Question regarding fishing & forecasting

[rapid silo]

Hi. I don't want to say it's a bug incase it's a feature because I suspect it's no and for context I'm pretty far through everything now, all my tools are osmium I have the large bait and the forecasting has been reliable and a huge help.

For the last two in-game days I've noticed despite going to certain areas at the right time for fishing I never catch the yellow fin tuna (winter) despite having the osmium rod and the large bait attached and the computer saying it's out there somewhere that day in the dock and beach areas. I've tried dropping down to cast level 5 instead of max cast just to try and randomise the casts a bit but I keep getting the swordfish or mostly smaller fish and what's even wierder is the fish are changing between silver gold and osmium quality much more randomly which I'm pretty sure wasn't happening as much before and I would get a good 80% osmium catches on average in a days fishing whereas now it's more 65-70%. Although I am aware the rule of the osmium upgrades is they give you a much higher chance to catch best quality not guaranteed every cast so maybe the game is just doing what its supposed to and it was just a bad couple days for quality.

Trying to complete the museum and just finding it quite frustrating that I can't catch a single yellow fin tuna (it's one of only two remaining large rares I need to get including the great white ) when in previous seasons I've always caught at least one super rare fish needed in a single day with the right bait attached and forecasting.

Is the game just doing what it should and does the forecast not guarantee fish will be there even if it's the right day and weather for it? I'm finding the same with the critters too, they'll be forecast to appear but I'm not seeing them on the map to go and grab them.

PS5 user

[proven creek]

@rapid silo So, couple of things. Quality wise, what is your ocean rank? The higher your ocean rank is the higher the chance of getting better quality fish.
Then, yellowfin tuna is a rare fish, therefore chances of catching it are decreased compared to other fish and computer shows only a forecast of what fish may spawn is that place at specific conditions.
So, if you're fishing at ocean dock for yellowfin tuna there are 5 other fish that can spawn at that time and weather, and 4 of them are more common than it, that's where large bait would be best used but the dock also has Yellowtail that is large and common, so chances to catch the right large fish are lower. You can also catch it at the beach, where there are 4 other more common fish but the tuna is the only large one, so using the large bait would help you to catch it.

Critters are operating on the different way to the fish, they're basically the same as insects. So the forecast shows potential spawns, but you can zoom in on the area and check what is the spawn right now. You can affect the spawn by catching or spooking the critters in the area for new ones to appear.

[rapid silo]

My ocean rank is A, I'm working on S rank attractions and guardian murals but I haven't started the merfolk farm yet. Ah so the beach is best for large baiting tuna. Understood. I was getting annoyed after the fifth swordfish 😂 thank you for the clarity. I have a good few months in this game now but sometimes you just still miss some of the fundamentals when you're trying to balance everything. That makes sense though because yeah there is only one large fish on an evening at the beach during snow so for large bait it would be more likely that I would catch one there. Vs bloody swordfish and yellowtail. Thanks for the tip with the critters though. Spook em and check later. Good plan.