What the hell is wrong with the ocean fish

[Dwight34]

I caught a fish from this E.X.A.C.T school in this E.X.A.C.T manner with the E.X.A.C.T same bait (and yes the rod does have the same bait put in again, I didn't just forget to reapply one), but now for some ungodly reason they REFUSE to bite. What the *** is wrong with them? Why won't they bite? No matter how much I follow them and try to catch them, they hang around the bait but won't bite at all. This is why fishing is overall so widely ignored or hated by players, I am doing EVERYTHING correctly, and first of all you absolutely need a guide to know a lot of this stuff, but even then, the fish won't bite and no explanation of any kind is given, what is going on??????!!!!! I am incredibly fed up with this stupid AI refusing to cooperate and refusing to tell me what it wants.

Am I just being trolled by this stupid AI? Do the fish roll a dice when they load to decide if they'll be little shits and refuse to bite no matter what? What is their problem? How is their chance to bite calculated?????

Edited October 5, 2025 by Dwight34

[viblym]

it'd be helpful if you listed what bait you're actually using, but sometimes the fish just don't like your vibes.

[ZeRoboButler]

fish typically will behave differently based on a couple of factors, weather and how you handle the bobber are the big ones, but bait is also important. Not to mention that each fish has bait that is more appealing to them specifically.

I know from personal experience that sun fish are considered small fish so they will go after the smaller lures, won't go for the large lures and the simplest way to get them is via a bent spork on the line as bait or the stupefying lure. With these two lures in particular, you will make the fish more willing to take the bait if you continue to reel in the line, making it look like more lively bait. 

In the case of wobsters, corn-cod, popper-fish, bloom-fin, and fall-ounder, these fish prefer the bait (if it is a plant or rot) to sit still in the water rather then have it move. 

Ultimately if you want fish to take the bait, the stupefying lure is always good as long as you wiggle it Infront of the fish. Hope this helps fill your net a little better. 

[Mr Giggio]

Size time AND wheater are the main things and if u use like stupefying in rain or snow it doesn't work, so triple checking once u said u did the homework (many times)

[mima_]

use stupefying bait then u wont be any of this problem

[Lovens]

On 10/5/2025 at 2:06 PM, Dwight34 said:

I caught a fish from this E.X.A.C.T school in this E.X.A.C.T manner with the E.X.A.C.T same bait (and yes the rod does have the same bait put in again, I didn't just forget to reapply one), but now for some ungodly reason they REFUSE to bite. What the *** is wrong with them? Why won't they bite? No matter how much I follow them and try to catch them, they hang around the bait but won't bite at all. This is why fishing is overall so widely ignored or hated by players, I am doing EVERYTHING correctly, and first of all you absolutely need a guide to know a lot of this stuff, but even then, the fish won't bite and no explanation of any kind is given, what is going on??????!!!!! I am incredibly fed up with this stupid AI refusing to cooperate and refusing to tell me what it wants.

Am I just being trolled by this stupid AI? Do the fish roll a dice when they load to decide if they'll be little shits and refuse to bite no matter what? What is their problem? How is their chance to bite calculated?????

Hey, what was the bait you used? The ocean fishing is a lot more complicated than it seems, if you want to go into deeper detail I can recommend you this excellent fishing guide:

Here are some TL;DR's from it I can share based on your screenshot and the type of fish you were trying to catch (and to explain what could have affected the outcome):

• If you are using any bait that spoils (rot, figs, berries or seeds) you need to sit still and not ever move the bait. Reeling the bait closer will lower the attractiveness of the organic bait and make fish less likely to bite it. 
• If you were using a lure that works based on the time of day, lure will be less efficient during other day times. For example, succeeding with a nightflyer spoon at night doesn't mean you will succeed with it on the next fish if it just became morning. 
• If you just reeled one with the heavy weighted lure and can't reel another one, it's also perfectly explainable. Heavy weighted lure only attracts heavy fish and has a very low chance to attract the rest of the fish in the shoal. Usually the shoal spawns with 0-2 heavy fish on average, meaning if you just reeled the only heavy one, there likely won't be another one and you should change the lure. 

[Dwight34]

3 hours ago, Lovens said:

Hey, what was the bait you used? The ocean fishing is a lot more complicated than it seems, if you want to go into deeper detail I can recommend you this excellent fishing guide:

Here are some TL;DR's from it I can share based on your screenshot and the type of fish you were trying to catch (and to explain what could have affected the outcome):

• If you are using any bait that spoils (rot, figs, berries or seeds) you need to sit still and not ever move the bait. Reeling the bait closer will lower the attractiveness of the organic bait and make fish less likely to bite it. 
• If you were using a lure that works based on the time of day, lure will be less efficient during other day times. For example, succeeding with a nightflyer spoon at night doesn't mean you will succeed with it on the next fish if it just became morning. 
• If you just reeled one with the heavy weighted lure and can't reel another one, it's also perfectly explainable. Heavy weighted lure only attracts heavy fish and has a very low chance to attract the rest of the fish in the shoal. Usually the shoal spawns with 0-2 heavy fish on average, meaning if you just reeled the only heavy one, there likely won't be another one and you should change the lure. 

I was using rot, the exact bait I used to catch the same type of fish from that exact same school a few seconds before. It really just seems like they roll a dice when they spawn to know if they will ever bite or not, because they kept moving around my bait but never biting for no reason, no matter how many times I tried.

[mima_]

3 minutes ago, Dwight34 said:

I was using rot, the exact bait I used to catch the same type of fish from that exact same school a few seconds before. It really just seems like they roll a dice when they spawn to know if they will ever bite or not, because they kept moving around my bait but never biting for no reason, no matter how many times I tried.

well.. did u place another rot after catching the previous fish ? 
because rot seed berry and other natural bait is one use only . after u catch the bait disappear..

 

ah i didnt see u change the post.
nvm then well i like fishing in this game XD
and i never really got the problem.
the assumed problem was denied and there no other way to see if the claim in the situation was true or not..
better luck next time ig.. stupefying lure is really easy to get and the recipe and cost to craft one is easy to get ..

[Well-met]

i noticed this problem too so now i just put trawlers everywhere instead because fishing was always unreliable and frustrating

[Lovens]

1 hour ago, Dwight34 said:

I was using rot, the exact bait I used to catch the same type of fish from that exact same school a few seconds before. It really just seems like they roll a dice when they spawn to know if they will ever bite or not, because they kept moving around my bait but never biting for no reason, no matter how many times I tried.

Make sure that you don't forget to replace the bait after each catch if you use any organic bait (rot, berries, figs or seeds) and never move the organic bait after you throw the rod. Here's a video I recorded showcasing how to catch spittlefish using berries. You can see that when I move the bait, fish lose interest but when it sits still, they bite pretty quickly.

Overall I suggest you to read the guide I linked if you want to understand nuances of ocean fishing better. Hope that helps!

Edited October 6, 2025 by Lovens

[Dwight34]

9 hours ago, Lovens said:

Make sure that you don't forget to replace the bait after each catch if you use any organic bait (rot, berries, figs or seeds) and never move the organic bait after you throw the rod. Here's a video I recorded showcasing how to catch spittlefish using berries. You can see that when I move the bait, fish lose interest but when it sits still, they bite pretty quickly.

Overall I suggest you to read the guide I linked if you want to understand nuances of ocean fishing better. Hope that helps!

Yeah I didn't forget to replace the rot, and I already read that guide a while ago, it just doesn't cover the voodoo magic that is the code for making fish decide to bite or not. What no one seems to know the answer to is why the fish won't bite when you've perfectly filled all conditions, they move towards and around your bait, but simply won't bite even when you try 15 times in a row.

 

10 hours ago, Well-met said:

i noticed this problem too so now i just put trawlers everywhere instead because fishing was always unreliable and frustrating

Trawlers can be quite good for food, but to catch the seasonal fish that's another story