Fishing skill can get too high?

For RHEC's big fishing contest (R97) I wanted my Saltwater Fishing skill to be as high as possible. So, when the 4-hour contest started, my Saltwater Fishing was at 139 (Base Fishing at 135) and I had some xp to spare. I was fishing with minnows, prosperity fishing pole, master angler cloak, full saltwater jewelry set, Fishing blessings and Pacu. After 30 minutes into the contest I hit 140 and locked the skill. Up to that point, fishing was completely normal: quite a few trophy fish and many casts that didn't need the full circle of fishing time.
I then took out my blood leeches and after a while noticed something was wrong. I had many, many fails, caught a lot of boots and such, very few casts that didn't need the full circle, and especially: didn't use up any of my blood leeches. So I decided to relog and hoped that would make things better.
Well, one thing changed: I was then using up blood leeches, but the fishing didn't get any better. I switched to tiny squids. Same. I switched to herrings. No change. Back to minnows. No change.
Since I hit 140, my fishing felt screwed. I remember catching only 4 trophy fish in the last hour, while I used to get 12-16. Very very frustrating.
A few days later I fished in fresh water (Castle Athos). My freshwater fishing was at 131. All was normal: lots of trophy fish, few footwear, lots of casts that were successful early, and an odd container
Then R98 arrived and I fished in saltwater again for an hour. Misery again. A day later I tried again. Same sorry results. At that moment I got fed up and DROPPED my saltwater fishing to 139.

From that moment on, my saltwater fishing is perfectly alright again.

So, is it possible that fishing skill can get too high with all the plusses and bonusses we can use nowadays?

 

As a kind of further question, I'd really like to understand better how fishing even "works" - other than a sort of vague "the success % starts going down unless you move to another spot" kinda thing, it feels very random in general and certain expectations emerge over long time periods but with little data / understanding of why these things occur. Fishing for an hour with one bait vs. another has little notable difference for example - I saw some data a while back where sample sizes were in the range of 1000+ casts, and even then, it was hard to definitively say "this is because of xyz."
Having recently tried to do more fishing because the foods I want to make require the obtaining of fish, it would be good to understand what I should be doing to achieve optimum results - at the moment its very much a case of "just hit the button and something random will happen" which isn't very satisfying.

What makes the % go down? What distance does this effect? Does it regen over time, or do you need to just refresh the whole scene? How come it drops quickly from 1 cast at 60+% and the next one, inches away, at <1% ? What exactly does bait do and how does it affect outcome, because observable effects are nil? How do the different skills actually make fishing "better"? And, as Ysold has asked above, is there some glitch in the curve that's causing something dodgy to happen at a certain threshold?

 

agreed. i learned a specific technique from a player, Mac's Youtube video, but it's clear that most aren't aware that spacing casts and intentionally casting as close as possible to where the Fishing reticle turns from red to blue enables a player to maintain a consistent average % chance. for instance, i can usually get 7 casts out of 8 in a Large Lava Pool to be my consistent % (current/lvl and bonus dependent); i've even managed once to get all 8 casts at the same %, but it's incredibly difficult especially considering the camera work required to even get a blue reticle...

and all these realities beg more explanation; currently there isn't anything approaching a level playing field for the Fishing system, and deliberately not being explicitly clear about what mechanics are at play in it can only serve to keep that field uneven.

don't forget, Catnip is a developer event, and the prizes often determine who gets easy access to [more] real estate. that should be an opportunity open to all players, not the least of which, i'd say are the newest players. and while Catnip is 'open' to them, the forces at play in players success rates and the underlying system remains shrouded...i could understand that for the sake of 'realism,' but if that's the argument for keeping us in the dark, then why not make fishing during rain at Dawn in the shade all clearly stated bonuses to % chance? why not indicate whether bait type caught ever indicates what the fish are eating and whether it benefits the player to immediately fish with it...or is it more advantageous to wait until Dawn/Dusk? why not mention that keeping % chance consistent is even possible?

Fishing is unlike any other in-game event, and it's a competition for real world money; it deserves not to be veiled to newcomers or veterans.