ThePedroKid

My overall favorite rod/reel combo in the game for it's handling and such is the Basscaster with Counselor reel... It's the Sweet Baby Ray's of FP. It's obviously a specialty set up that can't work everywhere, but I love when I can pull it out. Essentially, it breaks down like this (I carry 7 rods).. Zeus/thunderspin/.6mm flouro, Brutus/thunderspin/.55m flouro, Nora/calisto or whatever/~4kg line, fenix/10.5kg reel to match/9.1kg braid, jigwinner (the most versatile of the light rods)/6kg reel/5.6kg line, thora/9.5kg reel/9.1kg line, basscaster/counselor/braid. I do like the feel of other rods more though and I use them whenever... the featherlite series is awesome fun to use and I roll the Fenix because it's way more interesting than a brutus as far as match rods go. The game seriously needs another step up in Match rods; however. The Brutus is underpowered for the top lines, etc., available. I don't know a single person who uses GalaxyCast or CosmoCast... Two powerful rods (most in game actually) that never get used because... why? Zeus casts better and there isn't any line available to take advantage of the extra strength of those rods. Very odd that they are even around when there is no lines for them. The game also needs more Braid at the higher end... .28mm just doesn't cut it. 13kg?!?! really? Braid is the strongest line in the world yet it's not available in FP in stronger versions? Why only flouro at the top? Braid should surpass it.

I don't see FP as a competitive enough game for many of the problems described above to become real issues. Just about every single 'fishing hole' is well documented on YouTube with lures/baits/etc. well defined. Honestly, competitions seem more about RNG and managing RNG best more than anything. There are tricks to managing RNG systems for sure; however, given the results of many competitions I've been watching with friends in them over the past few days I'm not so sure it makes much, if any, difference. One friend in particular seems to be on a really bad RNG streak which makes almost no sense. I have a pretty good group that I fish with regularly that do compete heavily and do pretty well; however, I don't even enter competitions myself very often (I think I've only done 4 or 5 tbh, lol) and no one has shut me out. Maybe it's because I have over 500 uniques? haha I just don't see the more extreme competitiveness of other games like CoD or Destiny or whatever really coming into play here. I've literally seen an individual skip catching their last fish in a comp to come in third so someone else could get their challenge for getting first done. It's fishing people... lol. People who play a lot are naturally going to gravitate to others who play as frequently and frequent play often leads to better play. That's really about it. Otherwise, it's just personalities.

Safest using bobbers on fish that rarely steal bait. I.e., panfish

I’m glad Headshot expanded on broken cranks. They are starting to annoy. Basically, one of the most effective baits to just relax with is totally fubar currently. I hope there is a remedy in the pipeline.

Line needs tension to hit 2 dot. 3 dot requires a much faster retrieve.

They still ‘crack out’ a little more with preds but it’s kind of a pita knowing when a pred is around now, even with zoom.

^^ this you MUST hit square from the UI screen to ‘Enter Competition’. Otherwise, you are just fishing at the lake and not competing.

I agree the ‘strike’ button was probably over-softened in patch. Probably had to be though or walkers and poppers would be sailing through the air instead of water, lol.

Of the 9 or so uniques I’ve hunted since patch about six were within 2-3 casts. 2 within a dozen or so. 1 took a bit of experimentation so it took longer.

Thought a pred had to be near for them to crazy out

Spotted Bass love Walkers. Trophy/Unique happen fast.

It’s hard to notice unless you go to UI and look then forward time (same day) and look at UI again.

Oh... they are borked. Still catch fish but their depth is no where near accurate now lol. Watching my 1m crank dive 15m is hilarious. Depth rating doesn’t mean much now

Players at a pond are not sync’d with same weather and time. Everyone sees different conditions on their screen (unless they all collude to forward time to similar time/weather). Uni’s, as you likely know, require very specific conditions. Not everyone can catch them at same time unless their individual conditions overlap.

Seems like a less than enticing benefit. Some Dev response would be greatly appreciated to clear it up for sure.