Said to the others is literally “says to them” (most translations have “said to them”). Jerusalem Bible and New English Bible have simply “said.”
I am going fishing is literally “I am going to fish.” The verb “to fish” is used only here in the New Testament; it appears in Jeremiah 16.16 of the Septuagint, but nowhere else in the Greek Bible. Some argue that the present tense of the verb “to go” suggests that Peter is going back to fishing as a trade. This could have been the meaning of I am going fishing if 21.1-14 circulated independently as a story of Jesus’ first appearance to his disciples. But in this episode’s present context, following Jesus’ two appearances to the disciples in Jerusalem (Chapter 20), such an intention on Peter’s part is excluded. The words I am going fishing serve rather to get the disciples from Jerusalem to Lake Tiberias. In some languages it is necessary to use a more specific verb which indicates the manner of fishing (with spears, hook and line, or nets). Here a term for fishing with nets should be used (see verse 6).
In the statement we will come with you the pronoun we is emphatic. The decision of the other disciples to accompany Peter meant that they would help him fish, not that they were just going along for the ride. In some languages this must be rendered “we will go along to help you fish.”
As in Chapter 6, two different Greek nouns are used for boat: ploion (verses 3 and 6) and ploiarion (verse 8). The second noun is a diminutive in form, but since it refers to the same boat, no shift in meaning can have been intended. In translation it is essential to employ a term which means a boat large enough to hold seven men with their nets.
All that night is literally “in that night.” Revised Standard Version has “that night” (so most translations), but New American Bible renders “All through the night.”
As with fishing, so too with catch it may be necessary to use a specific term, for example, “they caught no fish in their nets” or “they netted no fish.”
Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .