Fishing

Fishing is one of the first skills to be available in RuneScape, released on 11 June 2001. It is also one of the most common activities. Fishing lets players catch fish from fishing spots. Caught fish may be cooked using the Cooking Skill, and are often sold to other players because of their ability to heal Life Points. If you have achieved level 99 in fishing you can purchase a Skillcape of Fishing from the Master Fisher outside the Fishing Guild for 99,000 coins. Please see the Fishing Skillcape article for more information. As of 3 March 2010, there are 27,081 people with 99 Fishing.

Fishing shops
Locations of fishing shops where players can buy equipment are:

Free-to-play

 * Gerrant's Fishy Business in Port Sarim
 * Hank's Fishing Shop in Lumbridge

Members



 * Harry's Fishing Store in Catherby
 * Fishing Guild Shop - only Fishing bait and Feathers
 * Shilo Village Fishing Shop
 * Witchaven Fishing Shop
 * Fish stalls - Fishmongers
 * Rellekka Fremennik Fishmonger
 * Miscellania Island Fishmonger
 * Etceteria Fish

Equipment
Players need certain types of equipment depending on what fish they want to catch.

Nets/Crayfish cages
The first few fish players can catch require nets, except for crayfish, which require a crayfish cage. Fishing nets can only be used in the seas. Free players can only use small fishing nets while members can also use big fishing nets. The big nets allow players to catch different, higher-level fish and sometimes items such as boots, seaweed, or caskets. When a player has found a fishing spot, they can then use their net if the option 'net fishing spot' is available.

Fishing rods and bait fishing
Fishing rods are required for mid level fish. Fishing rods can be used in both rivers and seas. Along with a fishing rod, players also need fishing bait to attract fish. Bait can be bought in stores (3gp each at Port Sarim fishing shop), but they can also be obtained by some monsters and random events. When a player has found a fishing spot, they can then use their fishing rod if the option 'bait fishing spot' is available. For every fish you catch, you lose one piece of bait. They are used to catch lots of different fish, including sardines, herring, pike and more.

There is also another type of rod, the Oily fishing rod. However, only members can use this rod. It is required to fish lava eels and is needed in the Heroes Quest.

Another rod is the Barbarian rod, it is used to catch leaping trout, leaping salmon, and leaping sturgeon, during and after Barbarian training.

Fly fishing rods and feathers - Lure fishing
Fly fishing is also required for mid level fish. These rods can only be used in rivers. Along with a fly fishing rod, players also need feathers to attract fish. Feathers can be bought in stores and on the Grand Exchange for 13-16 coins each, but are also dropped by chickens and chompy birds. When a player has found a fishing spot, they can then use their fly fishing rod if the option 'lure fishing spot' is available. Each fish caught uses one feather.

Stripy feathers (introduced with the Hunter skill) can be used for fly fishing, as well. Those feathers work the same as normal feathers, but players will only be able to fish Rainbow fish, rather than the usual trout and salmon. Note that if you have both types of feathers in your inventory, you will be asked which feathers you would like to use.

You can use Orange feathers or any other coloured feathers from hunting except the stripy feathers, which are used to fish rainbow fish.

Harpoons
Harpoons are required for catching larger medium to high level fish; namely, Tuna, Swordfish and Sharks. They can only be used in the sea. When a player has found a fishing spot, they can then use their harpoon if the option Harpoon Fishing spot is available.

There are three types of harpoons - the (regular) harpoon, the barb-tail harpoon, and the Sacred clay harpoon. All three harpoons catch fish at exactly the same rate (as in time-wise, not in experience); however, the barb-tail harpoon and Sacred clay harpoon can be wielded; the (regular) harpoon cannot. Many players prefer the barb-tail harpoon or sacred clay harpoon, as one saves an inventory slot. The Sacred clay harpoon gives double the experience per fish in addition to being wieldable.

After being taught by Otto Godblessed, a player can catch fish that are harpoon-able with their bare hands. Levels required are 20 levels higher and they also require a Strength level; but doing so grants very little Strength experience and saves an inventory slot compared to having a non-wieldable harpoon. Whether it is faster, the same speed, or slower than using a harpoon is anyone's guess; Jagex has not stated in the Game Guide about its speed; therefore, we must assume it is the same speed because it would have been mentioned otherwise.

Swordfish and Shark gloves will increase the experience gained by 100 per catch. They can be bought at Fist of Guthix for 200 tokens. Tuna catches will not affect the gloves' charges.

Cages
Lobsters are caught in the sea, using lobster pots. When a player has found a fishing spot, they can then use their lobster cage if the option 'cage fishing spot' is available. Lobster is highly recommended for fishing levels 60 to 99 for non-members. (Note: Keep in mind, lobsters take a bit longer to fish than other fish!)

Barbarian Fishing
Members with a high level in fishing can speak with Otto Godblessed in his home near Baxtorian Falls to learn special barbarian methods of fishing. First, he instructs the player in heavy rod fishing. Heavy rod fishing requires a Barbarian rod (found under Otto's bed) and any type of bait, as well as a knife to gut the fish. In order to catch the special fish in Otto's lake, a Strength and Agility level is needed in addition to the fishing requirement. The Leaping fish obtained can be used with a knife to obtain roe and caviar for use in Herblore skill, and catching them gives small amounts of experience in strength and agility. The fish you catch this way are as follows:

After this, the player can learn how to fish Tuna, Swordfish, and Sharks without a harpoon. Using this method requires a higher fishing level as well as a strength level equivalent to the fishing level needed to catch the fish normally. However, it provides small amounts of Strength experience.

Note: When you are catching swordfish via barbarian methods, you will still receive tuna along with swordfish if you have the required levels for both.

Tips
When heavy rod fishing, you should bring your rod, your knife, and 25 fishing bait or feathers, go to the fishing spots and catch a full inventory of fish and cut them into fish offcuts and caviar/roe. If your inventory gets full of offcuts and roe/caviar, drop the fish offcuts and continue fishing/cutting using the caviar/roe. You can pick up the offcuts after you have used up the caviar/roe as they are also bait. Dropping the caviar/roe takes more time to drop than the stackable offcuts. This nets you around 50 to 60k an hour at 70 fishing. Note that it is possible to run out of bait just from cutting open the fish so bring some back up bait/feathers to be on the safe side.

Fishing spots
There are 5 main types of fishing spots in RuneScape: Net/Bait, Lure/Bait, Cage/Harpoon, and Net/Harpoon (members only) and Harpoon/Net(After The Swan Song Quest*Members Only*). Net/Bait spots require a small fishing net to net fish whilst Net/Harpoon spots require a big fishing net to net fish. Harpoon/Net requires a small Fishing net. Each spot can catch the following fish:


 * Net/Bait: Shrimps, Anchovies, Sardine, Herring
 * Crayfish Cage: Crayfish
 * Lure/Bait: Trout, Salmon, Rainbow fish (only with stripy feathers), Pike, Cavefish, Rocktail
 * Cage/Harpoon: Lobsters, Tuna, Swordfish
 * Net/Harpoon: Mackerel, Cod, Bass, Casket, Seaweed, Junk, Sharks
 * Harpoon/Net: Monkfish, Tuna, and Swordfish.

Additional types of fishing spots can be found with less frequency, where different kinds of fish can be caught.

Free-to-play fishing spots
For a complete list of Free to play fishing spots, see Free-to-play fishing spots.

Pay-to-play fishing spots
For a complete list of pay to play only fishing spots, see Pay-to-play fishing spots.

Fishing Trawler
Fishing Trawler is a fishing minigame run by Murphy that players can play at Port Khazard. Players need a minimum of level 15 fishing to participate. Players board a trawler boat and work as a team to prevent the boat from sinking as they are sailed for 12 minutes around the sea. It can be overwhelming for a single player, so it is recommended to bring friends, a clan, or other experienced fishers. Fishing Trawler was released 28 July 2003. Currently, world 116 is the RuneScape designated Trawler world.

Fishing and Summoning
The members-only Summoning skill provides some very useful benefits to fishing, in particular when fishing sharks or monkfish. Familiars are indispensable because they can forage fish for you on their own while you fish. Not only does this give you additional fish to sell or cook, but you'll gain a portion of the experience for each catch! Plus, they'll give your fishing an invisible boost that improves your catch rate slightly. There are three familiars that help with fishing.

Note: While fishing for salmon and trout in Shilo Village or monkfish at the Piscatoris Fishing Colony, the ibis will only produce swordfish.

It has been confirmed that fishers are now able to get Sharks from a Granite lobster when fishing at Shilo Village.

Fishing and Agility
As of the 19 January 2010 update, there is a chance of receiving bonus tuna, swordfish and shark when you have a high enough Agility and Fishing level. The chance of getting a bonus fish increases as your Agility increases, but there is an upper limit at which your chances will not increase (shown in the table below). The update applies to barehanded fishing. You will not receive additional experience for gaining bonus fish.

Types of fish
When a player catches a fish, it will be raw and cannot be consumed until it is cooked. The name and colour indicates this. For example, when shrimps are first caught they are called "raw shrimp", but once cooked the name changes to "shrimp".

Training

 * See Free-to-play Fishing training and Pay-to-play Fishing training for details.

Making money

 * Every player needs food to heal, making fish a market with a massive demand. It is recommended that players do not sell their fish to general stores or fish stores, but instead sell them to other players. The Grand Exchange or the RuneScape Forums are the best places to sell fish.


 * Raw fish tend to fetch higher prices than cooked fish, due to the high demand of players who want to train cooking. Therefore, it is recommended you leave your fish raw if you want to gain maximum profit.


 * The fish most commonly caught for profit are lobsters and swordfish for free players, and sharks and monkfish for members. Since the new update fishing Rocktail and Cavefish is also very profitable and also much better experience than the commonly fished sharks.


 * A list of prices for raw and cooked fish can be found at the Grand Exchange Market Watch.


 * For some advice on making money through fishing, see the fishing section of the Money making guide.

Random events


Random events are events that happen at random times. They were introduced to stop macros - people who use a program to play automatically. Some random events include non-player characters wanting players to do a task for them and rewarding them if they are successful or a monster that will attack the player. While fishing, players may encounter random events which are specific to Fishing, listed below. Note that due to the Random Event Update it is impossible to get random events other than Evil Bob's Island (other events below were retired).

River troll (Discontinued)
While fishing, a river troll may appear and will start attacking a player. They can deal a large amount of damage and their combat level depends on the player, though it will always be higher. The level ranges from level 14 to level 159. Players can either run away from them or fight them. River trolls have meager drops consisting of items related to Fishing, such as 1 raw fish of any kind or 1-5 bait. The river troll currently resides in the Enchanted valley (Fairy code B-K-Q).

Whirlpool (Discontinued)


While fishing, a whirlpool may appear in a fishing spot. If a player continues to fish in the whirlpool, their fishing equipment may be taken by it and will not be returned. Players are strongly advised to stop fishing when one appears and wait until it disappears, which usually takes about 30 seconds. The whirlpool is shown in the mini-map with a yellow dot, like an NPC.

Big fish (Discontinued)


While fishing, a big fish may appear in a fishing spot and steal a player's fishing equipment and spit it somewhere nearby, usually 3 to 10 squares away. The player has the usual amount of time as if they had dropped it to find their equipment before anyone else sees it and grabs it. When the player has found the equipment, they can go back to fishing. The big fish causes fishing spots to move as well. This event will not occur when a player is using their hands to fish. This random event was discontinued as part of the 5/02/09 Random Event Update.

Evil Bob


While fishing (or casting spells), players may be transported to ScapeRune, the dominion of Evil Bob, where everything is the opposite of RuneScape. Although due to an update you can get random events while not doing something related to that skill. To escape, players must catch a cooked fish using a small fishing net (several spawn on the beach - but vanish from the inventory after the event), uncook the caught fish on a fire, and give it to Evil Bob. After eating the fish (if players feed Evil Bob a cooked fish, they must feed him another uncooked fish for every cooked fish they fed him to get him to fall asleep), Evil Bob falls asleep and the player can enter portal next to Evil Bob to return. The player receives a random event gift.

Moving fishing spot
Don't be confused by disappearing fishing spots; these aren't random events. This happens at random, you may hear a swishing/burbling sound, and the spot will vanish, however another will appear a short distance away. The logic behind this one is simple: the fish moved, just as they do in real life. It is unclear if this was added to the game to make it more realistic, or as yet another attempt to trip up macro/auto-gamer programs. No matter what it's purpose, these are not considered to be random events.

Temporary boosts


The following temporary boosts are visible on the stats tab. They will affect what a player can catch, provided there is something new to catch at or before that level.

The following temporary boosts are invisible, meaning they do not appear on the stats tab. They will not affect what a player can catch, only the rate at which they would catch fish.
 * Fishing potion, made using the Herblore skill, temporarily increases Fishing by 3.
 * Fish pie, made using the Cooking skill, temporarily increases Fishing by 3.
 * Admiral pie, made using the Cooking skill, temporarily increases Fishing by 5.
 * A brown spicy stew can raise fishing temporarily by up to 6; however, it can also decrease it by up to 6.
 * The Fishing Cape of Achievement can be operated to increase Fishing from 99 to 100.


 * Granite crab, a summoning familiar, invisibly increases Fishing by 1.
 * Ibis, a summoning familiar, invisibly increases Fishing by 3.
 * Granite lobster, a summoning familiar, invisibly increases Fishing by 4.

Quests that give fishing experience

 * 1,000 - Recipe for Disaster
 * 2,437 - Fishing Contest
 * 2,812 - The Fremennik Trials
 * 3,000 - Land of the Goblins
 * 5,000 - Tai Bwo Wannai Trio
 * 7,000 - Rum Deal
 * 7,175 - Sea Slug Quest
 * 10,000 - Swan Song

Trivia



 * Under certain conditions, when a player tried to fish at a fishing spot, they would go to the spot by 'skiing' instead of walking or running. This has now been fixed.
 * On 10 June 2009 and 7 August 2009 a glitch was noticed where a player could drop their items while fishing and not interrupt your fishing in any way. These were both fixed on the following days in a Hidden update.
 * There is also a glitch when fishing at Lumbridge Swamp with a net next to the Fishing Tutor, you may start fishing on land between his legs.
 * If you right-click on a fishing spot, which then moves before you click to fish at it, you will run to its new location and begin fishing. This also works if you start fishing, open an interface, and if the fishing spot moves, you go to the new location.
 * There is a glitch if, while you are fishing, you request a trade with someone adjacent to you, you will turn to face that player while still doing the fishing animation.
 * Fishing spots are programmed as NPCs.
 * The Display pictures for Tuna, Swordfish and Shark under the strength Barbarian Displays are different than the normal item displays under fishing, indicating Jagex may have some plan to improve the fishing items.


 * There has been controversy over what variety of shark is fished by the player. The best approximation seems to be either the Lemon or Mako shark, based on size, colours and other facts.
 * There is no difference at all in the speed of catching ratio between harpoon and barbarian fishing. The fact that the barbarian fishing method gives a bonus of Strength experience makes it the preferred method for players who can use it.
 * The stealing creation harpoon is slower than barb-tail harpoon, but gives double the experience. Most players seem to prefer speed over Experience.
 * There is a glitch where you can click on the harpooning spot of the water to use the barbarian fishing skill, and then click the 'cage' option as your player bends down, and your player's hand will stay in the water for a short while during the fishing process.