Harvest Moon Forever: Strategies for Fishing in Hero of Leaf Valley

Monday, May 31, 2010

Strategies for Fishing in Hero of Leaf Valley

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Fishing is an interesting aspect of both Harvest Moon and Rune Factory in general, but in Hero of Leaf Valley, a new detail has been added to the experience. Depth is a factor in HoLV and it cannot be overlooked. Some fish simply can be caught solely if you cast your Rod at the right depth. You can fish all Season without ever seeing a Fish that tends to stay in the shallows if you constantly cast your Rod to the deepest point that can be reached.

Depth is displayed on a vertical gauge that appears only when you have targeted a psrticular location by pressing X. Fishing in HoLV requires three different actions even before any Fish takes your bait. You first need to equip your Rod using the Square Button. You then need to choose a target by pressing X. When you have done this, the vertical depth gauge will appear on the right side of your screen. Any fish that are located at the target point will be displayed at their current depth. It is here that strategy must be employed if you are looking for a specific type of Fish.

For example, you can catch Salmon during the Autumn season, but you will not find this Fish in the deeps. You need to look for a target point that displays a fish in the shallows if you are searching for Salmon. There are other Fish, including Pike, that tend to stay in the shallows so a Fish that is displayed at that depth is not guaranteed to be a Salmon, but at least you have a chance of catching one.

If you are looking for Treasures, on the other hand, you need to fish in the depths. This makes perfect sense, as most artifacts or Treasures will sink to the bottom of the sea or Lake. Large Fish such as Tuna tend to prefer the depths as well.

It is very exciting to be able to find Pirate Treasure in any season when fishing at Crystal Bay. In HoLV, the first Treasure or Artifact of any type goes directly to your Storeroom to be displayed. Any duplicates you find or catch go into your inventory and can be sold. Some command a very handsome price. There are a number of different 'Chests' in HoLV. There is the traditional Pirate Treausre, but there is a 'Treasure Chest' as well. There are ancient Artifacts in the form of Pots, Eerthenware, Clay Dolls and other interesting items. There are a diverse number of Fossils as well.

In HoLV, Fish are both location-specific and Season-specific to some extent, although the Seasons that have been given officially for each type of Fish are not entirely accurate. I have been logging my results and will correct any discrepancies.

The Special Fishing Bait that can be obtained either from the Harvest Sprites or made in the Transformer 2 Machine using Lumber is extremely useful. It prevents any Rubbish from being caught on your Fishing Rod in the course of a single fishing expedition. When you catch no Rubbish, you obviously catch far more Fish than you would without the Special Fishing Bait.

The type of Fishing Rod you use will determine the Fish that you are able to catch. The best Rod is the only one that will allow you to catch Tuna, for example. Although a wide variety of Fish can be caught with the basic Fishing Rod, it always is best to upgrade as quickly as possible. Better tools use less Energy and are more effective.

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As Freyashawk, I have written about 150 guides for games, most of which have been guides for Harvest Moon games. These are published on IGN. IGN has given me the title of 'Mistress of Harvest Moon' and I strive daily to earn the right to maintain that title. Although there is a link page on IGN that lists all the guides published there, they are not organised by game, but rather given in alphabetical order. I therefore created this page in order to provide links to the guides I have created for each Harvest Moon game. If you access the General Guide for any game, links should be included to all other guides for that game in a section at the end. I will try to add links to ALL guides as time permits, but until I do, you always can refer to my user page at IGN for the complete list.

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