Which lure to buy, and which purchases are not about money

Four lures are sold across the islands. Working out which to buy comes down to three numbers the shop never shows: what an average catch off that table is worth, how often the lure survives the catch, and how long a bite takes.

The four lures side by side

Average catch is the mean sell value of the bait's own table. Profit subtracts the share of the bait price you lose per catch; a quest reward costs nothing, so its profit is the catch. Both figures are for an average weight roll, before cooking.

Each tier is worth roughly five times the one below it per catch, and the bite window gets shorter as you go up. That combination means the upgrade is bigger than the profit column alone suggests: the Scientific LureScientific LureCosts$500Bite timer0.75–1.5sCatches5 creatures pays more per catch and delivers more catches per minute than anything under it.

So the buying rule is simple. Buy the next lure the moment you can afford it outright, and stop buying the one below.

Each tier first goes on sale one island later than the last, so where you are decides what you can buy at all.

What each tier actually adds

The Beginner LureBeginner LureCosts$3Bite timer1–3sCatches9 creatures is a starter table of small fish with one mini-boss buried in it at under 2%.

The Standard LureStandard LureCosts$15Bite timer1–2.5sCatches10 creatures lifts the whole floor. Its cheapest entry is worth more than the Beginner Lure’s most expensive one, and the Blue SharkBlue SharkSells for$300Health2,300Weight17.5 kg – 123 kg sits at the bottom as a mini-boss slot.

The Professional LureProfessional LureCosts$50Bite timer1–2sCatches12 creatures is where income stops being a grind. Twelve entries, and three of them are endangered species that add a quarter to their own value before you have done anything clever.

The Scientific LureScientific LureCosts$500Bite timer0.75–1.5sCatches5 creatures has the shortest table and the shortest bite window in the game. The Superdwarf FishSuperdwarf FishSells for$2,200Health120Weight0.000025 kg – 0.000175 kg on it is the most valuable catch any lure can produce, and it sits on a 10% slot.

Boss lures are a progression cost, not an income

Boss lures each hook exactly one mini-boss, are always used up, and are priced close to what that boss sells for. They exist so you can summon a fight on demand.

Average catch is the mean sell value of the bait's own table. Profit subtracts the share of the bait price you lose per catch; a quest reward costs nothing, so its profit is the catch. Both figures are for an average weight roll, before cooking.

The Scientific Boss LureScientific Boss LureCosts$5,800Bite timer0.75–1.5sCatchesGoblin Shark is the extreme case: $5,800 for a Goblin SharkGoblin SharkSells for$6,200Health7,500Weight17.5 kg – 123 kg worth $6,200. Buy it because you want the fight or the journal entry, not because you expect a return.

The one bait that loses money

The CoconutCoconutCosts$350Bite timer1–2.5sCatchesBing Bong costs $350 and hooks a Bing BongBing BongSells for$300Health2,000Weight1.3 kg – 8.8 kg, which sells for $300. Every cast with it is a net loss of $50 before you account for anything else.

That is not a mistake in the shop. The Coconut is the one way to produce a Bing Bong, which the tourist on island 3 accepts, and its price is the cost of that hand-in rather than a trade. The same goes for the other special baits, which run in the opposite direction:

Average catch is the mean sell value of the bait's own table. Profit subtracts the share of the bait price you lose per catch; a quest reward costs nothing, so its profit is the catch. Both figures are for an average weight roll, before cooking.