Woot! My first post. Yeah, I know. Big deal.
Anyways, When I got to 150 fishing I swam to Booty Bay, bought my book and several stacks of baubles. I then decided to see just how much further I could swim safely. Turns out, I got bored before I ran out of places to swim to. But along the way I found a spot that seemed to work out nicely for me skill gain wise. It also happened to be a hotspot for Stonescale Eels. I swam all the way around the southern point of the continent up to the point where I entered the South Seas. At that VERY spot, right at the time the zone messsage comes up, there is a little shelf that you can get onto with a little effort. Zero monster spawn.
The minimum fishing here is 200. Not only did I pull up alot of skill points (225 skill in less then 3 hours), I pulled up no less then 50 of both Firefins, Oilies as well as Sturdy Locked Chests(4 in a row!! Is that record?), Big Mouth Clams(3 Iridescent Pearls and 1 Black)and the Summer Bass were in full run. As well as 25+ Eels. Maybe swimming isn't your prefered method of getting to this spot but considering I was level 18 when I did this, I think I did rather well.
Oh, as long as you stay a bit off shore and swim AROUND the large island at the very south, its totally safe to swim there as well.
[EDIT] I was level 18 when I found the spot and fishing with 150 skill and baubles. I returned to the spot once getting to level 20 and using my book and going on the skill gain spree. It was about 45% successful casting with only 150 skill and +80 from the baubles and my strong pole. At that rate, I found fishing better elsewhere. Sorry for any confusion.
Edited, Thu Aug 25 19:12:47 2005 by Bugsplat
Edited, Thu Aug 25 19:16:44 2005 by Bugsplat