Entry One
Amateur Days
Well, when it came to fishing on the vast planet of Vana'diel, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to do it. It wasn't 'till I got some advice from some traveling fishers that I finally found a spot and wrote everything that happened down. Thus, the actual recordings began after my initial mistakes. However, like I said, I'm still very amateur at this so enjoy my stupidity, I know I have.
Anyway, I have to give thanks to a little Taru Taru who explained some basics to fishing. Certain bait has to go with water type, like fresh water or saltwater. This little bit of advice led to my first catch. After some time attempting missions and whatnot, I accumulated enough money to buy a Yew Rod, a very poor fishing rod. Nonetheless, I took it to a spot in Bastok. This spot seems to be a pretty good spot for newcomers to fishing. It was at the port across the bridge from my own Mog house. A dandy of a spot I must say myself. See, the fish would gather from just outside the port from the sea. These fish stuck around for all the various foods residents and adventurers commonly threw into the waters. It was indeed a good place to start.
So, at 7:12 PM precisely, I pulled out my Yew Rod and attempted my first try at fishing. Okay, it wasn't my first attempt, but it was my first thought out attempt. I had Lugworm as bait attached onto my Yew Rod's fishing line and I casted it out. Then, I waited and waited. The line pulled but I didn't manage to pull the creature in. I continued the process until 8:14, a full hour, in which I switched to a bamboo rod. I didn't catch anything for the rest of the night. Here's is my exact recordings:
- 19:12 Lost Catch
- 19:50 Lost Catch
- Switch to Bamboo
- 20:14 Didn't catch anything
- 20:37 Didn't catch anything
A pretty boring journal entry. To most people, it'd be discouraging enough to quit the hobby. Yet, I'm not most people. I went back to bed (on my cold Mog House floor) and slept the rest of the night away. A few days later, after fighting various monsters, I tried again, at the exact same spot.
This time, I got there extra early. I was having a hard time sleeping, so I thought I'd go out and fish. Nobody else was at the spot, so it was a particularly relaxing situation. Thinking about some of the missions that I was assigned to, I began fishing with the Bamboo Rod/Lugworm combination. It was 3:58 AM in the morning and it was very dark.
I couldn't sleep because my current mission to the Fermatoles was clouding over my every thought. I had gone there to survey the place and I watched an entire party of adventurers slaughtered by a single, fully armored, goblin. I ran away, scared it would come after me. The goblin did not chase me out into the vast plains of South Gustaberg. I wasn't sure how I was going to do my mission with such a beast dominating the place. And, I don't have a map of the place! I just don't what it is I'm going to do…
Suddenly, the line started pulling and I jumped to my feet. I slowly pulled back and then tried to reel it in fast. When I picked up the fishing line, there it was, my very first catch. It was a Bastore Sardine. Needless to say, I was enthused to continue fishing and I did so for quite a while. I'm not sure if it was because the day was of the red element or if I was getting the hang of this, but I really enjoyed it nonetheless. Here's my exact recordings:
- 3:58 First Catch: Bastore Sardine
- 4:33 Quus caught
- 4:46 Lost catch
- 5:05 Pulled out Rusty Bucket (the bucket in my Mog house)
- 5:20 Rod broke
- Switch to Yew Rod
- 5:48 Lost catch, but skill went up by .1 pts
- 6:05 Lost catch
- 6:24 Line broke
- 6:48 Lost catch
- 7:07 Line broke, again
- 7:31 Caught another Bastore Sardine
- Switched bait to "Little Worm" for testing
- 7:56 Didn't catch anything
- 8:11 Didn't catch anything
- 8:35 Didn't catch anything
- 8:49 Didn't catch anything
- 9:06 Didn't catch anything
- 11:00 Went to Mog House and got Mog enhancement on Fishing for placing Rusty Bucket.
Three catches and a rusty bucket. Not the best, but everyone's got to start somewhere, right? Well, here are some other recordings later on if you're interested. The first one was when I found a little pond out on South Gustaberg on a green element day. I really didn't think I'd catch anything, but I was surprised what I did find. The other one is when I came to my first town other than Bastok. I had never seen another town after weeks of playing, so it was very exciting. It was the port town of Selbina, so I had to fish in it, but I didn't have any saltwater bait. Oh well.
- Yew Rod/Little Worm combination at F-8 on S. Gustaberg
- 11:16 Caught a Monster! (Stone Crab)
- 11:58 Line broke
- 12:36 Didn't catch anything
- 13:01 Didn't catch anything
- 13:24 Didn't catch anything
- Yew Rod/Little Worm combination in Selbina
- Element - Purple
- 11:27 Didn't catch anything