Although Shelley can nurse the baby and play Warcraft with one hand, I'm finding a bit hard to do that. Play one-handed, that is, when I'm holding Kelley.

Fishing in-game, however, requires far less coordination, so I decided to have Gul pick up that abandoned skill and take it as far as he could before the new fishing tournament started up.

Thus, over the past week, Gul has been travelling the world of Azeroth fishing in both popular and out-of-the way places as he sought to catch various kinds of fish in order to increase his skills. Thanks to Myzythra's quick retrieval of a Big Iron Fishing Pole from a sunken lobster pot, and a donation of Aquadynamic Fish Attractors, Gul's caught quite a few interesting and useful species. The winter squid still evades him, however, but apparently it's not to be found until winter. Rumors that it showed up between midnight and 3 am were tested and found to be unsubstantiated.

While up in Wailing Caverns today, fishing for Deviate Fish to make a potion, Gul had a beer with a lady who informed him that the first fishing tournament was being held about two hours from that time, which was enough to get to its venue in Stranglethorn Vale and learn about how to enter and what to catch.

According to the rules, a new kind of fish – travelling in schools up and down the coast – formed the main event. The first person to catch 40 and turn them in won the title of Master Angler. Gul figured if he just stood in one place the schools would come and go. Gul figured wrong.

It turns out that the schools come and go, lasting only a few minutes at a given spot along the coast, but one has to go and find them along the coast, and one has to cast one's lure into the little swirling area the fish make (often requiring multiple casts). Thus, for an entire hour Gul caught none of the prize fish. That made Gul rather sad, even though his creel bulged with other kinds.

Once Gul learned how the schools work he caught some 65 of them in short order. Of course it was far too late at that point, because they announced a winner only 45 minutes into the tournament. But that's fine. Gul now knows what has to be done next week. A few new very rare species of fish have also been introduced for the tournament, although Gul caught none of them.




A selection of Gul's creels at various times and places. Quite a nice selection of colorful icons, no?




A few people dressed the part for the tournament. Gul's just got to get with it and wear something smarter than his standard armor next time!