Ocean Fishing is a unique gameplay feature in Final Fantasy XIV. It’s highly rewarding and exciting when you get the hang of it, but it can be overwhelming to learn how it works at first.
Once unlocked, this activity brings you on a ship to fish with other players. You’ll be in a team and help each other by spawning spectral currents, which are time-limited buffs with rare species, a higher average uptime, and more. It’s the best way to earn points when going Ocean Fishing—but it’s random.
During the activity, the ship will sail to three random fishing locations. There are seven available, and each one has a specific choice of fish and bait to get them.
Moreover, the bait you should use depends on what you want to do; some are more effective to catch fish that can spawn a spectral current, and others to complete customized achievements. Here’s the complete guide on which baits to use depending on your situation.
All ocean fishing baits and rewards in FFXIV
There are seven possible locations for Ocean Fishing. Remember them correctly when looking at the planning by speaking to the NPC that boards the crew, because the locations aren’t indicated when you’re headed there.
If you want to complete the customized achievements (such as catching small or big fish), use your job skills. You can use patience to catch large-sized fish, for example.
To catch the most valuable fish during spectral currents, you need to use the correct bait (which changes depending on the fishing location and time) and double or triple-hook it by learning its size. (It’s shown by the number of exclamation points when your bait works.)
Save your GP for spectral currents and use hi-cordials if needed when using double or triple-hook on the valuable fish that are available with spectral currents. Completing your job quests when you reach the level to make them available is also important because you’ll unlock useful skills for Ocean Fishing.
To check if you have a job quest available, look at the top-left corner of your screen to see if a quest is indicated below the Main Scenario Quest tracker (see image below). If there is nothing under there when you select your Fishing job, it means you’ll need to gain more levels before completing a new one. This tip is valuable for any other job in the game.
In the following list, the number of “!” corresponds to the size of the fish. You can see one to three of them appear on top of your head when you bait a fish, based on their size. It’s important to know which size have high value in Ocean Fishing to adapt your catch boost: Powerful Hookset for medium and large fish (!! and !!!), and Precision Hookset for small and medium fish (! and !!).
- The Cieldalaes
- Triggering a spectral current: Ragworm
- Earning the most points in spectral current:
- Day: Ragworm (!!!)
- Sunset: Plump Worm (!!)
- Night: Krill (!!!)
- The Northern Strait of Merlthor
- Triggering a spectral current: Ragworm
- Earning the most points in spectral current:
- Day: Plump Worm (!!!)
- Sunset: Ragworm (!)
- Night: Krill (!!)
- The Southern Strait of Merlthor
- Triggering a spectral current: Krill
- Earning the most points in spectral current:
- Day: Krill (!!)
- Sunset: Ragworm (!)
- Night: Plump Worm (!!)
- Rothlyt Sound:
- Triggering a spectral current: Plump Worm
- Earning the most points in spectral current:
- Day, Sunset, and Night: Krill (!!)
- The Bloodbrine Sea
- Triggering a spectral current: Krill
- Earning the most points in spectral current:
- Day, Sunset, and Night: Krill (!!!)
- The Rhotano sea
- Triggering a spectral current: Plump Worm
- Earning the most points in spectral current:
- Day: Plump Worm (!!!)
- Sunset: Krill (!)
- Night: Krill (!)
- Galadion Bay
- Triggering a spectral current: Plump Worm
- Earning the most points in spectral current:
- Day: Ragworm (!)
- Sunset: Plump Worm (!!!)
- Night: Krill (!!)
All of the baits are sold by the vendor nearby the boarding NPC and by the NPC on the ship, which means you can’t run out. If you’re unsure of what to use in your situation, don’t hesitate to ask using the /yell channel. You’ll often have other teammates that will help you.
Don’t worry too much if you’re using the correct bait for your objectives and still don’t earn enough points to reach your goal. Ocean Fishing heavily relies on luck. It’s perfectly possible that all teammates use the correct bait for landing spectral current and yet, you don’t get a single one.
How to get Ocean Fishing achievements in FFXIV
There’s a total of 32 achievements to complete in FFXIV’s Ocean Fishing. Here’s a list of the achievements and their required tasks:
- Denizens of […]: Catch every type of fish in [various destinations] when a spectral current is not present.
- On a Boat: Earn points.
- No More Fish in the Sea: Score specific amounts of points in single voyages.
- This rewards the Shark minion (5,000 points) and mount (10,000 points).
- What Did […] Do to You?
- This requires you to catch an enormous amount of one specific fish in a single voyage. You’ll need to team up with allies who target the same challenge.
- Here are tables on the perfect routes, baits, and double-hook triggers for Octopodes, Jellyfish, Seadragons, and Sharks.
- For other achievements, you can select them in the fan-made live Ocean Fishing helper website to get custom recommendations.
- Mine, Mine, Mine: Encounter three seagull flocks while ocean fishing.
- This grants a Gull minion.
- Double-backwards Somersault: Encounter three dolphin pods while ocean fishing.
- This rewards a Dolphin Calf minion.
The last two achievements aren’t easy to acquire. You’ll have to rely on luck during random Ocean Fishing voyages. The spawning of these groups of animals is random.
