New Moon Fishing??

[Lunakat]

I saw it was a new moon yesterday so I decided to try my luck a fishing thinking that i may have better success. In about an hours time and 3 moat carp later, I had broken 5 yew rods and a bamboo rod. I am using little worms and insect paste.I just started my fishing career and I am still at 0 skill.

Is this a common problem for the amature fisherman, to break 6 rods in an hour?

Does a new moon increase the risk of breakage?

What trade skill and skill level allows you to repair broken rods?

Is a full moon better to fish than a new moon?

Is there an expensive rod that will not break at my level (0.8)for moat karp?

Do I have too many questions?


Imput is much appreciated
Thanks
Lunakat

[Mullenkamp]

I'll try to answer your questions...^^

New fishermen will break rods...but six rods in an hour is a lot @_@. Yew rods are ok to start with, but maybe try a bamboo rod. They're cheap and break a little less often than Yew. Im pretty sure new moons and full moons will increase the chances of your rod breaking. The fish just get a little more uppity during those times...
Im almost positive again that you need alchemy to repair rods..but Ive heard some people say woodworking. Either way its those two skills, and your level needs to be quite high to repair some of the more expensive rods. ( I think it's alchemy for fixing rods, and woodworking for making rods from scratch)
Supposedly New moon and Full moon have the same effect but personally Ive gotten more bites and more fish during new moon than full moon.
You'll hear a bunch of different opinions on which rod is better for catching moats...I personally like the mithran rod with insect paste because the chances of it breaking are almost nil. Some people like the carbon rod because it's meant for smaller fish and you won't receive the message "whatever you caught with this rod was too small blah blah..."
Mithran rods are expensive though, running upwards of 15k on Odin. By the way, where are you fishing? Location makes a difference as well, especially if you're using little worms since a lot of other fish bite on those too. That could be what's breaking your rod. Try using insect paste for your early skill levels, then switch back to worms later on.
Hope this helps somewhat @_@ good luck fishing!

[Arctyc]

Carpenters can fix rods made of wooden materials (Yew, Bamboo, Elm, Fastwater, Lu Shang's, etc).

Alchemists repair fishing rods made of some more exotic materials (Glass Fiber, Carbon, etc).

[Lunakat]

GRRR!!!

So after my loss of 6 rods, 1.7k Gil, I decided to give it another shot. Went to a the water in N. Sandoria close to the Port zone and broke my 7th rod on the second cast I made with it. What the *&@# am I doing worng here. Has anyone noticed if you break rods more when getting close to a skill level? Am i just fishing the wrong place? Help im losing $$ quick.


Also:
I see that you can catch moat, gold, & tri-color in N San. Are Gold and Tri larger than moat?
What would be a good stable rod to work with, im thinkin a Carbon rod but I dont want to spend the cash if its gonna break within 3 casts like all the others have.

Thanks much
Lunakat

[Icemage]

I'll see if I can help a bit here.

At low levels of fishing, here is what I recommend:

- If you're looking to make immediate, fast money at crafting - go do another craft. Fishing is slow. Very slow. And the initial investments are steep, money-wise.

- Get the +1 fishing armors. All of them. I mean it. You might think that dropping 20K total or so for 4 pieces of equipment isn't worthwhile but I guarantee you will see return on your investment in terms of less time spent, less broken rods, and more consistent catches.

- Whenever possible, get the Advanced Fishing Imagery from Panja-Nanja at the pier next to the Fishing Guild in Port Windurst. Much like the +1 Fishing gear, this will increase the chance you will successfully catch fish, and increase the speed with which your skill increases. It lasts a very long time (several hours real time).

- Stay away from salt water other than Port Windurst. Low levels of fishing will break virtually any rod using virtually any bait anywhere else (with possibly the exception of a carbon fiber fishing rod + sabiki rig on the Selbina-Mhaura Ferry).

- Until you reach level 7 fishing, there is no reason to do anything except fish with Little Worms in relatively safe fresh water locations. My personal favorite places are:

Safest:
West Ronfaure (lake): Crayfish and Moat Carp

Better skill/higher rod break chance:
Windurst Waters, Walls, Woods: Crayfish, Moat Carp, Tricolored Carp, Gold Carp

Very low level(< 5) fishermen can probably get away with using extremely cheap rods (just get a bunch of willow rods) and fishing in one of the above zones with stacks of Little Worms. Each Moat Carp you catch will more than pay back your investment.

I would avoid fishing anywhere in/near Bastok at low levels. There are all sorts of big fish/items that will break your rod in those zones.

- This is just a personal impression, but Tricolored Carp seem slightly larger than Moat Carp, and can break the lesser rods (willow, yew, sometimes bamboo). Gold Carp seem larger still, and will almost always break the smaller rods. I normally use a glass fiber or carbon fiber rod to catch these larger carp types if I am fishing for them specifically.


Icemage