So I'm working on the fishing achievements like everyone else. I got really lucky a few weekends ago and won the fishing tournament. I also caught the fish that rewards the eternium line. I'm still missing the hat and boots.
I'm trying to get the 22 pound lobster or 103 pound mightfish for the achievement in Azshara. Since my base skill is 415 I have a somewhat annoying miss chance. I hate having to keep buying lures, so I've just been dealing with the small "getaway" chance. I know getaways waste time. I don't really care about that a whole lot. I'm more concerned that when it displays the getaway message it may have rolled one of the fish I want but it gets away.
So basically, is the creation of the loot before or after the check for catching the fish?
If it's before, I could potentially be missing the fish I want and not even know it.
If it's after, I'm only wasting a little time by not using lures.
An unfortunate bit of luck is that I fished up the Rockhide Strongfish last week just before the achievements were added. I'm prepared to go several months to get this achievement. (mass fishing on weekends, just here and there on weekdays). I don't think it's going to get any easier when the expansion comes out.
I'm probably going to use lures anyways because those few seconds add up after a long time. The answer to this question might help others in the same situation though.