The Fishing Pond

One activity I liked the most in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was fishing at the pond. Whenever I was stuck with no clue whatsoever, I became bored and usually headed for the pond. I used the spot as my stress relief revenue after each battle, so to speak. You might say, "blagh! That's boring." But you've got to admit that there was a challenge in trying to get your hands on a big fish. Then there was this rumor about the Hylian Loach, I bet you wish you had gotten him too. I did. Yes-siree, I got one that weighed 35 lbs. I was so excited when the fisherman said, "Gosh! That's a strange fish you caught there! On top of that, it weighs 35 pounds!" When I tried to turn it in hoping to get a prize, the fisherman spoiled the impact of my excitement by throwing it back in the pond since it was soooo--RARE! Sheesh! One thing puzzles me a lot though. One gamer said his Hylian loach weighed 32 lbs, and another said his weighed 33 lbs. Why are there so many numbers? Are there more than one loach to catch? Perhaps, Mr. Miyamoto had the numbers programmed in each cartridge randomly. I wish I could ask him that. Anyway, because of Mr. Miyamoto's brilliant graphics and camera design, we can view underneath the water surface, makes the game even more realistic than any other game. And because of this feature, you need a sinking lure to help taking you down under the water surface to look for the famous loach. No one can really tell where the sinking lure is. Another puzzle that had been bothering me. So I spent one afternoon (uh...that would be our afternoon time, not Hyrule time) trying to find the lure. I've reached the conclusion: I usually find the lure on the log near the lily pad. At night, the frequency of the appearance is one in every other payment. Early morning, the frequency stretches to one out of every two or three payments. Day time, it's almost impossible, one out of every six to seven payments.

Each payment represents each time you go to the fishing pond and pay the fisherman to fish. You usually don't notice the sequences because you usually quit fishing and go someplace else in between. I did my experiment out of boredom. I just went up to the fisherman, returned the fishing rod and paid him again and again until I was able to conclude the observation.

Aside from Hylian loach, you can also have fun with the fisherman. You all know about the fisherman's hat trick. I tried that trick too and lost his hat FOREVER. I wish I didn't because my fisherman doesn't look professional now. He needs the white hat to compliment his head.  :-p

I also caught a great-great fish that put up quite a fight. When I pulled it out of the water, the fisherman said,

How am I doing so far? Have I done a good job at convincing you to run back to the control pad and start fishing again? Remember you'd rather go fishing at night that's when the sinking lure is likely to show up.

BTW, my special thanks to the skullkid at the Lost Wood who died many times in order to supply the fund for my sinking lure research, heh-heh.