New York Tips
Walleye- is probably not the best of choices for noobies, but the best way to catch them is to go off The Dock Of Peace. Cast straight out towards the largest tree in the distance, you will be trying to get 150-210 feet out. Reel Backwards if you need to, I highly recommend using a medium casting spoon 1/4 oz #1/0 or #2/0. Begin to reel in slowly with the lure bouncing on the bottom or near the bottom, give your line a pull every once in a while. Walleye bite hard so you will need to react fast, any spin or casting rod will work, make sure you use 4-6 pound test as they are great fighters. Walleye will snap all the rookie grade rods so please dont use them.
Pike(pike,grass pickeral,chain pickeral,redfin)
Redfin Pickeral-one of the smaller varieties of pickeral in the game only reaching about 1.4 pounds. Redfin Pickeral are caught the same way as grass and chain pickeral are caught, with a casting spoon really any of the smaller sized spoons will work. I recommend casting into the grassy areas or to the left off the end of The Dock Of Peace. Slowly reel in with a occasional tug or stop and go and these fish will take your line.
Chain Pickeral- The largest fish in the sub pike family, chain pickeral are rather rare and are better caught in the later part of the afternoon. Chain Pickeral require no special baits or lures to catch, chain pickeral can reach up to 4 pounds, they are an excellent fish to level up with if you can reliably catch them. Chain pickeral will bite on medium sized casting spoons usually from 2-5pm. They will never take the bait in the morning hours, or at least i have never had it happen. Chain pickeral prefer a more medium reel speed, with plenty of tugs and stops in between reeling.
Grass Pickeral- The absolute smallest of the ingame pickeral family, grass pickeral are quite easy to catch and very common if you know where to fish, they tend to like silver colored spoons with #2 or #1/0 hooks. These fish like a constant but slow reel motion, with a occasional tug. Grass pickeral have little xp value and average monetary value they are okay to farm as a rookie but hold no value later on in the game.
Northern Pike-The largest of the Pike family, Northern Pike are suprisingly quite common at emerald lake. You can catch them off the end of The Dock Of Peace, Cast a Shad 2" or a Medium Casting Spoon of to the right towards the weeds. Pike will eventually strike your line, they like to follow it so dont reel too fast or they will be unable to take the bait. Pike prefer stop and go motions, as well as lift and drop from my personal experiences. Pike can be reasonably big but i havent caught any larger than 3 pounds so far and i do not think that trophy pike are in the game, as i havent seen anyone catch them, pike offer decent xp and should be used as a XP fish not a money fish. I would go for Walleye for money.
Black Crappie-Black Crappie are a panfish, like bluegill. Black Crappie are the largest of the species, they can reach 4 pounds, Black Crappie can be caught from any location on Emerald Lake. I would recommend using a floating bait, with a sport bobber if you can, if not the chubby one will work. I would stick with baits that target panfish only as these are the only panfish in the lake this will allow you to catch only crappie, I would set your leader to 30 inches i wouldnt go any more than this as crappie are more of a top to middle of the water column fish. These are excellent little fish for money and the trophies give excellent xp.
Golden Shiner-Golden Shiner is a relatively unique fish the only one of its type that is in the game, Golden Shiners can be caught anywhere on emerald lake with spinners,spoons,and shads. They are a small fish and will never top a pound, Golden Shiners provide a decent amount of money but lackluster xp. They require a steady reel speed set your reel to medium speed or #2.
Pumpkinseed- Pumpkinseed are a panfish like crappie, they are smaller fish only reaching 1.5 pounds. The best way to fish for them is similar to crappie, use a bait pole and use the sport bobber if you can, like above the chubby bobber is also fine. I would recommend using baits that catch both pumpkinseed and crappie, read the descriptions of baits. I cannot list them, because many of the baits that i have access to will not apply to rookie fisherman.
Yellow Perch- A unique fish that is found in emerald lake, the yellow perch is fairly common it is a reasonably good fish for gaining money but a lackluster candidate when it comes to xp.
Yellow perch's can reach a size of 2.2 pounds. The best way to fish for them is with a casting spoon, even a bog standard one with a size #1/0 hook will do, i have also hooked them on a shad. They tend to like a medium reel speed maybe #2-3 I would use a lift and drop type ordeal in between reeling, and give the line an occasional tug this usually gets the interest of yellow perch.
UPDATE 3/27/2016
I will be Adding more information to this page over the next 3-4 days things have changed and some of the information may no longer apply.Thank you for visiting