Questions about lures and baits

[TaruSGonEWilD]

I plan to start fishing soon since I am a lvl 34 ranger and I need a good way to make money easily. I know it will take some time to get the lvl up to par so I can start to make lots of money but I need some consistent and effective way to make money other than farming. Ebow is gonna be a hit in the wallet and arrows are starting to get a bit more expensive than I'd like. So do lures work as well as consumable baits? Or is there some other reason why I see most fishers using baits instead of lures?

[wstussyb]

heh fishing a way to make gil? around 50+ with lu shangs thatst akes about a month or 2 out of your life to quest for it
not to menton you simply cannot power lvl fishing like you do other crafts, it takes time
I been fishing since around feb and im only 40.4, a few times I have spent 5+ hours fishing, mostly it's a hour or 2, a 1 hour farming run in junger or pashlow I can make about what I do in 3 hours of fishing( Unless I stick with moat's on a full moon in a nice spot)
simple reason on lure/bait
skill ups are faster on baits, as you will get more bites, a simple way is to lvl cooking to 30, from 9-14 you skill up on sliced sardines (wind+ bastore sardine) and are used for baits to catch bastore breams-bluetail-bladefish( all lvl 50+ fish or so) that fetch a nice amount of gil and 21-28(?) insect paste, the alltime favorite for moat carp
I Mostly use lures, as I like to keep spots open for fish and it's cheaper, unless you fish somewhere where your skill is not decent enough and you lose your 4.5k lure( shrimp lure gah!)

[Icemage]

Fishing requires more time than you can imagine. I'd wager I've spent at least 400+ hours fishing to get to level 58 and acquiring my Lu Shang's Fishing Rod.

If you're looking for a quick buck, look elsewhere. Fishing is not a get rich quick scheme in FFXI. It provides no more than 10K gil per hour spent until you reach at least level 40, with a typical skill gain rate of about +0.2 skill per hour, and slowing down even more once you hit level 50.

Regarding baits/lures - it really depends on what you are fishing for. Each type of bait or lure attracts certain fish and excludes others. In cases where both live bait and a lure will catch the same fish, you'll usually see a slightly better bite rate on live bait.


Icemage