the latest changes make you pay more attention. The fish try to swim (a wiggle animation) which shoots their stamina drain sky high. You have to stop pulling and wait this out, then pull in some, repeat until caught.
higher tier fish cost more stamina, so target the smaller ones when you cast.
try getting above 200 stamina.
you can walk a short way to pull a fish with your body instead of reeling for a little free stamina. Too much and it will lose the catch.
if you can get it to shore/very shallow, you can pick it up even if you drop it.

you are going to have to grind the skill out so you use less stamina if you want to catch anything outside meadows. Even trollfish are tough with 0 skill.

After reading an earlier thread on the exact same topic, I've been fishing from my longship and enjoying it immensely. I set the ship in motion ever so slightly with a row or 2 then stand on the opposite end of whichever direction it is heading. I eat 3 stamina foods and have some medium stamina pots in my action bar. Cast as far as I can 24-27m. then reel it in through the school of fish till my line has between 9-12 m remaining. For those bigger fish I will simply drop it in after losing them with as little as 4m of line out. The fish that drop off my cast due to stamina loss tend to loiter near where they dropped and I almost always catch them on 4-7m of line. One quickly gets proficient enough to judge how little line is needed to catch the fish based on its size. I find the less line I have out, the more likely fish are to detect the bait and bite. In my experience if the fish are not biting with 15-20m of line out, by reeling it in to 5-9m they will close the distance and start hitting my bait. Fishing from my ship near rocks clear of fog in the Mistlands has been very productive, and that anglerfish stamina food is awesome. Fish'n'bread, Bloodpudding & Bread are my new go to foods for fishing.

Easy. Go out with your boat and park next to the fishspawn. Cast the line as short as possible literally right infront you. There is no need ot cast far it only uses up more stamina when reeling in.

-5m cast, 8m at max
-3 stamina foods
-spam "E" when the fish is hooked (yes I know this will slow down levelling up your fishing skill)

Eat the 3 best stamina foods you have.
Use the hat if you have it.
Make as long a throw as posible, and reel in (for leveling the skill) to 6-9 meters and let it rest there until something bites.
Once something does, only reel in when it doesn't wriggle; when it wriggles, your stamina burns really fast.
Have a Stamina potion ready for that odd catch where all other tactics doesn't suffice.

Originally posted by Gromarch:

Eat the 3 best stamina foods you have.
Use the hat if you have it.
Make as long a throw as posible, and reel in (for leveling the skill) to 6-9 meters and let it rest there until something bites.
Once something does, only reel in when it doesn't wriggle; when it wriggles, your stamina burns really fast.
Have a Stamina potion ready for that odd catch where all other tactics doesn't suffice.

This is the best response.

The only thing I can add is KEEP ANY LVL 1 PERCH YOU CATCH.

You can use them to make a small "Skilling pond" somewhere you can dig into water. Huck the lvl 1 perch in there and cast 26 feet line and reel them in. You get the same Fishing XP regardless of fish, and Lvl 1 perch take almost no stamina, even when struggling. Just be ready to go through a lot of bait to even get to 50.

Originally posted by Hobo Misanthropus:

You can use them to make a small "Skilling pond" somewhere you can dig into water. Huck the lvl 1 perch in there and cast 26 feet line and reel them in. You get the same Fishing XP regardless of fish

You don´t need any fish for leveling fishing. Just cast and reel back in

The perches I can reel in, but any of the larger fish it's like forget it.. there's no way! The stamina drains while they're not even halfway clipped onto land.

And my stamina is at 150

Honestly I wish the bigger ones wouldn't bite lol they always get away

I don't even know when or where you get a fishing rod

I haven't figured it out either yet. I'm guessing you have to "play" the larger fish, not just drag them in. Like in real life, when they're fighting the line you wait, and then when they get tired, pull them in until they start struggling again. I haven't been successful yet with a larger fish, but I've only tried for a short time so far.

Originally posted by MagicMuffinMage:

I don't even know when or where you get a fishing rod

Find the trader, he has a few nice things.

The seller spawns in Black Forest biome, mine appeared near the Elder.

One thing that may help, is if you get a boat ready in the water, cast a line out to about 10 meters, and then sit down at the boat rudder, and just paddel around slowly for a bit. If using the long ship, try paddling in reverse to make sure you go slow enough for fish to catch up and bite.

with the boat still moving slowly, it should automatically set the hook once they bite and since the line is 10M or less away, it should help reduce the amount of stamina drain before you can nab the fish.

Still strongly recommended to eat a triple stack of the best stamina foods you can get ahold of, because them higher tier fish are STRONK.