FFXIV Ocean Fishing Bait Guide

Fishing is one of the easier aspects of FFXIV to completely overlook. Ocean fishing is the one aspect of the class that even those not crazy about fish at large or achievement completion eventually jump into. It’s faster paced than fishing is normally, and there are achievement rewards, including a mount, minions, and titles.

Ocean Fishing Bait Guide for FFXIV

Ocean fishing is the fastest way to level Fisher by a long shot, netting tons of XP for Fishers of any level and essentially trivializing the leveling process (not those pesky FSH quests, though). This guide covers how to get started on ocean fishing, as well as the baits you need to increase the likelihood of proccing Spectral Currents while out on the ocean.

Final Fantasy XIV: How to Ocean Fish

Ocean fishing is available to anyone that has the Fisher job, even from level one. You can pick up Fisher, do its first quest, and pick up the ocean fishing quest.

Once you’ve completed the “My First Fishing Rod” quest you’ll be able to start ocean fishing by talking to Fhilsnoe (X:7.8 Y:14.5) at the Fisherman’s Guild in Limsa Lominsa, and starting the quest “All the Fish in the Sea.”

To start an ocean fishing trip you’ll need to head to the Ferry Docks past the Arcanist’s Guild.

The activity isn’t unlimited. If you’re not sure when ocean fishing starts for your timezone, head to Dryskthota (X3.2 Y12.8) at the docks to see when ocean fishing recruitment starts again, and to see the schedule for the next two days.

As of Patch 6.4, Kugane has new Ocean Fishing routes that let you explore the Ruby Sea. These are unlocked as long as you complete the MSQ through Stormblood. However, when you speak with Dryskthota now, the top has options for Indigo Route and Ruby Route. Simply go into the Ruby Route tab and choose a trip to queue for a bout of Ocean Fishing in Kugane’s waters.

Ocean fishing initiates every two hours. If you see that it starts on odd hours for you, you can bet on that always being the case. The same can be said for even hours. You can queue for ocean fishing up to 20 minutes after the start time, in instances where you might be late.

When the time comes for an ocean trip to start, you can once again talk to Dryskthota to join in the queue. You can do this either on your own or with a party of friends, as each fishing expedition allows for up to 24 players. You’ll be thrown onto a ship with other players regardless of whether you queued on your own or otherwise.

FFXIV Ocean Fishing Baits

• Bloodbrine Sea — Krill
• The Ciedalaes — Ragworm
• Galadion Bay — Plump Worm
• Rhotano Sea — Plump Worm
• Rothlyt Sound — Plump Worm
• Southern Merlthor — Krill
• Northern Merlthor — Ragworm
• Sirensong Sea — Plump Worm
• Kugane Coast — Ragworm
• Ruby Sea — Krill
• Lower One River — Krill

There are now ten different spots the boat can stop at during a single fishing trip. I always talk to Dryskthota, the Roegadyn at the pier you talk to to set out, and see which three locations the boat will be stopping at before it’s time to depart. Then I buy the baits I’ll need, unless I’ve still got a big chunk of them. The bait you should take with you and use will be determined by where the boat will be going.

The goal is to get spectral fish to bite (fish with green icons), to get a Spectral Current to pop at all three locations. Spectral Currents have high point fish you won’t see anywhere else, and are primetime for point gathering.

You can buy bait before you even head in at the Merchant & Mender just near Dryskthota.

At base, you’ll want these baits for each location to snag spectral fish: Ragworm, Pump Worm, and Krill

If a Spectral Current pops and you want to really aim for the highest point fish in the area, you might want to swap baits.

Spectral Current Baits

This is more complicated, since the bait you’ll want to use during a Spectral Current varies based on location as well as time of day. I’ll go over those below, but don’t stress about this aspect if you’re new to ocean fishing or not terribly concerned:

• Bloodbrine Sea spectral baits
  • Daytime: Ragworm
  • Sunset: Plump Worm
  • Nighttime: Krill
• The Ciedalaes
  • Daytime: Krill
  • Sunset: Plump Worm
  • Nighttime: Krill
• Galadion Bay
  • Daytime: Ragworm
  • Sunset: Plump Worm
  • Nighttime: Krill
• Rhotano Sea
  • Daytime: Plump Worm
  • Sunset: Ragworm
  • Nighttime: Krill
• Rothlyt Sound
  • Daytime: Krill
  • Sunset: Krill
  • Nighttime: Krill
• Southern Merlthor
  • Daytime: Krill
  • Sunset: Ragworm
  • Nighttime: Plump Worm
• Northern Merlthor
  • Daytime: Plump Worm
  • Sunset: Ragworm
  • Nighttime: Krill
• Kugane
  • Daytime: Krill
  • Sunset: Ragworm
  • Nighttime: Plump Work
• Ruby
  • Daytime: Ragworm
  • Sunset: Plump Worm
  • Nighttime: Krill
• One River
  • Daytime: Ragworm
  • Sunset: Krill
  • Nighttime: Krill

FFXIV Ocean Fishing Rewards

There are a ton of titles related to ocean fishing, but more importantly there are minions to be gotten as well as an exclusive mount to earn through this activity.

• Major-general minion — Earn 5,000 points on a single ocean fishing trip.
• Gull minion — Encounter three seagull flocks while ocean fishing.
• Dolphin Calf minion — Encounter 3 dolphin pods while ocean fishing.
• Much-coveted Mora minion — Earn a total of 1,000,000 points while ocean fishing
• Hybodus mount — Earn 10,000 points on a single ocean fishing trip.

That covers everything you need to know about ocean fishing in Final Fantasy XIV. Keep in mind that no matter how much you try and strategize, it’s possible you might just have a stroke of bad luck on any given ocean fishing trip.

If you found this guide helpful, check out our other Final Fantasy XIV guides here on GameSkinny.