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Learning and using Fishing in WoW

Index:

• Introduction
  
  
• Fishing trainers
  
  
• Maxing your fishing
  
  
• Fishing Aides
  
  
• Fishing Zones
  
  
• Fishing pools and Floating Wreckage
  
  
• Fishing Contests and Quests
  
  
• Fishing Links
  
  

Fishing, meh, why bother!?

Well, besides the facts:

• it's a free supply of food, a number of which can give great food buffs.
  
  
• it's a fast way to improve your cooking
  
  
• even a level 5 character can earn up to 75g an hour fishing*
  
  
• it's so lucrative some level 70 just farm fishing spots, earning up to or even over 250g an hour.**
  
  
• (Level 35 Artisan quest notwithstanding) it is possible to level fishing from 1 to 375 without moving outside your home city, just fishing in the canals and pools!
  
  
• it's so tedious I often fall asleep at the keyboard***
  
  

* There's a good market for Firefin, Oily Blackmouth, Stonescale Eels and Deviate Fish. These fish respectively typically sell 5g, 8g, 10g, 15g a stack. Deviate fish are best caught in The Forgotten Pools, in the Barrens.
Makes a mockery of the lazy parasites that spam 1g plzz in cities!

** The pure water pools in the Elemental Plateau are rich in water motes and can yield up to a dozen primal water an hour. These are, of course, shared with any and all others fishing there. Does need a flying mount to reach.

*** OK, that's not a good point, but the benefits outweigh the bad point. Now I just read a book at the same time and glance up at the splashes of a catch.

Fishing trainers

[1-75] Find a fishing trainer to get the proficiency. Most cities and low level areas will have one or more.

[75-150] Journeyman: See any fishing trainer

[151-225] Expert: Buy the book [Expert Fishing - The Bass and You] from Old Man Heming in Booty Bay

[225-300] Artisan: Quest: Pat Nagle. Angler Extreme. Requires level 35 and 225 fishing:

Find Nat Pagle on a small island southwest of Theramore, Dustwallow Marshes and get a quest to catch four rare fish, these may be caught in:

• the Savage Coast in Stranglethorn Vale
  
  
• the Verdantis River in Feralas
  
  
• Sartheris Strand in Desolace (the northern one, near the sunken boats)
  
  
• the coastline in Swamp of Sorrows
  
  

[301-375] Book: Master Fishing - [The Art of Angling]
This is sold by Juno Dufrain, the fisherman at the Cenarion Expedition in Zangarmarsh in the Outlands, just on the bank of the lake. Can be usually be bought in Auction House too.

Maxing your fishing

It should be noted that you either you can, or you cannot (skill too low) fish in any given area. High(er) fishing skills only translates into less missed casts (Your fish got way!), it does not affect the quality or quantity of catches as such. Similarly, the zone you are in makes no difference either. Training aside, it is entirely possible to maximise fishing at 375 without leaving the canals and pools of Stormwind or Undercity. Various sites quote the following formula as a guide:

(Current Fishing Skill - 75) / 25 = Approximate catches for next skill-up.

For instance, on average:

(150 - 75) / 25 = 3 catches for each fishing point gain.
(300 - 75) / 25 = 9 catches for each fishing point gain.

As almost every cast gives a point at low level you can reach 150 in as little an hour, especially if you use bait (recommended). All told though, allowing for the level 35 artisan quest, you are looking at 10 to 12 hours from 1 to 375


At present, including temporary boosts, rare drops and fishing prizes, the maximum fishing skill is 537. (Wrath will add 75 to this). This breaks down as follows:

375 fishing skill
+35 pole
+100 lure
+5 fishing line
+2 gloves enchant
+5 hat
+5 boots
+10 drink

See Fishing Aides below.

Fishing Aides

Fishing Bait
From suppliers gives a 10 minute boost and includes:

+25 with a [Shiny Bauble]
+50 with [Nightcrawlers]
+75 with [Bright Baubles] (or
+100 with an [Aquadynamic Fish Attractor] (Engineers can also make these)
+100 with [Sharpened Fish Hook] (Frequent reward from daily fishing quest in Terrokar).

Fishing Food

Recipe: [Captain Rumsey's Lager]
Requires Cooking (100)
Makes you slightly tipsy and increases your skill in fishing by 10 for 3 min.
Main ingredients: Skin of Dwarven Stout and a Flagon of Mead
From: Uncommon (about 1 in 20) reward from the daily fishing quest by Old Man Barlo, Terokkar Forest.

Rods:

+3 [Blump Family Fishing Pole]
Quest by Gubber Blump in Darkshore

+5 [Strong Fishing Pole]
Sold in limited numbers by some fishing suppliers.

+15 [Darkwood Fishing Pole]
Low drop rate, fished from Mystral Lake, Ashenvale, Blackwolf River and Sun Rock Retreat in Stonetalon Mountains

+20 [Big Iron Fishing Pole]
Rare drop from the lobster pots off the coast of Desolace (level 35-ish).
As it is BoE you can find it in Auction House, but expect to pay up to 100g or more.

+20 [Seth's Graphite Fishing Pole]
Level 62 quest from Seth in Lower City, Outlands

+25 [Nat Pagle's Extreme Angler FC-5000]
Level 44 Horde quest only, in Revantusk Village, Hinterlands. It is grossly unfair that it is Horde only item.

+30 [Mastercraft Kalu'ak Fishing Pole]
Note this is a Wrath reputation reward and will require Exalted with the Kalu'ak faction. It also allows underwater breathing.

+35 [Arcanite Fishing Pole]
Reward for winning the Booty Bay fishing content, held every Sunday afternoon

Extra's:

+2 fishing enchantment for gloves. (Bizarrely, there is no +5 fishing enchantment!)

+3 [Spun Truesilver Fishing Line]
Requires Fishing (300)
Upgrades the fishing line on your fishing pole with a delicately spun truesilver line, permanently increasing it by +3 (Does not stack with [High Test Eternium Fishing Line] below)
From: Uncommon drop from the Daily fishing contest in Terrokar

+5 [Lucky Fishing Hat]
From: Reward for catching a (rare) Keefer's Angelfish in the BB fishing contest

+5 [Nat Pagle's Extreme Anglin' Boots]
From: Reward for catching a (rare) Brownell's Blue Striped Racer in the BB fishing contest

+5 [High Test Eternium Fishing Line]
From: Reward for catching a (rare) [Dezian Queenfish] in the BB fishing contest

+ 5 [Weather-Beaten Fishing Hat]
(Cloth with 127 Armor, +40 Stamina and +40 Spirit) On use, can: Attach a lure to your equipped fishing pole, increasing Fishing by 75 for 10 min.
(Really should increase Fishing by 100, silly to be only 75 for level 70's)
From: Rare drop from the Daily fishing contest in Terrokar

Misc:

Weather-Beaten Journal
You can find [Weather-Beaten Journal] from crates and chests fished out from schools of fish and floating wreckage. This gives you the ability to mark fishing pools on the mini-map.


Fishing Chair
The Fishing Chair is a rare drop from World of Warcraft TCG: Fires of Outland. Typically selling for around $65 on eBay this card has a key code that releases the card item for use in-game. Sites such as WoW TCG Loot even monitor the prices and availability of these items.


[Hook of the Master Angler]
Trinket
Turns you into a fish giving water breath and increasing your movement speed, but attacking or casting while in this form breaks the effect. Does not work out of water or at the water's surface.
From: Reward for winning the Booty Bay fishing content, held on Sunday afternoons

Fishing mods
Not a great fan of mods myself though I have come to realise a few - like DiamondThreatMeter that I currently use for raids and instances - are essential. I don't think the next could be classed as necessary as such but I think those who fish a lot may find it useful: Fishing Buddy EBA

Fishing pools and Floating Wreckage

Fishing pools occur throughout Warcraft, the most lucrative naturally being those in Outlands. Lower level coasts offer floating wreckage and debris with various crates like mithril chests to be fished out. These can also occur within pools of fish.

For example, one of my fishing runs of STV's west coast, starting at Booty Bay and working north, catches from pools of fish and floating wreckage included:

(10) Stonescale eel fish
(16) Firefin Snapper fish
(32) Oily Blackmouth fish

(8) Bolts of silk
(9) Bolts of mageweave
(2) Bolts of Runecloth

(11) Heavy leather
(11) Thick leather
(1) Rugged leather

(18) Stranglekelp

(2) Mana potion
(6) Greater mana potion
(11) Rumsey Rum Black Label

(1) (level 31) Sentinel Girdle of the Whale
(1) (level 37) Blackforge Cape (28 armour/8 int/4 spirit)

(0) recipes

This was a fairly typical run and takes about an hour. This is good if you are at a lower level (35-ish) on your first character, especially if they happen to be a tailor.

Bloated Fish
If you catch any of these (uncommon) bloated fish, treat them like chests and click to open then up and see what drops are inside. Items will be commensurate with the area you are fishing. For instance, on Sunwell Isle the Bloated Giant Sunfish might reward eternium or adamantite ore, whereas the lowly Bloated Smallfish might have Malachite inside it.

Fishing Zones

Several sites list the skill require to fish in the many area but personally I think it is daft not to spend an hour or so getting at least a to 150 fishing, even for mages than can create their own food as a number of fish offer recipes that give buffs like extra mana regeneration.

As a rough rule of thumb guide:

Starter and lower level areas like Wetlands, Ashenvale and Desolate need up 100 or so to fish.

Mid range zones like Stranglethorn Vale, Feralas and Dustwallow Marsh require around 150 fishing skill to start.

Higher level areas like Hinterlands, Tanaris and Plaguelands need 200 to 250 to start catching fish.

Outlands starts around 300 and unless you want to miss a lot of the time you really need to get your skill to 375 and skill use bait. Some areas, need 430 before you can even cast your bob.

Fishing Contests and Quests

Weekly fishing contest in Stranglethorn Bay:

Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza
When: Every Sunday, starts 14:00 game time
Where: Booty Bay, Stranglethorn Vale
Rewards: Some of the best fishing gear in the game

The aim is to catch 40 [Speckled Tastyfish] from the 'School of Tastyfish' nodes and get back to Riggle in the centre of Booty Bay as fast as possible. The contest is generally won within 20 minutes or less.

Never won it myself as it's an awkward time for me generally, but the following tactics will help:

Sent your Hearthstone to Booty Bay to get back as fast as possible. If you have to run or ride back, you've already lost!

Have at least 225 fishing skill and don't bother with bait. Well, bait before the contest if you like, but not during as every second counts if you actually want to win.

You need to be as high a level as possible and/or have friends to clear the mobs for you. Getting attacked by a crocodile wastes valuable seconds. If you die, you've lost.

You need to be fast moving from pool to pool. A mount at least, ideally epic, plus any/all other enhancements to give you an edge. These include:

Talent and skill based speed increases for Hunters, Paladin, Rogues and Paladins
Mount Speed Increase items like a carrot on a stick and mithril spurs
Azure Silk Belt (increases swim speed by 15%)
Enchant boots: Minor Speed / Cat's Grace / Boars Speed (increases run speed by 8%)
Swim Speed Potion (increases swim speed by 100% for 20 sec.)
Swiftness Potion (Increases run speed by 50% for 15 sec.)

You can of course carry on fishing for the full three hours of the contest for (very) rare fish that the Fishbot 5000 rewards Rare Nat Pagle fishing accessories



Daily fishing contest in Terrokar Forest, Outlands:

Requires: Level 70
Quest from: Old Man Barlo, Master of Fishing, Terokkar Forest
Rewards: [Bag of Fishing Treasures] typically includes grey junk, Sharpened Fish Hook and Elixir of Water Walking but can include a number of rare and even epic drops including crocodile pets and 'The 2 Ring'.

Quest: Bait Bandits
What to catch: Blackfin Darter.
Best caught: Tuurem in Terokkar Forest
Skill required: 355 to cast (450 to avoid getaways.)

Quest: Crocolisks in the City
What to catch: Baby Crocolisk.
Best caught: Stormwind City or Orgrimmar.
Skill required: 1 to cast (75 to avoid get-aways.)

Quest: Felblood Fillet
What to catch: Monstrous Felblood Snapper.
Best caught: The Scalding Pools in Shadowmoon Valley
Skill required: (300+ ?)

Quest: The One That Got Away
What to catch: World's Largest Mudfish.
Best caught: Lake Sunspring and Skysong Lake in Nagrand. (Note, this appears to have a poor drop rate.)
Skill required: 395 to cast (490 to stop get-aways.)

Quest: Shrimpin' Ain't Easy
What to catch: Bloated Barbed Gill Trout, until you have 10 Giant Freshwater Shrimps. Best caught: Umbrafen Lake, Zangarmarsh.
Skill required: 305 to cast (400 to stop get aways, in the eastern lakes of Zangarmarsh)

Rare rewards from the Bag of Fishing Treasures include

(5%)
Recipe: Captain Rumsey's Lager
Requires Cooking (100)
Makes you slightly tipsy and increases your skill in fishing by 10 for 3 min.
Main ingredients: Skin of Dwarven Stout and a Flagon of Mead

(1.5%)
Spun Truesilver Fishing Line
Requires Fishing (300)
Replaces the fishing line on your fishing pole with a delicately spun truesilver line, permanently increasing it by +3

(1% or less)
Cute Crocodile pets:

Chuck's Bucket
Toothy's Bucket
Muckbreath's Bucket
and Snarly's Bucket

(<1%)
Eye of the Sea
+15 Stamina gem (matches a Blue Socket)

(0.5%)
Vengeful Gladiator's Idol of Tenacity (Epic) (BoP)
Idol
Requires Level 70
Equip: Increases the final healing value of your Lifebloom by 116.

(0.2%)
The 2 Ring (Epic) (BoE)
Requires Level 70
Finger
+22 to Strength, Agility, Stamina, Intellect and Spirit

Note that, at present, this is not unique so, in theory, you can wear two!
Jewelcrafters can enchant it for a further +4 to stats, giving a potential boost of +52 to all stats with a pair of them!

This thing is considered godly for feral druids, especially given they get +3% bonus to all stats via 'Survival of the Fittest'

Some of the above was prepare with the help of El's Extreme Anglin', probably the world's greatest WOW fishing site. She also has a complete list and details of all the WoW fishing quests

Fishing Links:

• El's Extreme Anglin' - World of Warcraft Fishing Guide (This is excellent!)
  
  
• WorldofWar.net
  
  
• WoWWiki