MMeOw | LotRO and Mines of Moria Focused Blog for the Casual Player

This year’s Summer Festival has a good amount to do based upon fishing. For those of you who haven’t bothered to learn the hobby yet, it might be a good idea to track down a Hobby Master and get started. You can start fishing at Level 5.

The nice thing about the fishing activities related to the Summer Festival is that none of them require a specific proficiency in fishing. You could just be starting (with literally as low as 1 point in your fishing skill meter) or a seasoned vet. It also doesn’t seem to matter what type of pole you use. All that matters, really, is patience. With a little of that, you’ll be on your way to getting several items unique to the Summer Festival.

In Bywater, Bree-land, Celondim and Thorin’s Hall you can find special Fishermen NPCs that allow you to trade in fish you’ve caught for items and Summer Festival Tokens. Summer Festival Tokens can be traded in for additional items during the Summer Festival.  The Fishermen only want fish that have been newly added for the Summer Festival, however, so don’t expect to trade in all of those old, smelly bitterlings you caught last month.

At first you might realize that you’re not catching any of the special barter fish. That’s because certain prerequisites need to met first.

Getting Started

Your first stop should be Neddie Grub, who stands next to a shack along the river in Bywater. He will ask for help stocking his pond for the festival and requests that you bring him three sets of fish that are located in Bree-land, Celondim and Thorin’s Hall. These fish will appear in very specific locations and show up as yellow text in the chat window.

The first are called Drums and are available in Bree-land. The quest text for this is kind of vague (several people in chat seemed to have issues, including myself), but you can find the pond where these fish are located by following the road from the South Gate of the town of Bree. You’ll know you’re in the right place if you happen upon a fisherman bartering for items. No other body of water in the entirety of Bree-land contains these fish.

The second are called Luillim and are caught in Celondim. This is easy enough: just fish off the docks until you’ve caught them all.

The third and final set are called Amberjack and are caught within Thorin’s Hall. Pass up the giant statue upon entering the city and make a left. You’ll quickly arrive at the Blue Garrison, where you’ll find a river going right through the city. You can catch these fish here with little problem.

It’s worth noting that since you’re starting in Bywater, the best place to catch a horse is Michel Delving. It costs 1 silver to travel to West Bree, Celondim and Thorin’s Hall from this travel point. In addition, catching these fish does not advance your fishing proficiency. It’s pretty much an independent thing.

You can catch more than the allotted number of fish during this quest (for example, 5 Amberjack instead of just 3), but my experience has been that you’re better off finishing this quest and returning later . . . Doing it at this point seems to take far longer: not only will the rarer fish never appear, you also seem to catch a larger amount of normal non-barter fish than you would under the daily 20 minute fishing quests. It’s not really worth the time.

Time to Fish!

Upon catching all the required fish, return to Neddie Grub in Bywater. This will unlock a new set of daily quests, one in each of the four fishing areas you’ve just visited. Each of these quests start a 20 minute timer, during which you will be able to catch a good deal barter fish (along with normal fish and the typical junk). Some will be of the more common variety, but others will be slightly more rare. Their rarity affects their trade-in value.

I have found that you can catch barter fish for a short period after the timer stops. This lasts another three minutes or so, if that. It’s not a lot, but it can be enough time to catch another fish or two and round out your numbers.

Here are the types of fish you can catch:

Rare Fish:

• Starry Flounder
• Golden Redfish
• Silver Haddock
• Calebhal

Common Fish:

• Small Fish
• Luillim
• Amberjack
• Drum

Each fishing area contains different fish and each barterer offers different items for them. In order to get everything (assuming you care about everything), you will have to fish at each location and trade with the local vendor.

Small Fish do not currently have anything they can be bartered for. At this point it’s unclear if that’s a mistake or if something will be coming up for them later. Since you can also catch Luillim, Amberjack and Drum near Bywater, this doesn’t seem to create much of an issue.

Bartered Items

Once you gathered up some fish, there’s some pretty cool stuff to barter for. The items are all housing items and clothing exclusive to the Summer Festival. As mentioned, each barterer offers different items for their local varieties of fish.

Please note that Neddie Grub is the only fishing barterer that accepts all types of fish in exchange for Summer Festival Tokens. The other three only accept fish from their area.

I’ve listed their trades below.

Neddie Grub near the river in northern Bywater:

• All-Shire Run Token = 3 Summer Festival Tokens
• 1 Starry Flounder = 5 Summer Festival Tokens
• 1 Golden Redfish = 5 Summer Festival Tokens
• 1 Silver Haddock = 5 Summer Festival Tokens
• 1 Calebhal = 5 Summer Festival Tokens
• 4 Drum = 1 Summer Festival Token
• 4 Amberjack = 1 Summer Festival Token
• 4 Luillim = 1 Summer Festival Token
• 12 Summer Festival Tokens = ‘Lithe Days’ Wall
• 1 Starry Flounder + 8 Summer Festival Tokens = Seasonal Banner
• 6 Summer Festival Tokens = Green Fireworks Launcher
• 1 Starry Flounder = Orange Fireworks Launcher
• 6 Summer Festival Tokens = Blue Fireworks Launcher

Gaellien by the docks in Celdondim:

• 1 Calebhal = 5 Summer Festival Tokens
• 4 Luillim = 1 Summer Festival Token
• 1 Calebhal + 8 Summer Festival Tokens = Ceremonial Dress
• 12 Summer Festival Tokens = ‘Festival of Enedhin’ Wall
• 12 Summer Festival Tokens = Festival of Enedhin Music Box
• 1 Calebhal + 8 Summer Festival Tokens = Summer Welcome Mat
• 12 Summer Festival Tokens = Vegetable Garden
• 1 Calebhal + 8 Summer Festival Tokens = Large Flowerbed

Láfi by the river in Thorin’s Hall:

• 1 Silver Haddock = 5 Summer Festival Tokens
• 4 Amberjack = 1 Summer Festival Token
• 1 Silver Haddock + 8 Summer Festival Tokens = Ceremonial Dress
• 12 Summer Festival Tokens = ‘Summerfest’ Wall
• 12 Summer Festival Tokens = Summerfest Music Box
• 6 Summer Festival Tokens = Purple Fireworks Launcher
• 1 Silver Haddock = Red Fireworks Launcher
• 6 Summer Festival Tokens = Yellow Fireworks Launcher

Moll Hindmarsh south of Bree town:

• 1 Golden Redfish = 5 Summer Festival Tokens
• 4 Drum = 1 Summer Festival Token
• 1 Golden Redfish + 8 Summer Festival Tokens = Ceremonial Dress
• 12 Summer Festival Tokens = ‘Summerdays’ Wall
• 12 Summer Festival Tokens = Summerdays Music Box
• 12 Summer Festival Tokens = Orange Flowerbox
• 1 Golden Redfish +8 Summer Festival Tokens = Purple Flowerbox
• 1 Golden Redfish +8 Summer Festival Tokens = Herb Garden

As you’ve probably noticed, none of these items is a necessity, but if you own a house there’s quite a lot of new stuff here to get your attention. The wallpapers, in particular, are quite nice.