Fishing and Bait

[Carl]

So yeah, Treefish are indeed caught at the Park in Willow Creek. I haven't found a Batfish outside Forgotten Grotto yet, however. I'm about to go to Sylvan Glade because it looks like the truly unique fish there that is hard to find or impossible to catch elsewhere must be the tilapia. Most fishing spots are the same, and those listed by Nutella are the actually interesting ones. This is rather unfortunate to me, as I wish there was more diversity to spawners. I basically am going to end up telling people to go to 5 places..

Edit: and I'm also going to tell them why these uncommon fish present more trouble than the rares. We have yet another bug affecting collections. I wondered why my level 10 fisherman couldn't find Catfish at, well, literally every fishing spot in my neighborhood all of a sudden.  On a hunch, I cheated and dropped her skill level to 4, which is when you unlock Tilapia and Catfish. I caught a catfish, great! I immediately went to Sylvan Glade's waterfall spot and got my Tilapia, finishing the collection.

There's nothing changing game to game... at some point fishing bugs out and you're not able to catch catfish and tilapia. All other fish are catchable except those two, and every fish has a set location it can be found in.

[Carl]

Just put in a bug report with EA. I could use another reliable place to catch Tilapia, if it exists outside Sylvan Glade.

If you want to complete the Fishing Collection, be sure to catch both a Tilapia and Catfish well before max level. You shouldn't have trouble with any other fish once I put the guide up tomorrow. Not sure exactly what level it breaks, but you can go after them at level 4. Tilapia require no bait, Catfish take anything from gardening.

I am now thinking this affects Rainbowfish too. They are in Sylvan Glade and Forgotten Grotto, but I don't remember catching any more at max level.

[Nutella]

I have caught a few Tilapia in the Willow Creek park, round pond.  I had over 100+ fishes with only 2-3 tilapias, so I wouldn't say that is a reliable place.   The main source of Tilapia seems to be in sylvan glade river.  Also once I hit max level, I stopped catching Tilapia.  And yes, if you haven't caught catfish before you max your level, you are out of luck.

[Carl]

Thanks for confirming. Catfish are at most spots when you use bait, it's just the bug blocking you from catching them.

Edit: and told EA about Rainbowfish as well. Did a test, came up empty handed when I hit 10.

[Brotte]

I have managed to catch one rainbowfish once. It was in the park in Oasis Spring. It was in the little pool by the cliff wall all the way in the back.

Another thing I have found out, is that a reliable way to figure out what is available at any fishing spot, is to observe. However, you have to know what the fish looks like, though. But if you do, it is easy enough. Just zoom in very close and watch the fish jump. That should give you an idea as to what you can catch there. Of course you need bait for some of them though, so the 'examine water' interaction is rather important too.

[_Annika_]

I'm starting to understand what I'm looking at with the game code for Sims 4 now, and I think I see what the problem is for Catfish, Telapia, and Rainbow fish (still checking all of the fish).

This line here:
<T n="use_effective_skill_level">True</T>
For the other fish, this is either set to false, or the line is omitted. My hypothesis is that if someone made a mod to change this line, then the fish would be catchable at later levels.