Fishing My Days Away

     Fishing is one of the great stress relievers of all time, moreso for you than the poor fish that keep getting hooked and yanked out of the water. In Neopia, it is not as stress-free as you would hope! There is a lot riding on what you are able to pull up from the ocean's depths and the value of the different items you could obtain.

     To start fishing you will want to head down to the Ye Olde Fishing Vortex, a deep cavern in Maraqua that has a beautiful dock and a helpful crew to sell you fishing wares. You'll see other Neopians with rods and nets and boats all trying to catch the next big fish! Fishing is a game of patience, and I mean a whole lot of patience. You'll want to drop your line in the ocean and then you start waiting. You have the option to "Reel In Your Line", which will pull your line up and reveal what has hooked on to your bait. If you do this too quickly then you won't have anything and you'll be told to be more patient. There is no easy guideline to how long it will take for a fish to hook on to your line, but often it is at least a few hours. Some people report as short as two to three hours, while other have waited twelve hours to a whole day!

     My best recommendation is to reel up your line when you get up and the morning and then recast it, and then check again before you go to bed. If you pull up too often you are just restarting the timer and you won't ever catch anything that way. It's best to be PATIENT, that is the theme here.

     The timer is also specific to your Neopet that you have fishing, not your account as a whole. So you can have all of your pets casting separate lines, all you have to do is switch your active pet. This way you can pull up five to six lines at a time and greatly increase your chances. Fishing levels are also pet-specific, so if you fish every day with one pet and none of the others, you may have a pet with level 100 fishing and the rest at one. If you are dedicated to fishing, whether it is for profit, an avatar, or for fun, it is most advantageous to utilize each one of your Neopets when fishing. Be careful when transferring pets though, their level is locked to your account. So if you transfer 'Pet A' to a friend, their fishing level will be reset, but if your friend transfers 'Pet A' back to you the levels will be regained. This helps keep people from lending out fishing pets just for the avatar.

     If you are looking for a quick way to increase your fishing level, maybe you should hit the books! "Fishing Made Easy" is a very affordable and easy to obtain book that will boost your pet's fishing level a little bit. The maximum fishing level at the moment appears to be level 500!

     Why do levels matter though? The higher level your pet is at fishing, the more items they can obtain! And there are some rare and valuable items out there.

     The first major milestone is at level 80, it is around this time that you can fish up a "Titanic Giant Squid". This elusive fish will grant you an avatar if you are able to fish him up. I have heard of people getting over level 150 before they even see an appearance of this guy, so if you really want this avatar you should be visiting twice a day on each and every one of your pets.

     There are also a few books you might pull up, like around level 20 you can get the aforementioned "Fishing Made Easy" book. The rarest book can be found around level 100, known as "Secret of the Bogberries". My personal favorite appears around level 45 and is the "Ancient Shopping List Scroll", it'll give you a glimpse at what ancient populations used to buy at the grocery store...if you're able to translate the text.

     There are a few water-based Petpets that lurk in the deep of the ocean as well, like the Kora which can be fished up around level 70. There is also the cutest undersea Petpet, the Nupie, which you can pull up around level 40. The rarest is the Surzard, a blue reptilian looking Petpet that you have to be at least level 100 to fish up.

     Fishing is also a great way to furnish your aquatic or Maraquan themed Neohome, as you can find a lot of kelp or cave rocks. In the early levels you will find some not so nice Giant Red Kelp or Shimmery Seagrass, but once you become a more skilled fisherpet then you can get the gorgeous Magic Crystalline Kelp or Starry Sea Fern.

     Of course, while fishing you can also catch actual fish. There are a lot of weird things lurking in the deep. The Eyefish that can be pulled up around level 40 has bucked teeth and a massive eye. After level 100 you will fish up some more bizarre and dangerous fish. The Bombfish, an actual bomb, or the Spectral Shrimp (who knows what he is capable of). The fiercest and rarest of all fish though comes when you are over level 250. This is the Neopet-Eating Carp. I'm not sure why you'd want to catch this.

     The rarest item of all however, is the Flask of Rainbow Fountain Water. No one is sure how these flasks ended up at the bottom of Maraqua but if you are lucky enough to fish one up (around level 90), then you could sell it for hundreds of thousands of neopoints. Almost a million! Giving this to your pet will change it to a random color, you never know what it could be. It could save you millions on a rare paint brush, or you could end up as some cheap color you don't even like. If I fish one of these up I am putting it straight into my shop, I'd rather have the money!

     What will you fish up?