Thoughts on bait

[PookieDoodle]

I'm on my sixth character and was wondering what you think about bait for the fiberglass fishing pole. I ran out the other day and kept fishing without bait. It seemed to me that I caught the same amount of fish during the same amount of time without bait. If that's the case, then I could be selling my bait because you get so strapped for cash when your character is just starting out.

 

[Shar]

I didn't use bait when I first started playing because of lack of cash. But since then I've become more efficient in making money and now when I start a new game, I always buy/craft bait when I get the fiberglass rod.

What I've noticed just with my eyes and not any sort of actual research is that without bait, it can take up to 30 in game minutes to get a bite. So worst case scenario is 2 bites in one hour of fishing and if one of those turns out to be trash or a fish that got away, that's a really bad hour. Best case without bait is 4 bites but that's rare. Again, without any research, I'd estimate I've had just over 2 bites an hour on average with no bait.

With bait, that practically doubles. I seem to always have a bite within 10 in-game minutes and generally 4 per hour. Add bubbles to the mix (which helps with or without bait obviously), and I get 6 hits on average every hour.

I'm sure others have done tests and calculations and there's probably tons of threads already out there if searching on Google for this info.

TLDR - bait helps and is cheap enough to be worth it. Kill every bug you see in the mines too - most take only one hit to die, even with the rusty sword. Craft your own bait with the bug meat.

 

[Tom]

Kill every bug you see in the mines too - most take only one hit to die, even with the rusty sword.

Bonus: This equals grinding Ancient Seed artifacts!

 

[PookieDoodle]

I didn't use bait when I first started playing because of lack of cash. But since then I've become more efficient in making money and now when I start a new game, I always buy/craft bait when I get the fiberglass rod.

What I've noticed just with my eyes and not any sort of actual research is that without bait, it can take up to 30 in game minutes to get a bite. So worst case scenario is 2 bites in one hour of fishing and if one of those turns out to be trash or a fish that got away, that's a really bad hour. Best case without bait is 4 bites but that's rare. Again, without any research, I'd estimate I've had just over 2 bites an hour on average with no bait.

With bait, that practically doubles. I seem to always have a bite within 10 in-game minutes and generally 4 per hour. Add bubbles to the mix (which helps with or without bait obviously), and I get 6 hits on average every hour.

I'm sure others have done tests and calculations and there's probably tons of threads already out there if searching on Google for this info.

TLDR - bait helps and is cheap enough to be worth it. Kill every bug you see in the mines too - most take only one hit to die, even with the rusty sword. Craft your own bait with the bug meat.

I guess you're right about the bait. My biggest problem is I always forget to check my tackle before I walk all the way down to the dock. lol Thanks for your input!

 

[redbobcat]

The fish bite more often with the bait, I definitely noticed that, and it’s not that difficult to make or buy. In year 2 I usually craft 2 Worm Bins to keep up with bait supply for fishing and for crab pots.

As for tackles, the only ones I make are Trap Bobbers and I only use them when going after difficult to catch fish. They truly help you hold on to the fish. The rest of the time I use free tackles from fishing chests or simply go without tackle.

 

[One More Day]

The fish bite faster with bait than without it. This is not up for debate. The improvement from no bait is that it halves the time between bites, it's literally the whole point of this game mechanic. And selling bait is pointless, it is only worth 1g per piece

As for samples on bite times, I have literally thousands of hours in this game, having started hundreds of farms, and a large percentage of them have featured lots of early fishing to fund whatever theme I'm pursuing. In particular, on days 2 and 3 I will literally fish from as soon as I can get to the water until passing out at 2am, about 19 hours of fishing. Once you factor in the bubbles, I would estimate that the long term rate with bait is up near 5 bites per hour. Of course not all of them will be actual fish, there's algae and trash as well, but that's just RNG. Without bait, before I get the Fiberglass Rod, I'd estimate you're looking at maybe 2.5 bites per hour.

If I'm fishing at the mountain lake in spring, I'd further estimate that my earning rate with bait is around 450g per hour. So, without the bait, the bite time would double, meaning it would cost me over 200g per hour not to use bait.


TL;DR - use bait

 

[27dschild]

I didn't use bait when I first started playing because of lack of cash. But since then I've become more efficient in making money and now when I start a new game, I always buy/craft bait when I get the fiberglass rod.

What I've noticed just with my eyes and not any sort of actual research is that without bait, it can take up to 30 in game minutes to get a bite. So worst case scenario is 2 bites in one hour of fishing and if one of those turns out to be trash or a fish that got away, that's a really bad hour. Best case without bait is 4 bites but that's rare. Again, without any research, I'd estimate I've had just over 2 bites an hour on average with no bait.

With bait, that practically doubles. I seem to always have a bite within 10 in-game minutes and generally 4 per hour. Add bubbles to the mix (which helps with or without bait obviously), and I get 6 hits on average every hour.

I'm sure others have done tests and calculations and there's probably tons of threads already out there if searching on Google for this info.

TLDR - bait helps and is cheap enough to be worth it. Kill every bug you see in the mines too - most take only one hit to die, even with the rusty sword. Craft your own bait with the bug meat.

Somehow it takes hours for one fish to bite for me..

 

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Speaking of bait, what about the overhauled Wild Bait? It is now mechanically superior to regular bait in that it gives a faster catch rate and has a small chance of doubled drops. However, at an effective 2 fiber, 1 slime, 1 bug meat per each (10x/5x/5x for a recipe that produces 5x) that's not cheap. Do people feel that this is worth it or not?

 

[Holly3353]

Speaking of bait, what about the overhauled Wild Bait? It is now mechanically superior to regular bait in that it gives a faster catch rate and has a small chance of doubled drops. However, at an effective 2 fiber, 1 slime, 1 bug meat per each (10x/5x/5x for a recipe that produces 5x) that's not cheap. Do people feel that this is worth it or not?

I don’t think it worth. At beginning, definitely not worth when skill level is low and stocks of slime, fiber and bug are low. When you got skill and stock, I don’t think you need fishing for gold anymore, so normal bait is enough to fish the fish you want in my opinion.

 

[Lew Zealand]

I'm perpetually short of slime so I've never made any Wild Bait. I stick with regular Bait and the Cork Bobber though with redbobcat's info about the Trap Bobber, I should try that as I've never caught any of the Legendary Fish

 

[Boo1972]

I'm perpetually short of slime so I've never made any Wild Bait. I stick with regular Bait and the Cork Bobber though with redbobcat's info about the Trap Bobber, I should try that as I've never caught any of the Legendary Fish

It is completely possible to catch the legendary fish without any buffs or bobbers. It just takes tiring the fish out. Catching them without buffs or bobbers is one of my goals on this farm.

This thread did inspire me to use bait for the first time and I caught so many more fish. I’m embarrassed I didn’t try it sooner.

I always have wild bait on hand for my fish ponds. You never know what those little fishies will request.

 

[Boo1972]

I'm perpetually short of slime so I've never made any Wild Bait. I stick with regular Bait and the Cork Bobber though with redbobcat's info about the Trap Bobber, I should try that as I've never caught any of the Legendary Fish

So, I reread my first reply to your post and it’s a tad arrogant. I’m sorry. Absolutely get a trap bobber if you want. I just think that with the legendary fish luck and repeated attempts are more important than anything else.

 

[One More Day]

Speaking of bait, what about the overhauled Wild Bait? It is now mechanically superior to regular bait in that it gives a faster catch rate and has a small chance of doubled drops. However, at an effective 2 fiber, 1 slime, 1 bug meat per each (10x/5x/5x for a recipe that produces 5x) that's not cheap. Do people feel that this is worth it or not?

Not only is it very expensive for ingredients, you also need to get Linus up to 4 hearts before you even get the recipe. But, once you have unlocked it, you can find wild bait in treasure chests.

Wild bait is a big improvement on regular bait, and if you only fish occasionally throughout the year, but are socially active enough to get him up to 4 hearts quite quickly, then I'd say it probably is worth it.

For my play style though, I don't think I'll bother. By the time that I could realistically befriend Linus, I've long since finished with fishing for cash. If it's a CC farm then the only fish left are the summer and fall fish for bundles, and an extra fish one way or the other won't make enough difference to be worth the effort, and if it's a Joja farm, I don't even need the seasonal fish

It is completely possible to catch the legendary fish without any buffs or bobbers. It just takes tiring the fish out. Catching them without buffs or bobbers is one of my goals on this farm.

They don't get "tired out". They carry on until either you catch it or it escapes

 

[Person090]

Speaking of bait, what about the overhauled Wild Bait? It is now mechanically superior to regular bait in that it gives a faster catch rate and has a small chance of doubled drops. However, at an effective 2 fiber, 1 slime, 1 bug meat per each (10x/5x/5x for a recipe that produces 5x) that's not cheap. Do people feel that this is worth it or not?

I feel like wild bait is good for those rare cathes like ice pip and lava eel because you could possibly get double, possibly splitting the time for you to get 2 of those fish in half. It's like preserves jar vs keg for me, only use wild bait on those rare fish with high sell price, everything else, I use bait.

 

[Shar]

You never know what those little fishies will request.

Ain't that the truth. I'm playing with blobfish in my pond for the first time. The buggers are asking for rice pudding to get their last population upgrade. I don't even have that recipe yet. Have to spam Evelyn with gifts now for her to send me the recipe.

Also, fwiw, I agree with the majority opinion in this thread for not using wild bait. My extra fiber goes toward grass starters to feed my animals outside. And I want to play around with slime eggs and a hutch the next winter so I'm saving slime till then. Regular bait is good enough for how little I fish anymore.

 

[Person090]

Ain't that the truth. I'm playing with blobfish in my pond for the first time. The buggers are asking for rice pudding to get their last population upgrade. I don't even have that recipe yet. Have to spam Evelyn with gifts now for her to send me the recipe.

Also, fwiw, I agree with the majority opinion in this thread for not using wild bait. My extra fiber goes toward grass starters to feed my animals outside. And I want to play around with slime eggs and a hutch the next winter so I'm saving slime till then. Regular bait is good enough for how little I fish anymore.

Slime hutches are really good if you have a steady stream of slime balls. Petrified slimes are decent at making a profit and slime eggs can sell for a sell price of, 1000-5000 gold I think. You would have to make a slime egg press though. Getting 100 slimes takes about 2 day, and one more day of producing the egg, so it's basically 333 gold per day, I would suggest getting a slime charmer ring because slimes multiply fast and attack you unless you're using a safe slime hutch. Slimejack ponds also help with speeding up the process because they can produce slimes and green slime eggs

 

[Magically Clueless]

bait is relatively easy to get so i'm a fan of it, wild bait i think is a bit too much hassle but it's cool you can get double fish from it

 

[Lew Zealand]

So, I reread my first reply to your post and it’s a tad arrogant. I’m sorry. Absolutely get a trap bobber if you want. I just think that with the legendary fish luck and repeated attempts are more important than anything else.

No, no problem at all! Actually I had no idea that the fish tired out. Does that mean that if I can fight it a bit longer, it slows down somewhat? I'll just keep thinking of Muhammad Ali in my head, dodgin' and weavin', thinking "I'm too pretty!"

 

[MulletMan_]

I guess you're right about the bait. My biggest problem is I always forget to check my tackle before I walk all the way down to the dock. lol Thanks for your input!

Perhaps you could put a bait box by the sea :)

 

[Boo1972]

No, no problem at all! Actually I had no idea that the fish tired out. Does that mean that if I can fight it a bit longer, it slows down somewhat? I'll just keep thinking of Muhammad Ali in my head, dodgin' and weavin', thinking "I'm too pretty!"

So they don’t actually tire out. Someone corrected me! Persistence just increases your chances that the fish will move less erratically. Luck is definitely involved. Although, in my defense, it feels like the fish tires out. Good luck catching them. I think the crimson fish is easiest.