(Thank you to tiranaki for the information and graphic headers. Please don't steal them, they belong to her!)
Please read through this FAQ first to see if your question is answered before making a new topic in the foum.
Fishing Rods
Which is the best rod? What rods can I use? Where can I get them? What's the difference between them? Which is better for catching "x" fish?
Gaia's Fishing Rods
There is no best rod. Rods are personal. If you loose fish at the end, you'll want a rod with wide lines at the end, if you loose fish in the middle, you'll want a rod with wider lines in the middle, etc. The only rod that could be considered the best rod, is the Angelic Rod, and it is not available yet.
Gaia has 4 rods for you to use: Basic, Strength, Performance and Distance. Each rod has an upgrade, which increases the casting distance, plus makes the lines wider. The rods are the following:
Basic Rod and Basic Rod PLUS. Also known as BR and BRP.
It looks similar to this:
Strength Rod and Strenth Rod PLUS. Also known as SR and SRP.
It looks similar to this:
Performance Rod and Performance Rod PLUS. Also known as PR and PRP.
It looks similar to this:
Distance Rod and Distance Rod PLUS. Also known as DR and DRP.
It looks similar to this:
All rods can hook every type of fish
except for the
Strength Rod. The Strength Rod cannot hook
Large fish. The casting distance is not long enough. BUT, the
Strength Rod PLUS can hook large fish. If you want to catch a lot of large fish, you might want to try the Distance Rod, because it has the longest casting distance.
For even more information on the rods, please visit this post:
GAIA'S FISHING RODS
Fish and Trash
Which fish/trash are found in which lake? Does time affect the fish I can catch?
Bass'ken Lake Fish:
Port of Gambino Fish:
Durem Reclamation Facility Fish:
Time does not affect the fish you can catch, except for the rare fish. Need more information on the fish?
Click here and visit this post
Rare Fish
What are rare fish, how do I catch them, where are they found, when can I catch them? What bait/rod is best for catching rares?
Each fishing spot has 3 rare fish that are only available at certain times during the Gaian day. During the Day, Mutha Guppa, Buckin' Bino, and Diamondback Lion are the only rares available. During Dawn/Dusk, Candy Striper, Chargin' Chino and Rubyback Lion are available. During Gaia night, Big Mouth Bass'terd. Tootin' Tino and Emeraldback Lion are available.
Bass'ken Lake:
Mutha Guppa, Candy Striper, Big Mouth Bass'terd
Port of Gambino:
Buckin' Bino, Chargin' Chino, Tootin' Tino
Durem Reclamation Facility:
Diamondback Lion, Rubyback Lion, Emerald Back Lion.
How to get a rare fish: There are
rare fish. Meaning that your chances of catching one are very slim. There is nothing you can do to get a rare fish, except fish as much as possible, and use A or D LEVEL bait (it can be F bait as long as it's A or D level, more on that later).
ALL rods can hook rare fish, there is no best rod to hook a rare fish. Use the rod you are most comfortable with as much as possible and hope for the best.
You can catch more than 1 rare fish per account. Just fish as much as possible with good bait, and hope for good luck.
Bait
What bait can I use? What's the difference between each bait? Is the expensive bait worth it?
F Bait. Lowest quality bait. Will hook a lot of small fish and trash.
D Bait. Medium quality bait. Will hook any fish, including rares. Higher amount of fish than F bait, but also good amount of trash.
A Bait. Best quality bait. Will hook any fish, including rares. Less amount of trash than other baits.
If you fish less than 5 times a day, you can use F bait and won't notice any difference in the bait quality. If you fish more than 5 times a day, you will notice that you will start to catch less fish and more trash the more games you play. This is known as
Bait Degradation. What this means is that the more games you play, the less fish there are in the lakes, so the only things left are trash. You can avoid this and get as many fish as possible by using D or A bait. That way you can fish as many games as you want, and in most cases, get more fish than trash.
If you want to get the most out of your bait and gold. Fish 5 times a day, and use the following formulas:
5 games of F bait: FFFFF or 2 games of F bait, and 3 games of D bait= FFDDD. If you only fish 5 times a day, that means that your F bait and D bait will be acting like A bait. Every 12 hours your bait will reset back to A bait level.
Trophies/Competing
What are trophies? How do I get one? How do I get to be on the Winner's Circle? How do I compete?
Every month Gaia holds fishing competitions. The competition starts at midnight on the first day of the month, and ends at 11:59 PM on the last day of the month (PST). If you are in the top 10 of each lake, or in 1st place Overall, you win a trophy. All you have to do is fish as much as possible and place in the board by the end of the month.
Fishing Stats Here you can see the Top 15 in the lakes (only top 10 win trophies though) plus your own personal stats. Click on the links provided and you can see up to the top 50 in each area, including Overall. If your name is on this board, in any of the 10 to 1 positions, at the end of the month, then you will win a trophy.
Trophies
Bass'ken Lake Trophies:
Port of Gambino Trophies:
Durem Reclamation Facility Trophies:
Overall
Junk Trophies:
Positions are as follows: 10th to 3rd receive a Bronze, 2nd receives a Silver and 1st receives a Gold. Only 1st Overall receives a trophy. While there is no Junk Board, if you catch as much as junk as possible, you also win a Reclycing Trophy. Some users host an unofficial Junk Board every month, you can check out the forum and find this thead if you want to see how you are doign against other people.
OVERALL: Important things to know about the Overall board. You must have 1/4 of your catches from Bass'ken, and 1/4 from Gambino in order to appear on the Overall board. If you catch too much trash you will not be on the overall board. In order to win Overall, you must combine a balanced amount of fish from all the areas, as well as high quality fish. The better the fish you catch, the higher points you will get. It is possible to loose to someone with less fish than you, if they have higher quality fish.
Fish Score Values: What's this about quality? Each fish is worth points, including trash. If you catch more large and medium fish in your bucket, you will have higher points. Please not however, that you cannot get more than 9 large fish per bucket on A level bait. With D level bait, you can only get 3 large fish, and with F level bait, you can only get 1 large fish.
Bass'ken
Guppies: 6 points
Bass:16 points
Striper:26 points
Gambino
Seedkin: 14 points
Trout:24 points
Tuna: 34 points
Durem
Pebbo: 22 points
Biter: 32 points
Boldur: 42 points
Junk
Can: 2 points
Boot: 4 points
Tire: 6 points.
Strategies
Filtering: Means to catch only a specific item and loose or let go of the rest. The more you fish, the more you will notice that each fish, including trash moves differently. After you've fished for a while, you will learn to recognize these patterns. Once you have recognized the patterns, you will be able to only keep the fish you want. If you hook a fish, and recognize by it's pattern that it's not a fish you want, you can drag the bobber to the side and let it go.
People that are competing use this method sometimes to get more points per bucket. You can also use this method if you want to earn as much gold as possible, because you can catch only the fish you want. So if you want large and medium fish with higher sellback prices, you can only catch those and let go of the small fish and trash.
Dredging/Powerfishing: Means to hook and catch everything. Powerfishing means to hook and catch everything as fast as possible, the faster the better. With Dredging you can take your time, you just don't loose anything on purpose, or, in other words, don't filter, catch trash and fish. People use these methods when they aren't concerned about the quality of their catches, and just want to do as many games as possible, in the fastest time possible. Any rod can be used for dredging, but for most people, a Strength Rod Plus is the rod of choice for powerfishing.
What can I do with all these fish?
1. Keep them.
2. Trade them to other people.
3. Sell them back to the fishing store, or sell them to other users in the marketplace and get gold in return.
4. Exchange them for items! That's right, you can get cool hats, masks and other nifty things for the fish you've caught. Check out the
Fish Exchange: How to Get Nifty Hats and Other Stuff for more information.
Are there any special places?Hotspots? What does moving around the map do?
Based on the evidence we have so far, moving around the map does... absolutely nothing! Except change the scenery you're looking at of course. This is an old rumor that has been tested and proven false countless times. There is no evidence to suggest there are any hotspots or that any specific area or place in the map will give you better fish, or increase your rare fish. According to Old Man Logan, the only thing that will increase your chances of better fish and rare fish is A bait.
