I have master farmers AND cutting tools and that hasn't happened. What else is missing?

ive seen untrained villagers try to spear fish... they dont seem to be successful at it til they are at least midrange adept

I'm annoyed by the spear fishing. I put a farmer in the ocean, he swims around for a while, then climbs out, walks over to the hut, gets a tool, walks (sloooooooowly!) back to the ocean, and spears a fish. Regular fishing is so much faster! Why do they do this? Can I make them stop? They're all gonna die waiting for him to bring home dinner!

It is slower when they go from the ocean. But when they go from the food bin, it is actually a faster way to fish. They'll pick up the spear on their way to the ocean.

true, i hated spear fishing at first too, i thought it jsut took longer for them to bring the food in

but then I noticed what VI said, if they are fishing of their own accord, it actually takes a lot less time

What I do, and I've done this since VV1, is watch a villager that I drop in the ocean. If they look like they're going to get out of the water (after awhile, you can tell very quickly by the direction that they swim), I'll pick them up and drop them in the ocean again. That way they will stay there and fish (like I want them to). As Warren has pointed out, this doesn't apply when the villagers initiate fishing on their own.

yes they do that. i think they should catch more fish with the spear

my researcher picked up a spear after he successfully researched
(he was a master farmer) and then went to the shore and kneeled and came back with a fish

I find some of my villagers get a spear go to edge of the ocean and just stand there, after about 15 seconds they walk towards the food bin with a fish.

I also find that if they use the spear to fish they get more XP, but i don't know if this is true, does anyone else know?

Leave the villager selected and watch what the message says when they get a fish.