Fishing

The Old School RuneScape Wiki also has an article on: osrsw:FishingThe RuneScape Classic Wiki also has an article on: classicrsw:FishingWikipedia also has an article on: wikipedia:Fishing

This article is about the fishing skill. For information on training fishing, see fishing training (F2P) (P2P).

For the music track, see Fishing (music track).

The official world for Community Fishing Training is world 22 (P2P).

Fishing
Release date	11 June 2001 (Update)
Members only	No
Statistics
Minimum level to be ranked	15 (as of 21 Apr 2021)
Players with 99	199,153 (as of 21 Apr 2021)
Players with 120	13,917 (as of 21 Apr 2021)
Players with 200M XP	3,573 (as of 21 Apr 2021)
Infobox • Talk page

Level up music (1-49)

Level up music (50-99)

Fishing is a gathering skill which involves catching fish. Higher Fishing levels allow for the utilisation of different mechanisms of Fishing as well as the ability to catch a larger selection of fish. Caught fish may be cooked through the Cooking skill to create food which may be used to regain health during combat.

History

The fishing skill was released on 11 June 2001, along with Karamja and the Pirate's Treasure quest. It was part of a large update that complemented the Cooking skill. This update added many of the fish that are currently found in free-to-play, including shrimp, salmon, and lobster. In addition to the fishing spots on Karamja, spots in Draynor Village and Port Sarim were added.

On 27 February 2002, a members subscription service was created. Along with many new quests and fishing areas, big net fishing was released, which allowed players to catch bass, mackerel, and cod. In addition, players would sometimes fish up a casket. On 17 June 2002, the Fishing Guild was released. The Fishing Trawler minigame was released on 28 July 2003. It allowed players to fish for manta rays and sea turtles.

On 3 July 2007, Barbarian Fishing was added to the game. This included heavy rod fishing and barbarian hand fishing. Heavy rod fishing allows players to catch leaping trout, leaping salmon and leaping sturgeon. Barbarian hand fishing gives the ability to fish using bare hands, as opposed to using a harpoon. Barbarian hand fishing also gives Strength experience.

On 17 September 2009, the fishing skill was updated drastically by the release of the Living Rock Caverns. Players could fish for cavefish and rocktail, two of the highest-healing fish in the game. Fish Flingers, the first fishing distraction and diversion, was released on 23 March 2010. Less than a month later, Dungeoneering was introduced, which released ten more different kinds of fish only caught in Daemonheim.

On 5 March 2018, Deep Sea Fishing was added to the game. This brought with it the Deep Sea Fishing hub and new fish such as magnetic minnow, green and blue jellyfish and sailfish, as well as new methods of obtaining fish previously exclusive to the Fishing Trawler. The Deep Sea Fishing Hub also hosts new random events that grant fishing related buffs and access to the Travelling Merchant's Shop selling expensive and rare items, such as Uncharted island maps.

Fishing Supplies

Locations of fishing shops where players can buy supplies are:

Free-to-play

• Gerrant's Fishy Business in Port Sarim
• Hank's Fishing Shop in Lumbridge
• Nicholas Angle's Fishing Shop in north Taverley (limited stock)

Members

• Harry's Fishing Shop in Catherby
• Fishing Guild Shop - only Fishing bait and feathers
• Fernahei's Fishing Hut in Shilo Village
• Lovecraft's Tackle in Witchaven
• Fremennik Fishmonger in Rellekka
• Island Fishmonger on Miscellania
• Etceteria Fish on Etceteria
• Arnold's Eclectic Supplies in the Piscatoris Fishing Colony - only small fishing nets and harpoons
• Steal from Fish stalls in Rellekka, Miscellania, and Etceteria
• Meena's Fishing Shop in Menaphos

Equipment

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

Net Fishing/Crayfish cage

A player fishing with a small net.

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

A player fishing with a rod.

Fishing rods are required to fish for many mid-level fish. Fishing rods can be used in both rivers and seas. Along with a fishing rod, players also need fishing bait (or living minerals if they fish rocktail) 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. 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, which 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 to fish for certain mid-level fish, which are caught in rivers. Along with a fly fishing rod, players also need feathers to attract fish. Feathers can be bought on the Grand Exchange for 11 coins each. If a player wishes to get the feathers cheap they are sold in fishing stores at a price of 6gp each. However, each fishing store only has 1000 feathers at a time. Feathers are also often dropped by chickens and occasionally 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. Coloured feathers from hunting can be used with fly fishing, with the exception of the stripy feather, which can be used to yield rainbow fish at level 38, rather than the usual trout and salmon. If you have both types of feathers in your inventory, you will be asked which feathers you would like to use.

Options to fish tuna/swordfish or lobsters.

Fly Fishing in places like Shilo Village or Gunnarsgrunn is thought of as the quickest possible fishing experience. However, if you want to bank your fish, you can fish in Lumbridge.

Some players, P2P or F2P, believe that fly fishing/lure fishing is the most effective way to level up, allowing players to catch constant trout (50 experience) or Salmon (70 experience).Once at a full inventory many players choose to bank their inventories either for selling purposes or even for levelling other skills such as cooking. Others may choose to drop their inventories, shortening the levelling time. With the introduction of the action bar it allowed players to drop their inventories much quicker than previous methods. 1,000 experience - 1,750 experience can be made per inventory of fish. Fly fishing takes less focus, meaning players can go AFK (away from keyboard) whilst their inventory fills. Players must also be aware that fishing spots can run out and may have to move on to the next.

Players who prefer to drop their inventories may choose quieter fishing locations such as North of West Ardougne (north west of combat training camp) on this small quiet river, 4 small fishing spots are available. Moss giants are nearby and will attack when passed with a low combat level. Or between the Observatory and Tree Gnome Village. Ogres may be passed if teleporting to Yanille Lodestone, and may attack. Other spots include East of Barbarian Village or the River Lum.

Harpoons

A player fishing with a harpoon.

Harpoons are required for catching some larger medium to high level fish: Mainly 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.

The ratio of tuna:swordfish when catching these with a harpoon is approximately 5:4. This means catching 5,000 tuna will get you about 4,000 swordfish.

There are three types of harpoons - the (regular) harpoon, the barb-tail harpoon, and the sacred clay harpoon. The barb-tail harpoon and sacred clay harpoon can be wielded; the (regular) harpoon cannot. The barb-tail harpoon differs in the fact it can be equipped, while the sacred clay harpoon gives double the experience per fish in addition to being wieldable. However due to the introduction of the tool belt you no longer have to worry about most fishing equipment like that of the harpoon taking up an inventory slot.

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. A regular harpoon can be stored in the tool belt, thus it is no longer a disadvantage having a non-wieldable harpoon. It is exactly the same rate of fish as just normal harpooning.

If the player wishes to force the game to use a harpoon to catch these fish, wielding a barb-tail harpoon will cause the player to harpoon in the regular style.

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

A player fishing with a lobster cage.

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, though lobsters take a bit longer to catch than other fish. Lobster is highly recommended for fishing levels 60 to 99 for non-members. A popular cage spot is in Karamja. This is due to Stiles, who changes tuna, swordfish or lobster into notes (both raw and cooked), being just south of the Karamja volcano. An alternative mode of banking would be to use the Port Sarim lodestone, Entrana deposit box, then return via ship to Musa Point; the entire trip takes fewer clicks, and less time, than a trip to see Stiles.

Ring of Whispers

Members who have completed Sliske's Endgame receive the Ring of Whispers, which gives an invisible +3 boost to all gathering skills.

Barbarian Fishing

Main article: Barbarian Fishing

A player catching a swordfish with his bare hands.

Members with a Fishing level of at least 48, an Agility level of 15, and a Strength level of at least 35 can speak with Otto Godblessed in his home near Baxtorian Falls to learn special barbarian methods of fishing. First, he instructs the player on 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.

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.

Prifddinas Waterfall Fishing

Main article: Prifddinas Waterfall Fishing

From level 93 Fishing, players can start fishing for crystal urchins in Prifddinas at the Prifddinas Waterfall. The area also requires level 90 Agility, Ranged, and Strength, in order to use a mith grapple to access the waterfall. There is a hidey-hole to allow infinite grapples.

There are three different types of urchins that can be fished, each with a different Fishing requirement.

Crystal urchin		Fishing Level Required	Fishing experience gained
	Small crystal urchin	93	310
	Medium crystal urchin	95	330
	Large crystal urchin	97	350

Urchins can be spent at the Prifddinas Waterfall Fishing Shop for rewards such as experience and the ability to create a crystal fishing rod. They can also be ground for harmony dust, which is used to create perfect juju fishing potions. There is a rare chance that a hermit crab is obtained from fishing urchins.

While fishing, random events may occur, such as a Geyser spawning urchins across the waterfall that can be collected, or a large urchin that can be caught by multiple players.

All levels can be boosted to access the waterfall and different tiers of urchins.

Fishing in The Arc

The following types of fish may only be fished in The Arc region.

Fish		Fishing Level Required	Fishing experience gained
	Raw tarpon	90	132.5
	Raw seerfish	91	145.5
	Raw sillago	92	365
	Raw wobbegong	96	682.5

Fishing spots

Main article: Fishing spot

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 Swan Song, 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.

Mechanics

See also: Calculator:Fishing/Chance

The actual mechanics of Fishing are similar to Woodcutting and pre-rework Mining.

Each fish at fishing spot has a defined success chance for level 1 and level 99 (often called lowchance and highchance). These are integers, representing the chance out of 256, usually between 0 and 256 (though some of the high level fish may have a negative lowchance). Your actual success chance is then calculated from your Fishing level (including boosts) by linear interpolation with these two values.

The exact formula used for interpolation is:

$rawroll=\left\lfloor {\frac {(99-level)\times lowchance+(level-1)\times highchance}{98}}\right\rfloor$

This gives the number that needs to be rolled - the game rolls 0-255, and if your rawroll is greater than or equal to the game's roll, you are successful and catch the fish. You can convert this into a percentage chance with $successPerc=100*rawroll/256$.

Single fish example

Crayfish have a lowchance of 200 and a highchance of 256. So at level 50:
$rawroll_{crayfish,50}=\left\lfloor {\frac {(99-50)\times 200+(50-1)\times 256}{98}}\right\rfloor =\left\lfloor {\frac {9800+12544}{98}}\right\rfloor =228$
Thus you need to roll 228 or lower to be successful - which is 89.06%.

Multiple fish

The chances are defined grouped by spot, then generally ordered in reverse level order. If you have the Fishing level requirement (and any other requirements) for the fish at the spot, you will attempt them in order, stopping if one is successful.

Anchovies have a lowchance of 24 and a highchance of 128; shrimp are 48 and 256; anchovies are defined first. Thus you will first attempt to roll anchovies, and if unsuccessful you will attempt to roll shrimp (and if unsuccessful, that attempt gives nothing).

At level 50 fishing:
$rawroll_{anchovies,50}=\left\lfloor {\frac {(99-50)\times 24+(50-1)\times 128}{98}}\right\rfloor =\left\lfloor {\frac {1176+6272}{98}}\right\rfloor =76$
$rawroll_{shrimp,50}=\left\lfloor {\frac {(99-50)\times 48+(50-1)\times 256}{98}}\right\rfloor =\left\lfloor {\frac {2352+12544}{98}}\right\rfloor =152$

Thus, you have a rawroll of 76 for anchovies, followed by a rawroll of 152 for shrimp; 29.69% chance of anchovies, then a 59.38% chance of shrimp if anchovies fail. This results in an overall distribution of 29.69% anchovies, 41.75% shrimp, and the remaining 28.56% is unsuccessful attempts (excluding the nothing rolls, one can expect the distribution of actual items over enough time to be 41.56% anchovies to 58.44% shrimp).

At level 99 with no other buffs, anchovies are exactly 50% successful, then shrimp are 100% successful; so every action results in catching something, with an equal chance of anchovy or shrimp.

For calculating fish and experience per hour, you will also need the delay between attempts. This is 5 ticks for cavefish, rocktail, lava eel, monkfish, tuna/swordfish spots, and shark/great white shark spots, and 4 ticks for all other spots.

Buffs

There are 4 types of buffs that can apply to these mechanics.

Visible levels

The first type of buff is temporary visible fishing level boosts (eg fishing potion) - just use your new fishing level in the above calculation (e.g. if you are level 50 and drink a fishing potion, use 53 in the rawroll calculation). This can be used for levels above 99.

highchance Multipliers

The second type is the most common - boosts that only affect highchance. After each boost is multiplied on, the new highchance is floored. Order of boosts does matter, but only slightly (and we haven't had confirmation of order). Due to the flooring, some boosts actually do very little or nothing at all; all of these boosts are also less effective below level 99, since they only affect highchance.

Boost	Multiplier
Outfits
Shark outfit, Burnt shark outfit, Tiger shark outfit	1.05
Fury shark outfit	1.07
Auras
Call of the sea aura	1.03
Greater call of the sea aura	1.05
Master call of the sea aura	1.07
Supreme call of the sea aura	1.1
Legendary call of the sea aura	1.15
Tools
Crystal rod	1.05
Tavia's fishing rod	1.1
Skillchompas
Cobalt skillchompa	1.01
Viridian skillchompa	1.02
Azure skillchompa	1.03
Crimson skillchompa	1.04
Crystal skillchompa	1.05
Other
Ring of Whispers	1.03
Deep Sea Fishing hub catch chance boost (from Broken fishing rod, Message in a bottle (Deep Sea Fishing), a DSF random event, or Tavia's rod activating)	1.1
Perfect juju fishing potion/Perfect plus potion	1.05
Tier 8 Port district reputation (only applies to Menaphos fishing spots)	1.1

high- and lowchance multipliers

The third type affects both highchance and lowchance. This is exclusively the Honed perk, which increases both high- and lowchance by multiplying by $(1+rank\times 0.02)$. Additionally, Honed is different to the above boosts as it also rounds up, rather than down.

Additions

The fourth type is invisible level boosts, which exclusively come from familiars. Effectively acts as adding to your Fishing level, though it is calculated slightly differently. The calculated familiarChanceBuff is added to both highchance and lowchance, after the multipliers.

$familiarChanceBuff=\left\lfloor (familiarBoost\times \left\lfloor 10\times (highchance-lowchance)/98\right\rfloor /10)\right\rfloor$

Where familiarBoost is the invisible levels given by the familiar:

Familiar	Invisible levels
Granite crab Summoning level 16	1
Ibis Summoning level 56	3
Granite lobster Summoning level 74	4

Chance table

Below is a table of all known high- and lowchances.

Fish high- and lowchances

Order	Fish	Level	Base XP	Fishing spot	Lowchance	Highchance
1	Minnow	1	10	Minnow	200	256
2	Anchovies	15	40	Net/bait: net	24	128
3	Shrimps	1	10	Net/bait: net	48	256
4	Herring	10	30	Net/bait: bait	24	128
5	Sardine	5	20	Net/bait: bait	32	192
6	Salmon	30	70	Lure/bait: lure	16	96
7	Trout	20	70	Lure/bait: lure	32	192
8	Pike	25	60	Lure/bait: bait	16	96
9	Frog spawn	33	75	Frogspawn	16	96
10	Swamp weed	33	1	Frogspawn	10	10
11	slimy eel	28	65	Cave eel	10	80
12	cave eel	38	85	Cave eel	10	80
13	Cavefish	85	300	Cavefish	1	36
14	Rocktail	90	380	Rocktail	1	32
15	Lobster	40	90	Lobster	6	95
16	Swordfish	50	100	Cage/harpoon: harpoon	4	48
17	Tuna	35	80	Cage/harpoon: harpoon	8	64
18	Rainbow fish	38	80	Rainbow fish	8	64
19	Karambwanji	5	5	Karambwanji	100	250
20	Karambwan	65	105	Karambwan	100	250
21	Shark	76	110	Net/harpoon: harpoon	3	40
22	Great white shark (shark spot)	76	130	Net/harpoon: harpoon	3	40
23	Leather boots	16	1	Big net	10	10
24	Seaweed	16	1	Big net	10	10
25	Leather gloves	16	1	Big net	10	10
26	Mackerel	16	20	Big net	5	65
27	Oyster	16	10	Big net	3	7
28	Casket	16	0	Big net	1	2
29	Cod	23	45	Big net	4	55
30	Bass	46	100	Big net	3	40
31	Leaping sturgeon	70	92	Barbarian fishing	8	64
32	Leaping salmon	58	82	Barbarian fishing	16	96
33	Leaping trout	48	60	Barbarian fishing	32	192
34	Lava eel	53	30	Lava eel	16	96
35	Monkfish	62	120	Monkfish	48	90
36	Crystal fragment	75	120	Crystal fragment	10	70
37	Small crystal urchin	93	310	Small crystal urchin	10	55
38	Medium crystal urchin	95	330	Medium crystal urchin	10	55
39	Large crystal urchin	97	350	Large crystal urchin	10	55
40	Tarpon	90	132.5	Arc rod	46	51
41	Seerfish (rod)	92	145.5	Arc rod	37	40
42	Seerfish (net)	92	145.5	Arc net	37	40
43	Sillago	92	365	Arc net	14	17
44	Wobbegong	96	682.5	Wobbegong	24	34
45	Beltfish	72	92	Menaphos bait	7	62
46	Catfish	60	85	Menaphos bait	18	80
47	Desert sole	52	60	Menaphos bait	28	170
48	Magnetic minnow	68	140	Magnetic minnow	-5	92
49	Green blubber jellyfish	68	165	Green blubber jellyfish	23	71
50	Blue blubber jellyfish	91	390	Blue blubber jellyfish	1	34
51	Sailfish	97	400	Sailfish	1	32
52	Sea turtle (Deep Sea Fishing)	79	240	Sea turtle (Deep Sea Fishing)	-11	59
53	Manta ray (Deep Sea Fishing)	81	200	Manta ray (Deep Sea Fishing)	-11	59
54	Great white shark (Deep Sea Fishing)	80	200	Great white shark (Deep Sea Fishing)	-11	59

Fishing Trawler

Main article: Fishing Trawler

Fishing Trawler is a fishing minigame run by Murphy that players can play at Port Khazard. Players need at least 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. At the end of every trip, you get a load of fish and other assorted items (i.e. rusty swords) the Fishing Trawler is the only event to give tiger sharks.

Fish Flingers

Main article: Fish Flingers

Fish Flingers is a Distraction and Diversion released 23 March 2010. Games are scheduled every 20 minutes and last for 10 minutes. Fishermen stand in the most popular fishing spots all the time and can teleport players to the game location. For three minutes before the game starts, they will shout out periodically. Games are a solo, non-competitive minigame, although players frequently cooperate. Rewards are experience, fish, and tackle boxes, as well as pieces of the Fishing Outfit which gives up to 5% bonus experience when fishing.

Fishing and Summoning

The members-only Summoning skill provides familiars with benefits to fishing. They give an invisible boost to Fishing that improves catch rate slightly. They can also forage fish on their own while fishing. Not only does this give you additional fish to sell or cook, but you will gain a portion of the experience for each catch. There are three familiars that help with fishing.

Pouch	Familiar	Summoning level	Fishing boost	Forages
	Granite Crab	16	+1	Oysters, cod, seaweed, and pike
	Ibis	56	+3	Swordfish and tuna
	Granite lobster	74	+4	Sharks and swordfish

An Ibis will produce only swordfish while fishing in Shilo Village, Piscatoris Fishing Colony, Burgh de Rott, Living Rock Caverns, or Barbarian Village.

Fishing and Agility

As of the 19 January 2010 update, there is a chance of receiving bonus tuna, swordfish, and shark when players have a high enough Agility level. The chance of getting a bonus fish increases as Agility increases, up to a limit where the chances do not continue to increase (shown in the table below). For example, at 70 Agility, players have achieved the maximum chance of catching two tuna at one time. At 71, there is no increased chance than at 70. The bonus applies to barehanded fishing, as well. Players do not receive additional experience for gaining bonus fish.

Fish		Fishing Level	Agility Level	Agility Level (Upper Limit)
	Tuna	35	35	70
	Swordfish	50	50	80
	Shark	76	76	99

Types of fish

Main article: Fish

There is a large variety of fish and sea creatures that can be caught. When a player catches a fish, it will be raw and cannot be eaten until it is cooked, indicated by the name and colour. For example, when shrimps are first caught they are called "raw shrimps", but once cooked the name changes to "shrimps".

Training

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

Making Money

• Players need food to heal, thus making food (particularly fish) a market with 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 on the Grand Exchange. A list of prices for raw and cooked fish can be found at the Grand Exchange Market Watch.
• Raw fish tend to fetch higher prices than cooked fish, due to the high demand of players who want to train Cooking and raw fish being used on player-owned farms. Therefore, it is recommended that you should 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. While members sought for sharks, cavefish, rocktail and sailfish.
• For some advice on making money through fishing, see the fishing sections of the Money making guide.

Temporary boosts

Main article: Temporary skill boost

A player wearing a Fishing Cape (t) and performing the Skillcape emote

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.

• Squeck juice, bought in The Golden Scarab Inn, temporarily increases Fishing by 1, but severely decreases the player's Cooking level.
• 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 5; however, it can also decrease it by up to 5.
• The Fishing Cape of Achievement can be operated to increase Fishing from 99 to 100.
• A stormberry can temporarily increase Fishing by 2, but will also decrease defence by 1. These require 86 Farming to grow, and can stack in the player's inventory.
• An advanced pulse core has a chance to boost fishing by 11 levels.

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.

• Granite crab, a summoning familiar, invisibly increases Fishing by 1, requires level 16 Summoning.
• Ibis, a summoning familiar, invisibly increases Fishing by 3, requires level 56 Summoning.
• Granite lobster, a summoning familiar, invisibly increases Fishing by 4, requires level 74 Summoning.
• Wearing a Ring of Whispers invisibly increases all gathering skills by 3, including Fishing. This boost stacks with invisible familiar boosts as well.

In addition to theses boosts, players with level 117 Archaeology can activate the Inspire Effort relic power at the mysterious monolith for a 2% experience increase to Fishing for as long as the relic power is active.

Fishing Guild

Main article: Fishing Guild

Cape of Accomplishment

For players with level 99 Fishing, a Fishing cape can be bought from the Master fisher standing inside the Fishing Guild. The cape will cost 99,000 coins, like all other Capes of Achievement. If Fishing is a player's only mastered skill, they will have an untrimmed cape. If the player has 99 in any other skill, it will sport a gold trim. The Fishing cape's perk provides a chance to gain an additional catch. No experience is given for the additional catch.

Skilling pet (Bubbles)

Main article: Bubbles

Like all skills, there is a skilling pet obtainable from training this skill. For the Fishing skill, the pet is called Bubbles.

Quests with a Fishing requirement

• 5 - Tai Bwo Wannai Trio
• 10 - Fishing Contest
• 36 - Land of the Goblins
• 50 - Rum Deal
• 53 - Heroes' Quest
• 62 - Swan Song
• 65 - Some Like It Cold
• 70 - Deadliest Catch
• 72 - Crocodile Tears

Quests for Fishing experience

Main article: Quest experience rewards § Fishing

Quest	Members	Experience reward	Fishing requirement	Other requirements
Recipe for Disaster: Freeing Pirate Pete		1,000	-	31 Cooking
Tai Bwo Wannai Trio		1,500	5	15 Agility 30 Cooking
Fishing Contest		2,437	10
Heroes' Quest		2,725	53	53 Cooking 25 Herblore 25 Defence (Black Arm gang only) 50 Mining
The Fremennik Trials		2,812	-	40 Crafting 25 Fletching 40 Woodcutting
Land of the Goblins		3,000	36	30 Prayer 36 Agility 36 Thieving 37 Herblore
Beneath Cursed Tides		5,000	-	30 Attack 30 Strength 30 Magic 30 Mining 30 Smithing 30 Woodcutting 30 Firemaking 30 Cooking
Rum Deal		7,000	50	40 Farming 42 Crafting 47 Prayer 42 Slayer
Sea Slug		7,175	-	30 Firemaking
Swan Song		10,000	62	66 Magic 62 Cooking 45 Smithing 42 Firemaking 40 Crafting
Crocodile Tears		35,000	72	73 Hunter 47 Woodcutting 30 Agility
Some Like It Cold		40,000	65	56 Crafting 50 Construction 50 Thieving
Deadliest Catch		70,000	70	3 Herblore 67 Hunter 70 Thieving
Total	187,649

Animations

Upon the release of Solomon's General Store on 17 July 2012, players could purchase alternative animations for fishing that use any rod. These include the Deep-Sea Fishing, Depth Charge Fishing and Arcane Fishing animations. The active animation can be toggled from the Animations part of the Gear interface.

With a full Shark outfit worn, a fishing animation is used where the player bends down to the water to grab the fish in their teeth. The shark head must be visible for the animation to trigger.

Prestiging an aquarium by pulling the plug allows the player to toggle a fishing animation where any fish caught are coloured silver or gold, after first and second prestige respectively. The animations may be toggled from the Prawnbroker.

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  Deep-Sea Fishing

• 

  Depth Charge Fishing

• 

  Arcane Fishing

• 

  Shark outfit fishing

• 

  Silver fishing

• 

  Gold fishing

Achievements

• Catch and Release ( 5) – Attempt to release a raw fish back into a fishing spot.
• Scales of the Sea ( 10) – Own the Fury Shark outfit.

Update history

The update history project is a work-in-progress – not all updates to this topic may be covered below. See here for how to help out!

• patch 14 December 2020 (Update):
  • Raw wobbegong now count towards Fishing tasks in Yak Tracks.
  • Great white shark now count for both Fishing and Cooking tasks.

• patch 30 November 2020 (Update):
  • You will now consume feathers as normal while luring or baiting near Barbarian Village during Double XP events.

• patch 14 October 2019 (Update):
  • Players no longer erroneously receive a message about having no charges on a fishing rod-o-matic.

• patch 14 March 2016 (Update):
  • Fishing with a net no longer resets the animation periodically.

• patch 24 August 2015 (Update):
  • A typo related to rocktail gloves in the Fishing skill guide has been fixed.

• patch 13 August 2013 (Update):
  • White platelegs no longer stretching on female characters when fishing.
  • Spam clicking certain potions no longer causes the normal Fishing speed to increase.
  • Fish in the Battle for Lumbridge instances now work correctly.

• patch 4 June 2013 (Update):
  • Morytania legs 3 now appear correctly when fishing.

• patch 12 October 2011 (Update):
  • Fishing using a small net now has sounds attached.

• patch 1 February 2011 (Update):
  • A typo on anchovies in the Fishing skill advance guide has been fixed.

• patch 9 November 2010 (Update):
  • The Evil Bob fishing random event is now using a small net fishing animation.

• patch 2 November 2010 (Update):
  • The wolf-fur sarong no longer stretches if worn while fishing.

• patch 15 September 2010 (Update):
  • The correct animation when cage fishing is now played.
  • Corrected a problem with the some of the base player kit when fishing.
  • Adjusted Third Age clothing during fishing animations to prevent clipping issues.

• patch 11 January 2010 (Update):
  • Fixed a grammar issue in the Fishing skill guide.

• patch 3 December 2009 (Update):
  • Adjusted several fishing animations slightly to reduce render issues.

• patch 21 July 2009 (Update):
  • Sorted a Fishing spot that was partially in water and on land at the same time.
  • The Fishing skill guide icons are now consistently the raw version of the fish, where appropriate.

• patch 19 May 2009 (Update):
  • Fixed an issue with the Around the World... emote and fishing.
  • Improved some grammar in some fishing text.

• patch 12 May 2009 (Update):
  • Polar camouflage gear no longer clips when fishing or burying bones.

• update 11 June 2001 (Update):
  • Fishing skill added to game.
  • I've added a whole new skill for you to try in RuneScape! There are various fishing points scattered around the rivers and ocean. Go to the fishing-shop in Port Sarim to get the equipment you need and then try your hand at fishing. There are 10 different fish to catch, and 5 different fishing techniques to try!

Trivia

• Most fishing spots are considered non-player characters instead of objects in the game engine.
• In Runescape Classic, clicking on a fishing spot just gave you 1 attempt to catch a fish.
• Throughout one 2012 Winter Weekend, from Saturday 22nd December 00:00 GMT until Sunday 23rd December 23:59 GMT, there was double experience given to Fishing and Slayer.
• Before the removal of Random events, players would randomly get events such as the River Troll, Whirlpool, Big Fish, and Evil Bob.
• The current minimum requirement to be ranked (at approximately rank 1,288,350) on the hiscores for Fishing is level 15. As of 21 April 2021, there are 199,153 current members that have achieved level 99 in Fishing. There are 13,917 current members that have achieved level 120 in Fishing.

See also

• Grand Exchange Market Watch/Fishing
• Fishing/Level up table
• Free-to-play Fishing training, a guide to training Fishing for free-to-play players
• Pay-to-play Fishing training, a guide to training Fishing for pay-to-play players
• Fishing Calculators
• Quest experience rewards - Fishing