Some tips on early XP and money

[Kid [A]]

I had a lot of success today, going from lvl 5 to lvl 10 relatively quickly, so I thought I would share...


I found Saint Zeno's to be the best place to farm for money and XP in the early game. The lake has several species of carp that can be very large, and profitable. Before going to Zeno's, I was trying really hard to catch anything over 3lbs. At Zeno's I began regularly pulling in 15lb + fish, including some mirror carp that were 40+ lbs, and worth $300+ each.

To catch these larger fish, switch to a #2/0 or #3/0 hook. With smaller hooks, you'll be pulling in plenty of small fish.

Otherwise, the standard gear will work fairly well, though a reel that gives you a lot more line can be useful for the 20lb + fish, who may easily take out all the line on your starter reel. It's worth spending a little extra here, since you'll make it back quickly, and future fisheries will have some much larger fish, for which you'll need a high end reel.

I found corn to be the most effective bait on this lake. It will allow you to catch large grass carp and mirror carp, and you can also get the occasional catfish with it. The carp bite on it very quickly, and there are large quantities of fish in the lake, so you won't need to search for them much.

I was bottom fishing by loading a little extra weight on my line, and it worked great. I'm not sure if you would get different results by keeping your floater above water.

I recommend fishing off of the dock. It allows you to cast farther into the lake, and from my experience, the dock area was the most heavily populated area.

Hunter vision will help you determine the size of the fish, but it's difficult to gauge the size of the fish that are far away. I found casting to the deeper schools of fish resulted in considerably larger catches. On this lake, deeper water seems to consistently yield bigger fish.

The mirror carp tend to be the best catch in my experience, but I haven't found a bait that they will take that the other carp won't. So I still think corn is your best bait.

Once you've leveled up and gained some cash, head to Baikal lake to catch Sturgeon. For that I recommend red worms.

Have fun.

[TragicDelight]

+1 good post

[hellspawn™]

+1

[thomasjohnsenhobro]

I just posted a small guide on how to navigate in UFS early levels. It may provide you some helpful tips and tricks on how best to level, while still trying different areas, types of angling etc.
I'm afraid it's a tad long to look through (in video form), but might still be worth it.

It is here: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1564916442


#EDIT: I haven't posted the last chapter yet, but I imagine it can be used as is.

[DrMarlboro]

As far as fish/minute played, betty lake-winter is probably better. All you need is access to a 6/0 hook and a worm, and you'll pull in fish incredibly regularly. Once you unlock it the 6/0 spoon is great as well (and functions the same as ice fishing with bait, no jigging required.) cant beat the money profit on the carp though.

[thomasjohnsenhobro]

I have been crunching some numbers - looking at caught fish of different species from a range of diffrent level characters in different areas. As far as I can tell, level has a little (note little here) bit to say - a level 10 character appears to get a bit more exp pr kg fish than a 12 level character would (same species, same area). Species of fish and area have no (or at most a very very minor) effect on experience gained per kg of fish. A record fish dosen't appear to give any bonus either.
That means in effect, that if you can catch Blue Marlin weighing 200 kg on average in half an hour (average) and Rainbow Trout weighing 20 kg on average in 2 mins (average), you are significantly better off fishing for Rainbow Trout.

Btw I just caught a Mahi Mahi weighing 20 kg. The gear I used had minimum breaking strength of 30+ kg for every item. The fish took 220 m line with the break on 80% and took some 3-4 mins to tire and land. It gave me less experience than a 22 kg Rainbow Trout that would take 20 secs to tire and land.

[Kid [A]]

Originally posted by thomasjohnsenhobro:

Btw I just caught a Mahi Mahi weighing 20 kg. The gear I used had minimum breaking strength of 30+ kg for every item. The fish took 220 m line with the break on 80% and took some 3-4 mins to tire and land. It gave me less experience than a 22 kg Rainbow Trout that would take 20 secs to tire and land.

I think you're right. The last fish I caught was a 34lb Mahi Mahi and it literally took 10 minutes. I think, without being able to catch marlin yet, I do the best xp/cash per hour by pulling in 20lb fish in Pinas with a slightly smaller lure/hook.

[Kid [A]]

Originally posted by thomasjohnsenhobro:

I just posted a small guide on how to navigate in UFS early levels. It may provide you some helpful tips and tricks on how best to level, while still trying different areas, types of angling etc.

Killer. Thanks. I'm browsing through it.