star fish to catch. Gugrusaurus is the ONLY !!! tug in the Spectral of this area, which is extremely easy to identify. You can blindly Double Hook (3-4x) or Triple Hook (5-7x) any !!! to immediately gain the Int buff. And since you can use Heavy Steel Jig from start to finish, you don't even need to switch bait for the final Cast. It is very convenient.

Sothis
Area: Galadion Bay (Nighttime only)
Intuition condition: 2x Heavenskey (bait: Ragworm), 1x Navigator's Print (bait: Krill)
Final required bait: Glowworm
Strategy: Both Heavenskey and Navigator's Print are the only ! fish in the Spectral of this area during Nighttime. So the key here is to be able to DISTINGUISH the TWO, and use Double Hook on the Heavenskey. On Lulu's Tools, Heavenskey's bite time is listed as 2 sec. In reality, it's basically INSTANT bite. Whereas Navigator's Print is 2-4 sec, and in reality it's basically LONGER than an instant bite. So if you get an INSTANT bite of !, use that Double Hook of yours. Since both of these fish are NOT good with points anyway, there's no point to Triple Hook at all. If you really wrongly Double Hooked a Navig, it's not a big deal anyway. It's better to spend that GP to buy yourself more time instead of using Identical Cast on a Heavenskey.

Stonescale
Area: Rhotano Sea (Sunset only)
Intuition condition: 1x Silencer (bait: Ragworm), 1x Deepsea Eel (bait: Rat Tail or Plump)
Final required bait: Rat Tail
Strategy: There isn't very much strategy for this one. The only 2 "!" fish in the Spectral here are Aronnax & Silencer. Aronnax is an "INSTANT" !, while Silencer's bite time is slightly longer. So if you get a slightly longer !, you may use Triple Hook for points along the way (since it's the highest point fish to Triple Hook on). I usually prefer to try to catch Silencer first. I can then switch from Ragworm to Rat Tail to catch Deepsea Eel. And since it's already the final bait to use, I don't have to switch bait again during that very short Int buff. But sometimes, if a Deepsea Eel is caught first with Ragworm, then I just stay on Ragworm and keep fishing for Silencer. Deep-sea Eel, True Barramundi & Prodigal Son are all !! with similar bite time. They are hard to distinguish, but since we don't spend GP on any !! anyway, so we don't care.

Placodus
Area: Rothlyt Sound (Sunset only)
Intuition condition: Ragworm -> Rothlyt Mussel -> mooch 1x Trollfish
Final required bait: Ragworm -> Rothlyt Mussel -> mooch the elusive Placodus
Strategy: Patience II is very useful here. It greatly increases the chances of catching large-size Rothlyt Mussels, so you can mooch for Trollfish. Alternatively, Makeshift Bait can be used as well, so that you can mooch with normal-size fish. Once a Trollfish is successfully mooched, the Int buff will be active (this Int buff is slightly longer than the other 5-star fish Int buffs, as you need to catch another Rothlyt Mussel first before you can mooch for the Placodus). You can then just continue to use Ragworm to catch a Rothlyt Mussel, and then mooch for the Placodus.

Seafaring Toad
Area: Bloodbrine Sea (Daytime only)
Intuition condition: 3x Beatific Vision (bait: Pill Bug or Krill)
Final required bait: Pill Bug
Strategy: Use either Pill Bug or Krill to keep trying to catch 1 Beatific Vision first. Once 1 is caught, use Identical Cast + Double Hook (4x) or even Triple Hook (7x). Beatific Vision doesn't give as many points as Exterminator, Oracular Crab or Skaldminni. However, it is still not bad especially when it gives 7 yield when Triple Hook is applied. So one can consider using Identical Cast + Prize Catch + Triple Hook for points along the way of getting the 5-star toad. Beatific Vision and Gory Tuna are the only !! during Daytime Spectral Current of this area. Beatific Vision being "instant" (2 sec), while Gory Tuna being slightly longer (2-4 sec). You can try to distinguish the two, and blindly use Triple Hook on Beatific Vision without using Identical Cast. But if you had the wrong fish, it'd cost you 700 GP. Personally, I prefer to catch 1 Beatific Vision first, and then do Identical Cast + Double Hook, just to be sure that I'm spending GP on the right fish. If catching the Seafaring Toad is your ONLY goal here, and points is not as important to you in this trip, then you might not want to do the long point-combo, so as to save a few more seconds & GP for perhaps more Int buff attempts.


- Most baits for the 5-star "blue" fish can be bought from the Fieldcraft Supplier NPC, Synehil (Limsa Lominsa 6.2, 12.0).


- Squid Strip for catching Hafgufa can be bought using Gatherers' White Scrips at any Scrip Exchange NPC, including this one at Limsa (3.1, 12.5).


- On 17th July 2022, I caught my first 5-star (blue) fish [*cough cough*... 5-star 'FROG'] from Ocean Fishing - The Seafaring Toad! These blue fish are only worth 500 pts (1000 pts if large), and you cannot Triple Hook them. So in terms of points, they don't help very much. But they are very elusive, and we catch them for the sense of accomplishment and fun!


- IT EXISTS!!! On 20th July 2022, I caught the legendary PLACODUS!!! It is widely believed to be the most difficult 5-star (blue) fish from Ocean Fishing! Luck indeed plays the most critical role, but skills too in terms of using the right strategies and actions on the spot. Here, I made use of Patience II & Makeshift Bait in order to increase my chances (I could have just used either one, but it's fine...). Patience II is usually NOT used during a Spectral Current event, as it KILLS the chance of Triple Hook for points, and is a very heavy GP investment). But here, with Patience II, I had a much better chance of landing a large-size Rothlyt Mussel for mooching. In order to use Makeshift Bait, I saved up 5 Angler's Stacks from earlier. The skill allowed me to use normal-size fish for mooching, so I could mooch even with normal-size Rothlyt Mussels. As you can see, when the stars aligned, it worked out only for those who were well-prepared! Here, I caught the elusive Placodus at the very last second of the Spectral Current. You can see that the color of the sky had already changed back to normal. It was a very close shave!


- On 27th July 2022, I caught my 3rd 5-star fish, the Elasmosaurus from Northern Strait. It seems that, as long as you make your Cast a few seconds before the Intuition buff expires, it still counts as valid, and you can potentially get the 5-star fish. This is the 2nd time it happened to me already, as I had a similar experience when I caught the Placodus. The Elasmosaurus appears to be the easiest among all the 5-star fish, as the Int buff only requires 3x Gugrusaurus to be activated. Gugrusaurus can be very easily identified by the "!!!", and all you need to do is have enough GP to Triple Hook (or Double Hook) it. Gugrusaurus can be caught with Heavy Steel Jig too, which is the same as for the Elasmosaurus, so you don't even need to switch bait if you are using Heavy Steel Jig to begin with.


- On 28th July 2022, I caught my 4th 5-star fish, the Coral Manta from Southern Strait. Makeshift Bait was extremely helpful here, which allowed me to use normal-size Hi-aetherlouse to mooch for Great Grandmarlins. This is the 3rd time which I found that, as long as I made my Cast before the Int buff had fallen off, I can still catch the 5-star fish. Here, you can see that after Double Hooking the 2 Great Grandmarlins to get the Int, my 1st Cast clearly was a "!" and I caught only a Charlatan Survivor. When I made my 2nd Cast, my Int clearly had only 3 SECONDS left. The Int then fell off for a few seconds before a "!!!" appeared. I then caught the Coral Manta.


- On 2nd Aug 2022, I caught my 5th 5-star fish, the Hafgufa from the Cieldalaes.


- On 3rd Aug 2022, I caught my 6th 5-star fish, the Sothis from Galadion Bay.


- On 5th Aug 2022, I caught my final 5-star fish, the legendary "Stonescale" from Rhotano Sea! Similar to how I caught the Placodus, it only happened at the very last moment of the Spectral Current (and the voyage too, as you can see the timer). So it was pretty epic! We didn't spawn the Spectral Current in Southern Strait, which was the 2nd area of the voyage, but this Spectral in Rhotano Sea didn't appear until the final 2 min of the voyage. So it was intense. I caught my Silencer very early (and forgot to use GP to get points, but that's ok), but I didn't a Deepsea Eel until very, very late. After catching the eel, I got the Int buff, but then my next fish "Got Away", which was not shown in the pic. So when I did a 2nd Cast within the Int buff, there was only like 1-2 sec left, and I barely managed to get that Cast out. The Int buff then went way, and the Spectral Current ended, and you can see my long-term Ocean Fishing friend, Cocola Cola, going "RIP" on the chat box (we meet on the same boat very often, but we don't queue together since we are from different worlds). Then suddenly that "!!!" showed up, and BOOM, the Stonescale was caught! Seriously, these things are so tough to get... So many times, it's just hanging by a thread! It's a very fine line between catching it or not catching it! Every second counts!

Good luck!


Personal Achievements


- Also on 20th July 2022, I got my Much-Coveted Mora minion by acquiring 1 million points from Ocean Fishing.


- A screenshot of my Much-Coveted Mora minion and me.


- Some of my 1st place records on the leaderboard.



- The untradeable, legendary Stonescale is now on display in my FC house's fish tank. Our FC house is on Zalera, Goblet, Ward 1 Plot 5. Please feel free to drop to check it out, and sign the guest book!



- After catching all 7 legendary 5-star fish, I went on to catch the last few miscellaneous fish from some Spectral Currents of certain areas that I have never caught before (2 screenshots above). On 6th Aug 2022, I have finally caught EVERY POSSIBLE FISH from the entire Ocean Fishing game. This kind of concludes my Ocean Fishing game.


At this point (6th Aug), I have accumulated ~1.5 million pts. However, I am not quite interested in the group achievements that require pre-formed parties or the 3 million pts (cumulative) achievement, which give only titles.


Acknowledgement

Special thanks to the veteran fishers, Tyo'to Tayuun (Tyonto), Fruity Snacks & King Canadane, for sharing their knowledge, inspiration and passion in Ocean Fishing, which contributed to the continuous shaping of this Ocean Fishing guide.

_______________________________________

Other Caimie Tsukino Guides:

FF14 Advanced Crafting Guide by Caimie Tsukino (Re-vamped 2022 for Endwalker):
http://ffxivrealm.com/guides/ff14-advanced-crafting-guide-by-caimie-tsukino.39/

Endwalker Expert Recipe Guide by Caimie Tsukino
http://ffxivrealm.com/guides/endwalker-expert-recipe-guide-by-caimie-tsukino.223/

Caimie Tsukino's Guide for Expert Recipes and Skybuilders' Tools:
http://ffxivrealm.com/guides/caimie-tsukinos-guide-for-expert-recipes-and-skybuilders-tools.201/

Novice Blue Mage Guide by Caimie Tsukino:
http://ffxivrealm.com/guides/novice-blue-mage-guide-by-caimie-tsukino.197/

Bozja Duels Cheesing Guide by Caimie Tsukino
http://ffxivrealm.com/guides/bozja-duels-cheesing-guide-by-caimie-tsukino.220/

Novice Guide for Taking Screenshots with Gpose
http://ffxivrealm.com/guides/novice-guide-for-taking-screenshots-with-gpose.221/