Early fishing poll (not pole)

[Tom]

It's common to limit crops and focus on fishing Spring 2, 3 (rain), and 4. How does your success at that early Fishing usually look? Here's mine:

• Spring 2
  • Level 2 (in the past) or 3 (recently following and testing @Zamiel's guide). Almost but never quite 4.
  • In the very best cases, I can get the Fiberglass Rod before the Fish Shop closes, hopefully with some bait on it.
• Spring 3 (rain)
  • Level 3+ (in the past) or 5 (recently following and testing @Zamiel's guide)
  • In all cases, I can get the Fiberglass Rod if I can afford it. One thing @Zamiel's guide does is help me afford it sooner.
• Spring 4
  • Level 4+ (in the past; I couldn't reliably get to Fisher profession) or 6 (recently following and testing @Zamiel's guide)
• Catfish
  • I probably can catch only 25% at level 3 and around 50% at level 5.

I am not sure that I would replicate my tests of @Zamiel's guide in a real play-through, because I might chop more trees and rocks and forage more. I probably wouldn't enjoy putting off everything until I am filthy rich at the end of Summer. Getting too rich too quick sort of ruins the fun for me.

 

[Lew Zealand]

I enjoy Fishing as it's an easy way to get money in very early game but as a non-min/maxxer I haven't paid attention directly to how early I level up. If I just ignored giving early game Daffodils to Emily and Haley (and now, Caroline) and Horseradishes to Leah, I'd probably try these early game Fishing strategies as they seem simple enough for me to keep in mind.

I just read through the part about Fishing and I didn't realize you could make 1800g on Spring 2 to get the Fiberglass Rod before Willy closes for the day. This is interesting and I'll try it on my next playthrough.

 

[Tom]

(and now, Caroline)
...
I just read through ... and I'll try it on my next playthrough.

Yes! Now Caroline.

And, yeah. I think that reading and trying the guide has given me some good tools and ideas even if I don't want to be an optimizer (or that nasty technical term: m__nm_x_r). In this sense, I did find a certain joy and sense of security ("in good hands") in following the guide to a certain point as long as it wasn't too extreme-gamer-oriented for me.

 

[Hill Myna]

I haven't started a new save for a while, but this is the general gist:

Day 1: Plant 13 Parsnips, 1 Green Bean and 1 Cauliflower. Then spend the rest of the day foraging and clearing the farm until I've run out of energy.

Day 2: Water crops, check the noticeboard, fish at the Beach from 8am-12am, leaving enough time to do a couple things after. Generally this will get me up to Fishing Level 3, but I won't have enough cash for the Fiberglass Rod.

Day 3: Check the noticeboard, otherwise it's straight to fishing below Jodi's house until I what looks like enough money for the Fiberglass Rod. Swing by the Museum if I've found an artifact. Head to Willy's, buy the Fiberglass Rod, if I forgot that I need Bait as well, fish at the Beach until 40-odd Bait is reached. Then spend the rest of the day at Cindersap River, ending at about 10pm, slightly later if I'm very close to Fishing Level 5. Return home, chop down enough for a Chest, eating Chub if necessary. Typically though, I reach Fishing Level 4.

Day 4: Don't water crops, craft a Chest, check the notice board, swing by Willy's for some more Bait paid for by any Horseradishes and Daffodils. Next, I'll bring the Chest with me to put in the Mines. This Chest also serves as a dumping spot for any Chub that I get at the Mountain Lake, where I'll fish until 7pm. Check for forage at Cindersap and the CC, including Spring Onions. Head home, now water crops. At this point I'm at least Fishing Level 5, if not 6.

Day 5: Water crops, keeping the Parsnips for food. Next stop is Willy's to sell all fish from Days 2-4, then Pierre's for the Big Backpack and about 50 Kale. Then I'll mine until I've got at least 45 Copper Ore and 5 Coal (for a Copper Pickaxe on Day 7). Head home, plant the Kale.

Day 6 onwards: Good luck: Mining; Bad Luck/Raining: Fishing.

By the end of Spring I'm typically at Fishing Level 8 or 9. Fishing helps me get me going faster, and I enjoy fishing a lot. So I spend quite a bit of time doing it early on!

 

[Boo1972]

I have bought the fiberglass rod on Spring 2 and on Spring 3. In my most recent game I didn’t bother buying the fiberglass rod at all. I went straight to the iridium rod in week 2, possibly week 3, of summer. I’ve gotten burned out on the whole “spend all your time fishing for money” strategy. And it was fine. I still was able to marry Haley in my first summer, still able to open the desert, still upgraded tools, still purchased and upgraded the barn and coop. Its fall year 1 now and everything is going well. Don’t get me wrong, I actually enjoy fishing for catfish and shad on rainy spring days. But lots of people can’t fish or don’t enjoy it. There are plenty of other ways to progress in the game.

 

[One More Day]

Nowadays, I tend to just quick grow crops for cash by watering and sleeping, which sacrifices time in game for IRL time.

But I still occasionally do go for a fishing start, and here's how that looks for me now, using each day in full,

Day 1 - Chopping trees, foraging, planting 15 parsnips and if I don't get a decent amount of Spring Onions, I scrap the farm and start over on a new seed. I don't bother with a Bean or Cauliflower on day 1 as I don't see enough benefit to getting the 20 Speed Gro on day 13. I know some people like to put them on 20 Strawberries, but you only get the payoff from those extra Strawberries on the very last day of Spring, and then they're only worth an average of about 2,700g extra, not a significant enough amount at that point IMO, given the effort. When I'm in town, I make sure to buy a piece of copper from Clint, so that he shows up and gives the blueprints for a Furnace. There's no better opportunity to do it between now and when I'll need it.

Day 2 - I pretty much always hit Fishing 4 and on one extremely lucky day, with a few perfect catches which also came with a chest, I've got within touching distance of Fishing 5. I know some people head up to the Mountain Lake once getting the Fiberglass Rod, and I know you are much more likely to be able to reach bubbles up there, but I find that Chub is just a bit too jumpy for me to get perfect at Fishing 2-3, so I prefer to hit the town river for perfect Bream and Smallmouth Bass. It also saves a bit of time as it's not so far to walk from the beach. On day 2 I consider XP to be far more important than cash, because I want the best chance of getting Catfish on day 3, and the bigger the bar, the better my chances, but at the lake I can't consistently reach Fishing 4

Day 3 - Again, I pretty much always hit Fishing 6. I can now catch most Catfish on this day, and my record is 23, though that was with bubbles that lasted for a very long time, and I got a Neptune's Glaive and a Diamond that day too.

Day 4 - With the 25% price boost secured yesterday, today I'm selling fish to Willy and then buying the first Backpack upgrade. After that, it's however much copper ore needed to craft a furnace and smelt 5 copper bars, then upgrade to the Copper Axe. After that, I spend time breaking rocks to get to Mining 2, which means I can craft a Staircase and skip floor 19 tomorrow, as I will be mining on day 5 regardless of the luck. I also want to be able to skip bad monster floors as can really eat up too much time. Fishing with whatever time is left in the day.

Day 5 - mines all day, and the plan is just to get as deep as possible. Anywhere from 20 to 40 floors is acceptable, this mostly depends on daily luck.

Day 6 - collect Axe and upgrade Pickaxe, plant some stuff, chop some stuff, forage some stuff, fish some stuff

Day 7 - forage and fish, probably no more fishing after today

Day 8 - collect the Pickaxe and head on down the mines, to get metal ore and once again begin on the path to world domination

 

[Tom]

Day 2: Water crops, check the noticeboard, fish at the Beach from 8am-12pm, leaving enough time to do a couple things after. Generally this will get me up to Fishing Level 3,

Are you a fishing monster or what? Fishing level 3 in 4 hours? Or did you mean midnight (16 hours)?

 

[Hill Myna]

Are you a fishing monster or what? Fishing level 3 in 4 hours? Or did you mean midnight (16 hours)?

Yes, I am a fishing monster, here to claim all Legends!!!

No, it was a typo. I edited my post. Thanks for correcting me! :D

 

[DJModulo]

Doing something similar to Zamiel's guide.

-Spring 2: Beach fishing w/ Training Rod starting around 9:30 a.m. (selling Wild Seeds + forage + sap to Pierre and probably chopping the missing wood for 2 chests beforehand); generally reach fishing 2 before 4 p.m. (if not, reload), sell all fish, buy Fiberglass rod + bait (+ Trout Soup if I have 250 G leftover after buying ~60 bait); generally reach Fishing 4 by the end of the day (sometimes barely missing it).

-Spring 3: Fishing south of Jodi's house ~7:00 a.m. - 2:00 a.m.; generally having a Willy break in between (more Bait!). Generally reaching Fishing 5 (very rarely 6) by the end of the day (if not lv. 5, reload)
Catfish success rate at Fishing lv. 4: ~70%; dips significantly at lv.3. If I have not reached Fishing 4 by 9:00 a.m., I'll do the Willy trip early and buy a Trout Soup.

-Spring 4: Cleaning the farm to reach Foraging 2 + Mining 1; selling all the fish to Willy to buy Crab Pot + Backpack + food (salads & coffee) & bait, fishing at the Mountain Lake until passing out (starting around 4:00 p.m.). More often than not reaching level 6 (very rarely 7).

 

[Tom]

Doing something similar to Zamiel's guide.

Yeah. That seems very similar. And since this thread is about fishing skills, I'll say it sounds like your fishing is just a bit better than mine since I only make like Level 3.25 to 3.75 on Spring 2 following @Zamiel 's guide. Would you describe your fishing ability as mediocre, good, fair, or what?

Catfish: I agree about the levels. I recently caught only 25% at level 3, but then seemed to be catching 50% or more at level 5. My raw log says "2/8, 3/9, 4/11". It doesn't mention the level, but I know I started at 3 and ended at 5. I think it's best to hit the piers until you are Level 4, then buy bait and head to the Forest River 6 tiles west of Leah's door.

 

[DJModulo]

I'd say I'm okay at fishing. Not insanely good, but decent.

If you're level 3 but have a good enough rate at lv. 4, Trout Soup is your friend, meaning you can go for catfish when you normally couldn't (My catfish rate at lv. 3 is below 50%, at which point I consider going for them to be worse than Mountain Lake fishing). Also lv.4 increases your cast distance to the point that you get higher quality fish south of Jodi's house.

Personally I slightly prefer Town River over Forest River. While Smallmouth Bass give 2 less base XP than Chubs, they're much easier to get Perfects (and thus, Iridium fish for food) with (this mainly applies to day 3 though).