Did fishing changed

[SLAINE]

I played back in 2021 and got all Legend fish.
Sure I had the top equipment, but I remember that I always are comfortable with the fishing mini game even during leveling.

Now I started new after the update 1.6
I am "stuck" with the training rod even at level 5 fishing I cannot handle the fibre rod, and need to get back to the training rod.
Was the minigame always that difficult?
Will it be that much easier leveled at max + equipment?

Maybe I am just remembering it wrong, but it feels way harder.

[Anzaman]

Haven't noticed any change myself.

But each level increases your fishing bar, making it easier to keep the fish within the area. And once you get rod that can take tackle, I'd recommend trap bobber, as it causes fish to escape at slower pace.

Once you reach Fishing Mastery, you can get new rod which can take two tackles. You could slot trap bobber on both of them.

[Útost Alronbem]

Always was.
There is a rumour that fishing zones got overhauled, instead of 5 tiers there are 7 now. And the zone distribution is probably unknown currently. My intel source: see the notice above https://stardewvalleywiki.com/Fishing#cite_ref-fishing_zone_2-0 .
On top of that, as RNG was nudged towards more fair distribution in 1.6 , you tend to get more difficult fish slightly more often once you reach skill requirement needed to try to catch it.
Which leads to overall feeling of fishing becoming harder in 1.6 .

Upd.
If you made it to Year 1 Winter with Fishing skill below 9 (and without surplus Deluxe Bait) - it's worth skipping fishing until Year 2 Spring because of that. Current winter fishing indeed can make unprepared people weep...

[Raraldor]

been playing on and off for a while now, I can confidently say that nothing has changed in at least the past 5 years when it comes to fishing mechanics.

A couple tips in case you're just rusty:

The green bar is effected by gravity, as in the longer you let the bar drop before left clicking the further down the bar will go before finally stopping.

I always hold down left click once I catch a fish, basically as a prediction that the fish will shoot up the bar. Since the more difficult fish will immediately rise up to the top 3/4 of the bar seeing it happen and then reacting takes too much time.

[SLAINE]

Okay, thx for your answers.

Then I might just remember the max lvl, plus equip too much as "default-feeling".

I might load my old savegame and check that setup.
Last thing come in my mind, that I now play via steamdeck in a dock on my smartTV.
But I played with pad back then too.

[Maya-Neko]

Overall sounds like you've not trained by using the training rod and now you've problems with stronger fish, because you've not trained.

Generally it is best to never use that training rod at all, because it robs you of the most important part of the early levels of fishing, as being able to cast the rod further and being in autumn or winter usually makes you fish stronger fishes. Going against them untrained just makes it harder to build up the muscle memory, once frustration kicks in.

[Kronos_Baggins]

I had a save about a year ago where I fished all the fish, including the legendaries, to get the achievement. After I was done I felt like could say that I was good at fishing. And then I haven't played for months and only started the game again because of the update and now I feel like I'm bad and rusty (or simply can't be bothered to work really hard for a fish because I know I already got them once).

[ULTRA]

There wasn't any major change no, just set up flounder, midnight carp and midnight squid ponds, make seafoam pudding with qi seasoning, slap a trap (for legendaries) or cork (for regulars) bobber on your iridium rod, enchant the rod with master and victory is assured

[TamanduaGirl]

I actually felt like it was easier with 1.6, because I remembered it being impossible so always used the mod to skip fishing before. But without the mod I caught enough fish, my first day fishing to get to level 2. I guess somehow I'm actually better at it now.

I'm guessing you're just rusty. Plus the last time you were playing you had probably already advance father along and it gets easier as you advance levels, so you're remembering the best of the past as humans do. Try the town river first instead of the ocean or trying for legendaries right away.

[DaBa]

Nope, it's the same.