

A record fish dosen't appear to give any bonus either. Species of fish and area have no (or at most a very very minor) effect on experience gained per kg of fish. As far as I can tell, level has a little (note little here) bit to say - a level 10 character appears to get a bit more exp pr kg fish than a 12 level character would (same species, same area). I have been crunching some numbers - looking at caught fish of different species from a range of diffrent level characters in different areas. Once you've leveled up and gained some cash, head to Baikal lake to catch Sturgeon. The mirror carp tend to be the best catch in my experience, but I haven't found a bait that they will take that the other carp won't. On this lake, deeper water seems to consistently yield bigger fish. I found casting to the deeper schools of fish resulted in considerably larger catches. Hunter vision will help you determine the size of the fish, but it's difficult to gauge the size of the fish that are far away.

It allows you to cast farther into the lake, and from my experience, the dock area was the most heavily populated area. I'm not sure if you would get different results by keeping your floater above water. I was bottom fishing by loading a little extra weight on my line, and it worked great. The carp bite on it very quickly, and there are large quantities of fish in the lake, so you won't need to search for them much. It will allow you to catch large grass carp and mirror carp, and you can also get the occasional catfish with it.

I found corn to be the most effective bait on this lake. It's worth spending a little extra here, since you'll make it back quickly, and future fisheries will have some much larger fish, for which you'll need a high end reel. Otherwise, the standard gear will work fairly well, though a reel that gives you a lot more line can be useful for the 20lb + fish, who may easily take out all the line on your starter reel. With smaller hooks, you'll be pulling in plenty of small fish. To catch these larger fish, switch to a #2/0 or #3/0 hook. At Zeno's I began regularly pulling in 15lb + fish, including some mirror carp that were 40+ lbs, and worth $300+ each. Before going to Zeno's, I was trying really hard to catch anything over 3lbs. The lake has several species of carp that can be very large, and profitable. I found Saint Zeno's to be the best place to farm for money and XP in the early game. I had a lot of success today, going from lvl 5 to lvl 10 relatively quickly, so I thought I would share.
