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, 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, equipment and even let you rent a fishing boat. They are easy to spot, just look for the golden Fish icon above their heads. You can find them on the main docks of each of the three main islands.
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| Old Greg Port Royal |
Ray Fishlander Tortuga |
Sven Hooksilver Padres Del Fuego |
Dory Fishlander Bilgewater |
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.=
Where to Fish[]
In order to fish, you must first find a fishing spot. There are three docks that you are able to fish from which are located near the Fishmasters on Port Royal, Tortuga, Padres Del Fuego and Bilgewater. If you have Level 10 fishing, you can rent a Fishing Boat for 1,000 gold and fish anywhere on the High Seas.
If you are lucky, you may find an open fishing boat or a Fishing Lobby and be able to join even though you have not reached Level 10 fishing yet.
To begin fishing, simply walk up to a fishing circle and press Shift to interact with the spot and open up the fishing interface.
How to Fish[]
1) Bait your hook[]
Firstly, you must select a lure. You can buy the lures from the Fishmaster. You must select a lure BEFORE you can cast (especially when your lure has been lost). 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.
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Regular Lures are the most common and inexpensive and are fine for catching most normal fish. Legendary Lures are most expensive but you must have them in order to catch a Legendary Fish.
2) Cast your line[]
To Cast, left-click to start the Power Bar.
The Power Bar 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. Above your Line Meter, you will see a number that indicates how many feet out your line has cast.
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. The size of each species of fish varies to a great extent, and is relative to its actual weight when caught.
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 Lure (1) skill will pause the lure at a specific depth so you can line it up with your target fish.
Sink Lure (5) will quickly drop your lure past the smaller fish, helping avoid accidentally hooking an unwanted fish on your way down to the bigger ones.
Ocean Eye (6) will display the entire fishing area at once, so you can see what fish are around and where your line is.
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 strike and steal the lure.
3) Hooking the Fish[]
When a fish ventures close, it will strike at your bait (yellow question mark). Left-click at just the right moment and HOOK'EM! A soft echoing booming sound will accompany a fish strike, and may accompany a hooked fish beginning to struggle and/or ceasing to struggle.
Because reeling in often scares the fish at first, it is tempting to just wait and let the fish take the bait themselves. You must click right when or right before it strikes - or your lure will be STOLEN!
If a fish you do not want is coming to close, jiggle the line with a quick click or two. The sudden movement will scare the unwanted fish away.
4) Reel'em In![]
Once on the line, you have to pull the fish up. Hold down the left-mouse button to reel.
You can also press Pull Line (2) to reel in much faster for a short period of time.
Once you start reeling in, a red exclamation points may appear over the head of basic and medium fish; 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 just 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.
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 (3) skill can restore some of the lost line health.
The Tug Line (4) skill will automatically stop the fish from fighting so you can continue reeling.
*NOTE - The exclamation marks will NOT appear with harder fish that require the Master fishing rod. Fighting these fish will cause massive damage to the line, so be ready when the line slows.
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.
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| Icon | Name | Description | Skill Req. |
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| - | Increased Reel Speed | Reels in fish faster. | 2 |
| 1 | Stall Lure | Pauses lure in the water. | 3 |
| 2 | Pull Fish | Pulls fish up faster. | 4 |
| - | Journeyman Rod | Upgrade available at fishmaster | 5 |
| 3 | Heal Line | Repairs a damaged line. | 6 |
| - | Increased Reel Speed | Reels in fish faster. | 7 |
| - | Stall II | Pause lure in the water longer. | 8 |
| - | Pull II | Bigger burst of speed while fighting fish. | 9 |
| - | Fishing Boat | Rent fishing boat from fishmaster. | 10 |
| - | Increased Reel Speed | Reels in fish even faster. | 11 |
| - | Heal Line II | Restore Lost Health to your line. | 12 |
| 4 | Tug Line | Stops fish from struggling. | 13 |
| - | Increased Reel Speed | Reels in fish even faster. | 14 |
| - | Master Fishing Rod | Upgrade available at fishmaster. | 15 |
| 5 | Sink Lure | Causes lure to sink quickly down. | 16 |
| 6 | Ocean Eye | View the entire area you are fishing in. |
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| - | Increased Reel Speed | Reels in fish even faster! | 18 |
| - | Heal Line III and Pull III | Greatly restores lost health to line and bigger burst of speed pulling. | 19 |
| - | Access to Legendary Lures | Unlock access to the Legendary Lure. Using the lure you can now catch Legendary Fish. |
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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.
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Types of Fish[]
| Novice Fishing Rod/Free | |||||
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(50 rep) |
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(15 rep) |
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(20 rep) |
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(35 rep) |
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(30 rep) |
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(10 rep) |
| Level 5: Journeyman Rod/1,000 gold | |||||
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(100 rep) |
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(100 rep) |
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(150 rep) |
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(200 rep) |
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(75 rep) |
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(65 rep) |
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(50 rep) | ||||
| Level 15: Master Rod/10,000 gold | |||||
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(250 rep) |
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(60 rep) |
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(220 rep) |
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(275 rep) |
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(125 rep) |
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(300 rep) |
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(125 rep) | ||||
- *Some fish can only be caught on a Fishing Boat.
- Each fish fights in its own unique way.
- Sand Tiger Shark are worth the most Gold out of all the normal fish. Second comes Mega Mouth.
Legendary Fish[]
| On rare occasions, a fisherman may encounter a special fish of Legendary proportions or beauty. These are also the hardest fish to catch. Reeling in these beasties will definitely help make you a legendary fisherman, but it's always best to release them back into the wilds of the deep. Legendary fish yield 150 reputation. |
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| Glittering Girl (1,000 gold) | Speedy Lou (700 gold) |
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| Fogbell (1,000 gold) |
Mossy Moses (1,500 gold) |
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| Fire Dragon (3,000 gold) |
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- The Legendary Lure is required to catch a Legendary Fish. |
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 information on at least one of the legendary fish.
Once your line is cast, BE PATIENT. A legendary fish 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 fish's 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 the same Legendary Fish multiple times.
Fishing Tips[]
- Each fish type has a unique personality in how they struggle once you hook them.
- Different fish types give different reputation - some "easy" fish give pretty good rep such as the Hatchet fish giving only 30 rep.
- If your lure is close to a fish that you DON'T want, just 'jiggle' the lure to scare it away. To jiggle, just click your mouse a couple of times to bring the lure up slightly.
- The Sand Tiger Shark usually gives the most gold besides the legendary 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.
- It is possible to get Famed items and bright clothing from fishing.
- Fishing also levels up notoriety!
- Fishing rewards are affected by Double Gold promotions!
- If you want to change where you cast, spacebar to quickly reel up and cast in your line again.
- If you want to get rid of some 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. It also can make the big fish even heavier for more rewards.
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, you'll have to catch your wheel. To do this click at the same spot where the cranking stopped, this way, you will almost always 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 the clicks).
- Legendary Fish are typically caught on a reel depth of 80 or greater. If you are fishing at a depth 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 the soundtrack played while Fishing.