Prerequisites: Have the Intermediate Fishing Rod, fish a lot
Reward: Advanced Fishing Rod
Unlocks: --
In order to get the best Fishing Rod in Potion Permit you need to really commit to the fine art of fishing. If you've gotten this far then you already have the Intermediate Fishing Rod, and want to move up to the most powerful Rod. Alas, this process takes a very, very long time.
There is no obvious gauge in Potion Permit that displays your progress as a fisherperson, but the game does keep track of how many times you've successfully caught a fish. This is somewhat represented by the plus signs that appear over your head whenever you land a fish. Once you have the Intermediate Fishing Rod you should be seeing a ++ over your head each time you catch a fish. You need to keep fishing until you see MAX over your head instead.
(Quick note: My ++ turned back to a + at some point, and I needed to keep fishing to make it ++ again. I don't know if this random bug reset the fishing counter or what, but... just keep fishing, I guess.)
How long will this take? The exact answer is uncertain, but you will likely need to fish at least a hundred times to trigger The Ultimate Fishing Rod. So. Park yourself at the dock just north of your house and keep on fishing until you see that lovely MAX. (Though if you want to maintain your sanity, you may want to catch nine or ten fish at a time, then go off and do something else. Catching fish over and over for several hours is quite the slog.)
Once MAX appears over your head and you have a sleep you'll find a note from Leano, asking you to visit the Primerose Sail between 8:00 and 18:00, Monday to Sunday. Pay the ship a visit and Leano will bring in Runeheart to upgrade your Fishing Rod. She'll need some materials to make the upgrade happen:
- Five Cold Blooms. Cold Blooms are found on Glaze Iceberg, to the east of the cable car, and are unlocked by completing the Cold Bloom quest.
- Five Gold Nuggets. Gold Nuggets pop out of the larger rocks on Glaze Iceberg, or the smaller rocks in the Barren Wasteland.
- Ten Dark Shards. Dark Shards are dropped by the shield-wielding Koblin Assassins that live on Glaze Iceberg.
Hand over all of these materials to Leano and she'll take you to Hearts and Sparks to finalize the transformation of the Intermediate Fishing Rod into the Advanced Fishing Rod. With this Rod - as well as a fistful of Hyper Worms, which you can purchase at the Primerose Sail - you can finally fish off of the dock outside the bait shop, as well as inside Glaze Grotto on Glaze Iceberg.