Fishing: Bait, Rods, Items and Seafood House production

 A new Hook in the form of the Halloween Hook has been added to the Hooks that can be used while Fishing and this Hook will catch special Halloween Fish.  A list of the Items that can be caught has been added to the Fishing Book List.

Since the last update of Family Farm at the beginning of April, I have noticed a big difference in the fishing option.  No longer does the upgraded 'middle' Fishing Rod suffice.  You need to purchase the highest grade of Fishing Rod for 15 RC if you do not wish to miss catches when you fish.  The rod is the Panda Bamboo Rod with 'high fishing accuracy'.

I noticed it particularly when I was fishing for items that required 200 bait.  I missed at least a third of my catches where previously, I never would have missed even one.  I bought the highest grade of Fishing Rod to see if it made a substantial difference in my success rate and it did.

Pity though!  We all were doing very well before this upgrade with the middle grade of Fishing Rod!

I suppose that it is only logical that the 'Seaside' version of Family Farm would introduce a Fishing option and expand it to include a Seafood House where items caught by the player can be processed as well as adding a large number of Seafood Recipes to the kitchen..

I have to confess that I did not enjoy the fishing option much with the original free rod.   Fishing with any rod can require a lot of 'bait' which the player can make by trading items produced on his/her farm.  It requires TIME and PATIENCE.  With the original rod,  in many cases, after playing the 'fish' or whatever is on the line for what appears to be a veritable eternity, the creature manages to escape, leaving one with an empty hook and lost bait.

What my own relationship with the fishing option might have been had it not been required for a quest I cannot say but it was made a requirement in a time-limited sequence of Quests entitled 'The Farm Beauty Contest'.   Three new recipes that required items caught while fishing were added to the Kitchen.  One had to produce three of each to complete one of the steps in the Quest.  I therefore had to make a valiant attempt to succeed at fishing.

The items that needed to be caught for that quest mainly are Octopi.  One needed a total of 6 Octopi as they are ingredients in two of the three seafood recipes.  Octopi are fast-moving, cunning creatures as I know from other games...  In Animal Crossing, New Leaf, Octopi are caught while diving but they are one of the more difficult creatures to catch as they tend to move quickly beyond the barrier, thus earning safety from the player's clutches.  In Family Farm Seaside, they apparently can be caught only if one uses a hook that requires 200 Bait per throw.  In six attempts, I caught only one Octopus.  I then decided that I would use my valuable RC to skip that particular step in the Quest.  For a total of 9 RC, I bought an end to frustration and peace of mind.  Probably one of my better FFS investments, in all honesty.

NOTE THAT THIS EXPERIENCE WAS WITH THE ORIGINAL WOODEN FISHING ROD.  AFTER I WAS ABLE TO UPGRADE MY FISHING ROD FOR 12,000 COINS, I WAS ABLE TO CATCH ITEMS WITHOUT TAPPING OVER 300 TIMES ON THE HOOK!  NOW, HOWEVER, SINCE THE GAME UPDATE AT THE START OF APRIL 2014, ONE MUST HAVE THE HIGHEST GRADE OF ROD TO CATCH ALL FISH.

I strongly urge players to invest 12,000 Coins in the Carbon Fibre Rod.  Fishing now is an important part of Family Farm Seaside and it is not fun at all if the player uses the original rod.  My own experience has been echoed by player after player.  The Carbon Fibre Rod is of 'medium' accuracy, however.  Until April 2014, that meant in effect that one never missed a catch but now, you will find that you may miss about a third of the catches with it.  It is only the 'high' accuracy fishing rod that costs 15 RC that now will allow you to make EVERY catch effortlessly.

There are many  Kitchen Recipes that use both raw Fish caught at the pier as well as Items processed from fishing catches in the Seafood House.  You will find all Kitchen Recipes on my Kitchen page, along with details as to how to obtain each ingredient.

When fishing, it is the HOOK that determines the type of fish or item you can catch.   ALL Items can be caught theoretically with any rod, but using the Carbon Fibre Rod allows the player a far greater chance of success with any 'hit' as well as drastically lowering the number of taps needed to 'reel it in'.    The Octopus that took over 300 taps to catch with the original rod took only 9 taps to catch with the Carbon Fibre Rod.  With the Panda Bamboo Rod, purchased with 15 RC, you will catch every fish.

I personally did not see the point of the Panda Bamboo Rod before April 2014, as I did very well with the 'medium accuracy' rod and completed my Fishing Book using that one.  With the update to the game at the start of April, however, the fish behaved very differently.  After a single tap, they would begin to rush away and it would be impossible in some cases to recover them.  I therefore decided to splash out on the 'high' accuracy rod and found that this was the key to success.

It is the HOOK that determines which items can be caught but the rod determines your level of success in catching ANYTHING.  Regrettably, there are quite a few items that require a hook that uses bait that must be purchased with 1 RC.  If you intend to spend RC to fish, it is better to spend it on the bait for items that cannot be caught otherwise.


The types of Hook are:

Squid Hook:  Requires 10 Bait per catch
Bone Fishhook:  Requires 50 Bait per catch
Treble Hook:  Requires 200 Bait per catch
Colourful Hook:  Requires 1 RC per catch

Halloween Hook: Requires 125 Bait per catch

If you wish to complete your Fish Book, you MUST use every type of Hook, including the Hook that costs 1 RC per catch.  Tap on the round icon of the Hook at the end of your Fishing Rod to access or change it.  The colours are:

Squid Hook: Blue
Bone Fishhook: White
Treble Hook: Red
Colourful Hook: Striped
Halloween Hook: Jack O'Lantern

You can access your Fish Book by tapping on the little closed book in the bottom right corner of your screen once you reach your Pier.    Here is a list of the Items in your Fish Book with the Hook required for each:

There are seven categories of Items.  Each has its own icon.

Fish Icon:

Yellow Croaker:
  Use Squid Hook

Tilapia:
  Use Squid Hook

Hairtail:
  Use Squid Hook

Flatfish:
  Use Squid Hook

Butterfish:
  Use Bone Fishhook

Merhaden:
  Use Bone Fishhook

Ray Finned Fish:
  Use Treble Hook

Sardine:
   Use Treble Hook

Salmon:
  Use Treble Hook

Mackerel:
  Use Treble Hook

Flower Horn Cichlid:
  Use Colourful Hook

Carp:
  Use Colourful Hook

Scallop Icon:

Scallop:
  Use Squid Hook

Janthinan Sea Snail:
  Use Bone Fishhook

Natica Sea Snail:
  Use Treble Hook

Sondylus:
  Use Colourful Hook

Shrimp Icon

Crayfish:
  Use Squid Hook

Mantis Shrimp:
  Use Bone Hook

Opossum Shrimp:
  Use Treble Hook

Coral Shrimp:
  Use Colourful Hook

Crab Icon

Mud Crab:
  Use Squid Hook

Blue Swimmer Crab:
  Use Bone Fishhook

Red Frog Crab:
  Use Treble Hook

King Crab
  Use Colourful Hook

Coral Icon

Coral:
  Use Squid Hook

Starfish:
  Use Bone Fishhook

Jellyfish:
  Use Treble Hook

Octopus:
  Use Treble Hook

Seahorse
  Use Colourful Hook

Seaweed Icon

Gulfweed:
  Use Squid Hook

Seaweed:
  Use Squid Hook

Wakame
  Use Bone Fishhook

Sea Lettuce:
  Use Bone Fishhook

Bottle Icon:

Old Boot
  Use Squid Hook

Message in a Bottle
  Use Bone Fishhook
  Can be accompanied by an extra reward of up to 150 OP

Bag of Sea Sand
  Use Treble Hook

Treasure Chest
  Use Colourful Hook
  For me, always caught this when I tapped the bottom right as close as possible to the pier.  It always was accompanied by 5 RC as well.

The Halloween Items are found in this category and are as follows:

Kraken
  Use Halloween Hook

Humpback Anglerfish
  Use Halloween Hook

Ghost Jellyfish
  Use Halloween Hook

Vampire Clam
  Use Halloween Hook

Skeleton Fish
  Use Halloween Hook

Skull Anchor
  Use Halloween Hook



Completing your Fish Book CAN be expensive in terms of premium Cash, but do note that, when I caught the Treasure Chest, I received 5 RC with it!  That basically reimbursed me for the cost of using the special Colourful Hook.

Items caught while fishing now can be processed in the new Seafood House as well.  The Seafood House must be built from an unfinished structure purchased in the Market.  It requires 15 Blue Tiles, 15 Bricks and 1 Red Crab.  The Blue Tiles and Bricks can be requested from Neighbours but the Red Crab has to be purchased with 4 RC, as I recall.  (Correct me if I am wrong about the name of that material... it is a Crab, in any case and appears to form the sign above the door of the House when it is completed.)

A completed Seafood House allows the player to process one item at a time.  Upgrades can be made however, to unlock more processing slots.  The first upgrade requires 10 Blue Tiles and 10 Bricks.

The Items caught when fishing all require different amounts of time to process.  For example, a Wakame piece of seaweed is processed in 12 minutes but a Scallop takes only 3 minutes.  In some cases, there is only one possible item to be made from the original ingredient but in others, there are probabilities that in rare cases allow the player to obtain more valuable items.

An example of this is the Coral.  When processed, the most probable result will be 8 bags of Coral Powder.  Less likely is a polished Coral Twig.  Even more remote is the possibilitiy of receiving a Coral Slice.  These processed items can be sold.  The Coral Powder is worth 6 Coins.  The Polished Coral Twig is worth 10 Coins and finally, the Coral Slice is worth 20 Coins.  Not much of a profit if one considers the value of the items one traded for bait!    One Cheddar Cheese makes only 5 Bait.  One Sugar makes 33 Bait.  One Sugar when sold from the barn is worth 138 Coins, a fairly hefty price.  One Cheddar Cheese is worth only  23 Coins but that still is more than the value of some of the  items that can be caught if one trades enough Cheddar Cheese to produce 50 or 200 Bait. 

Fishing, as for most people in real life, basically must be considered a labour of love rather than a viable business option, especially when one looks at the number of items that must be caught using bait that costs 1 RC.

As previously stated, success in fishing very much depends on the player's choice of Fishing Rod.  For 12,000 Coins, you can upgrade your original Wooden Rod.  It makes an incredible difference and is worth the cost!  If you wish to be able to avoid any escapes, however, you will need the Panda Bamboo Rod.

The Wooden Fishing Rod is the default and is free.  It has a Low Fishing Accuracy.

The Carbon Fishing Rod costs 12,000 Coins and has a Medium Fishing Accuracy

The Panda Bamboo Rod coast 15 RC and has a high Fishing Accuracy.

When you receive Stars for a Catch, that appears to depend on the number of taps needed to catch that item.  I caught only one Message in a Bottle but received three stars (the maximum) because it took only 2 taps.

Here are some of the items one can catch with their values:

Opossum Shrimp: 847 Coins
Yellow Croaker: 22 Coans
Ray-Finned Fish: 907 Coins
Wakame: 159 Coins
Coral Shrimp: 200 Coins
Starfish: 204 Coins
Janthinan Sea Snail: 184 Coins
Sardine: 689 Coins
Mud Crab: 37 Coins
Salmon: 803 Coins
Nautica Sea Snail: 856 Coins
Tilapia: 41 Coins
Old Boot: 25 Coins
Octopus: 1056 Coins
Mackerel: 744 Coins
Sack of Bait: 1 Coin
Red Frog Crab: 588 Coins
Hairtail: 33 Coins
Mud Crab: 37 Coins
Bag of Sea Sand: 200 Coins
Mantis Shrimp: 192 Coins
Menhaden: 170 Coins
Seaweed: 53 Coins
Gulfweed: 20 Coins
Jellyfish:  542 Coins
Butterfish: 155 Coins
Message in a Bottle: 200 Coins
Crayfish: 44 Coins
Blue Swimmer Crab: 176 Coins
King Crab: 200 Coins
Spondylus: 200 Coins
Sea Lettuce: 209 Coins
Treasure Chest: 200 Coins
  Gave me 5 RC when I caught it.
Flower Horn Cichlid: 200 Coins
Carp: 200 Coins
Seahorse: 200 Coins

Processed:
Smoked Yellow Croaker: 60 Coins
Steamed Opossum Shrimp: 190 Coins
Sack of 200 Bait: 1 Coin
Dried Wakame: 89 Coins
Steamed Blue Swimmer Crab: 180 Coins
Crab Roe: 250 Coins
Cooked Sea Lettuce: 231 Coins
Cooked Red Frog Crab: 601 Coins
Dried Scallop: 10 Coins
Coral Powder: 6 Coins
Pearl: 15 Coins
Conch: 103 Coins
Raw Sea Snail: 221 Coins
Sea Snail Shell: 103 Coins
Steamed Mantis Shrimp: 216 Coins
Dried Starfish: 210 Coins
Polished Coral Twig: 10 Coins
Steamed Mud Crab: 40 Coins
Crab Stick: 10 Coins
Brined Seaweed: 55 Coins
Algae Clay: 50 Coins
Octopus Meat: 351 Coins
Squid Ink: 200 Coins
Salted Jellyfish: 193 Coins xx
Algae Powder: 9 Coins
Shrimp Meat: 46 Coins
Shrimp Ball: 4 Coins

The original raw items with the possible processed products include:

Gulfweed: Makes Algae Powder x 3, with a low probability of obtaining 1 bag of 25 Organic Fertiliser and 1 Bag of 6 Super Fertiliser

Wakame:  Makes 2 Dried Wakame

Seaweed: Makes 1 Brined Seaweed with a low probability of obtaining 1 Algae Clay

Octopus: Makes 3 Octopus Meat with a low probability of obtaining 1 Squid Ink

Jellyfish: Makes 3 Salted Jellyfish

Nautica Sea Snail:  Makes 4 Raw Sea Snail with a low probability of obtaining 1 Sea Snail Shell as well

Mud Crab: Makes 1 Steamed Mud Crab with a low probability of obtaining a Crab Stick as well.

Opossum Shrimp:  Makes 1 Steamed Opossum Shrimp with a low probability of obtaining 1 Sack of 200 Bait as well

Starfish:  Makes 1 Dried Starfish with a low probability of obtaining 3 Starfish Spawn as well

Blue Swimmer Crab: Makes 1 Steamed Blue Swimmer Crab with a low probability of obtaining 2 Crab Sticks and 1 Crab Roe as well

Crayfish: Makes 1 Shrimp Meat with a low probability of obtaining 3 Shrimp Ball as well

Coral; Makes Coral Powder x 8 with a low probability of obtaining one Coral Twig and one Coral Slice


Sea Lettuce: Makes Cooked Sea Lettuce

Red Frog Crab: Makes Cooked Red Frog Crab with a small probability of obtaining 1 Crab Roe as well

Janthinan Sea Snail:  Makes 2 Conch Shells

Scallop: Makes 4 Dried Scallop with a small probability of obtaining 1 Pearl


Note that only some of the items that you catch when fishing can be processed in the Seafood House.  Those Items that can be processed will appear in the Seafood House Menu.

I have no special knowledge of the plans of the developers of Family Farm Seaside, but I would be much surprised if these items do not appear as Recipe ingredients in the near future.  I therefore strongly would suggest that players store them rather than selling them.

Meanwhile, there is another 'Machine' in the form of the Smoke House that allows Players to make Smoked Seafood and Fish of various types.  I had thought the Smoke House would be classified as a Building but it is a Machine.

Smokehouse Items:

Smoked Yellow Croaker: 60 Coins
Smoked Hairtail: 77 Coins
Smoked Tilapia: 84 Coins
Smoked Flatfish: 106 Coins
Smoked Butterfish: 265 Coins
Smoked Menhaden: 275 Coins
Smoked Ray-Finned Fish: 1101 Coins
Smoked Sardine: 1080 Coins
Smoked Salmon: 1093 Coins
Smoked Mackerel: 1088 Coins


At the end of November, quite a large number of new Seafood Recipes were added to the Kitchen.  They use both the most common processed Items as well as the least common items one can obtain by processing a fishing catch in the Seafood House.  They are included on my Kitchen Page.  A few items, such as the Seahorse and the King Crab as of yet cannot be used in any Recipe or processing machine.  It will be interesting to see what happens...

Extra Rewards from Fishing
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Fishing may not be to every Farmer's taste but often extra Rewards that are quite useful can be 'caught' with an Item while fishing.  For example, the Message in a Bottle can be accompanied by up to 150 OP and there are other 'useless' Items such as the Boot that can carry extra Rewards.  RC, OP, a Sack of Bait and Fertiliser are some of the extra Rewards that can be 'caught' with a regular Item.