Game Guides

Fishing profession 101

So you want to learn to fish? Fishing is great for so many reasons. All you need is a stretch of water and a fishing rod and you can cast off. Therefore it is really easy to begin leveling up in. Probably easier than the other gathering professions.

The joys of fishing
Fishing is good because it is a secondary profession. It also goes great with cooking which is also a secondary profession. So the end result is that you can do both of them and not waste any of your main career options.

It also provides the fun of the mini fishing game. On top of that you can find many cool items while fishing. As well as fish themselves which can be used for food (never buy food again! Your best eating fish, the vender price is terrible) you can also find armor and equipment. That is just from experience I know you can also get other things.

Getting started
The first two things you need to is find a fishing trainer and a fishing supplies trader. Are you in Menethil harbor? Good! Simpsons style foundation repair video for those missing the reference ;). Actually at I guess I would say that you are not in Menethil Harbor.

Although on the off chance you are, there is trainer and a supplier at the start of the pier, in the area between the north and south piers that stretch out into the water. Training in the fishing skill costs 1 silver and you also need a rod though that only costs around 23 copper.

If you are elsewhere you can also find trainers in Stormwind (trade district), Ironforge (Forlorn Cavern), Darnassus (Temple Gardens), Orgimmar (Valley of Honor), Thunder Bluff (Elevation 3), Undercity (Magic Quarter) and many other locations.

Once you have your rod and you are trained you are ready to begin fishing. You can also buy bait though when I played through the beta I never used bait and I still caught something most of the time.

Lets fish!
First of all, you need to un-equip any weaponry and shield you have in your hands. Then you need to equip your fishing rod. This is easy enough to do using the right click from your backpack.

Presumably you are at an open stretch of water. Generally a good place to fish is in the region you started in as these tend to have easy fish to catch. In harder areas, it is harder to stop them from getting away. That said, there is no real way to work out difficulty of each area other than experience.

Once you are ready, open up your spells and abilities book and go to the general tab. Then click on the fishing button and you will cast off. If the water is too small an area or is not fishable you will get an error message on screen. If this happens try a different position or go elsewhere.

Having to open your spells and abilities book is a bit annoying each time though to make it easier, I dragged the fishing button onto the quick buttons where my attacks are located in the bottom left section of the screen.

The mini-game
So anyway once you have cast out your bobber will appear in the water. You will also have a bar counting down to how long you have left. Once this ends or you catch a fish you will have to cast out again.

Keep your mouse aimed at the bobber and when you see it go underwater, right click as soon as you can. If you manage to catch the fish then a loot box will appear and you will be able to collect anything you have caught, usually a fish.

Notes and mini stories
You can find various things in fishing, the obvious one being fish but also clams, gems, armor and equipment, novelty items such as skulls, locked chests and more. If you catch a special fish you can put it in your hand to show off to other players.

If you get a clam you need to open it to reveal what it inside. This can be clam meat or it can be pearls. All very useful. Also you may be able to find a better fishing poll from random people and other players.

As it happens, if you are in Menethil Harbor use the boat / teleporter to get to Auberdine. If you head left off the pier you will find an NPC with a fishing quest. If you can catch enough of one specific fish then he gives you a cool rod!

Conclusion
So that is it for fishing. It is great for doing with friends (not as good as group questing but still a lot of fun!) and can be done at any time. Best of all it is really easy to level up as you don't need all these complex reagents to do a recipe to get up a level.