Fishing St.Johns

[Chris]

Was fishing here last night for probably about 3 and half hours just freedom fishing. All i caught were common/mirror carp and 4 catfish, but there are supposed to be Bream, Tench and Roach here too. I fished with 18mm Activ-8 boilie, 12mm dumbell, white bread crusts and double medium sweetcorn.
Before last night i hadnt yet caught a Catfish, and i think this was mainly down to the fact that last night i bought an IQ-D size 6 rig, which brings me on to the question of realism. From playing last night what i gathered was the bigger the hook size, the bigger the fish you'll catch. But in real life, you wont get a monster carp that will be like oh, thats a nice big juicy hook, think i'll go for that. Hang on no, its the bait i want to eat...not the hook.

What are everyones views of this game in terms of realism? the size and type of fish you attract should be based on the type and size of the bait. So if you fish with a big boilie (18mm) but have a size 16 hook in it, you'll have a hard time keeping the fish on the hook, it will most likely spit the hook out straight away. This is what the game should simulate but it just simulates hook sizes attracting bigger fish instead of the bait, it seems to me at least. Like on St.Johns the biggest Carp i caught with a size 12 braided hair rig was 14lb using the same bait as when i fished with a size 6 IQ-D rig and with this the smallest Carp i caught was 15lb and i caught probably 3 or 4 of this size. Also strength of line, has anyone experienced this to be an issue when say you have light line equipped when hooking a monster and the line snaps with ease...like it would in real life? i have yet to really notice this. I shall continue experimenting with different tackle and baits and see what happens.

[darkje]

Yeah i think the same, even on a small hook, small bait and thin line you should occasionally hook a carp, and then of course have lots of trouble reeling it in or probably break the line or pull the hook.
In reality I've caught 25lb carp on a 3lb line, a size 16 hook with single grain of hemp and landed it, after a good hour fight. Also lost some huge bites with that gear, just because you can't stop the fish from going in obstacles without breaking the line or pulling the hook out, so even with skill it needs a high degree of luck to land a bigger fish on such gear. The other way around is less likely to happen: hooking a small roach on 20lb line with a size 4 hook and 20mm bait doesn't happen... but it does get an occasional big bream or even a tench. Here we do get ide(Leuciscus idus) a lot too, even on big baits, but those aren't in the game (yet?)

For real I seldom use more than a 15lb mono line and when I use that it's mostly on waters that have rocks, weeds or mussels to have some abrasion resistance. On lakes with a muddy bed and not much weeds I've used 10lb main line with 20lb shock leader for casting distances up to 140yd (3.5oz weight) to catch 60lb carp without problems...

Not all those factors are in the game, I don't blame it for that, but it could be a bit more realistic.

[Chris]

Do you think it actually takes a certain bait and tackle combo to catch each of the boss fish? also do they spawn at random parts of the lake at the start? or by your experience have you caught them anywhere? i have only caught in total 5 of the boss fish but Reinhold the Bream in the Observatory i have caught him 3 times but cant recall which part of the lake it was and if it was the same place each time.
Also what are your thoughts on the fish AI in general?

[darkje]

I got all carp bosses, most of them multiple times. Also got most cats, a few cats I haven't caught yet at st. johns, and only 1 missing in spain. I didn't put much time in catching the roach, bream and tench bosses, but got a few of those too. I've read somewhere on the forum they do spawn randomly and can be caught everywhere, but might favor certain spots, so it could well be you catch the same fish in the same spot time and again. I do feel it helps sticking to the bait advice in the boss descriptions, if it says to use a popup or boilie there, just do so, but don't worry about the flavors. It seems some fish are harder to catch -Observatory/Jester- to name one on heavy gear/big hook. Took me a while to find that one and then I caught it several times in the same session, so I guess it was down to the gear and bait I used.

In general I feel the fish ai is reasonable, but not over the top tricky except for some fish that have eluded me so far ;)

[Chris]

I caught the Roach boss fish called Roasted Toasted last night in the Observatory and in its description it says it prefers bread flakes but i caught it with an artificial bloodworm. Gear used was 8lb main line (what you get free at the start) and fished with a waggler size 20 hook. Caught in the North Eastern part of the lake, and was fishing only about 4 or 5 yards out, think there were weeds there but i guess that doesnt matter for waggler fishing. At least not in this game.

A few nights ago i caught 2 of the boss Carp fish on St.Johns- the 42lb and 46lb, both in the same session. Think time of day was between 12-1400, nice conditions clear sky, fishing a peg on the Eastern side (or say slightly NE) and the wind was blowing SE. Gear used was 15lb green braided line, IQ-D rig size 6 and Activ-8 Boilie 18mm. I'm gona give it a go now at that same peg, set start time to 1300 (playing in 24 hours so in real time) and same gear/bait. See if i catch them again. Maybe you could too, see if you catch them? might help prove that the boss fish do have favourite spots in the game.


EDIT:
So i have just done a few sessions. First session i was getting loads of runs but in the end biggest fish was 25lb 10oz mirror. Second session the runs werent at the same tempo as the first and the wind in this session blowing NW where in the first session it was S. I altered my tackle and bait setup. First session was using what i said i would use above and had the 18mm boilie on all 3 rods. Second session i changed to rod no.3 having 20lb brown coloured braided line with size 4 IQ-D rig and 20mm Tiger nuts as bait. Rod 1 had same as first session and rod 2 had same line and rig, but had 15mm popup boilie. As i said in this session there were longer lulls between runs (not that long) but caught a 27lb 13oz mirror which beat the biggest fish in first session by 2lb, and then i caught a beauty. That 27lb mirror was on rod 3, but i then caught the Brown Cat, a 42lb boss catfish on rod 1. So the second session was the winner, and the 3 boss fish i have caught at St.Johns have all been caught with the Activ-8 18mm boilie (The Big Common, Big Plated and Brown Cat).