Exactly what shinbi said. Either fish up moats for the gil or go farm bird blood or something else. Use Clothespole or a Halcyon until then.

I'm still using my first Composite Rod (bought for 30k) and I'm nearly lvl 70 fishing. I've easily made close to a million gil with fishing, if not more. The gil/hr just keeps increasing the higher you get and the more you investigate the market for opportunities.

Granted, I'm an Ebisu fisher with 110 skill on retail, but the market is a bit different here on Nasomi than it was over there.

I realize this might be a question with a potentially ambiguous answer, but how common/uncommon are breaks with Composite rod if we're trying to follow a guide like the one provided earlier? With Composite rod in the 30-35k range, it would be pretty devastating early on, though it does look like you can recoup about 2/3rds the cost reselling the broken rod.

Edit: Chakan replied while I was writing this, and it sounds like it's fairly uncommon if they're still using their first Composite rod at skill 70 now.

They rarely break in the lower levels, I have had what must have been a log snap them on rare occasion though, I think it's because we can't have line breaks.

You don't need a Comp to start fishing, I was broke when I started it so I went from a Clothespole -> Single Hook -> Halcyon -> Comp.

Personally when I went to Knight's well with Composite rod and insect ball I was only catching moat carp here on Nasomi (a side for occasional rusty bucket).

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Nekozuko:
75 THF, 75Brd, 75 DRK 75 Rdm, 75 RNG, 75 Nin

Same experience as Neko. Do Knightswell specifically, although you can catch them elsewhere.

Don't forget, you can cancel items with bait to save room/time as the bait is used regardless. With a lure, you lose the lure. The time you spend fishing up just one bucket might not seem like a big deal, but remember you'll see it pop a bit over dozens or hundreds of Moats.

I think it's extremely rare to break a composite, unless you go for mola mola or sawfish or the like. I got mine i think at level 10 and used the same one with no breaks until I upgraded at level 76.

Fly Lure in Carpenter's Landing will break it somehow.

EDIT: So will sinking minnow in nashmau, idk the real name of the fish but it's like Pterosomethingwierd

Not to mention it may even save time in the long run, especially if you're low level. FFXI requires a balance between farming and leveling (be it xp or merits) to give you access to its various content (lets call this questing) which both require time. Time not spent leveling not questing is spent on farming or improving rate of farm; this include fishing and crafting) Like wise time spent farming or questing will be spent on leveling.

Lets take a level 15 character who just come out of dunes after some exping is need of new gear may take to fishing. Seeing this guide it would become daunting as initial setup seems to be Composite (28k) +2 k lure followed by a Haly (17k)/clothespole (1.6k) + Sabiki (2.3) and fly lure (2.3k). A Level 15 character will have less access to farming rates then level 30 character let alone a level 75 character. So to this level 15 character a 30.3k initial investment is very daunting and won't be able to see initial pay off. This means this level 15 character will have to spend more time farming to pay off the initial investment and as well to continue leveling. Or this level 15 character can instead spend time farming (or evening killing Goblin fisher near the well) for clothespole and 3.3k insect ball maybe even little worms 300 gold (rounded up) for total of 5.2k. Start with the worms to gain some skills and exhaust those little worms you'll get both moat carp and another fish that provides some skill ups. Once switch to insect ball your rate of return on your fishing will improve, with two stacks of moat carps it'll pay for initial set up. 11 stacks will pay for future Composite fishing pole thus saving you time on farming to get that pole and second stack of insect ball. Moat carp could also pay for additional gear, and thus the player doesn't have spend time to farm gain gear for leveling.

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Nekozuko:
75 THF, 75Brd, 75 DRK 75 Rdm, 75 RNG, 75 Nin

Just for reference, when I started fishing the first rod I bought was a Hume rod. It literally broke on the first cast. 10k down the hole, 12.3k including the lure. But I figured it was just bad luck, so I broke out my Mithra rod and used that instead (20k or so from vendor). I bought another Hume rod, cause I liked the idea of using something different. Same thing, now we're 26k down, plus about another 10k in lures. All without catching a single fish on those rods.

Fortunately I had a Mithra rod, and was able to make all that back and pay for it too before IT broke (first cast fishing off the boat). I broke 2 Mithra rods before learning my lesson, btw. So all together you might as well say I threw 80 or 90k worth of gil into the water before reaching lv 20 fishing.

My composite rod on the other hand, has lasted me to 39 fishing and been used everywhere. The boat to Mhaura/Selbina, all 3 cities, yuhtunga & yhoator Jungle, buburimu and bibiki bay, Batallia Downs, qufim...and made several hundred K in the process.

The guide isn't there to scare newbies off. It's to keep then from throwing gil into the sea and guarantee they're making money off their investment. I could have been up 50k if I'd bought a Composite from the start.

If you want to minimize investment maybe start with a clothespole farmed off a goblin Fisher and use that while saving for a Composite or Halcyon Rod. At least when that breaks it's free, just time spent farming. But I can say with confidence using anything less than those 2 poles is hurting more than helping.

It's a bit of a shame they break so easily here, I used the Hume rod the entire time I was moat carp fishing in retail and the Mithra rod when I was catching Nebimonite on the boat for my first composite rod.

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35k is not a lot of gil... nabutso just posted a great guide to making newbie gil in any starting area. Use that until you save up for a composite rod, or as others have suggested just start off with a clothespole, which using my guide will take you to level 16 fishing. By then you might even have the gil you need for a comp rod. Stop expecting literally anything in this game to be handed to you. If you want it to be easy, this is not the game for you.