Skilling up on Monke-Onke/Crescent Fish w/ Rogue Rig at 20...

[keflex]

Does anyone know if fishing skill ups are actually determined by getting bites? I was curious, because I recently picked up a Rogue Rig and am trying to skill up on Monke-Onkes and Crescent fishes (because I can catch both w/ the Rogue Rig, and both are located in the E. Sarutabaruta Lake). So far, I've had a couple of bites, but at a much, much lower rate than I was getting before (previously, I was working at Giant Catfish and Dark Bass).

I'm skill 20 atm, and I don't want to fish for several days just to find out that it would be impossible for me to skillup using such high level fish or that the Rogue Rig was somehow affecting my chances at getting bites (I'd read a post on another board that mentioning that Rogue Rigs may not become effective until your fishing skill is extremely high in comparison to the fish that you're trying to catch).

Any help would be appreciated.

[Willard]

Rumor is that the rogue rig is only good after 50 skill in fishing, again its a rumor but alot of people report not catching anything with it under 50 skill

[Mullenkamp]

I've heard the rumors about the Rogue Rig as well, that it isn't effective until higher skill, and that it is only used to catch items and not fish...I guess we'll find out when more devoted fishers start hitting 50^^.
As far as I know, skillups are determined by how many bites you get, not how many fish you actually catch. So losing your catch does go towards building your skill.
For around level 20 it was suggested to me that I try fishing off of the cliffs in W.Saruta, or cliffs in North Gustaberg I believe. This method is aptly named 'cliffing'. It was also suggested I use sinking minnow, but they're 2k a pop and in about 2 hours of fishing I lost two of them. I did get a whole levels worth of skillups though, so this method will skill you up, but you'll need gil to burn on lures. I also only caught mostly Pamtam Kelp, Rusty Leggings, and the occasional Ogre Eel. (this was in W.Saruta)