Guide:Recommended Baits
Guide- JessicaWho's guide to recommended Bait for Bless Unleashed.
I just want to preface this guide with a few notes and disclaimers.
First these recommendations are still a work in progress, I will continue my quest to create the ultimate fishing resource for the Bless community and update my guide periodically.
I spent a several weeks and thousands of pieces of bait initially. This has been however ongoing for months and I have continued to collect my data as well as data from others. I went to all the usual spots, the regional contest zones, and also found some off the beaten path and put my line in the water anywhere the game would allow.
I tracked my results on spreadsheets. I find that different days and times the fish respond differently. Day 1 a fish really responds heavily to X bait, and day 2 it still responds to X, but it also kind of likes Y. A lot of fish still have relative preferences, and some will bite at anything.
It IS POSSIBLE to catch any fish with any bait. But it is a matter of RNG and law of averages. It will go much faster for you using the recommended bait.
MOST IMPORTANTLY- Please remember fishing has A LOT of variables, and the almighty RNG will ALWAYS play a factor.
A few fishing basic tips
Nice things to have- none of them currently necessary- but it definitely will help a lot:
Estate fishing pond- get one, rank it up. It temporarily increases your casting distance. The bigger/rarer fish tend to be out further.
If you are going for the easy catch, go for hotspots; if you are going for common fish and size, ignore them and cast out as far as possible - look where you are casting and find the deep waters.
Fisherman's stew- helps reduce the biting time.
Shoulderguards of Concentrated Opportunity also greatly reduce biting time.
- IMPORTANT****When your line is in the water watch your rod- don’t try to hook the fish until you see the tip of the rod bend down- ignore the vibration and watch the rod.
Work on upgrading your gear as quickly as possible. The rare fish do not come easily until gear is purple. Rares are definitely possible at blue- but become easier at purple. I find that prioritizing the line upgrade first increases your chance to catch out of your standard size class. You still want to try and upgrade the gear fairly equally. You can breakdown the fish at a pyre for mats or sell it whole at a vendor for gold- bigger and rare fish are worth more gold- any fish over 40cm can produce pearls if broken down. Over 100cm fish can produce 2-3 pearls.
Now let’s get to the bait! I am listing by fish 1st with most preferred bait 2nd with next most preferred bait -may have notes following.
| Fish | Best bait | 2nd best bait |
|---|---|---|
| ambon puffer | small worm | cheap compound (will bite at most anything) |
| ballan wrasse | special cut | cheap compound |
| barracuda | all baits | |
| bitterling | special cut | |
| black banded hogfish | small worm | special cut |
| blackmouth angler | cheap compound | small worm |
| blue tang | cheap compound | special cut |
| cherry anthis | cheap compound | special cut |
| cigar wrasse | special cut | small lump fish meal |
| forktail large eye bream | small worm | cheap compound |
| golden butterfly | special cut | |
| golden damsel | cheap compound | |
| half chromis | all baits | |
| koi | cheap compound | |
| leopard mandarin | special cut | |
| longfin trevally | cheap compound | |
| ocean perch | all baits | |
| panther puffer | cheap compound | |
| polkadot loach | special cut | cheap compound (will bite others* low catch rate) |
| red seabream | special cut | |
| spiny chromis | special cut | |
| splendid alfonsino | cheap compound | small worm |
| striped beryx | special cut | cheap compound |
| threespot angelfish | special cut | cheap compound |
| tidepool gunnel | special cut | |
| tropical silverside | all baits | |
| trumpetsnout | all baits | |
| whitetipped mackerel | special cut | small worm (will bite others* low catch rate) |
| yellow chromis | cheap compound | special cut |
| yellowsail red bass | special cut | cheap compound |
* denotes a lower catch rate and subject to possible change with more data
While the fish will definitely bite at more bait than is listed- these recommendations are your best chances with the current data collected. Some content creators have speculated that bigger bait equals bigger fish. I found this to be untrue- my biggest fish to date was caught with small worms. Additionally ranked up equipment also does not necessarily equal bigger fish. Players winning worldwide competitions for size of fish have done so with blue equipment.