Perhaps this sounds like a silly thread? But fishing in this game is essential to progress a few of the quests nonetheless.

I simply cannot figure out the mechanics here. Sometimes I will catch two fish in a row, but mostly I can sit by the side of a fishing pool for a good while, click the fishing rod a thousand or more times and get only 'No luck this time' or 'You feel a nibble but the fish gets away'.

Is there some bait mechanic I don't know about? Or some other way to make fishing less infuriatingly tedious and avoid RSI from clicking?

'You feel a nibble but the fish gets away'.
for me this usually meant my carry capacity was full (the number next to the stone icon shows how much more weight you can carry)

at least that is my memory from previous playings of the game


'No luck this time'
for this its just a RNG thing to my knowledge
just keep trying and eventually you will get a fish
overall i never found it very tedious even when having to get food for a quest

"You feel a nibble, but the fish gets away." means you can't carry another fish. Free up some weight before continuing to fish. Each fish weighs roughly 1 unit of weight.

Some spots seem to be much better than others for fishing. Beyond that, it is just random chance for each click. Set up your inventory to minimize the time spent clicking around once you catch a fish, then just spam click the fishing rod until you catch one. Drop the fish on your fish pile, and continue until you have all the fish you need.

Hah, such a simple answer! Now fishing is easy :) I tried everything, from equipping the fishing rod in my weapon slot, to turning off my lantern in case the light was scaring the fish away!

'You feel a nibble, but the fish gets away.' doesn't strike me as an effective way to convey that I can't carry the fish. It sounds like the fish got close and then lost interest, or something. Besides, I'm not sure why you couldn't just drop the fish on the ground after catching it...

Thanks for the help (and hi again Wyrm :P)! I'm returning to my long-abandoned playthrough of this, and finding the irl notes I kept extremely useful for remembering where I am, otherwise I'd be completely lost right now. I did have to use the savegame item editor to fix something though.

Also, I just had a conversation with a door...

Probably a mechanics thing, not to mention an item clean up thing. If they just dropped the fish in front of you, it would probably fall right back in the water. If they put it at your feet, you could catch too many single fish without noticing, and possibly do bad things to the game's memory. They put it in your "hand" for you to decide what to do, but you can't hold anything that would put you over your weight limit. Hi! :)
Let me know if you need more help. I love this game. "Now that you mention it, how DO you cast Sheet Lightning?"

Did you find the Rat button? :) The door is short, but amusing. Also, I've played through the game quite a few times.

I don't think I found a rat button, but maybe I've forgotten! What/where is it?

It is on the 3rd level. There's a lantern, some chain pants, a battle axe, and a note in that nook. Also a potion?

The button is at a short dead-end. There is a hostile bandit (probably dead by now) with a longsword somewhere nearby as well.