Fishing tips/mini-guide to supplement your other guides

I finished the tiered rod challenges a few minutes ago. It took me a good bit, and is designed in a way to not be super easy to grind. So, to make it slightly more bearable, I'll give you advice that worked for me.

Do the Featured public events and caravans for Improved bait when you see them. Passively checking coolers can help, but Featured events and caravans are the best, steadiest, and most reliable bait sources. I spent 90-100 Improved Bait just getting to a tier 4 rod, and RNG is a cruel mistress, so more wouldn't hurt to be safe.

Hop between CAMPs to find one in the region you need with a rainy, snowy, aurora snowy, mothman, or nuclear weather machine. If their CAMP is public, they usually won't mind you fishing there. The best rates for catching medium or large fish are rain/snow (they have identical rates), and the best rates for Axolotls are nuclear weathers, but both considerably increase your changes of larger catches so either will do.

Focus on the Rod Tier challenge first. This one's pretty obvious. You'll have trouble catching a lot of big fish without a Tier 3 or better rod. I accidentally completed quite a few fishing challenges getting to Tier 4, so if you plan on 100% completing fishing Challenges anyway, it's a great way to start.

Save the Superb Bait for Axolotls and Local Legends. I only used the Superb Bait on an Axolotl for the heck of it, to say I caught one, only to catch a couple more later on with just rain and Improved Bait. So you can absolutely just catch Axolotls with Improved Bait instead if you want.

Keep sane! Watch a video, listen to a podcast, or enjoy some music while you fish. These fishing rates are abysmal, and are designed to be done passively here or there - NOT to be grinded out in a day. So please take it easy on yourself and take care of your brain. Don't fry your neurons by idly fishing.