Classic Fishing Profession Guide
Fishing is a secondary profession that any character can learn and it does not taking up a primary profession slot, as Mining or Blacksmithing would.
Leveling up Fishing can take a fair amount of time, as you are limited by how quickly fish will be caught on each cast, rather than the cast time of a recipe in other professions. It is best to either level this up while you are leveling and are looking for a change of pace or, if you are hoping to rush to maximum level, you should wait until max level to do it.
Note that, when you do level Fishing, you will have a huge amount of fish that can be used to level your Cooking. If you are planning to do so, do not sell the fish and put it in the bank instead.
So far in Season of Discovery there were no new fish found, but they can be used on some of the new recipes made available.
Fishing in Season of Discovery
Currently there are no new fishes or fishing-related Season of Discovery specific content. However, with the new STV Blood Moon event, there might be some interesting undiscovered changes to the Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza event, or at the very least the possibility of spicy overlaps happening!
Fishing Trainers and Where to Find Them
Fishing can be learned from any trainer, but leveling it beyond skill level 150 can only be done through items and quests.
For the first 2 ranks, Apprentice and Journeyman, you can learn them both from the following trainers.
Alliance Fishing Trainers
- Androl Oakhand — Teldrassil
- Arnold Leland — Stormwind City
- Astaia — Darnassus
- Brannock — Feralas
- Donald Rabonne — Hillsbrad Foothills
- Grimnur Stonebrand — Ironforge
- Harold Riggs — Wetlands
- Lee Brown — Elwynn Forest
- Matthew Hooper — Redridge Mountains
- Paxton Ganter — Dun Morogh
- Stuart Fleming — Wetlands
- Warg Deepwater — Loch Modan
Horde Fishing Trainers
- Armand Cromwell — Undercity
- Clyde Kellen — Tirisfal Glades
- Kah Mistrunner — Thunder Bluff
- Katoom the Angler — The Hinterlands
- Kil'Hiwana — Ashenvale
- Killian Sanatha — Silverpine Forest
- Lau'Tiki — Durotar
- Lui'Mala — Desolace
- Lumak — Orgrimmar
- Uthan Stillwater — Mulgore
- Wigcik — Stranglethorn Vale
Neutral Fishing Trainers
- Myizz Luckycatch — Stranglethorn Vale
Expert Fishing and How to Learn It
Expert Fishing can be learned after reaching character Level 20 and Fishing skill 125. It extends the skill level cap to 225 and can only be learned by buying the book Expert Fishing - The Bass and You from Old Man Heming in Stranglethorn Vale. The book costs 1 gold.
He also sells a variety of Fishing supplies, including the Strong Fishing Pole, which grants an additional 5 Fishing skill and the Aquadynamic Fish Attractor, which increases your skill by 100 for 5 minutes.
Artisan Fishing and How to Learn It
Artisan Fishing can only be learned after reaching character Level 35 and Fishing skill 225. In order to learn it, you will need to visit Nat Pagle, to the southwest of Theramore in Dustwallow Marsh.
He will give you the quest Nat Pagle, Angler Extreme, which requires you to catch a Feralas Ahi, a Misty Reed Mahi Mahi, a Sar'theris Striker, and a Savage Coast Blue Sailfin. These are all rare fish that can only be caught for this quest. They do not have a named pool to be caught in, they are instead just caught on a random chance from specific areas of water.
- Feralas Ahi — To catch this fish, you will need to head to the small pool of water that is southeast of Dire Maul. The area is called the Verdantis River.
- Misty Reed Mahi Mahi — To catch this fish, head to the southern shores of the Swamp of Sorrows, to the southeast of the Temple of Atal'Hakkar. You should stand on one of the rocks in the water rather than the beach, to avoid aggroing the Murlocs. The area is called the Misty Reed Strand.
- Sar'theris Striker — To catch this fish, you should head south of Shadowprey Village in Desolace, on the eastern coast. The area is called the Sar'theris Strand.
- Savage Coast Blue Sailfin — Head to the Grom'gol Base Camp in Stranglethorn Vale and then move south to the mouth of the river. You should fish on the coast here. The area is called the Savage Coast.
Leveling Fishing from 1 to 300
Fishing is a fairly easy profession to level, but you should try to level it alongside Cooking, as there is a huge amount of overlap. For the best possible route, check out the guide at wow-professions.com.
Notable Fish
There are a number of fish that are either valuable when caught or can only be caught under certain circumstances. You should almost never sell your fish to vendors, as it is worth very little to them, but can be used by players in a variety of ways.
New Options to Focus in Phase 5
Elixir of Greater Firepower
While we have no new fish coming with Phase 5, the recipe for Elixir of Greater Firepower is coming with the new phase. Alchemists will need Fire Oil to make these, so, depending on your server, Firefin Snapper will be in high demand.
Ahn'Qiraj War Effort
There are multiple servers that have already collected all the materials required for the Ahn'Qiraj War Effort, there will definitely be lesser populated servers that are looking to still gather them.
For players with Fishing, there are 3 fish to look out for that are required:
- First Phase of War Effort — Raw Rainbow Fin Albacore can be found in multiple areas, including the coastal areas of the Wetlands, the Barrens, Westfall, and Hillsbrad.
- Second Phase of War Effort — Raw Whitescale Salmon can be found in the rivers, lakes, and streams of the Eastern Plaguelands, Deadwind Pass, northern Feralas, and Winterspring.
- Third Phase of War Effort — Raw Spotted Yellowtail can be found in the coastal areas of Azshara, Dustwallow Marsh, Stranglethorn Vale, Feralas, Tanaris, and The Hinterlands.
Note that all of the 3 fish listed above must be cooked to meet the hand-in requirements of the War Effort, but they can be sold to other players to cook, if you do not have Cooking yourself.
Valuable Fish to Catch
Fish for Alchemists
There are 4 fish that are used by Alchemists.
- Deviate Fish — this fish can only be caught in the Barrens, in the oasis area outside of the Wailing Caverns dungeon or inside the instance itself. This fish is useful not only to Alchemists for their Elixir of Giant Growth, but can be eaten raw for a buff or cooked for a cosmetic effect.
- Firefin Snapper — this fish is caught from Firefin Snapper Pools, which are found along the coast of most Level 20+ areas. Alchemists use this to make Fire Oil.
- Oily Blackmouth — this fish is caught from Oily Blackmouth Schools, which are found on the coast of Level 10-40 zones, as well as inland in multiple Level 40+ zones, such as Un'Goro Crater and the Western Plaguelands. This fish is used for making Blackmouth Oil.
- Stonescale Eel — this fish is caught on the coast of zones such as Tanaris and Stranglethorn Vale, from Stonescale Eel Swarm pools. This fish is used for making Stonescale Oil.
Fish for the Argent Dawn
It is worth noting that Stonescale Eel are one of the 3 fish that are required for the Argent Dawn crafting quests. They are started at the Light's Hope Chapel in the Eastern Plaguelands.
The other 2 fish at the Lightning Eel, which is caught inland in most Level 40+ areas, and Plated Armorfish, which is caught in end-game areas, such as Scholomance, Stratholme, Winterspring, and the Alterac Valley battleground.
Fish for Buff-Food
While there are fish that are used to create food, most of them actually sell very badly, since the time invested is similar to that of the fish for Alchemy, but the sale prices are much lower.
One notable example is the Winter Squid, which can only be fished during the winter months and is used to make Grilled Squid, a food that gives +10 Agility.
Pearls and Clams
When fishing, you may find Big-mouth Clams, which have a chance to contain one of the 4 pearls. These pearls, especially the Golden Pearls, can be useful and, in the case of the Golden type, very easy to sell.
The clams can be found in most Level 40+ zones.
Useful Items for Fishing
There are a number of items that can help increase your Fishing skill and allow you to fish in areas that you are not yet high enough skill to do so in.
Fishing Poles
- Big Iron Fishing Pole — increases skill by 20. Chance to be picked up from Shellfish Traps in Desolace. You can look for this when you are fishing for the rare fish in Desolace for Nat Pagle's quest.
- Blump Family Fishing Pole — increases skill by 3. Rewarded from the Alliance-only quest, The Family and the Fishing Pole.
- Fishing Pole — this is the basic fishing pole and is required to fish. Purchased from Fishing vendors.
- Nat Pagle's Extreme Angler FC-5000 — increases skill by 25. Rewarded from the Horde-only quest Snapjaws, Mon!.
- Strong Fishing Pole — increases skill by 5. Purchased from Fishing vendors.
Phase 4 brought with it the best fishing pole in the game, Arcanite Fishing Pole, a reward from the STV competition. It increases your skill by 35 when worn, but requires 300 Fishing to use. You can only get it by winning the competition and choosing it as your prize.
Lures
- Aquadynamic Fish Attractor — increase skill by 100. Purchased from Fishing vendors or created by players with at least 150 Engineering.
- Aquadynamic Fish Lens — increase skill by 50. Rewarded from the Alliance-only quest, Electropellers.
- Bright Baubles — increase skill by 75. Purchased from Fishing vendors.
- Flesh Eating Worm — increase skill by 75. This is a rare drop from Rotted One, which are found in the northwest of Duskwood.
- Nightcrawlers — increase skill by 50. Purchased from Fishing vendors.
- Shiny Bauble — increase skill by 25. Purchased from Fishing vendors.
Item Enchants
You can use Enchant Gloves - Fishing to increase your Fishing skill by 2. This effect is permanent and does not need to be refreshed, as long as you still have the same pair of gloves on.
Fishing in Wreckages
In Classic, you may also find wreckage pools around the world that have a chance to drop trunks. These trunks contain trade goods that can be used by the player to level professions or sold to other players. There are 4 trunks in the game.
Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza
The Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza is a contest that players can enter to test their skills against other players. The event happens weekly, occurring on Sundays from 14:00 to 16:00, with any NPCs used to turn in fish and quests available until 17:00. All of these times are based on your server's time, not your local time.
Changelog
- 03 Feb. 2024: Updated for Season of Discovery Phase 2.
- 24 Jul. 2020: Updated for Phase 5.
- 09 Jul. 2020: Added note on Engineering crafts.
- 23 Mar. 2020: Updated guide for Phase 4 and release of the Fishing Extravaganza.
- 29 Sep. 2019: Added more trainers to the list and a section on the STV competition.
- 28 Aug. 2019: Expanded trainer list.
- 26 Aug. 2019: Guide added.
Classic Class Guides
Classic Dungeon Guides
Classic Profession Guides
This guide has been written by Seksi, original vanilla player and multi-class player, currently playing on Gehennas Horde. You can find him on the Classic Warrior, Mage and Shaman Discords, as well as the Icy Veins Discord.
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