What I had going in:
Hume Fishing Rod
The internet
1000 Gil
As this guide is being posted on a botting website I will throw out the disclaimer that the easiest way to level fishing is to bot it. That being said you can get caught as many of us have, please bot at your own risk.
Suggestions for botting:
1. Bot in a location that doesn’t get much traffic. IE: Don’t bot right next to an event moogle
2. Make sure you have enough inventory space free to sustain fishing for extended periods of time
3. Know if the fish you are catching stack
4. Make sure that you have your inventory sorting method set to auto before hand. Or that your bot checks to see which option it is on
5. Avoid being /anon, without any clothes on, and no link pearl equipped. This is a dead give away.
6. Use a tell notifier that will alert you to the presence of others.
Useful Websites:Optimizing yourself as a fisher:1. The higher your job level the more options you have available
2. Get the “Inside the Belly” quest. This will optimize gil output with some fish and make obtaining the Ebisu Rod possible
3. Cooking and Fishing go hand-in-hand. Use fish to make bait to catch more fish.
4. Fishing has a direct translation into some alchemy recipes.
5. Woodworking will help you fix your Lu’s if you break it
6. The Rivalry in Sandaoria is a necessary quest for any serious fisherman
7. Remember ~200 Fish per Japanese Day is the limit. This means that you can hit enter ~200 times before you will notice a significant catch decrease. If you can target a specific fish, try to
Making that money:1. Moat carp, moat carp, and more moat carp. People don’t want to fish 10,000 fish, it’s a pain. Make their life easier and make some money at the same time
2. NPC fish. After the fish hit about level 40 the NPC price gets substantial. Sometimes its worth it to NPC while other times you should throw it on the AH
3. Using lure when possible. Bait costs gil. Fish eat bait. Yes the fish you catch (hopefully) is worth more than your bait, but every fish is worth more than the per cast cost of a lure.
The beginning of this guide is meant to help you as a little fisherman coming into the world with very little. To get the starting capital farm a little bit of gil by going after crystals. Very easy. Eventually you will want to level jobs to be able to go after bigger and better fish and fishing will make the money for said leveling easier. Please do not follow this guide blindly. I didn’t do half of the stuff I make mention of in this guide. I used the sites above, other people’s guides, and sheer dumb luck to get my fishing to where it is today.
Fishing 0-10 (Crays and Moats)
All Cities: Hume rod and little worm. Little Worms bought in Windurst Waters, Bastok Mines, and Southern Sandaoria. Fish in Bastok Markets, North Sandy, and Windurst Waters. Turn in the moats or sell them. NPC the gold carp. Use the crayfish to make sliced crayfish for a little bit of cooking help or just npc them to pay for bait.
Fishing 10-20
Bastokan: Fly Lure in Bastok Mines run-off. Copper frogs take you to 16.
Bastokan + Sandaorian: Little Worms will catch Tricolored Carp. Take these to 20
Windurstian + Bastokan: Goto port with a Sabiki Rig. You will be going after Quus.
Fishing 20-30
Bastokan or Windurstian: Go out to the lowbie zone with a shrimp lure. Your line will snap if you snag a Bream, so either cancel catches that are difficult to reel in or if you are botting, exclude Bream.
Sandaorians: Go out into East ron with a fly lure. You will catch cheval salmon and shining trout. Just NPC them, lure's force profit.
Fishing 30-40
Bastokan: Bastok Markets w/ a Worm Lure. You will catch dark bass (33) and black eel (47) NPC both or go after Inside the Belly for the black eel.
Windurstian: Sorry its time to walk somewhere, or just keep at it with Hume/Little worm getting gold carps. Golds will take you to 56.
Sandorian: Same as windurstian, stick with the gold carp until 56. Keep plugging away at Lu's
Fishing 40-50
All Countries: Go after Gold Carp. Best place to do it is windurst with a shrimp lure if you can afford it (and you can if your fishing is 40-50). Turn in your moats, NPC your Golds. If you are happy with making 2-3k per stack then just sell your moats, but 1 million gil @ 2-3k per stack takes a long time. I highly suggest Lu's
Fishing 50-60
Cap out on Gold Carp. If you feel like going beyond 60 Fishing you will NEED a Lu Shang's Fishing Rod for it to be remotely worth it.
You will also at this point want to be around level 30-35 to make life a little bit safer (If you can do it with blm warp never hurts).
At this point you will be riding the ferry a lot. Throw some peeled lobster on your line and drop it in. You will be catching Nebi's (5-10k a stack), Gugu Tuna (2-4k), Bluetail (5k AH or 3k NPC), Bhelfel Marlin (Inside the Belly for a Mercurial Dagger) and Noble Lady (Relative to Sushi price).
Fishing 60-70
Sauromugue Champaign with Meatball to catch Silver Shark. This will take you to 76. Inside the Belly the Sharks or NPC or if there is a demand for them AH.
Fishing 70-80
Port Windurst, Bastore Bream plain and simple. If you can buy in bulk get (Sinking)Minnow or Shrimp Lure so that you can fish longer. However, the bait is cheap and should go down quickly.
Fishing 80-96 (Money money money)
Black Sole. If you have the level requirement go to Qufim Island and drop a sinking minnow in. You will ONLY catch sole, items, and monsters. Beware of the new Goblin Bounty Hunters.
Fishing 96-100
Woodworking in 80s is highly recommended. If you really feel the need to get to 100 fishing then by all means use the resources listed below to choose the best option.
Good Luck to everyone. If you have any questions I am here to help