the third country you stampede through really ramps up the rod talk
also the game introduces fishing by having the shield glamazon stop the whole party to tell a story about how she spent her childhood fishing to survive because of slavery and war crimes, then immediately cuts to her doing Sega Ass Fishing
(not pictured: at least 4 incomprehensible meters that pop up at random during the fishing mini game with no explanation other than “oops you’re doing it wrong!”)