Salmon... ?

[Ailouros]

So, what's the trick to these suckers? Because every time I see one, I just plan it as bait lost... they just seem to hover in the red zone 90% of the time! Very frustrating! Am I missing something on getting these things to stop wriggling like mad men, right off my line?

[Marie-Cris]

I've managed to catch a few on my basic rod since farming came into play. I find the line there to be somewhat shorter than in over locations (at least, that's what it looks like to me), so that's where I prefer to fish. Most of the time I'll lose it because of it's flailing tendancies, but to the ones that calm down enough to go into the green, I just tap ever so slightly on the reel. Sometimes I can hold it for a couple of seconds, but tapping mainly works for me.

EDIT:

Or, you could save up 800g and get an improved rod. The drag button makes things infinitely better; if you use the drag button you can keep it under the solid red section. It may call for fast reflexes, as they bounce back pretty quickly, and sometimes I find myself dancing between the drag and the reel button. (If you haven't used it before - and not just YOU, but anyone else who's reading this - it's probably better to use your mouse on the drag button and use your spacebar for reel. That way you won't have to keep shoving your mouse from one to the other.)

[The Joshinator]

Another handy thing to know, if you have a rod with a drag button, is that the spacebar will also reel in the line. Thus, you can hold spacebar to reel in constantly, and click the drag button as needed to relieve tension. Helped me out a bunch for sure, near 100% catch rate even for salmon and eel.