This is going to be a quick explanation of the path I took to level fishing.
Currently I am 72.6 and i've got 0 to 72.6 in less than 2 weeks.
Reading many other horizonXI fishing guides gave me ideas but I did disagree with a lot of the suggestions.
Lets get right into it.
0-11 Moat Carp - West Ronfaure Knightwell Halcyon Insect Paste
This is a pretty painless camp. Fish stock may be bad if the pond is heavily populated. You could fish in any zone with moat carp. Although I do suggest not fishing in town as it can give lower skill up rates which I found on the next fish.
12-22(27 cap) Tricolored Carp & Moat Carp - Port sandy(by lu shang quest npcs) Halcyon Insect paste
I opted for this to get more moats to work on Lu shang. I fished here until about lvl 23 as skill ups were very slow and this camp took the longest out of all of them.
23-33(37 cap) Shining Trout - East Ronfaure Halcyon Fly Lure
This camp worked out great. Nothing too special about it. I fished right where the water comes out of the channel connected to sandy.
34-47(48 cap and 55 cap) Cone Calamary & Bluetail - Batallia Downs Halcyon Minnow
First of all you won't be able to catch bluetail until you get a few levels first on calamary. By around 42 you can catch both fish. This was awesome skill ups and right when you finally start making good gil
Once I hit 47 I opted to move from Batallia to Qufim Ice pond to isolate bluetail
48-51(55 cap) Bluetail - Qufim Ice pond Halcyon Minnow
This is a little slow but not bad. High population at the pond so want to get in and out with this section as fast as possible.
On HorizonXI as of 4/11/2026(and it may change in the future) It is cheaper to just outright buy a Lu Shang's vs farming the gil, buying moats, and completing the quest. Buying lu 2.8m-3m and buying moats is 3m-3.4m. I had 3m from Angel skin farming so I decided to buy my Lu shang's when I hit 47ish I didn't use it until 50 but I've used it the entire time since hitting 50.
52-70(76 cap) Silver Sharks - Batallia downs - Lu Shang's Meatballs
Very large gap in skill, 24 levels. The first few levels are pretty slow only gaining about 2 levels a day from fishing all day. Silver sharks NPC for about 410 gil so you easily make your gil back from 8k meatballs. I would buy 11 stacks of meatballs fish until my inv was full npc about 120k of sharks go out and fish until I ran out of bait NPC another 100k of sharks then buy 90k of meatballs netting me about 130k per day. Skill ups pretty slow until you reach around 65 and by that point I was pulling in about 1.5-1.8 levels PER HOUR until 69. 70 the skill ups slow down immensely. Which is why I recommend stopping when you hit 71.
71-96?(96 cap) Black Sole - Batallia Downs - Lu Shang's Sinking minnow
This is a massive level gap. 25 levels. I tried several other camps thinking I would have better luck but none gave any results. At all camps I fished for 1 hour to track skill ups: Jungle Catfish 0 skill ups, Bream/Grimmonite 0 skill ups, and Black sole .3 I didn't try Bream in a city because from the previous Tricolored carp I already knew it probably wouldn't be good
Other guides say you can start black sole at 72 but I had no problem catching them at 70 when I tested the water.
Only .3 skill up per hour at 72 but it will most likely pick up when I get around 85-89
at 72.6 Ebisu is just right around the corner(78+)
Lik and gugs are fairly cheap on HorizonXI Lik being about 3k and gugs 9k-10k
Fishing Black soles religiously daily I'm look at 400k-600k per day just to buy ebisu fish
The longest part of the quest will be gaining enough Guild points (95k) to buy Sea Serpent Rumors
I plan on getting the gug item first then spending 1 or 2 mil to see if I can get the lik item once I buy a certain amount 500-600 if I do not get I may or may not sell my Lu shang's for 3m to buy a ton of lik
3m would net me 1,000 lik and put me at 1,500 or so which I'm almost sure I would get it in that amount.
for the final stretch 97-100 I see a lot of guides recommend Takitaro or Armored Pisces
I however will probably go to Kuftal tunnel and fish Cave cherax while camping for Devil manta
I will do this after I get ebisu and I am fine with fishing black soles for as long as I need staying at 96 if I have to until I can get ebisu
I just do not want to deal with the chance of my lu shang's breaking then needing to go through the trouble of repairing it
0-11 Moat carp Knightwell Halcyon Insect Paste
11-23 Tricolored Carp Port sandy Halcyon Insect Paste
23-33 Shining Trout East Ronfaure Halcyon Fly Lure
33-48 Cone Calamary Batallia Downs Halcyon Minnow & Bluetail at roughly 42
48-52 Bluetail Qufim Ice pond Halcyon Minnow(switch to lu shang at 50)
52-71 Silver Shark Batallia Lu shangs Meatballs
71-96 Black Sole Batallia Lu shangs sinking minnow
96-100 Cave Cherax Kuftal tunnel Ebisu + Shrimp lure/Sinking minnow/Meatballs
-upbeat
