I can never make up my mind!

[Bluto Longneck]

So I have restarted so many times and something always distracts me or I just get bored. I haven't reach the end year 2 in the 600 hrs of play. But I LOVE this game. So in this playthrough I WILL meet Grandpa again!

I'm a scatterbrain and not a very good player, but I don't care. So all focus will be to reach the end of year 2 and NOT going to overwork myself with crops and such.
Do what is necessary and "trying" to play a casual game.

One thing, I'm pretty good at fishing. That's it, I basically suck at everything else. (not quite, but you get the drift) :)

So, here's my question. I'm good a fishing and got lvl 3 on day 2. I have 2750 gold to spend, sold 33 fish on day 2.

Should I get the fiberglass rod first or the backpack upgrade?

I've done this many times, but with a new goal in this "casual" play...
So my plan leans towards buying the rod on day 3 and fish in the mountain lake, but with all the stuff I will get with that, I won't have enough space in my inventory to load everything back.

There is a third option for day 3, just run the mountain lake and fish to my hearts content and buy both items on day 4? I will get 30 fish and sell them for 2k. If I buy the rod on day 3, I might get 40 fish.
Fishing asap on rainy days usually gives me 50 fish with the fiberglass rod.

So I'm scratching my head here and wonder which route is the best?

And no, I'm not trying to catch cat fish on day 3! Haha

 

[One More Day]

If you put a chest next to your fishing spot, then you can store a lot of extra stuff in there, including all the fish you catch. It's only 50 wood, a lot cheaper than a backpack. If you're decent at fishing, and it sounds like you are, then it's better to buy the rod upgrade on day 3 first, along with about 50-60 bait, as you'll catch so many more fish with it on day 3, and that means you'll definitely be able to afford the backpack on day 4 once you've sold the fish to Willy.

If you fish all day, you should hit Fishing 5 on day 3 too, meaning you can get a 25% price boost on your fish when you sell direct to Willy the following morning. Don't sell the fish in the shipping bin overnight on day 3, you're losing value.

 

[Elenna101]

I agree with @One More Day , buy the rod first, not only does getting bait give you more money because of getting more fish, you also get XP faster which means you get more fish even faster and better quality.

You can stick chests in out-of-the-way places for storage, just remember to avoid places where NPCs walk, there's images of where you can put stuff on the Chests page of the wiki. I also recommend putting one at the top of the mines when you get there.

 

[Cuusardo]

I always get the backpack upgrades as soon as I possibly can. Strategically placed chests are super helpful for storage before that happens.

 

[Sinmenon]

Same as Cuusardo. I have a chest on each of my favorite fishing spots and by the entrance of both the mines and the skull cavern. And before I can get an extra shipping bin I also sometimes place one in the opposite side of the farm

 

[Pangaearocks]

Agree with the fishing rod first. If you fish by the pier, you can sell stuff to Willy before he closes, and if you don't carry all the tools, there is still quite a few inventory spots free for different fish for the evening. Plus, you can put a chest there (under his window), which takes care of any issues. Then you can most likely afford the backpack upgrade next day. It's only 2000g iirc.

 

[Farrow]

Personally I skip the fiber glass rod and go strait for the iridium at level 6 fishing so I always get the first back pack upgrade but that's me

 

[qaija]

Well with all these much more experienced players already posting to your thread Bluto I will risk being a dumbass and give my suggestions.

Let me begin by saying if you love playing.... then whatever you have been doing.... just continue to do it!

I am on my second game. My first one, like you, I concentrated on fishing. But for my second instead I concentrated on farming. The advantage, for me at any rate, on my second game versus my first is that I found it much easier to make money and level up farming than fishing. At the beginning of winter of year one, I had over 100,000 gold! And a 36 slot backpack. Here is how I did it. And then, during winter, I concentrated on fishing and mining.

I spent all my meager gold purchasing the cheapest seeds that grew the fastest and planted as many of them as I could afford in the very beginning. With the sale of them, I purchased more. By summer I was no longer restricted by how many seeds I could afford to buy, but by how long it took me to daily water all the crops before running out of energy. When Fall began I was able to plant and harvest two crops of pumpkins, each with about 300 plants. I didn't even quite have enough energy to water all of them, but at some point my farming skill was already high enough that I had a little bat cave open up and I chose the fruit option (or something like that) and I also could get enough additional energy be eating fruits I foraged. Usually one or two snacks of a berry or other foraged fruit yielding 25 to 35 energy was enough.

 

[PerfectionWhaleFarm]

I do second Farrow and qaija.

Honestly, backpack upgrades are just such a convenience for me, especially since my playstyle is I have a row of items that just will never leave my bags. I find that the basic rods are good enough honestly since fishing rod upgrades probably won't help you get easier fish more than fishing level does anyway. Towards middle to end game, the iridium rods are nice for iridium fish or legendary fish or if you want to hunt specific treasures, so I'd go straight from the basic rod to iridium when I can afford to do so.

Honestly it really depends on your style! I'm a big fisherman and I do enjoy the challenge of a tough fish, so I don't really mind the basic rods. On the contrary, my hoarding nature does not allow me to part with any treasure I find, so I want a big backpack to keep all the stuff I find

 

[Elenna101]

Honestly it really depends on your style! I'm a big fisherman and I do enjoy the challenge of a tough fish, so I don't really mind the basic rods. On the contrary, my hoarding nature does not allow me to part with any treasure I find, so I want a big backpack to keep all the stuff I find

It's your game of course and you should do whatever you enjoy most. That being said, the fiberglass rod doesn't actually make the fish any easier, it just makes them bite more when you have bait attached.

 

[Pangaearocks]

^^ Exactly. The big thing is the ability to attach bait, which drastically reduces the time it takes for fish to bite, and therefore increases your ability to make more money, and increase in skill faster. Play in whatever fashion you prefer, though, and there is nothing wrong about going for the backpack before the fishing rod or other gadgets.

 

[Sinmenon]

I personally tend to go for the backpack first, as the first one is very small and restrictive even loading the area with chests. It makes managing the farm and exploring the mines easier.
But if I get the money around Winter, that on my first year I usually fish A LOT do the fishing rod pays for itself quick and allows me to update the backpack. Depending on my planning I actually leave the backpack as the last thing to grab during Winter, trying to do a few updates for the tools before the end of the season as I won't be using them for a while.

 

[Bluto Longneck]

Thank you so much for your input, I see two sides here. Good words like "bait", "Willy", "chest" and so on. Rod or backpack?
Day 3, I caught 42 fish casually with the basic rod. Got some stuff for Gunther, which will bring me cauliflower seeds next day. Who needs a fiberglass rod?

I was thinking of all these ideas, only to realize 2 two things. It's Wednesday and I left my fishing rod in the chest by Mountain Lake. I hate you, Pierre!
Went there and didn't move until after midnight, didn't want to lose time and sold all fish. Well all I could carry, that is.

So day 4, enough money for both backpack and fiberglass rod. Sort that out during the day and continue wooing Haley and Caroline.
Yes, Haley will be my wife again and Caroline will teach me her magic, eventually.

Day 5 will be the mine. Or nope, I will sort out my basic farming on this day. All depends on the luck I will have, didn't check before I quit the game.
I think I sort out some early farming and clear some land. I chose the Hilltop Farm just for this play through, never played it before.
And opening the CC, so I can started on that. Joja would be too easy.

Hilltop Farm makes you think about your farm, in the long run I really want a pretty farm, with decorations and all that. Never bothered before.
But this game is my first casual game, no stress, no 100 strawberries, no 100 spring seeds. Just relax and try to slowly fix the CC.

Day 6 will be the foraging run, clear the map, bring the chair to secret woods, talk to the wizard. Talk to Caroline if I can, Haley will be mine sooner or later.

Backpack or rod? I think you all are right, so get them both! :)