Today, we're going to tell you how to master fishing in Old School RuneScape with our OSRS fishing guide.

Imagine this: you’re sitting on a shore, birds chirping, the calm wind barely roughing up the serene surface of a lake or a river. It’s a sunny day so you sit in the shade of a willow completely relaxed. It would be a perfect morning but there’s something missing.

Ah, right – the fishing rod!

You grab it, attach bait to the hook, and cast the fishing line. The water body in front of you is teeming with fish waiting to get caught.

Yes, yes, now that’s a perfect morning.

Complete OSRS Fishing Training Guide

OSRS Fishing Guide For RuneScape Beginners
Fast Fishing Leveling in OSRS
- Fishing Level 1-20
- Fishing Level 20-58/99
Pay-to-Play OSRS Fishing Guide
Money Making with Fishing (Free-to-Play)
Money Making with Fishing (Pay-to-Play)
Final Thoughts About Fishing In OSRS

You put your fishing rod to the side and wait for fish to take the bait. You take your tablet or phone, log in to Old School RuneScape and start thinking about what to do.

While you can be a master angler in real life, it appears that your fishing level in OSRS is only a measly 1. Let’s start fixing that, shall we?

OSRS Fishing Guide For RuneScape Beginners

This OSRS Fishing Guide is separated into different sections.

These are free-to-play(F2P) and pay-to-play(P2P) leveling methods, and F2P and P2P best fishing money making methods. Just make sure you have enough OSRS gold as you might need those while leveling this OSRS skill.

As with any skill of the so-called Big Three, Fishing provides you with raw materials that, while do not catch an extremely high price on the Grand Exchange, are in constant demand.

Additionally, Fishing is required for some quests, some of which are essential for a main.

Old School RuneScape Fishing Quests

Tai Bwo Wannai Trio (Level 5)

Fishing Contest (Level 10)

Rum Deal (Level 50)

Heroes’ Quest (Level 53)

The Fremennik Exiles (Level 60)

Swan Song (Level 62)

cooks assistant quest certificate

Quests That Give Fishing Experience

Recipe for Disaster (1000)

Fishing Contest (2437)

Heroes’ Quest (2725)

The Fremennik Trials (2812)

Tai Bwo Wannai Trio (5000)

Rum Deal (7000)

Sea Slug (7175)

Swan Song (10000)

Note that the quest Sea Slug only requires 30 Firemaking and would let you skip straight to Level 24 Fishing. Consider completing Sea Slug, if you are going to level up Firemaking anyway.

Diaries Requiring Fishing in OSRS

The following Diary tasks also require Fishing. Rewards are especially good when completing Elite Diaries.

Diary	Task	Difficulty	Level
Lumbridge and Draynor	Catch some Anchovies in Al-Kharid	Easy	15
Ardougne	Go out fishing on the Fishing Trawler	Easy	15
Kandarin	Catch a Mackerel at Catherby	Easy	16
Varrock	Catch some Trout in the River Lum at Barbarian Village	Easy	20
Lumbridge and Draynor	Catch some Salmon in Lumbridge	Medium	30
Kandarin	Catch and cook a Bass in Catherby	Medium	46
Western Provinces	Fish some Bass on Ape Atoll	Medium	46
Wilderness	Fish some Raw lava eel in the Wilderness	Hard	53
Western Provinces	Catch and cook a Monkfish in Piscatoris	Hard	62
Karamja	Catch a Karambwan	Medium	65
Kandarin	Catch a Leaping sturgeon	Hard	70
Kandarin	Fish and cook 5 Sharks in Catherby using the Cooking gauntlets	Elite	76
Ardougne	Catch a Manta ray in the Fishing Trawler and cook it in Port Khazard	Elite	81
Wilderness	Fish and cook a Dark crab in the Resource Area	Elite	85
Morytania	Catch a Shark in Burgh de Rott with your bare hands	Elite	96

Fast Fishing Leveling in OSRS

As was mentioned in the introduction, first we will cover the fastest way to level up Fishing. For the most part, you will not be banking and selling the fish, but rather shift-dropping it on the spot, making all the cats in the neighborhood happy for the rest of their nine lives.

Fishing Level 1-20

You will start your journey to Level 99 Fishing by catching Shrimps or Anchovies at Catherby, Draynor, and Lumbridge using a Small Net. Members can complete the Sea Slug quest to jump to level 24.

ways to make money fishing

Fishing Level 20-58/99

If you got bit by the fishing bug, then you must‘ve reached this level range quickly. This is where we get to do more traditional methods of fishing: using a Fly Fishing Rod and Feathers. Make sure to have plenty of feathers in your inventory before starting.

You will be catching Trout and Salmon at Barbarian Village, Lumbridge if you‘re F2P. Meanwhile, P2P players can choose between Seers Village, Shilo Village, and the fishing spots outside Farming Guild. Fishing Trout and Salmon is the best XP/hr ratio for F2P players.

how to fish in osrs

Pay-to-Play OSRS Fishing Guide

For RuneScape members, you can use this guide to level up your fishing skills to level 99 fast.

Fishing Level 58-99

The fastest way to level up Fishing to level 99 is Barbarian Fishing combined with tick manipulation. You can start fishing there at 15 Strength and 15 Agility, but in order to be efficient, you need to have 30 Strength and 30 Agility.

Complete Otto’s Grotto quest to be rewarded the Barbarian Rod. Acquiring the Barbarian Rod will allow you to fish at Barbarian Fishing spots.

Similarly to Fly Fishing, you will need Feathers as a lure, so make sure you resupply those. You can expect to receive around 35-40k XP for those below level 70 Fishing and 50-60k when at or above level 70 Fishing.

Getting back to 3-tick fishing, it is possible to up your game even further, to a whopping 110k XP per hour.

This, however, requires a lot of attention and patience. It is a rewarding method, but a really tedious one. The simplest 3-tick manipulation method is to start the sequence by casting the line and then shift dropping the fish.

Refer to this YouTube tick fishing guide to learn more. You will also gain Agility and Strength XP along with Fishing XP at a ratio of 1:10, 1 Strength and Agility with every 10 Fishing XP.

barbarian fishing guide in old school rs

Money Making with Fishing (Free-to-Play)

In this section, you'll learn how to make more OSRS gold as a F2P player through fishing.

Fishing Level 40-50

At this level range, we have the delicious Lobster. You can fish Lobster at Musa Point using a Lobster Pot. You will need to board a boat at Port Sarim going to Karamja. The trip will cost you 30 OSRS GP, so make sure you have coins at the ready.

To bank the precious Lobster, use the bank deposit in Port Sarim, at the docks with the monks.

lobster fishing training for beginners

Fishing Level 50-99

Now, we’re doing some serious fishing! Grab a Harpoon and aim steadily at that Harpoon fishing spot to impale some Swordfish. You will catch some Tuna as well, but don’t bother with them: drop all the Tuna you catch, if you’re leveling Cooking then cook it before dropping. Tuna isn’t worth much and will only slow you down with frequent trips to the bank deposit.

To improve your gp/hr rates using either of the F2P Fishing money-making methods make sure to complete The Corsair Curse and Dragon Slayer. Doing so will allow you to use the Corsair Cove Resource Area which in turn will allow for free trips to Port Sarim and back, meaning that you will no longer need to take up that inventory space with coins.

Money Making with Fishing (Pay-to-Play)

For P2P players, here are some tips on how you can make more money by fishing in Gielinor.

Fishing Level 62-99

For players who do not intend to spam-click using any of the tick manipulation methods used in Barbarian Fishing, a good alternative is catching Monkfish.

The XP rates are lower and this method requires less attention, but by banking Monkfish, you will also be earning gold.To be eligible for this method you will need to complete the Swan Song quest in Piscatoris, where Monkfish fishing spots are located. You will need a Small fishing net.

Fishing Level 65-99

Reaching level 65 Fishing and completing Tai Bwo Wannai Trio quest unlocks the ability to fish Karambwans. To catch Karambwans you will need a Karambwan vessel and Raw karambwanji for bait. Raw karambwanji can be caught north-east of the CKR fairy ring.

The best spot for fishing Karambwans is north of the DKP fairy ring. Consider using quest point cape, Slayer rings, or fairy ring in your house for faster travel.

There are plenty of options for banking Karambwans, so choose the one you are most comfortable with:

Use the Ring of Dueling to get to the Castle Wars
Use the Amulet of Glory to get to Edgeville
Use the Karamja gloves 3 or 4 to get to Shilo Village Underground Mine

Fishing for Raw karambwanji can be tedious, so make sure you buy as much as you can from Tiadeche in Karamja in between your fishing sessions. Raw karambwanji is stackable and cost 10gp each.

karambwans in old school runescape

Fishing Level 80-99

From level 80 Fishing you unlock the ability to catch Infernal eels in Mor Ul Rek. For this method you need: a hammer in your inventory, Oily fishing rod from the Heroes’ Quest, bait, Ice gloves, and a Fire cape to show to TzHaar-Ket guard to be allowed to enter the city of Mor Ul Rek (this does not consume the Fire cape).

Infernal eels can be cracked open with a hammer to obtain 10-20 Tokkul, a single Onyx bolt tip, or 1-5 Lava scale shards. The best spot for catching Infernal eels is the south-easternmost area of the city.

fishing for infernal eel in runescape

Fishing Level 82-99

Once you reach level 82 Fishing you can start catching Minnows. Minnows are located at Kylie Minnow’s Fishing Platform in the Fishing Guild. You will need to collect full Angler Outfit from Fishing Trawler game in order to catch Minnows, as well as the completed Fishing Contest quest.

Just like Raw karambwanjis, Minnows are stackable, meaning you will not need to travel to a bank often. When you feel like it, you can exchange Minnows for Sharks at a 40:1 ratio.

This fishing method is quite unique and can be annoying to some. First, because fishing spots move one square every 15 seconds. Second, there is a chance of Flying Fish spawning. These fish will catch the Minnows from the player’s inventory, so you can’t stay AFK for long or else your fishing trip will be all for nothing.

All in all, fishing for Minnows is a profitable money-making method but it will require the player to be a little bit more attentive than the others.

osrs fishing guide for minnows

Fishing Level 85-99

This time it’s a little bit more tricky. From level 85 Fishing you can start catching Dark crabs. This is a quite lucrative method and provides a decent amount of XP (30-40k/hr). The tricky part is that Dark crabs are in the Wilderness and you need to complete Elite tasks in the Wilderness, after which you can catch Dark crabs faster.

Dark crabs are located inside the Resource Area and there is an NPC called Piles nearby, just outside the Resource Area, who can note your catch. The closest bank is the Mage Bank which takes only a couple of minutes to get to.

Players are advised to bank their noted Dark crabs regularly as to avoid being cleaned by a PKer. Bring cheap defensive gear, you can get them at our OSRS Items Shop, and 3-4 good items along with high-healing food in order to be able to run from the PKers and protect your profit.

Completing only Medium and Hard Diaries is also viable, however, you will have to pay a fee to enter the area. The tools needed to catch Dark crabs are a Lobster pot and Dark fishing bait.

osrs fishing for dark crabs

Last, but not least, make sure to acquire the Angler’s outfit from Fishing Trawler minigame. The full set provides 2.5% additional Fishing experience, which in the long run will save you a lot of time.

Final Thoughts About Fishing In OSRS

As you have probably noticed, fishing methods that are listed as profitable provide less experience than those that are listed as fast.

If your goal is the Fishing skill cape or you are preparing supplies for a PKing spree and, therefore, do not wish to sell the precious catch, we recommend to buy OSRS gold.

Alleviate the stress of getting your hands on coins by always having a substantial reserve in your bank and focus on becoming the master angler!

If you need further assistance in your OSRS journey, you can join our Discord server and take advantage of our affordable RuneScape services. We also provide exclusive Old School RuneScape offers and giveaways.

Related RuneScape Guides:

Last Updated: 01/11/2021

OSRS Fishing Training Guide From Level 1 To 99