Bait with +% fishing mods. Do they REALLY work

[OberonMiM]

Ok so i was bored one night and since my fishing was kinda low i decided what the heck skill it up (and i did to 150)

Granted all i wanted to do was skill up so i bought the cheap generic bait but then but then it hit me.

The bait with fishing mod goes in the ammo slot. And for every other type of stat on an object NOTHING in the ammo slot will work. (ie i put my grandmaster smiths hammer in the ammo slot and i dont get any of the stats associated with it (dont know about the mod but never tested))

I guess something like this needs to be tested. I could probably just try to make an ethereal ring with just my gm smiths hammer in ranged (cause im 218 base i shouldn't be allowed to attempt it if it did not work). That would test if skill mods worked in ranged.

[fenedari]

A thought that may be old...

I noticed the other day that you do not have to have bait equiped in the ammo slot to use it.
I started keeping a stack of bait in an open inventory slot, ie. not in a bag.
It seemed to help me but then I was too tired to keep close track.

Just one of those things that everyone else probably knows but I did not. I am guessing that by being in an inventory slot, the % on the bait gets added.

Sorry I do not have a better answer, just a guess.
Good Luck and may the fish continue to bite.

Fenedari Freespirit
54th Lvl Enchanter of Test

[ChaseFV]

Well what *I* see

When I don't put bait in the ammo slot, I notice a lot more garbage catches (sandals & daggers). I guess the next time I'm overflowing with foraged bait, I'll have to try a stack both ways and see which is more productive.

[KyrosKrane]

This is actually a very subtle question. The FAQ only touches briefly on the topic:

Q: Do the lures or special poles with fishing bonuses on them mean I will use less bait?
A: Not really, though they will modify your base fishing skill, which gives you a better chance to catch fish, zone specials, etc. This may make you waste less bait on "junk" catches, but you're still going to lose bait/lures every time you catch a fish.

How does bait with modifiers work?

* Is it like stat food, in that the next bait to be used from your inventory applies its modifier to the cast?

* Is it like geerloks in that it must be equipped (in the ammo slot) to apply?

* Does it affect your skill for skill-restricted fishing combines in either of the cases? (I don't even know if there ARE any skill-restricted fishing combines.)

* Does it improve just your chance of not getting the "You caught, something..." message? (I'm guessing that this corresponds to the fail message for other tradeskills.) Or does it improve your chance of not getting trash (daggers, sandals, or scales) even when the game proudly announces, "You caught Rusty Dagger!"? Does it improve your chance of getting zone-specific fish instead of fresh fish?

Some of the questions also apply to fishing rods with modifiers. If we don't have the answers, these could be good candidates for the Fan Faire questions.

[ChaseFV]

You caught ... something

As far as the You caught... something message, I've noticed at 200 +x%, 90% (ballpark, not parsed figure) of my garbage catches (sandals & daggers) arrive with that message rather than the name of the item I've caught. This is nice, as the You caught... something message indicates that you haven't blown a bait on a useless catch.

[Luclingal]

bait

In my understanding the bait...if it works, because there is controversy over if ammo slot actually gives help at all. I'm thinking it does or there would be no reason to have the modifying bait, or have trophies go in ammo......

If you have a bait that is 3 % to fishing, and your fishing skill is at 100, then it is a modified 103. This means that: if at 100 you would receive 7 fresh fish, 4 zone specials, and 9 junk or lost bait out of 20 bait....then at 103 your chances of improving those numbers is slightly better. Like maybe you would get 1 more fresh fish instead of a junk item.

The higher you get the less junk/lost bait/broken poles you get. And the more equal fresh fish/zone specials ratio will be. (And the less you return with "you caught nothing" which is very nice...but doesn't effect your bait supply, so when looking for ratios it's over looked. But cutting down fishing time is definately an issue, higher skill does that as well..)

[Tudani]

The only way to test it is to have someone with an ammo equipable mod in brewing/smithing/tailoring who's below the level to make the etheral rings/sheets/swatches/tempers without the mod try it and see if it works.

[Troodon]

Note that it seems to be that bait wish a fishing modifier only works in ammo slot. By this I mean if it's in a bag, still works like normal bait, but you won't get the fishing mod unless it's an ammo.

While making blessed fishing rods I use a hermit crab in ammo as the equivalent of a geerlok, hehe.

[MySunshine]

I've never done any specific studies on the subject, but I do know that in my experience the modifier works anytime you are using the modified bait. I never put the purchased bait in the ammo slot. Only thing I ever have in there is a stack of fishing grubs or crabs, whatever I have foraged since I last fished. When that runs out, the next bait in my inventory is used.

Because I usually do 20 stacks of bait every time I go fishing, I get fairly uniform results. Anytime I have regular fishing grubs in the ammo slot I catch about one Cobalt Cod per stack, and any other time I catch about three per stack. I've gotten to the point I don't even save the grubs I forage, but I keep a fishing modified foraged bait like the crabs from Gunthak in there to keep from having a wasted few minutes of unmodified fishing.

When I first began buying Hintol's from Shadow Haven for fishing I noticed one exceptionally nice benefit...the time between casting and catching a fish is greatly reduced. I'll do a study to find out how much of a change there is, but it seems to reduce the time by one third to one half. That means a huge increase in my results that I absolutely refuse to give up.

[KyrosKrane]

I can just see it now:

<b>Focus Effect:</b> Fishing Haste III

[Circlemage]

For the "does anything have an effect when placed in ammo?" I agree you don't recieve stat bonuses from items equipped in the ammo slot but grab a summonned coldstone from your friendly neighbourhood magician and stick it in ammo and your vision improves dramatically (assuming your a nightblind race in the first place). Doesn't prove anything about fishing %mod's but does disprove the flat "Nothing has any effect when placed in ammo slot" argument.

[Morani]

The higher you get the less junk/lost bait/broken poles you get. And the more equal fresh fish/zone specials ratio will be.

I'm curious about what this opinion is coming from. I'm not trying to say you are wrong (I don't know what the "actual answer" is myself), I just want to know what you are basing you opinion on.

I have a theory based on my own experience (with only one character), some of what I've heard on this board, and an observed parallel with foraging. IMO, the skill has no effect on the ration of "commons" to "zone specials". I posted something a while back in a foraging thread giving my data etc.

I'll freely admit that I don't have a lot of data so the patterns I noticed my be flukes. That's why I'm curious about you opinion Luclingal.

[Nairn Niteraven]

Fishing mod

The only change I've ever noticed in Fishing, regardless of what pole/bait I was using was an increase in skill, and even that was only after 150 or so.

At 200 I catch *something* 99.9% of the time, much like max foraging.

One other question, if I'm at Fishing 200, using a +5 pole and a +4 bait, am I actually at 218 or is there a cap on it?

My guess is that it goes with the highest modifer you have and ignores the rest.

[GremlinClr]

One other question, if I'm at Fishing 200, using a +5 pole and a +4 bait, am I actually at 218 or is there a cap on it?

Well, since other tradeskill mods dont stack (i.e. geerlok + trophy), I would assume its the same with fishing. Itll just use whichever one is higher.

[Sanctu]

Hintol's Fishing Pole

MySunshine said, "When I first began buying Hintol's from Shadow Haven for fishing I noticed one exceptionally nice benefit...the time between casting and catching a fish is greatly reduced."

Really? How long did it take you before? How much time did it save?

Currently I have a Brell's Fishing Pole, and I've noticed I can click it 3 times to get Ale during one round of fishing, which would be about a tick. Is it faster with Hintol's Fishing Pole? Is it slower witha regular fishing pole?