Do I HAVE to have Alley Catfish to catch deathfish?

[acerthorn]

So, I've filled a pond with ten deathfish. But I was wondering ... if I have a max 10 angler skill (e.g. the "AI Angler" trait chip), could I potentially catch the deathfish without live bait? Or, do I absolutely NEED alley catfish, and there's just no way around that?

[Candyd]

You can't catch death fish with alley catfish. Normally, you can catch death fish with angelfish, which you can catch with alley catfish, but you don't necessarily need bait. You can fish without any bait, but it means that you'll catch less fish, and you'll catch random fish, the easiest fish being more numerous, so you'll catch more vampire fish and even more red herring. You'll catch a death fish only if you're very lucky, so be patient.
If you've got a fish tank, and populate it with 2 death fish, you can breed them. You can have up to 6 fish at a time of identical quality ; once I have 6 of them, I take 4 to my inventory so the 2 remaining ones can breed again. Or you can feed omniplants with death fish too. You can even clone fish with the science station. So you don't necessarily have to catch them.

[KRae]

I've had level 10 fishers catch deathfish from a home pond without using bait all the time. I'll have elders fish just to keep them out of my hair. They run out of bait and still catch the fish. If deathfish are the only ones in your pond, it should be easier but may take time. You can buy alley catfish at the store in order to catch angel fish (the proper bait), however, and it does speed it up. I usually have a home pond with all three fish.

[Senna]

You don't need Angelfish to catch Deathfish. (I never used it) I think it just makes it easier.

But as stated above, once you manage to catch one (and provided you have the right Expansion Packs and skills), you can get more in plenty of other ways besides fishing.

[Trip]

Everyone more-or-less has the right answer, but having Angelfish as bait allows for catching Deathfish with a much lower skill level. Like, at a fishing skill level of 5. While you need to be level 9 or 10 to catch them without bait.