[Discussion] Wild Bait Seems Impractical

[Bomoo]

So I just got the recipe for wild bait, and was astonished to discover at how much more expensive it is in terms of bug meat. It's 1 bug meat for 1 bait, which gets consumed if you happen to pull up algae or something. So, essentially, I'd have to spend 3/4 of my time in the mines farming bug meat to be able to have one day of fishing with this wild bait. Come on.

I crafted some to try it out (after an afternoon farming bug meat in the mines), and how much better it is is completely irrelevant simply because of the ridiculous amount of farming it takes to craft any decent amount of it. For the record, I'm at fishing 10 with the best equipment.

[Aramazon]

Yes, I noticed this too. What benefit does it offer over normal bait? It says all fish like it, but beyond a slightly higher bite rate I can't imagine any other benefit. Also, even without the wild bait, normal bait is pretty quick on the bite.

[moop]

Im guessing maybe its for when you want to catch rare/legendary fishies?

[Bomoo]

Originally posted by silverishkitten:

Im guessing maybe its for when you want to catch rare/legendary fishies?

It all gets burned on seaweed/algae/normal fish long before you run into a legendary. And I've caught a legendary just fine without wild bait.

[Aramazon]

You know, now that you mention it, I did seem to have a less bouncy time of it when I was using wild bait. Is it possible that it keeps the fish more attached to the bar because it's eating your bait?

[Bomoo]

Me, I didn't hook a single even remotely difficult fish while using wild bait. I think in terms of mats, a better place for wild bait to be would be to substitute the 5 bug meat for, let's say, 10 regular bait in its crafting recipe. Bug meat is kinda tough to come by unless you take days and days farming it, and bait is basically bug meat already. Either that or reduce the bug meat cost to maybe 2. I would strongly argue 5 is waaaaaaaaaay too much for the marginal benefit it gives over regular bait, which has the added convenience of being purchasable from Willy.

[CeliriaRose]

I don't think your supposed to soley rely on that for bait. There are also the worm bin and the ability to find bait through treasure.

[ASwarmOfKittenz]

Bait costs only a cheap $5 and you can buy 999 of it easily.

[Aramazon]

But if it is intended to help catch Legendary fish then I'd say it's fine. Don't fish with wild bait regularly. If you're fishing in the right spot for a legendary fish, it pops up quite often.

[Bomoo]

Originally posted by Aramazon:

But if it is intended to help catch Legendary fish then I'd say it's fine. Don't fish with wild bait regularly. If you're fishing in the right spot for a legendary fish, it pops up quite often.

Fair enough, I guess. If only you could buy bug meat from Willy instead of bait. I'd totes pay double the cost, per bait, for raw bug meat. Even makes thematic sense, you know? He's got bins and buckets full of live worms and other buggy fellers for sale.

[YukoValis]

it doesn't seem worth it, I agree. Now if it lasted awhile, that might be something. Like a lure, and say after 20 fishes it would vanish. Pair this with a better catch rate, and whatever else it has, and yes this would be a good upgrade.

[nickwithtea]

It's not worth it

at level 10 fishing with a trap bobber you can catch any legendary fish easily

[Bomoo]

Originally posted by nick:

It's not worth it

at level 10 fishing with a trap bobber you can catch any legendary fish easily

Exactly.

[Proteus]

I for my part use wild bait only for my crab pots.
It seems to increase the chances that you catch anything meaningful, instead of just trash (although trash of course also has its uses with recycling machines)

[Hurodrik]

Originally posted by Proteus:

I for my part use wild bait only for my crab pots.
It seems to increase the chances that you catch anything meaningful, instead of just trash (although trash of course also has its uses with recycling machines)

Really? I wondered if it would make any difference, but never tried because of how resource intensive wild bait is.

[Elegant Caveman]

I went fishing for Glacierfish, crafted 5 wild bait to test.

With the wild bait, I think 3 of the 5 bites were Glacierfish. Then I ran out and had to switch back to regular bait.

He showed up way less often after that...

So it seems that wild bait specifically attracts bigger/better fish. Good to use when you're trying to catch those rarer fish.

I haven't tried it yet, but it might be useful for the mine fish, since those seem to be pretty rare, usually getting algae & trash instead of a fish.