Free-to-play Fishing training

Fishing is relatively long and tedious to train in free-to-play, but can be quite profitable even as low as level 35 when players can start harpooning tuna. The experience gained from any method is in large portions for an inventory full of fish, alike Firemaking, but fishing doesn't have a distinct power levelling method compared to many skills.

Equipment
Fishing uses two types of items, divided into consumables and equipment. Consumables are used up at the rate of one item for each fish caught and are stackable, while the equipment is non-stackable and reusable.


 * Net fishing:  Equipment: Small fishing net; No consumable
 * Bait fishing:  Equipment: Fishing rod; Consumable: Fishing Bait
 * Fly fishing: Equipment: Fly fishing rod; Consumable: Feather
 * Harpooning: Equipment: Harpoon; No consumable
 * Cage Fishing: Equipment: Crayfish cage, Lobster pot; No consumable

Level 1-20 Crayfish
The easiest and fastest way to start fishing and get your level ups is by catching Crayfish  There are many crayfishing spots like at Lumbridge near Draynor... Start at Lumbridge behind the church. As you have a toolbelt with all tools in it you don't need to carry a crayfish cage with you. You get 10xp per catch and 30xp for cooking one.

To drop your fishes fast use your Action bar. Drag a raw Crayfish into your Bar and then just spam-click the Number,which the Crayfish is in to empty your Inventory (only works with raw ones) The best thing is before your inventory gets full and you start dropping you will continue to fish without clicking.

It is not advised to bank crayfishes but if you want, run to the top of the Lumbridge castle or the Bank Chest at the training ground and bank them there.

Level 1-15 Shrimps
Another way is catching Shrimps with a small fishing net (as before equipment doesnt need because everything is in your toolbelt) It is not faster than crayfish but if you want to catch shrimps it is highly recommended to catch them in Draynor because there is a bank at the near of the fishing spot. Catching them gives the same experience as Crayfish (10xp)

Level 5-10
Sardines can be baited using bait and a fishing rod at Lumbridge Fishing spot south of town, yielding 20 experience per catch and used as food. You may also bait at Draynor Village. very low levels beware of dark wizard.

Level 10-15
Herring can be baited using bait and a fishing rod, they yield 30 experience per catch and can be used as low level food. The best place to fish Herring, after the Stolen Hearts quest update, is west of the Al Kharid bank (The spots were moved when the update was put in, and have now become safe from the scorpion that used to roam near the previous fishing spots). This is because the bank is close to the fishing spot and a cooking range is a little north of the bank if you want to train cooking.

Level 15-20
Anchovies, along with shrimp can be caught with a small fishing net, which anchovies yield 40 experience per catch. They should not be sold alone or cooked as food, but to be stored to make anchovy pizza at higher Cooking levels.

Level 20-30
Trout can be lured using feathers and a fly fishing rod at Gunnarsgrunn (known as Barbarian Village to players that have not completed the Gunnar's ground quest) or Lumbridge, yielding 50 experience per catch. They can be cooked as food and is a good training food as it heals between 200-300 LP, depending on your Constitution. Another method is simply to drop them, as fly fishing spots are usually a good distance from a bank, so this makes the training even faster. This is the fastest training method available to free players and continues to be so at all levels. Fish something else only for profit.It only takes about 178 Trout to reach from 20 Fishing to 30 Fishing

Level 30-45 (30-99)
Fish Salmon, along with Trout, at Gunnarsgrunn or the Lumbridge River. Players can leave Run on the entire time (if they choose to bank the fish). Upon returning from banking at the West Varrock bank, only rest at the musician until you have 34% energy. This allows you to have exactly 0 energy by the time you reach the fishing spot, which is ideal as you will regenerate to almost full energy by the time you fill your inventory. You can also teleport to the Edgeville lodestone, use the bank there, and run back to the fishing spot to save a substantial amount of time. Salmon yields 70 experience per catch. The percentage of salmon and trout is about 42% salmon and 58% trout, which averages out to about 1508 xp per inventory and 58 xp per catch. Raw salmon is worth coins each when sold at the Grand Exchange. This method is commonly accepted as the most efficient way to train Fishing, taking all factors into consideration. However, it should be noted that this may not be exclusively so in all situations, for example, personal preferences and level. Fly fishing at this location in World 1 is a popular choice as many people come here to take the many fishers' fish, whether raw or cooked. A person can fish a whole inventory, trade them to a player, then go back to fishing.

Another, alternative for efficient free-to-play fly fishing is the use of the fishing spots just east of Lumbridge castle. Once full, players sell their inventory to the general store just across the river. This strategy earns significantly less money than banking the fish and selling them on the Grand Exchange, however it still allows players to earn a small profit. Salmon sells for approximately 40-55 coins per fish when sold to Hank's fishing shop in bulk. They can also be sold to the General store for a lower value. However, this method offers significantly faster experience per hour than using Gunnarsgrunn due to the shorter traveling distance between fishing spot and unloading spot, comparable to the distance for fly fishing in Shilo Village.

The recent lodestone update made fly fishing and banking at the Lumbridge fishing spots faster than banking fish at Gunnarsgrunn. To do so, fish your inventory of trout and salmon, use the Ring of Kinship to teleport to the bank at Daemonheim, use the lodestone teleport to get back to Lumbridge, then run back to the fishing spots. With the lodestone update, this method yields some of the highest F2P experience while banking the fish for a small profit. Although this method is slightly slower (by approximately 10 seconds) than selling your fish at the Lumbridge general store, combined with the use of urns however, you will get approximately the same experience per hour while getting a larger profit.

As of July 2013, the Lumbridge spot proves to be one of the most effective fly fishing locations in free-to-play, with a decent xp yield (>40k xp/hr) and access to the Combat Academy bank chest; the shortest known bank distance for F2P fishing training. It is unknown if or when this will be removed in a future update.

However, if you did want to use this spot to fish, you can use the bank on the top floor of Lumbridge Castle to bank your fish. If you are simultaneously working on cooking, you can also use the cooking range in the kitchen on the base floor to cook your fish before banking them. Setting mousekeys to drop an inventory of fish very quickly can increase the experience rate even more.

If you are one of those people who are just aiming for the experience and nothing else then you could try dropping the fish and not banking or selling. This method was tested and was significantly faster than banking or selling in Gunnarsgrunn or Lumbridge. Setting mousekeys to drop an inventory of fish quickly can increase experience rates even more.

Action bar keys can be also spammed to drop fish quickly by dragging Raw Trout and Salmon to any two action bar keys. The xp/hr of action bar dropping while using urns is 60-65k per hour, depending on the fishing level.

Level 35-50
Tuna can be harpooned using a harpoon at the Musa Point spot in Karamja, yielding 80 experience per catch, and raw tuna can be sold for coins each, and cooked tuna can be sold for  coins each. Until level 50, catching tuna certainly provides much slower XP(due to the huge increase in time) and much less profit than fly fishing.

Level 40-50 (40-99)
Lobsters can be caught with a lobster pot at the Musa Point fishing spot in Karamja, giving 90 experience per catch. Raw lobster sells for each, and cooked lobsters sell for  each. This used to be a very slow process, as the closest bank was in Draynor village. Now, there is a deposit box near the monks of entrana. Players with the Explorer's ring 3 can use its teleport ability to save 30 coins per inventory and bank more quickly.

An update made it possible for free players to note their fish at Stiles who is found south of the Karamja Volcano. Only Tuna, Lobsters and Swordfish can be noted. This costs nothing, and makes it possible for a player fishing to stay on Karamja indefinitely.

Many free players continue to catch Lobster at much higher Fishing levels than 50, as it provides a steady rate of profit; in comparison, harpooning will always yield more tuna than swordfish, even though the difference is marginal at very high levels.

Tuna, lobster and swordfish can also be caught at a fishing spot in the deep Wilderness; however, this spot is not recommended for training as it is far from a bank and you will most likely be attacked by other players while using it. It is recommended to have at least 47 fishing before fishing Lobsters.

Level 50-99
Swordfish, along with tuna, can be harpooned at Karamja. Swordfish yield 100 experience per catch. They can be sold for coins each or cooked as food, healing up to 900 LP each (the best food in F2P with a single click). Some players assert that the average ratio of swordfish to tuna is 1:3, meaning a harpoon fisher at a low level would get an average of 85 experience per inventory slot. A player would have to catch 3,822 tuna or 3,057 swordfish (practically, catching 3631 fish, equivalent to 130 times a full inventory) to get from level 50 to level 64. If you run back to the deposit box by the Monks of Entrana, you will need to pay 60 coins per inventory, for the boat fare. The other option is to sell your catch at the general store on Musa Point, providing slightly faster XP while significantly reducing profit. As before, players can also get Stiles to note their fish for them. Players who have a high combat level can get swordfish gloves from the Fist of Guthix minigame; which will increase the experience obtained after catching each swordfish to 200.

Level 65-99
The fastest way to get to level 99 is by fly fishing in Barbarian Village and drop the fish caught. A lot of money is required in order for the purchase of feathers. Because of the effort required to constantly drop the inventory of fish, some players chose to fly fish in Lumbridge and sell them to the General store or Hank's Fishing Shop, or bank them at the Combat Academy bank chest. Purchasing feathers from Hank's Fishing Shop and selling him the raw trout and salmon may allow players to break even, or even make a small profit.

There is also the ultra fast method which is for the people who have millions to spend in order to get the fastest xp in free to play worlds. It contains fly fishing, magic and urns. Instead of dropping the fish, faster method is low alching which doesn't interrupt normal fishing speed. With this method speeds about 70k per hour are possible when fishing level is over 90.

Alternatively players can obtain Swordfish gloves, a reward from Fist of Guthix, that double the experience gained catching swordfish for 1000 swordfish catches before crumbling. Catching any tunas via harpoon will not affect experience gained, and the gloves will not lose charge whenever tuna is caught.

Their downside is that it takes some time to play Fist of Guthix for the required amount of tokens to buy the gloves, which cost 200 tokens. Note that players cannot possess more than one pair of swordfish gloves at a time but one can accumulate enough tokens to buy more gloves once the current one has crumbled.

As players Fishing level increases, swordfish also becomes more common; the average ratio of swordfish to tuna tends towards 1:1 at extremely high levels. From level 95 Fishing onwards, 45,000 experience an hour becomes possible.

As before, players can ask Stiles to note fish, use the deposit box by the Monks of Entrana, or sell all their catch at the general store on Musa Point.

Current prices

 * }