FishingEdit This Entity
- 1.0 - Introduction
- 2.0 - Basics
- 3.0 - Equipment, Fish and Levels
- 4.0 - Miscellaneous
- 5.0 - Training Methods
- 6.0 - Frequently Asked Questions
- 7.0 - Related Guides
There are many forms of sea life out there, just waiting for you to catch them. Through the art of fishing, you will be able to catch them all! Fishing is a calm, relaxing and repetitive skill, which is quite easy to raise. The higher your fishing level is, the faster you will obtain your desired fish. This guide will teach you all about the fishing skill and the benefits of a good fishing level. There are many fishing locations throughout RuneScape. As usual, members have the edge in fishing, with the Fishing Trawler mini-game, the Fishing Guild, and Catherby - the biggest out-of-guild fishing area closest to a bank.
The Fishing skill was released in RuneScape on June 11, 2001 coinciding with the release of Karamja and the gate between Lumbridge and Al Kharid.
Now just select which option you would like to use. If you have a small fishing net, then you should click "Net Fishing spot". Once you do this, you will automatically start fishing, and will stop when your inventory is full, or when the fishing spot moves.
The following table is a list of all the fishing equipment in RuneScape.
| Equipment Name | Picture | Bait | Level To Use | Places To Obtain |
| Crayfish cage | ![]() |
None | 1 | Tutorial Island Port Sarim Fishing Shop Fishing Tutor |
| Net | ![]() |
None | 1 | Tutorial Island Port Sarim Fishing Shop Catherby Fishing Shop Fishing Tutor Witchaven Fishing Shop |
| Fishing Rod | ![]() |
Bait | 5 | Port Sarim Fishing Shop Catherby Fishing Shop Witchaven Fishing Shop |
| Big Net | ![]() |
None | 16 | Catherby Fishing Shop |
| Fly Fishing Rod | ![]() |
Feathers | 20 | Port Sarim Fishing Shop Shilo Village Fishing Shop Witchaven Fishing Shop North of the Combat Training Camp |
| Harpoon | ![]() |
None | 35 | Port Sarim Fishing Shop Catherby Fishing Shop Witchaven Fishing Shop |
| Barbtailed Harpoon | ![]() |
None | 35 | A reward for trapping a Barbtailed Kebbit (Hunter). |
| Lobster Cage | ![]() |
None | 40 | Port Sarim Fishing Shop Catherby Fishing Shop Witchaven Fishing Shop |
| Sacred clay harpoon* | ![]() |
None | 40 | Stealing Creation |
| Barbarian Rod | ![]() |
Bait | 48 | From Otto Godblessed, below the Barbarian Outpost. |
| Oily Fishing Rod | ![]() |
Bait | 53 | Quest Item |
| Karambwan Vessel | ![]() |
Karambwanji | 65 | Quest Item |
* The sacred clay harpoon awards double the normal experience gained for every fish it catches.
The next table shows the four types of fishing baits.
| Bait Name | Bait Picture | Where to find |
| Bait | ![]() |
Port Sarim Fishing Shop Killing Zombies Catherby Fishing Shop Witchaven Fishing Shop Lumbridge Fishing Shop |
| Feathers | ![]() |
Port Sarim Fishing Shop Chicken Drop Witchaven Fishing Shop Lumbridge Fishing Shop |
| Karambwanji | ![]() |
Fish with small net south of Tai Bwo Wannai village. |
| Stripy Feathers | ![]() |
Hunting the Tropical Wagtail. |
The following shows the experience that each fish gives when you catch it, as well as what equipment to use, and what level you need to catch it.
| Type of Fish | Fish Picture (Raw) | Equipment | Level to Fish | Exp. | Level to Cook | Locations |
| Crayfish | ![]() |
Crayfish cage | 1 | 10 | 1 | Lumbridge, West of Sinclair Mansion |
| Shrimp | ![]() |
Net | 1 | 10 | 1 | South of Al-Kharid, Bandit Camp (wilderness), Catherby, Entrana, N. Karamja, South of Port Sarim, Lumbridge, Draynor Village |
| Karambwanji | ![]() |
Net | 5 | 5 | 1 | South of Tai Bwo Wannai village |
| Sardine | ![]() |
Fishing rod Bait |
5 | 20 | 1 | South of Al-Kharid, north of West Ardougne, Bandit Camp (wilderness), Catherby, Draynor Village, Entrana, west of Fishing Guild, N. Karamja, south of Port Sarim, north of Seers' Village, Tree Gnome Stronghold |
| Herring | ![]() |
Fishing rod Bait |
10 | 30 | 5 | South of Al-Kharid, Bandit Camp (wilderness), Catherby, Entrana, Fishing Guild, N. Karamja, south of Port Sarim, Rellekka, North of Seers' Village, Tree Gnome Stronghold, north of West Ardougne, Draynor Village |
| Anchovies | ![]() |
Net | 15 | 40 | 1 | South of Al-Kharid, Bandit Camp (wilderness), Catherby, Entrana, N. Karamja, south of Port Sarim, Lumbridge, Draynor Village |
| Mackerel | ![]() |
Big net | 16 | 20 | 10 | Ape Atoll, Burgh De Rott, Catherby, Fishing Guild, Rellekka, Tirannwn, Fremennik Isles |
| Trout | ![]() |
Fly-fishing rod Feather |
20 | 50 | 15 | Barbarian Village, north-east of Castle Wars, Lumbridge, north of Seers' Village, west of the Fishing Guild, Shilo Village, Tirannwn, Tree Gnome Stronghold, north of West Ardougne, north-west of Yanille |
| Cod | ![]() |
Big net | 23 | 45 | 18 | Ape Atoll, Burgh De Rott, Catherby, Fishing Guild, Rellekka, Tirannwn, Fremennik Isles |
| Pike | ![]() |
Fishing rod Bait |
25 | 60 | 20 | Barbarian Village, west of the Fishing Guild, Lumbridge, Rellekka, north of Seers' Village, Shilo Village, Tirannwn, Tree Gnome Stronghold, north of West Ardougne, north-west of Yanille |
| Slimy Eel | ![]() |
Fishing rod Bait |
28 | 65 | 25 | Swamps of Morytania, Lumbridge Caves |
| Salmon | ![]() |
Fly-fishing rod Feather |
30 | 70 | 25 | Barbarian Village, north-east of Castle Wars, Lumbridge, north of Seers' Village, west of the Fishing Guild, Shilo Village, Tirannwn, Tree Gnome Stronghold, north of West Ardougne, north-west of Yanille |
| Giant frogspawn | ![]() |
Net | 33 | 75 | N/A | Lumbridge Caves |
| Tuna | ![]() |
Harpoon | 35 | 80 | 30 | Catherby, Fishing Guild, N. Karamja, Rellekka, level 35 north-east Wilderness, Fremennik Isles, Piscatoris Fishing Colony |
| Cave eel | ![]() |
Fishing rod Bait |
38 | 80 | 38 | Lumbridge Caves |
| Rainbow Fish | ![]() |
Fly-Fishing | 38 | 80 | 35 | Barbarian Village, north-east of Castle Wars, Lumbridge, north of Seers' Village, west of the Fishing Guild, Shilo Village, Tirannwn, Tree Gnome Stronghold, north of West Ardougne, north-west of Yanille |
| Lobster | ![]() |
Lobster cage | 40 | 90 | 40 | Catherby, Fishing Guild, N. Karamja, Rellekka, level 35 north-east Wilderness, Fremennik Isles |
| Bass* | ![]() |
Big net | 46 | 100 | 43 | Ape Atoll, Burgh De Rott, Catherby, Fishing Guild, Rellekka, Tirannwn, Fremennik Isles |
| Swordfish* | ![]() |
Harpoon | 50 | 100 | 45 | Catherby, Fishing Guild, N. Karamja, Level 35 north-east wilderness, Rellekka, Fremennik Isles, Piscatoris Fishing Colony |
| Lava Eel | ![]() |
Oily fishing rod | 53 | 60 | 53 | Middle of the Lava Maze in the Wilderness, Taverley Dungeon |
| Monkfish | ![]() |
Net | 62 | 120 | 62 | The Piscatoris Fishing Colony (Must have completed the Swan Song quest) |
| Karambwan | ![]() |
Karambwan vessel | 65 | 105 | 1 | North-east corner of southern Karamja |
| Shark* | ![]() |
Harpoon | 76 | 110 | 80 | Ape Atoll, Burgh De Rott, Catherby, Fishing Guild, Rellekka, Tirannwn, Fremennik Isles |
| Sea Turtle | ![]() |
Trawler boat | 79 | 38 | 82 | Trawler Fishing Boat |
| Manta Ray | ![]() |
Trawler boat | 81 | 46 | 91 | Trawler Fishing Boat | Cavefish | ![]() |
Fishing rod Bait |
85 | 300 | 88 | Living rock caverns | Rocktail | ![]() |
Fishing rod Living minerals |
90 | 380 | 93 | Living rock caverns |
These fish can, at random, be caught as "Large fish" which you are able to get "stuffed" in Canifis, to mount in the skill hall room of your house.
The following table shows all the fish that can be caught at Otto's Grotto, and their required Fishing, Strength, and Agility levels to catch.
| Fish Name | Fish Picture | Fishing Level Required | Strength/Agility Level Required | Fishing Experience | Strength/Agility Experience |
| Leaping Trout | ![]() |
48 | 15 | 50 | 5 |
| Leaping Salmon | ![]() |
58 | 30 | 70 | 6 |
| Leaping Sturgeon | ![]() |
70 | 45 | 80 | 7 |

There are many different potions in RuneScape. One is used for fishing and temporarily raises your fishing level by 3. There are also two pies available that enhance your fishing level. The fish pie raises your fishing level by 3. The admiral pie gives the best increase by raising your fishing level by 5.
There are three basic reasons to raise your fishing level with a fishing potion or the pies:
- 1. One use of a fishing potion (or the pies) is to get into the Fishing Guild at level 63 or 65 instead of level 68. For more information on the Fishing Guild, please see the Fishing Guild guide.
- 2. Another use of a fishing potion (or the pies) is to catch fish faster. It does not work very well, but often times; it can turn a catch of two in a row, to a catch of three or four in a row, which saves a few minutes of your time. A popular use of fishing potions is to catch sharks, to sell for profit.
- 3. An uncommon use of the fishing potion (or the pies) is to improve the catch from the trawler at the end of the game. Most people drink their fishing potions during the trawler trip and before they check their net to raise their chances of an excellent catch.
Shark Gloves will reward you with 100 extra experience for every shark you catch. They will crumble to dust after catching 1,000 shark. You need a fishing level of 90 to wear these gloves. They cost 200 tokens earned during the Fist of Guthix Minigame.
Likewise, the swordfish Gloves will reward you with 100 extra experience for every swordfish you catch. They will crumble to dust after catching 1,000 swordfish. You need a fishing level of 65 to wear them and they too cost 200 tokens from the Fist of Guthix Minigame.
When fishing with a big net, you will be quite surprised on your first time, as you may notice that you can get up to five fish at a time with the big net. This makes obtaining fish a lot faster. In addition, when using your big net, you will obtain things such as boots, gloves, and caskets. The casket is member's only and cannot be traded with free players, though the boots and gloves can. When fishing with a big net, you can also receive seaweed.
A casket is a large "trunk" used to hold items. It can hold as little as 20gp, and as much as a half key.
When fishing for swordfish, bass or sharks, there is a chance that you will receive a large version of the fish. This fish can be stuffed by the Taxidermist in Canifis and put into your skill hall. The below table shows the Large fish as well as the construction level needed to mount it.
| Picture | Name | Level to Catch | Picture | Level to Mount |
![]() |
Large Bass | 46 | ![]() |
36 |
![]() |
Large Swordfish | 50 | ![]() |
56 |
![]() |
Large Shark | 76 | ![]() |
76 |
Three skill specific random events can happen while fishing. However, an update on February 25th, 2009 removed these random events so you will not encounter them in the game anymore.

A large fish will appear in the fishing spot, take your fishing equipment, and spit it out in a random direction.

At random times, your fishing spot may move away from you. This is the most common random event when fishing.
A whirlpool will start where you are fishing, and if you do not stop, it will take your fishing equipment and keep it. The whirlpool only affects the player who just made the cast when it appeared, as well as any other players that start fishing in the whirlpool spot. Whirlpools do not affect players already fishing in the spot when they appear.
Speak to Otto Godblessed just south of the Barbarian Outpost about the barbarian fishing methods; he will talk to you about catching fish with your arms instead of a harpoon. In order to be able to fish without a harpoon you must have at least level-55 fishing and must have caught at least one fish by harpooning.
Go to an area where you can harpoon swordfish, tuna or sharks; the Fishing Guild and Catherby are good choices. Click on the harpoon spot as you would normally, but without a harpoon equipped or in your inventory and you will catch a fish using your arm as bait!
| Picture | Name | Required Fishing Level | Strength Level Required | Fishing Experience | Strength Experience |
![]() |
Tuna | 55 | 35 | 80 | 8 |
![]() |
Swordfish | 70 | 50 | 100 | 10 |
![]() |
Shark | 96 | 76 | 110 | 11 |
Speak to Otto once more and this time ask about fishing rod methods, he will tell you that barbarians use stronger fishing rods to catch leaping fish in the lake nearby. Search under his bed and collect a heavy barbarian rod, make sure to also have fishing bait or feathers on you. Use the fishing spots around the lake and hook a leaping fish (you must have at least level-48 fishing). You will also gain 10 Cooking XP when using a knife on the fish and receiving an item.
| Picture | Name | Required Fishing Level | Strength and Agility Level Required | Fishing Experience | Strength and Agility Experience |
![]() |
Leaping trout | 48 | 15 | 50 | 5 |
![]() |
Leaping salmon | 58 | 30 | 70 | 6 |
![]() |
Leaping sturgeon | 70 | 45 | 80 | 7 |
With the addition to pottery in the Crafting skill, players can now create, charge and teleport various types of urns for five different skills for experience in the particular skill that the urn was used on. Of the five skills, Fishing is one of them, and with the right Crafting level, players can create an urn, fire it, fill it with scraps or cut offs from training Fishing, add an Water rune, and then teleport it to Ernie in Varrock for an alloted amount of Fishing experience.
For more information, please view the Crafting skill guide, as well as the Pottery and Urns section.
| Image | Urn | Fishing Experience | Crafting Required |
![]() |
Cracked fishing urn | 150* | Level 2 |
![]() |
Fragile fishing urn | 350* | Level 15 |
![]() |
Fishing urn | 500 | Level 41 |
![]() |
Strong fishing urn | 600* | Level 53 |
![]() |
Decorated fishing urn | 1900* | Level 76 |
*- Fishing experience will be gained when the urn is teleported to Ernie.
Head to Draynor Village with a fishing net. Go south of the bank until you see some fishing spots. You will be here for a while. It is not exactly lightning training, but it will have to do. Alternatively, you can obtain a crayfish cage and fish for crayfish near the Lumbridge river. By level 20, the level gains will seem slow, and it is time to prepare for the next step.
Get feathers either by buying them or by killing chickens for them. If you are level 15-40 combat, I recommend killing them because at your level, you will save money for bigger, more important purchases, and you will kill them relatively fast. When you have a lot of feathers (I recommend at least 5000), go to Port Sarim (just west of Draynor Village and south of Falador) and buy a fly fishing rod for about 5gp.
Head north to Barbarian Village. A word of warning: you are going to be here for a while. Fly-fishing is straightforward. Bring your rod and 1k of your feathers, and click "Lure" on the fishing spots. If you get a full inventory, it is faster to drop them than to bank them. If you wish, you may cook them in the Long Hall, but I suggest you drop them raw for the best experience. It gets boring, but it is the best experience you can get. If you run out of feathers, just go get more. To help level faster, you could also trade your raw fish away to other players. Be sure to trade all the fish at once. This is the only way trading will be faster. If you decide to bank your raw fish, it is proven that the closest bank to the fishing spot is the Edgeville bank. Another helpful hint is to always travel on the west side to the Edgeville bank. Even though it may seem that going east at the yew trees would be faster, it is actually not. Going west will provide you with the quickest route to the bank. Also, always remember to walk to the bank when you have a full load, and run back when you have no fish.
There is also a place where you can fly fish in Lumbridge. It is by the canoe station. It is good here because you can fish a full inventory of fish, then run quickly to the general store to sell your fish and make a little money. Also if you want, you can cook your fish on various fires by the general store, as people firemake a lot in this area.
Here you have two options: you may stay at Barbarian Village and fly-fish, or you may go to Port Sarim with about 80gp and buy a Lobster cage, then take the ship to N. Karamja. I suggest fishing until you have run out of feathers, then heading to N. Karamja.
On N. Karamja, head into the plantation and onto the dock. It is fun to fish here if you can find a populated world, because people are always talking while they fish. You will be full before you know it. When you have a full inventory, look around for a fire. If you see one, cook your lobsters and either drop them, give them to someone, or sell them. I recommend dropping them as it is fastest, but some people like to sell them to the nearby General Store. Continue this until level 75 fishing. This is probably the slowest section between two levels, so be patient.
There is also a man south of the Karamja Volcano who exchanges your raw fish into bank notes.
You can continue with lobsters, as they get a bit faster around this level. Alternatively, you could grab a harpoon and seek out swordfish and tuna. At level 76, you will get a nice amount of swordfish. You may do the same with swordfish/tuna as with lobsters: drop, sell, or trade. You will get to your desired level soon enough; remember, patience is a virtue.
This is just the same as free players: Head to Draynor Village with a fishing net. Go south of the bank until you see some fishing spots. You will be here for a while. It is not exactly lighting training, but it will have to do. By level 20, the level gains will seem slow, and it is time to prepare for the next step.
Get feathers either by buying them or by killing chickens for them. If you are level 15-40 combat, I recommend killing them because at your level, you will save money for bigger, more important purchases, and you will kill them relatively fast. When you have a lot of feathers (I recommend at least 5000), go to Port Sarim (just west of Draynor Village and south of Falador) and buy a fly fishing rod for about 5gp.
That is right, you are going to get about 2 million experience at the same spot. However, it will go by fast. Even at level 60+ fishing, you will be gaining two or three levels a day easily.
Grab your fly-fishing rod and about 35,000 feathers. If you cannot afford them, just get about 5k feathers off chickens and head to Shilo Village (must have completed the Shilo Village quest). In Shilo Village, with your fishing rod and feathers, just north of the bank should be a few fishing spots. Fish an inventory of them, and sell them to the fishing store just south-east of the river. Now buy back as many feathers as you can afford and fish another inventory. You should never run out of feathers like this.
Stay here fishing and banking/selling until you have used up all your feathers and/or hit level 80. It will take a lot less time than you might think.
Barbarian Training has been talked about all over to be one of the better ways to fish - maybe even better than Shilo Village fishing. Using your hands to catch your fish, you gain agility and strength XP which may provide to be useful and convenient. However, you must first learn how to fish with your hands from Otto Godblessed (read more about this on 2.1 Barbarian Training). Fly fishing is the fastest type of fishing experience there is compared to netting, caging or harpooning other fish. You can also catch sturgeons there if you have the level and they are worth ten more experience points than salmon. Furthermore, barbarian fly fishing only requires a knife in your inventory to make it so you never have to bank.
Grab your harpoon and head over to the Fishing Guild in Hemenster, north of Ardougne. Find a spot close to the bank and begin harpooning for shark at net/harpoon spots or tuna and swordfish at harpoon/cage spots. I suggest just banking the fish until you have achieved your desired level. At level 80 fishing you may still find sharks the same as when you were able to fish them at 76, very slow, so a good level where they start to speed up is at 85+.
Another now more popular way for training fishing if your fishing level is over level 80 is by using Swordfish Gloves obtained from the Fist Of Guthix mini game. These gloves give you an extra 100 experience when fishing Swordfish so for each catch, you get 200 experience. This method is also very profitable because you will be catching raw swordfish as well as tuna. Sadly, the only downside to this method is that the gloves break after 1,000 uses and they cost 200 Fist Of Guthix tokens to buy.
Many players also wish to get their fishing up by fishing for experience only. There are two effective ways, how to get fast fishing experience. Head to Shilo Village and grab a fly fishing rod and also feathers. Start catching salmons and trouts, best way is to bank them or feed them to a summoned pet (IE: A penguin), as you can make a little profit by banking and also these ways are faster than dropping. This is the fastest way to get fishing experience, but the negative side of it is, that it doesn't give you much of a profit. For profit at the expense of a slightly slower experience, catching monkfish is your best bet. Head to Piscatoris Fishing Colony, bring a small net with you and start catching monkfish. The experience is really good and also monkfish sell for 400-500 coins each, which makes it a perfect spot for fast experience and money.
A: At higher levels of fishing you can catch more higher level fish, but remember it's all random.
A: You can wield a barb-tailed harpoon, which gives you one more space in your inventory. This allows you to catch one more fish per load. You can attain a barb-tailed harpoon from Hunting a barb-tailed kebbit just outside of Oo'glog.
A: The best place to fly-fish would be in Shilo Village, however the Shilo Village quest is required to be able to fish. For free players or members who have not completed the Shilo Village quest, fishing in the Barbarian Village would be probably best, with the closest bank in Edgeville. You could also try fishing at Seers' Village, as there is a bank closer than that of the Barbarian Village.
- C2 Fishing for High Level Fishers by d4rkm4st3rz8
- C2 Fishing Guide by swordude
- 1-99 Fishing Guide by Ra 0siris
- Fishing Monkfish by Debenkey

























































