Doing Some Bait Research, Need Assistance!

[jaafit]

Hello,

I'm in need of what I'd expect to be a quick summary on bait from an experienced open water fisherman. I run a small, browser-based game where players are currently enjoying owning boats, cannons and cutlasses and playing pirate vs merchant on the open sea. I am working on an expansion which will see the players open-water fishing from boats and yet I know almost nothing about open-water fishing. Fortunately, I have a simple design in mind that does not required detailed knowledge of fishing from the players in order to enjoy the game.

What little I do need in fishing knowledge I am humbly now requesting from the knowledgeable sportsmen of this forum:

• Six different types of bait/lures.
• Four types of game that each bait/lure would commonly catch (24 different types in total).
• Each bait/lure would ideally catch a progressively rarer or more elusive set game than the one before.*

*I plan to give each type of bait a vastly different frequency of occurrence in-game. Players using rare bait will catch rare game.

I would post a link to the game itself but I do not want to come across as a spammer of some kind and so I will only do so if requested. Know for now that this is a very small game that I'm sure you've never heard of and has a small but devoted fan-base that has enjoyed playing my simple game -- much to my delight. My fans and I will be very grateful for your assistance.

Japhet Stevens

[DropinBack]

Bait: Naked Ballyhoo
What it may catch: Dolphin, Wahoo, Tuna, White Marlin, Blue Marlin, And all predators that chase bait...

Lure: Flat Head Chugger
What it may catch: Dolphin, Wahoo, Tuna, White Marlin, Blue Marlin, And all predators that chase bait...

Lure: Jet Head:
What it may catch: Dolphin, Wahoo, Tuna, White Marlin, Blue Marlin, And all predators that chase bait...

Lure: Sea Witch/Ballyhoo Combination
What it may catch: Dolphin, Wahoo, Tuna, White Marlin, Blue Marlin, And all predators that chase bait...

[Fish Dad]

How about Striper fishing off Cape Henry in Virginia at the peak of striper fishing in the winter. 500 boats fishing a 2 square mile area, all trolling in different directions, every boat Capt believes his boat has the right away. Yelling, screaming, cussing at each other on the radio, cutting off each others lines, egos bruised, sinkers tossed at boats, 2 birds dives...50 boats run and gun to them. Oh what a fun game that would be to relive those memories at Cape Henry.

[nautiduck]

All right since nobody else has asked for the link I will, will you post the link to the game? And that was a very nonspammer way to put to do that, Thanks.

[calebw]

Pink Iland Pro Horse Ballyhoo- Blue Marlin

Split Tail Mullet- Giant Bluefin Tuna

[jaafit]

Thanks for the replies. I'm still looking for a good set. Could really use some help here since I'd like to make this an accurate representation of your sport.

DropinBack, I think your point there was that it's not possible to ensure what kind of game you catch given the bait, that you can catch any fish with any bait. I understand that but fortunately, I don't need to make this super-realistic. I just need to match bait with game that it would most likely catch. I also ask because I wouldn't be able to name 24 types of typical open-water game and certainly not in order of elusiveness. Maybe it'd be best to start from there and then just throw some bait at the resulting list?

All right since nobody else has asked for the link I will, will you post the link to the game?

Sure. It's at www.minethings.com

Thanks

[Capt Lindsay]

The best way to learn offshore fishing is to go to various parts of the world with superior fishing and charter the best boats and crews that you can find. Your questions only target the sport from the fisherman's end. How the fish react, how far away fish can be attracted by various baits, and how the boat fits into the equation are all key to the outcome.

There is nothing simple about offshore fishing. Some dude buying a bunch of expensive lures and dragging them at high speed is no match for a skilled crew fishing spots they know normally hold fish.

If you want to make your game simple for players, you have to build in the complexity or no one who have ever succeeded at this sport will have the slightest interest.

[jaafit]

I understand your concern and I think I should have been more clear about what my game is trying to accomplish. I'm not trying to simulate open-water fishing. If I was, I would certainly need to involve some real-world experience and it would be a waste of time to ask people on a forum to design my game.

Instead, my requirement here is simply to fit in with the theme of the game. The theme is suggested in the name "MineThings" and it involves the player waiting in real-time to find something that is randomly either amazing or dull. I thought I'd extend this theme to fishing. Now I realize that there is more to fishing than just waiting around for something to happen, but in this case I am culling out that extra complexity. With players already having to worry about pirates, cannons, and having their ships sunk, I figured it best to keep the fishing part simple.

That said, I do not want what basic gameplay there is to be a misrepresentation of your sport. I figure that even though I'm not making "Sim-Fish" I should still strive for accuracy where I can.

[Captain Michael Buffington]

I understand your concern and I think I should have been more clear about what my game is trying to accomplish. I'm not trying to simulate open-water fishing. If I was, I would certainly need to involve some real-world experience and it would be a waste of time to ask people on a forum to design my game.

Instead, my requirement here is simply to fit in with the theme of the game. The theme is suggested in the name "MineThings" and it involves the player waiting in real-time to find something that is randomly either amazing or dull. I thought I'd extend this theme to fishing. Now I realize that there is more to fishing than just waiting around for something to happen, but in this case I am culling out that extra complexity. With players already having to worry about pirates, cannons, and having their ships sunk, I figured it best to keep the fishing part simple.

That said, I do not want what basic gameplay there is to be a misrepresentation of your sport. I figure that even though I'm not making "Sim-Fish" I should still strive for accuracy where I can.

Welcome longfisher

[nautiduck]

Now I realize that there is more to fishing than just waiting around for something to happen, .

Nope actually that is quite a large part of open water fishing actually.

When it comes to open water the fish listed above make up a large part of what is fished for. Heres a beginner list there not really seperated by lure or bait I tried to seperate them more on how commonly they are caught. I know some of the guys are gonna disagree but its just a starting point, they may help tweak it a bit.

Grander Blue Marlin, Grander Black Marlin, Spearfish, Giant Bluefin tuna

Striped Marlin, Hammerhead shark, Bigeye tuna, Swordfish

Bluefin Tuna, Thresher shark, White Marlin, Mako shark

Yellowfin tuna, Sailfish, Amberjacks, Wahoo

King mackeral, Grouper, MahiMahi, Blue shark,

Flounder, Dogfish, Barracuda, Rays