Fishing



Fishing is a mini game where the pirate can test their angling skills and hook fish for gold and loot. Various species can be encountered, with varying degrees of difficulty to catch, up to Legendary Fish.

All it takes is a rod, reel, a few lures, and some patience and some skill

Fishmasters


On the main islands of Port Royal, Tortuga and Padres Del Fuego, there are fishmasters who will help you get started, sell you bait and equipment and even get you a fishing boat. They are easy to spot, just look for the golden Fish icon above their heads.

When you approach them, press "shift" to get the Fishmaster menu. Choose from:


 * Store - Buy more lures for your rod (Common and Legendary lures)
 * Upgrade Fishing Rod - Improve your rod
 * Launch Fishing Boat - Take out the Fishing Dinghy to head for deeper water, it does cost 1,000g to use. (Note- Fishing boats are attainable at level 10 of your fishing skill.)
 * Legendary Fish Story - Hear tales about the Legendary fish, and where they might be hiding.

How to Fish
Fishing requires first to find a location to fish from. You can either fish right off the docks (Port Royal, Tortuga or Padres Del Fuego) or launching your fishing boat. This will entail a cost of 1,000 gold, but the potential rewards are MUCH higher and you won't likely find a Legendary Fish near the docks.

1) Bait your hook
Select a lure. You can buy the lures from the Fishmaster. You must first select a lure BEFORE you can cast. Lures are available to basic members. You are able to switch lures while the current lure is out of the water by clicking the lures icon in the bottom right corner.

2) Cast your line
To Cast, left-click to start the power bar. It will rise and fall on its own, the higher the bar level - the farther out you will cast AND the lower the bait will sink. Click again to cast out your line. It may take a little practice to learn the proper distance. The view will follow the lure underwater. You will be able to guide your bait to some extent.

Once your bait is in the water, the lure will slowly begin to sink on its own and be carried by currents. As it does, you will see the various fish swimming around. The easiest, novice fish to catch are near the surface, while the bigger Journeyman fish are below them and the Master fish deeper still. Above your Line Meter, you will see a number that indicates how far out your line has cast. The size of each species of fish varies to a great extent, and is relative to its actual weight when caught.

A soft echoing booming sound will accompany a fish strike, and may accompany a hooked fish beginning to struggle and/or ceasing to struggle. You can reel your line in by holding the Left-Mouse button to pull your lure back up or to avoid fish you do not wish to catch. Using skills like Stall or Sink, you can skillfully position your Lure exactly where you want. Moving the lure rapidly will scare away the fish near the lure.

If you miss your intended target, pressing the Space Bar will reel your line back quickly. The space bar is not recommended for Journeyman and higher fish, as reeling a lure at a certain distance from their heads (a little further away than the distance to catch them) gives them an opportunity to steal the lure.

3) Hooking the Fish
If the bait is close enough to a fish that is interested, you will see a yellow question mark appear and the fish may nibble on your bait. Left-click at just the right moment and HOOK'EM!

Because reeling in often scares the fish at first, before the right timing is found, it is tempting to just wait and let the fish take the bait themselves. But not only does this hook fish less often, it will not work on the larger fish at all; instead, where novice fish would have made a strike at the bait or taken a nibble and then been scared off, they will nibble or strike and then steal the lure. With a Journeyman or Master fishing rod, you can leave your lure in the water and the smaller fish will not steal the bait (perhaps it is too big at this point). Middle and large fish; however, will steal the bait if left unattended. Similarly, while the yellow question mark is an effective way to learn the distance at which fish can be hooked, it is recommended to learn that distance and not rely on the mark, as Journeyman fish can steal the lure if the hooking attempt begins too late.

4) Reel'em In!
Keep reeling until the fish is pulled out of the water, or you see a red exclamation point appear over the fish's head.

Once you start reeling in, red exclamation points may appear, and if observed closely, the line can be seen to slow. This means the fish is fighting back and is pulling hard on the line; any reeling done when the fish is fighting will do damage to the line. The line's health bar will deplete, and the health bar and the line itself will turn increasingly orange and then red.

There is a split second of lag time between when the fish starts struggling and the display of the exclamation points, and when the fish begins to be animated as swimming in the opposite direction. When it stops struggling, however there is no lag time; the normal reeling, removal of the exclamation point, and the return to normal swimming direction all occur at the same time. The exclamation marks will NOT appear on harder fish that require the Master fishing rod instead, and because of the lag time, waiting for the fish to switch direction will cause massive damage to the line, so be ready when the line slows.

If a fish is fighting too hard or your line's health level is red - STOP REELING. If your line's health goes too far down, the bait will break off and your fish will get away. Should the line break, you will lose your lure and have to recast. Using Heal Line skill can restore some of the lost line health.

Once the fish has been caught, if it is the first time that type has been caught - it is added to your collection. This is similar to the Treasure inventory. Every time you catch a BIGGER version of the same fish, the weight will update to show your biggest catch.

Fishing Skills
You will obtain new fishing skills to help you catch fish more effectively. Increasing your Fishing Skill also opens up access to new rods, lures and the fishing boats. Each fish caught adds to your experience points, but the larger and harder the fish - the more points you earn.

Fishing Rods
As you increase your Fishing level, you will obtain access to purchase new fishing rods - for a fee of course. Just visit a Fishmaster and choose Upgrade Rod. Upgrading your fishing rod will allow you to go deeper into the ocean and catch larger fish.

Types of Fish

 * Rare or do not appear in the fishing game to free player

*Legendary Lure

Finding A Legend


Unlike all other fish in the sea, you can  ONLY  catch a Legendary fish with a Legendary Lure. You must have it to try and catch a legend. These massive fish can only be found in the deepest waters, so be prepared to go out on a Fishing Boat.

Talk to the Fishmaster, and listen to their tales. It will help you figure out where to look though each fishmaster provides different stories and each one has little infomation on at least one of the legendary fish.

Once your line is cast, BE PATIENT. A legendary doesn't just appear, so you may find yourself avoiding regular fish while you wait. To do this, when you see a ? or ! above a fishes head, quickly click on your mouse, and it will scare the fish away. And they may not decide to make an appearance, but when one does all of the other fish quickly scatter and it's just YOU and the FISH.

Legendary Fishing
There are five legendary fish, when you are lucky enough to have one take your lure, you will see a gauge at the top of the screen. You must wear the massive fish down and it will take new skills. Your fishing skills will NOT work here.

The fish will Struggle - quickly left-click as fast as you can to keep him from getting away.

Then, Reel it in. Move the mouse in a clock-wise circle around the reel to crank it closer.

Sometimes you will need to Catch the Reel. Quickly click on the back-spinning reel to keep from losing it.

Finally, after a while of Struggling, Reeling and Catching, you will land the big one! How long it takes varies from fish to fish.

Too Big to Keep
After hauling in the Legendary Fish, you now have a Fishing story to tell. It's added to your Legendary Fish treasure page and you have a scale as proof of your deed.

Then, you have to let the monster go. But you'll always have that memory as you wave and watch the glorious legend swim back to the deep.

You can catch more than 1 of the same Legendary Fish.



Fishing Tips

 * Each fish type has a unique personality in how they struggle once you hook them.
 * Different fish types give different rep - some "easy" fish give pretty good rep such as the hachet fish giving 30 rep - this may be adjusted.
 * If your lure is close to a fish that you DON'T want, just 'jiggle' the lure to scare it away. To "jiggle" click your mouse before the fish is hooked.
 * Basic members can only get to Fishing Level 7 (Journeyman Rod at Lvl 5)
 * The Sand Tiger Shark usually gives the most gold besides the legendary fish Fire Dragon.
 * The Mega Mouth fish gives the most rep out of the regular fish. (300 rep)
 * The Anthias, Atlantic Wolffish, Barracuda, Dragon Fish, Marlin, and Mega Mouth fish can only be found at sea.
 * The Level 15 fish can be made heavier by losing a lure at the top with the first level fish and having all of them become eaten by the big fish. Depending on the fish on top the Level 15 fish will become heavier and heavier .
 * It is possible to get Famed sailing items and weapons from fishing.
 * Fishing also levels up notoriety!
 * Fishing rewards are affected by Double Gold promotions!
 * If you HAVEN'T caught a fish, press spacebar to quickly reel up and cast in your line again.
 * If you want to get rid of all the small fish at the top of the screen, just reel up a large fish, like a Coelacanth, let it escape, and it will eat all the smaller fish for you.
 * Don't want to lose your lure? Simply exit the mini game if you catch a fish that you don't want, or you're reeling it up and you know you're going to lose the fish.

Game Tips for Legendary Fish



 * You must be using a legendary lure.
 * Even the legendary fish weights can differ, except Mossy Moses, who always weighs 1000 lbs.
 * When reeling in a legendary Fish crank your wheel fast.
 * If you're in a fight with a legendary fish and you just finished cranking and you have to catch your wheel click at the same spot where it stopped after you finished cranking; 95% of the time, you will catch your wheel.
 * If using a laptop when in "struggle" click both the touch pad AND clickers to get double clicks. (if you have a wireless mouse you can do 3 times clicks)
 * Legendary Fish are typically caught on a reel depth of 80 or greater. If you are trolling on the bottom and your depth is less than 80, either catch a regular fish, or hit space bar to reel in your line and then cast your line again.

Click here to read more about legendary fish.

Music
Below is a playlist of all the songs played while playing the Fishing Mini Game.

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