Having difficulty catching that ONE elusive fish?? Here's a tip. [Merged]

[Donari.5237]

On 7/20/2022 at 1:13 PM, Luthan.5236 said:

Almost all normal fishing achievements finished going for the avid ones. Saltwater avid also almost finished (1 fish missing). But the world class one ... a lower tier one is missing - for the normal (1st time) achievement. "Armored Scalefish".

For my completion of Avid World Class I needed a Totemfish.  Hours of trying, nothing.  I read that the polluted fishing holes in Kessex were good for the mats-drop fish.  Bam, very first hole I fished at there got me the  totemfish.  So try there and hopefully you'll be lucky too!  (I see the post just above me also mentions this).

I still need a Red Gurnard from Avid Saltwater.  That's the one fish remaining until I have CSAMM.  I've been fishing a lot in Thousand Seas, and do keep getting Saltwater fish, but not that one ><  I hope item boosting will make the difference.

[Ronin.4501]

9 hours ago, Donari.5237 said:

For my completion of Avid World Class I needed a Totemfish.  Hours of trying, nothing.  I read that the polluted fishing holes in Kessex were good for the mats-drop fish.  Bam, very first hole I fished at there got me the  totemfish.  So try there and hopefully you'll be lucky too!  (I see the post just above me also mentions this).

I still need a Red Gurnard from Avid Saltwater.  That's the one fish remaining until I have CSAMM.  I've been fishing a lot in Thousand Seas, and do keep getting Saltwater fish, but not that one ><  I hope item boosting will make the difference.

For Saltwater collection give Rata Sum [Port Waypoint] a try! As I mentioned in a previous post I've cleared the entire collection there (finished it, restarted & finished it again in about 45 minutes)...and usually get several Goliath Groupers and 2-3 of the high-end vendor trash pieces along the way to make it even more worthwhile!

[Blue D Phoenix.7260]

Blood hell! Thanks a lot! Here I was going mad fishing for 4 hours straight and still not getting the kitten orange type fish! I even got legendary fishes thrice! 

[Donari.5237]

18 hours ago, Ronin.4501 said:

For Saltwater collection give Rata Sum [Port Waypoint] a try! As I mentioned in a previous post I've cleared the entire collection there (finished it, restarted & finished it again in about 45 minutes)...and usually get several Goliath Groupers and 2-3 of the high-end vendor trash pieces along the way to make it even more worthwhile!

I appreciate the tip.  I saw it mentioned earlier in the thread and last night I spent 30-40 minutes in the Rata Sum port.  I got zero saltwater fish either in holes or open water.  I did get a number of wolffish and sunscale strikers.  But I think I'll stick with Thousand Seas for future attempts, other than doing dailies that are in saltwater areas for some variety, even though the pool of possible fish is so much bigger there that my odds of a specific fish go down.

[Brullyra.1592]

Got a couple of categories with only 1 or 2 fish left, never thought of using those boosters and i've got a pile of them in the bank so will try it later!

[Ronin.4501]

On 7/26/2022 at 7:31 PM, Donari.5237 said:

I appreciate the tip.  I saw it mentioned earlier in the thread and last night I spent 30-40 minutes in the Rata Sum port.  I got zero saltwater fish either in holes or open water.  I did get a number of wolffish and sunscale strikers.  But I think I'll stick with Thousand Seas for future attempts, other than doing dailies that are in saltwater areas for some variety, even though the pool of possible fish is so much bigger there that my odds of a specific fish go down.

Just out of curiosity did you use the Item Booster while fishing in Rata Sum? If not, I highly suggest at least trying the Masterwork version from the laurel vendor (at worst you lose 1 laurel). Prior to using the boosters I didn't have the greatest success rate either, but since I've started fishing with them my drop rate has increased exponentially. Another thing to try (albeit a more expensive option) is to fish there using the mackerel as bait.  It will reduce the likelihood of catching the Maguuma collection fish but it has a higher fishing power rating than any other bait.

[Donari.5237]

3 hours ago, Ronin.4501 said:

Just out of curiosity did you use the Item Booster while fishing in Rata Sum? If not, I highly suggest at least trying the Masterwork version from the laurel vendor (at worst you lose 1 laurel). Prior to using the boosters I didn't have the greatest success rate either, but since I've started fishing with them my drop rate has increased exponentially. Another thing to try (albeit a more expensive option) is to fish there using the mackerel as bait.  It will reduce the likelihood of catching the Maguuma collection fish but it has a higher fishing power rating than any other bait.

I did use the booster, I have a tiny stock of them in my bank from various sources over the years (actually I'm using up my enchanted powder now for the gathering boost).  I have noted getting four casts from a pool on occasion.  My fishing power is already way higher than needed for that map and gets higher as the stacks grow.  I spent an hour on a booster in Thousand Seas tonight, then read on Reddit a suggestion that DR might affect fishing results (which, well, would be Very Bad Design to require you to sit in one map doing one thing for hours and then penalize you with DR for doing one thing for hours).  So I swapped to an alt who has never fished and headed to Seitung.  But by then I didn't have the stomach to keep casting, or to ignore growing pain in my left hand.

I'll try again now and then, in various maps, on various alts, despite the issues with having to stock each one up with bait and boost.  Hopefully the Red Gurnard will eventually drop for me.  I mean, it's dropped once before, right?  So I know I can find it.  One day.

[Ronin.4501]

5 minutes ago, Donari.5237 said:

I did use the booster, I have a tiny stock of them in my bank from various sources over the years (actually I'm using up my enchanted powder now for the gathering boost).  I have noted getting four casts from a pool on occasion.  My fishing power is already way higher than needed for that map and gets higher as the stacks grow.  I spent an hour on a booster in Thousand Seas tonight, then read on Reddit a suggestion that DR might affect fishing results (which, well, would be Very Bad Design to require you to sit in one map doing one thing for hours and then penalize you with DR for doing one thing for hours).  So I swapped to an alt who has never fished and headed to Seitung.  But by then I didn't have the stomach to keep casting, or to ignore growing pain in my left hand.

I'll try again now and then, in various maps, on various alts, despite the issues with having to stock each one up with bait and boost.  Hopefully the Red Gurnard will eventually drop for me.  I mean, it's dropped once before, right?  So I know I can find it.  One day.

This is pure speculation on my part, but I sometimes wonder if there is DR when I start to fish a particular map or maps repeatedly.  I began to suspect it after I'd gotten my CSAMM achievement and starting fishing the same Avid collections over and over while ignoring the others (I'd completed the Avid Maguuma 12x, Avid Desert 7x and all the rest just 1-2x).  I went and completed all the other Avid collections a 2nd time and it seemed as though my yield of better fish improved again.  I should note this was before I'd been told about using the Item Booster.  Again it's purely speculation, but it might be worth it to hit other saltwater maps that you don't usually use and see if it helps?  (give Bloodtide Coast/Kaineng/Seitung Province/Sandswept Isles a try if you don't regularly frequent those maps...or if you enjoy punishing yourself any of the Orr maps or Ember Bay lol).  I caught the Red Gurnard early in the collection; It was the Aurelian Herring that I got hung up on trying to finish Avid Saltwater.  Best of luck!! 

[Donari.5237]

*mad cheering* I took a different alt to Seitung.  Got 25 stacks using shrimplings, the meta was announced, did some meta until that failed, then about 15 stacks later using mackerel in holes and shrimplings in open water boom!  Red Gurnard!  CSAMM achieved.  (It dropped from an offshore hole, with mackerel bait but no fishing food as I'd used up the alt's sushi).

[Ronin.4501]

2 hours ago, Donari.5237 said:

*mad cheering* I took a different alt to Seitung.  Got 25 stacks using shrimplings, the meta was announced, did some meta until that failed, then about 15 stacks later using mackerel in holes and shrimplings in open water boom!  Red Gurnard!  CSAMM achieved.  (It dropped from an offshore hole, with mackerel bait but no fishing food as I'd used up the alt's sushi).

Congrats!!!

[Ashantara.8731]

There are more excellent tips to be found here...

...and here:

https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/search/?q=world class fisher&quick=1&search_and_or=and

[Luthan.5236]

Thanks for mentioning the booster from the laurel merchant. I think I have enough of the other version. But I always feel bad when using it just to test something - then not even planning to do that stuff a lot (I usually don't fish for hours a day) and wasting the left time.

I have tons of Laurels though (still taking them at the last chest from login rewards) ... might try one there. Also the thread Ashantara linked is interesting. Noticed the same thing mentioned in that other thread: Once a fish appears ... it seems more likely to appear again.

I yesterday did the Echovald avid on night tim. Had like 3 fishes left for the lake one - got them in like 5-6 catches (even the Ascended one). And then like 30-40 more fishes for just 1 Ascended from the grotto one. Sometimes the randomness is weird. (Same as with the other day where I mentioned that out of 15 catches I got like 4-5 legendary ... in Desert near Amnoon). I wonder if there is some overall othere variable/number in the background ... instead of doing a random number check per catch also having some number that slowly changes. Giving more likelyhood for one fish at certain days/hours - than for others.

But ... slowly progressing. Only the Avid Seitung/Kaineng/Dragon's End , the Avid Orrian/Shiverpeaks/Saltwater ... and both World Class (normal and Avid) left. Those rare ones (at least the one from World Class so I can start the Avid one) eventually will drop - I'm sure - while doing the other avid regional ones. I will try that  Laurel Booster the next time something is on daily where I completed the region already in avid - then going to a lake using the 30 min laurel booster trying for the world class one. (Lake in Plains of Ashford also has the normal Scale Fish - but last time I did not get lucky with the armored scalefish for fishing.)

Edited July 31, 2022 by Luthan.5236

[Ronin.4501]

On 7/31/2022 at 4:58 AM, Luthan.5236 said:

Thanks for mentioning the booster from the laurel merchant. I think I have enough of the other version. But I always feel bad when using it just to test something - then not even planning to do that stuff a lot (I usually don't fish for hours a day) and wasting the left time.

I've been using the laurel version of the booster far more often myself, as it syncs up perfectly with the 30-min fishing foods (I don't like using the Ascended foods on just myself and I'm often fishing in spots where I see no other players fishing), plus I have an abundance of laurels, and the only way to get the 2-hour version of the booster is to either get them from BL chests or create new toons and level them up to level 54, which is only a plausible method if you've been playing for years and have numerous Tomes of Knowledge and the level boosters from birthday gifts.

[Lindoniel.1726]

I have a big problem with completing my collections  since the "Tarnished Bronze Astrolabe" from the Aquatic Treasure Hunter Achievement collection won´t drop for me. I have tried several things (including tips from Reddit and here; I also have access to the pavillon of the seven seas) but it seems impossible to get it...

Does anyone of you have an advice? 🥺

[Luthan.5236]

Small update from me: I had been missing the Armored Scalefish. Did not have much time to fish in the recent days - with the Festival of the Four Winds and other events going on. And stuff in real life. I only did the 4 dailies at the region on daily. Today I caught it - what a surprise.

I tried to go for lakes (to avoid getting saltwater as well) ... and since this is one of low rarity also available in open water ... I tried there sometimes. Sometimes at the nodes as well though. Caught it at the first of four catches today in open water in Metrica south in Jetztar Falls in the lake there.

Edited August 27, 2022 by Luthan.5236

[GRUE.9754]

I too am having severe issues with the Astrolabe. I have spent many hours on this one thing alone in various maps that have lake fish with various baits, trying different characters and playing with fishing power. 725-775 seems to give me the most treasure drops and I have gotten many of every one of them except the Astrolabe. I even dumped a bunch of PvP and WvW potions into the rewrd tracks and stacked up multiples of every "treasure" except the Astrolabe. It has to have a precursor level drop rate or is missing from the drop table. RNGesus can't be this bad.