El's Extreme Anglin' - World of Warcraft Fishing Guide // Advanced Topics // The Role of Skill (Revised)

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  This topic considers the role skill plays in fishing. This analysis applies to patch 3.1. Information here is based on the public test realms. For analysis of the role of skill before patch 3.1, read The Role of Skill (Original). On this page:

  • Summary
  • Approach
  • Analysis
  • Appendix: Sample Data
  • Learn More

Summary

You can now fish anywhere with fishing skill 1. Each area still requires a certain fishing skill to catch regular fish from open water. If your effective fishing skill is below this value, a proportion of your casts into open water will catch "junk" items. These junk catches replace the message "your fish got away".

There are 8 common junk items (Driftwood, Empty Clam, Sickly Fish, Tangled Fishing Line, Tattered Cloth, Torn Sail, Weeds and Withered Kelp) and 5 uncommon junk items (Empty Rum Bottle, Old Boot, Rock, Tree Branch and Water Snail).

The percentage chance of catching a worthwhile fish when your fishing skill is below the skill required to fish without junk = (current fishing skill as % of area's no-junk skill) ^ 2. The "no-junk skill" was formerly known as the skill required to stop get-aways.

For example: The Frozen Sea requires fishing skill 575 to fish without junk. Assume your effective fishing skill is 400. 400 as a percentage of 575 is 70%. 70% to the power 2, is 48%: With 400 fishing skill, only half your casts will catch a fish.

With patch 3.3, junk will never be caught from pools. Only fishing skill 1 is required to fish pools effectively.

Approach

I hired a Knight of the Ebon Blade, equipped them with various poles and lures, and sent them off to three different areas of water:

• The Cape of Stranglethorn (225 fishing skill to prevent junk - shown "Stranglethorn Vale" in the graph)
• Tanaris (300 fishing skill to prevent junk)
• The Frozen Sea (575 fishing skill to prevent junk)

Tests were conducted with a fixed amount of personal skill. For example, 75 personal fishing skill by not training beyond Apprentice rank.

For each area of water, several samples were taken at different skill levels. Each sample contained at least 200 casts. The numbers of worthwhile catches and junk were recorded. (Actually, the original research recorded "get-aways", and a day later junk replaced "get away" messages.)

The raw data is shown in the appendix, and summarised in the graph below.

Casts That Catch a Worthwhile Fish by Fishing Skill

The solid curved lines are "best fit" trend lines for each location.

Analysis

The patterns at each location are similar. If we express the fishing skill (on the bottom x-axis) as a proportion of the skill required to fish without junk, the data from all 3 locations merges, as shown in the graph below. Each "+" is a sample.

Role of Fishing Skill

The trend line (the curve) is based on this formula:

The percentage chance of catching a fish when your fishing skill is below the skill required to fish without junk = (current fishing skill as % of area's no-junk skill) ^ 2.

For Gnomish statisticians: The R-squared of this line is 99% - a good match to the sample data.

We cannot prove that the curve cuts the left y-axis at 0%, because we cannot fish at skill 0 (or 1) without skill rising to 75. 0% has been assumed in the formula.

Appendix: Sample Data

Learn More

• (Not) Catching Junk - Explains why you might catch junk items, and how to avoid them.
• Fishing Skill - Introduces the concept of fishing skill, and explains how your skill will increase with successful catches.
• 3.1 Changes - Patch 3.1's changes to fishing, including new fishing poles and Wintergrasp.
• The Role of Skill (Original) - Considers the role skill plays in fishing. Pre-patch 3.1 analysis.
• Zone Base Fishing Skill - Detailed analysis that attempts to answer the question, what fishing skill will I need to fish in a certain zone?