How to Fish

Going fishing is deliberately attempting to Trigger an Encounter. 

Roll on a D20

1 - critical fail, line broken, lure or bait lost. Retie bait, hook, etc

2-10 - nothing

11+ - Potential fish on the line.

What Can You Catch?

Bait fish like carp, crappie, and other common river and lake fish have a challenge rating of 11+. They are not hard to catch once on the line and are easy to pull in. 

Sport fish like bass have a challenge rating of 15+

Jeremy Wade level River Monsters have a 20+ challenge rating, and this isn't a generalization. Once a man starts going fishing for these large and dangerous fish, each type has its own CR. Most Deep sea fishing falls into this range, considering epic hunts for fish like marlin, tuna, swordfish, and sailfish. That being said, these are not in rivers and lakes. The ocean is a different place. 

Beast level fish, the sort that are active threats to people in, on, or near the water have CRs that are 30+. These are not just fish, they are functionally dungeon monsters, and can contain Beast Cores in addition to providing food, crafting materials, and XP.

Legendary Beasts and Rare Hunt fish are magical powerhouses and likely the product of underwater dungeons, deep and powerful spawn points, or are very old and potent. These have CRs that might be 50 or higher. A man doesn't just throw a line in Loch Ness and expect to pull the monster out by its snapping jaws.

Tools and Modifiers

Tools of the trade make a fisherman. A master angler with years of experience is not going to be out catching tournament winning sport fish sitting on a muddy bank with a cane pole, string, and a worm on a hook. He can catch fish, no doubt, but it will be difficult and they are not likely to turn heads. This is a set-up and there will be later pieces of Fantasy Equipment using these guidelines, but this list format is for educational and informative purposes, not actual in game use. This is for Isekai. 

Inferior Equipment

Fishing like Tom Sawyer, a bit of twine, a stick, and a twist of metal as a hook, -7 modifier. 

Basic Equipment

Weekend fishing gear for the wife and kids for a camping vacation on the lake, very basic rod and reel or acceptable cane pole with proper line, hook, and bait. -5 modifier

Standard Equipment

The stuff you bought when you decided you wanted to be a fisherman. Stock standard rod and reel, basic of the shelf line, and the plastic box of assorted gummy lures and a styrofoam tub of worms, for authenticity. -3 modifier

Good Equipment

You probably own a fishing boat now, that's later, but you're investing in better gear. Your rod and reel came from a sports and outdoors store instead of the sport and camping section of MegaLoMart. Youre buying lures individually and not in a grab bag or pack. No modifier

Superior Equipment

You have a top shelf rod and reel, who are we kidding, you collect them like gold clubs and have rods for specific fish, or even specific places to fish. You're pretty good at this, or you are at least spending money like you are. 

Epic Equipment

Your rod and reel are bespoke, handmade, as are your lures. You raise your own bait because it better than store bought, and you act like you might have sponsors at the tournament level. Other fishermen look at what you have and want it for themselves, and go to the Sports Speciality store to buy it.

Legendary/Unique Equipment 

You have one of a kind equipment, space age carbon fiber rod, magnetic drag reel, synthetic polymer fishing line, titanium hooks, lures impregnated with fish pheromones. Your picture is on the wall at the sports stores, other anglers want to be you. Your wife wants you to stop spending entire paychecks on new gear.

Speciality Gear

The previous section covers basic fishing equipment, rods and line, hooks and lures, the stuff that is absolutely required. There are other things that can impact the ability to be a master angler.

The BOAT

Man cannot fish were there are no fish. A good boat can get an angler wherever he wants to be. Inferior boats leak, basic boats do the job and nothing else, superior boats have aerated livewells, pole mounts, trolling motors, and the rest of the good-good kit. A boat doesn't reduce the fishing modifier, no matter how bad it is. Huck Finn's log raft lets him get out in the water, away from the bank, and where the fish are. Access to any watercraft cuts penalties in half, rounded down. Basic, standard, and good add +3 to modifiers. Superior, and Epic add +5 to modifiers, and a legendary/unique boat adds +7. 

The BAIT

Correct and effective use of bait and or lures can have a major impact on an attempt to fish. Sport fish don't come to catfish bait, and bait fish don't strike at surface flies and fly baits. Using the correct bait and or lure for the desired fishing can have as much as a +4 or -4 impact on fishing attempts. A kid on the bank with basic equipment and the right bait for catfish has the same chance as a man in a boat with better gear using the wrong bait. The kid shouts in glee as he hooks another cat, while the man on the boat wastes more time and energy throwing paddle lures across the top of the water getting mad there are no catfish for the fish fry.

Luck and Patience

The fish can sense it. The more frustrated the players get, the difficulty to catch fish will slowly increase. Zen, zen and the art of tying line time after time again.

How to Catch a Fish

If the fishing roll is a success, the angler must make an attack roll, with any modifiers from their gear, this typically being any bonuses from the rod itself. Success means the fish is on the line, failure means the bait is gone, and the hook needs fresh bait, or the lure has to be pulled in and tossed again. Crit fail means the line breaks, crit success reduces the Fish stamina by 1.

The Game

Unless the fish are small, baitfish, etc, there is a back and forth between angler and fish. In a direct strength versus strength contest between fish and man, the line snaps. The fish is normally allowed to run, with drag on the reel slowing them down and wearing them out. Each type of fish has a different strength and stamina rating. Strength is their ability to snap a line in a direct tug of war, where stamina is how long they can run before tiring out and giving up. Baitfish are 1/1, with good equipment and strong line they can be YOINKed right out of the water. No one has an epic battle with a perch. Sport fish are 3/3, 3/4, and can break line, and put up a good fight. 

Each Round of Fishing compromises a minute. Dragging is letting the fish run, pulling out line and working against the drag on the reel. After each round of this, the fish loses a point of stamina. The further the fish gets from the angler, the chance of the line breaking increases, especially if the fish evades or dives to the bottom. Pump and Reel pulls the fish closer to the angler, but runs the risk of the fish breaking the line. Alternating between the two techniques can weaken the fish until it can be reeled in next to the angler for a net, gaff, or hands to grab it.

Once a fish is reduced to 0 stamina it can be reeled in in relative safety, without threat of the line snapping. 

So the dice progression:

Roll to encounter 

Attack Roll to Set Hook

Contested stamina rolls (a failed roll on the angler costs HIM a point of stamina, and not the fish) until either angler or fish reaches 0 stamina or a critical failure allows the fish to escape or the line to break.

Attack Roll to capture fish (reduced difficulty, prone foe with no evasion)

SCOPE AND SCALE

At a basic level, this is the system fishermen and anglers would use to subsistence or sport fish, swapping nets and traps, lures and poles, with only minimal changes in dice and numbers. On a fantasy level, the river ranger is not going to be out trying to snare trophy bass. There aren't fantasy fishing tournaments. There are river monsters, lethal fish, legendary riverine predators, and things that drag the unwary and unprepared to a watery death. These high end creatures will have strength and stamina stats higher than the angler, requiring them to have mastery of their craft, good equipment, patience, and determination. 

The epic The Old Man and the Sea has a lone angler on a small boat hand fishing with bait, stout hooks, and chopped up bait fish going after a legendary sailfish bigger than his boat. He hooks it, plays the long game, and plays the fish out over several DAYS. He uses other fishing lines to catch lesser fish that he pulls in, cuts up, and eats raw while he has his ongoing epic battle with the swordfish. DAYS. DAYS. With a string and a hook and a huge swordfish, This is the sort of thing that a fantasy angler should aspire to, maybe not the pauper approach, but the epic battle of a humble man and a brute of the depths. 

What starts as a weekend hobby turns into an Ahab obsession