Is fish bait really neccessary?

[Cirice]

It's not necessary; only essential when you're looking for a specific fish at a specific place ! (Upper cliff, pier...)
So far I wasn't able to get any rare fish with them tho

 

[Lotusblossom]

When people say pier fish fishing what do they mean ?

 

[Lavamaize]

Not really. I usually just fish without it. People use it most to catch the fish that only spawn next to the pier since there is less fish that spawn there usually.

 

[Hobowire]

pier fish can be troublesome

 

[Etown20]

When people say pier fish fishing what do they mean ?

Every island has a pier (could be on the left or right side), and certain fish only spawn around this pier. I don't usually see shadows around my pier unless I'm using bait, so I would say bait is necessary if you want to catch all the fish and complete the museum. For just general fishing, it's not necessary.

 

[BetsySundrop]

I think not necessary, but I used it to fish off the back of my island ("secret" beach spot lol). I used to carry some with me to mystery islands in case I got lucky and landed on a valuable fish islsnd, but so far no luck.

 

[Serabee]

Not unless you're really wanting to fish A LOT. If you're content to just catch the fish that randomly spawn, it doesn't matter at all. BUT, at the very least, I'd highly suggest it for pier fishing- at least to get the few pier only fish registered and in your museum. It's rare for fish to spawn there at all, from my experience, and having a pier fish spawn seems much rarer. It also helps in fishing tourneys, since you don't need to rely on random spawn rates.

I didn't make it for a long time (I'd be more motivated if those clams stacked and/or if we could craft in bulk, to be honest, it's SUCH a pain to make it as is) but I eventually had to to get those pier fish. And I used it in my first fishing tourney, and it really helped. Now I usually make 4 stacks and keep them by my pier (on cute little stalls, in a beach market area) for fishing tourneys or, like, rainy days when C.J. is there. Since the summer fishing tourney is coming up I'm keeping a couple extra stacks there so I'm prepared!

 

[Xara]

it’s not necessary at all but like others have said, it definitely comes in handy for when you’re trying to catch rare fish. crafting a bunch of bait is hella tedious, though, so i always purchase/trade for it ;w;

 

[Balverine]

I've never used bait lol, it seems way too tedious to me

 

[Imbri]

I've caught all the fish available, so far, without bait. The only time I use it is during fishing tournaments, since you're trying to catch a lot of fish in 3 minutes. Having bait helps not running up and down the beach.

Other than that, I tend to forget about it.

 

[FishHead]

For me it has been. Because of fishbait I can finally complete my fish encyclopedia. If I don't want to put in all the work, I can just but it off here or nookazon. Also, it's very handy when trying to get to 300 points in fishing tourneys.

 

[Sidney]

I use it for the fishing tourney and for hunting specific ocean fish since i like to fish off the pier!

 

[Mo Notony]

I've caught a Mahi Mahi and a Giant Trevally without use of bait. It's worthless EXCEPT during the fishing tourney, because it helps you spawn fish ASAP when you're under a time limit.

 

[Snek]

It helps catching the rare fish on the pier and in the pond. It greatly helps during the Fishing Tourney. I average 9-10 fish using the fish bait