None of the following information is required to collect every fish in the game. I personally completed Fish% twice by only using Adol (and Dana once) without knowing any of this! This was only researched for curiosity’s sake, as well as a way to answer a question that comes in very frequently: “Are there any differences between each character when fishing?”

Also, there is an accessory in this game (two, actually) that makes fishing easier. Realistically, you will almost never use it since regular fishes are easy to catch. However, Master/Lord Fishes are way harder to catch than regular fish, so having that equipped always helps. Therefore, NO ACCESSORY WILL BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT IN THIS GUIDE.

Also, given how wack my measurements were, I highly encourage you to not take this as face value, but rather as a general indication. Most of the things I’ve noted here are true, the values are just not exact.

Raw data can be found here[docs.google.com].

Fishing stats in Ys 8 is something that is very poorly documented (at the time of writing this, the only indications I could find were a GameFAQs post with some theories on differences and vague descriptions on a Platinum guide). It’s also something that got me kinda curious, so I thought I might as well kill two birds in one stone by doing this, since it’s a question that’s somewhat frequently asked among new players once they reach the fishing tutorial.

Speaking of fishing, a fully detailed guide on fishing can be found below https://cs2bus.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2609206992

I'll spare you the details on how I measured all of these stats, but to sum it up, each character has 4 fishing stats, which are the following:

• Range: How far can a character cast their line
  
• Accuracy: How accurate a character is when casting their line
  
• Reeling: How good a character is at reeling their catch in
  
• Loot: How much loot a character gets on average from fishing

Note: the higher a stat is, the better it is

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Unsurprisingly, Adol is the party's jack-of-all trades. His stats are the most average of the party, making him decent in every situation. However, he's generally outclassed by more specialized fishermen. Still a good choice though.

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Laxia kinda sucks at fishing. While she does catch good fish, the concept of accuracy is also completely foreign to her. In fact, she's the only character who can actually miss a fishing spot. On top of that, she's quite weak and takes forever to reel the fish in (against some Master Fishes she actually can't progress at all without the help of QTEs). Please avoid Laxia if you're fishing.

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Sahad is blessed by excellent stats in all but one area, which is unfortunately the most important: the Loot stat. Most of the time Sahad is going to catch small fish, which makes him not ideal in regular fishing. However, those excellent stats are still worth something, as they make Sahad an excellent choice against Master Fishes. Especially when Hummel's not around.

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The Master Fish guy. While rather unassuming, Hummel is actually the best character in the game for reeling fish in. This automatically makes him the best character against Master Fishes. On top of that, his ridiculously good accuracy makes it so you can never miss a shot. He's still decent in regular fishing, but his catches tend to be on the smaller end of the spectrum.

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Ricotta's range is ridiculously low. In fact, it's so low that she actually can't reach some fishing spots! To compensate, she gets better loot than average, but besides that she's basically an Adol downgrade. While not as bad as Laxia, Ricotta definitely isn't a good character for fishing.

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Somehow the best fisherwoman in the party, despite coming from a time where fishing wasn't a thing. Her stats are just excellent in every single areas. She's actually the only character in the game who can reliably reach the Master Fish in the Path of the Ocean Era! In regular fishing, her catches are either small or big, rarely catching a medium-sized fish. She's also really good at catching treasure chests (outside of spots specifically made for catching chests), making her the best choice for farming Pearls or Aura Grass. Please use Dana whenever you're fishing.

Here are the things you should remember, if for some reason you want to be optimal when fishing in Ys VIII:

• Use Dana whenever she's available
  
• Use Hummel against Master Fishes
  
• Avoid Laxia and Ricotta whenever you go fishing
  
• Equip a Placid Talisman (or a Pearl Talisman, if you can't make Placid Talismans) on your character

For fishing spots, I recommend you check the guide below (it was already shared above, but I put it here again for the sake of convenience). It's very detailed and contains all the fish you can find in each type of fishing spot through the entire map.
https://cs2bus.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2609206992