Fishing Guide
Description
Fishing is one of the best money-makers in RuneScape, and also provides a good source of food if you have a high-enough fishing level, this is one of the most commonly used skills for people who sell food to Player-Killers and for people who train on high level monsters since fish heals alot.
Information Chart
The chart below gives information about the fishing stuff, such as exp gained, the item and bait you need, the place, and the name of the item that you are fishing.
| Item | Level Needed | Experience | Tool/Bait | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shrimp | 1 | 10 | Net | Any Sea |
| Sardine | 5 | 20 | Fishing Rod + Bait | Any Sea |
| Herring | 10 | 30 | Fishing Rod + Bait | Any Sea |
| Anchovies | 15 | 40 | Net | Any Sea |
| Trout | 20 | 50 | Fly Fishing Rod + Feather | River |
| Pike | 25 | 60 | Fly Fishing Rod + Feather | River |
| Salmon | 30 | 70 | Fly Fishing Rod + Feather | River |
| Tuna | 35 | 80 | Harpoon | Catherby Karamja Island Fishing guild |
| Lobster | 40 | 90 | Lobster Cage | Catherby Karamja Island Fishing guild |
| Swordfish | 50 | 100 | Harpoon | Catherby Karamja Island Fishing guild |
| Boots (M) | 1 | 1 | Big Net | Catherby Fishing guild |
| Gloves (M) | 1 | Big Net | Catherby Fishing guild | |
| Casket (M) | 1 | 1 | Big Net | Catherby Fishing guild |
| Mackeral (M) | 16 | 40 | Big Net | Catherby Fishing guild |
| Cod (M) | 24 | 15-75 | Big Net | Catherby Fishing guild |
| Bass (M) | 46 | 25-125 | Big Net | Catherby Fishing guild |
| Lava Eel(M) | 53 | 30 | Oily Fishing Rod + Bait | Lava in members dungeon past Blue Dragons |
| Shark (M) | 76 | 110 | Harpoon | Catherby |
| Sea Turtle (M) | 81(?) | ? | N/A | Trawler Only |
| Manta Ray (M) | 91(?) | ? | N/A | Trawler Only |
Caskets are a rare find when fishing with a big net, they can be sold to other players for big money, or opened to find a random item, there are rumors of finding Rune 2-handers.
Fishing Items
- Net: Used for fishing Anchovies and Shrimp, may be bought in the fishing shops at Port Sarim and Catherby.
- Fishing rod: Used for low-level fish (Sardine/Herring/pike), used with bait, both of which can be purchased at a fishing shop.
- Fly fishing rod: Used for higher-level fish such as Trout and Salmon used with feathers. Buy the rod at a fishing shop and get the feathers from chickens.
- Harpoon: Used for high-level fish such as Tuna, Swordfish, and Shark (M), this item may be bought in a fishing shop.
- Lobster pot: Used for catching Lobsters, may be bought in fishing shop.
- Big net (M): Used for catching Mackeral (M), Cod (M), and Bass(M), may be bought in any fishing shop.
- Oily rod (M): A quest-only item used for catching lava-eel (M).
How to use every rod and get started
Using a Net
Buy a Net at the Fishing store in Port Sarim, then for a short walk go to the shore next to the Ice Giants Cave and click on the Fishing spot, marked by bubbles in the water, and you will automatically start fishing. If you managed to catch something it will say “You manage to catch (name of fish in here)” or if you fail it will say “You fail to catch anything”. You can catch Shrimp and Anchovies with a net.
Using the Fishing Rod
Buy a Fishing Rod at Port Sarim and also bait, then for a short walk go to the shore next to the Ice Giant Cave and right click the Fishing spot and choose “Use Fishing Rod”. You can catch Sardine and Herring with a Fishing Rod.
Using the Fly Fishing Rod
Buy a Fly Fishing Rod at the Port Sarim Fishing store, buy some feathers or get them from chickens, then go to either Lumbridge or Barbarian Village and click on the Fishing spot. You can catch Salmon, Pike, and Trout with a Fly Fishing Rod.
Using the Lobster Pot
Buy a Lobster Pot at the Port Sarim fishing store and go to Karamja, there use it with the Fishing spot to catch lobsters.
Using the Harpoon
Buy a harpoon at the Port Sarim Fishing store and then go to Karamja and head to the docks, there use the Harpoon with the Fishing spot. You can catch Tuna and Swordfish, or if you are in the members servers you can catch a Shark with the Harpoon.
Using the Big Net
A Big Net can only be used in the members servers. First get a Big Net from either the Fishing Guild or the Catherby Fishing store, then, if you are not in Catherby, go to Catherby and find a big net Fishing spot, then use the Big Net with the fishing spot. You can catch a lot of useless stuff like Boots, Gloves, and such, but you may also catch cool stuff like Clams and Bass. You can also catch big things like Sharks or, on rare occasions, a Casket.
Trawler Fishing
Now docked in Port Khazard is a fishing trawler, and you can get part of the catch. The bad news is the trawler is leaky. Very leaky. You need a fishing level over 15 to catch anything, and you’ll need 5 or more ropes and probably 100 swamp paste to get through the trip without sinking. Swamp paste is made from swamp tar, which can be found in great abundance south of Lumbridge. Swamp tar and everything you make from it is stackable, but untradable. Each swamp tar is a 2-6 stack of swamp tars. Swamp paste is made like this:
- Collect swamp tar, a lot of it.
- Use a pot of flour with each of your swamp tars to make Uncooked Swamp Paste. The fastest way to do this is to collect 28 pots, then go to the flour barrel in the Sinclair Mansion. Right-click the barrel and select the ‘Get flour from’ option. Once all your pots are full, use them on the swamp tar. Rotate your camera so you don’t click NPCs or the wrong place too much.
- Use each uncooked swamp paste with a fire or fireplace (not a range) to make swamp pastes. There is a fireplace in the Sinclair Mansion; again, rotate your camera. Also, drop pots until the uncooked swamp pastes are right over the fireplace. You’ll be able to make 40+ a minute this way.
Making swamp paste is very tedious and somewhat time-consuming depending on how well you’re able to make it. It does not give any fatigue or experience. However, in the process of timing myself to see which methods were quickest, I discovered racing your system clock is pretty intense… Now you can go talk to Murphy on the Khazard dock and go fishing.
Fishing, in this case, means keeping the ship from sinking. Leaks will spring out everywhere and the nets will occasionally be damaged. Once you have a full load, this is kind of a random period of time by the way, you’ll appear on the dock. At the end of the dock are the nets; search one to get your catch (and receive your experience). This process gives some fatigue.
If the ship sinks, which is entirely possible if you didn’t bring enough swamp paste or try to make Murphy go back early, you’ll lose two hits and must grab a ‘floating barrel’ to get back to Port Khazard. Once you’ve got a full catch, Murphy will go back.
You’ll catch all sorts of fish, largely based on your level. You’ll get experience when you search the nets after you have a full catch. You will catch a lot of trash like broken staves,
Making Money with Fishing
Fishing is one of the best skills used to get money, since once you can start catching Lobsters and Swordfish and Sharks you can either make them certificates and sell them or sell them cooked to Player Killers and other persons who like to fight, Fishing is considered to be the best money making skill second only to Mining and Smithing in high levels.
Authors Opinion
Fishing is a great skill from which to get money, it takes a while to get to a good level specially since Fatigue came out, but in the end its worth the work. This guide is Copyright 2003 Magnumkiller and is only to be posted in Evidocia and Runescape Hall, also the guide is made for use in the game of Runescape which is Copyright of Jagex Software.
Special thanks to: Jago, Winter!
