Glyphscape/Fishing

Fishing Overview
Fishing is a very patience-oriented skill. With it you can obtain raw seafood which you can then cook into an assortment of cooked foods. Cooked foods in turn keep you alive in battle as well as aid you with gaining vitality experience, which is otherwise slow to gain. Although fishing is a rather slow-to-level skill, it is not micro-intensive, allowing you to do something else at the same time (such as study or do homework).

There are two types of fishing: active and passive. Active fishing is done with the fishing rod, the harpoon, and the net; passive fishing is done with the fishing cage. While you can only do one instance of active fishing at a time, you can have multiple (up to 4) fishing cages set up and ready to go simultaneously.

Fishing can be done anywhere there is a substantial body of water and, in some rare cases, even in other liquids, such as lava. Oftentimes you won't know if the body of water you're fishing at has anything in it at all until after you've spent several minutes there and nothing's turned up.

Unlike with Metalwork, you can't "prospect" what fish is in the vicinity. However, you can visually see, and examine, what fish are currently swimming about in the vicinity and choose the correct fishing method to match. With fishing rods and harpoons, you can catch fish as far as six tiles away from you. With nets and cages, you can only catch fish that are adjacent. Matching to suit the circumstances, and a lot of patience, can get you your catch. Every once in a while, the type of fish in the vicinity (which fish you can catch at the time) changes, such as the fish move downstream or too far away from you. Seafood is the only thing that fishing can catch. Not all seafood is obtained via fishing, however.

Like most foods, fish will begin to rot after a few minutes unless preservative is added, and fresh food is preferable to preserved food.

Different fish live in different environments and are caught using different means. If you are in the wrong place or use the wrong method you won't catch the fish you're after. Within each environment, each species of seafood comprise a certain percentage of the entire numbers of fish in that environment. At level 100 fishing, the proportion of your catches that are a certain type of fish will correspond nicely with the species' percentage presence times the average rate at which you catch them. Higher-end fish may be both rarer and harder to catch, thereby increasing their value twofold. At lower levels you will be unable to catch fish that require you to be on a higher level, in which case the percentage of your catch that is comprised of lower levels of fish will be dramatically greater.

You receive a one-time lump sum of 100 fishing experience and get to level 1 fishing (required for fishing at all) after you have gone through speaking to the fishing tutor. As you gain in level, you will be able to fish faster and faster. To offset this, the experience you get from catching any seafood decreases by 1% compounded per level. In the tables listed below, the experience only applies if you are on level one. For almost all of them you will be receiving only a fraction of the experience points listed depending on the level you are when you caught it. You should be able to make around 300 k - 500 k selling the fish you need to catch in order to get from level 1 to 100.

Fishing Locations
For the most part fishing does not dramatically differ across the extent of the world, though certain areas may be devoid of certain types of fish. There are five primary environments where you can fish: freshwater river, freshwater lake, saltwater coastal, saltwater marine, and deep sea. Each has its own unique fish population; some types of fish exist in only one environment, while others may exist in multiple places. While individual fish aren't so numerous as to fill up the water map, they constantly move about, providing new optimal fishing spots every once in a while, which depending on location, have different chances of granting different types of fish. Fish only regenerate on tiles that no player can see on that server (at least 20 tiles away from the nearest player); fish do not show up on the minimap. Once caught, the fish disappear from the world, so it is theoretically possible that on a busy world all fish in an area will be exhausted. You will be able to actively fish up to six tiles away from where you stand, and you can even stand in shallow water, thereby giving you a great variety of fishing spot opportunities. Passive fishing (with the fishing cage) can only be done on water tiles adjacent to land and can only catch fish directly adjacent to the location of the cage.

Fishing cages can only be set up in the coastal regions since these are the only regions where you can catch crabs and lobsters (the only things that the cages can catch). All the other modes of fishing, however, can be used in at least two different locations. All but the saltwater marine and deep sea environment is directly accessible by land. The marine environment requires you to go out on a boat and sail the high seas (at least 20 tiles away from the furthest extent of shallow water). However, it offers some unique species of fish you can't catch anywhere else.

The deep sea (underwater) environment is accessible only after completing the quest Under the Sea. Attracting fish using the mermaids' lyre replaces other modes of active fishing while in this environment.

Netting Fish
There are three types of nets: small fishing nets, tough fishing nets, and trawling nets, each of which are made of rope. This, along with caging and harpooning, are the minimal-tools-needed forms of fishing. Generally with this method you are not catching fish proper, but smaller seafood.

Bait Fishing
This is where you'll get the majority of fish varieties. In order to bait fish you'll need a (normal) fishing rod as well as the correct bait (worms). With each fish caught, you'll use up 1 bait. Bait is essentially free since you can easily dig up some more right where you are fishing with nothing but a spade, so the price of fish quite accurately reflects the difficulty of obtaining that fish and its rarity. There is however a caveat: there are different types of bait. Different fish are attracted to different bait, and you'll quickly realize which ones get you more of which fish with experience. Certain soils only have certain types of bait, and they may or may not be the ones you want, so you'll want to keep a stockpile.

Fly Fishing
Fly fishing requires the use of a fly fishing rod and feathers, which you can get from birds such as chicken. Different types of fish are attracted to different types (colors) of feathers, and with practice you'll know which ones to use to get which type of fly fish the most reliably. Like with bait, you'll lose 1 feather with each fly fish caught. Also like bait, feathers are incredibly cheap as you can get procure of them at one time.

Lure Fishing
With lure fishing, you'll need a lure fishing rod and the proper type of lure, basically a water-resistant miniature that appears like whatever it is good for catching. If you spot a particular fish nearby that can be lure fished, you'll want to get out the proper fishing lure for that fish, since the wrong fishing lure does you absolutely no good and you'll end up wasting your time (unlike with bait and fly fishing). Most fish caught in this way are upper-end, which also means that they are much more expensive.

Harpooning
This style of fishing is only good for four types of fish - jellyfish, swordfish, manta ray, and baby shark - all of which are uncommon. Hence you will rarely get to use your harpoon, because there will rarely be a fish near you that you can harpoon. However, that makes those varieties of fish that much more expensive.

Caging
Then there are certain types of hardy fish which are too strong for nets and which aren't attracted to bait and can't be caught with a harpoon. For those you'll need to use a fishing cage. There is only one such type of cage and it works equally well. There are only a few species of seafood that can be caught in this way. This is also the only passive fish-catching method; you can set up several fishing cages and then go do something else. Only two species of seafood are caught in this way: crabs and lobsters. Both have an incredibly long average wait time. And since cages can't trap more than one at a time, they're harder to get and thus are more rewarding.

Lyre Fishing
Upon completion of the Under the Sea quest, which involves the underwater Metropolis city, you will be able to use a lyre as a means of attracting deep-sea fish close enough for you to snatch them, which is a dramatically different way of catching fish then you're likely to be used to. Lyre fishing has a range of 9 tiles from where you're standing. However, this is only effective in the deep-sea fishing environment, which contains an entirely different set of catch-able species than any of the other four environments.

Spear fishing
Spear fishing involves players going into the water and catching fish with a fishing spear in hand, this sort of style of fishing is used for catching deep-sea fish, which would never some close to the surface for the player to catch. This method of fishing is only available to players who have completed the Freeing Pirate Pete subquest of the Recipe for disaster quest, since a Fishbowl helmet and Diving apparatus is required for players to breathe under the water. Trying to dive into the water without both items equipped will give players a message, saying that it would be unwise to enter without protection. While in the water, the fishes which can be captured from that location will appear in the water swimming around. The player can then catch their desired fish by clicking on it, for which the player automatically follows the fish and jabs at it with a spear until the fish is finally dead. The higher the fishing requirement of the fish, the more successful jabs of a spear are required to successfully kill the fish. Unlike regular fishing spots, spear fishing spots are competitive, meaning that if two players are trying to catch the same fish, only one of them will be successful, similar to when two players mine the same ore. Currently, the only area where a player can dive into the water to do any spear fishing is located in the water room in the Celestial Dungeon.

Species of Fish
Species differ according to environment. There are 4 environments: River (rivers and streams), Lake (freshwater bodies), Coastal (beaches and saltwater coastlines), and Marine (far out at sea).

Fishing Skill Cape
Once you reach level 100 in fishing, you will be able to equip a fishing skill cape. You can buy the one you want at the market prices listed below, or you can perform a guild assignment given by the Fishing Guild and be rewarded one of these varieties (better ones are rarer rewards of higher tier assignments). You can only perform a guild assignment when at level 99+ in that skill. Be warned, however: guild assignments take a long time, are very difficult, require skill instead of persistence, often give you money instead of any cape at all, and require that you put a great deal of experience points in the skill at risk, which can even make you lose your level 100 skill status.

You cannot make, dye, trim, or enchant a skill cape. Anyone can, however, trade it. The Fishing Guild will always be willing to buy back fishing skill capes (any variety) at a flat 10,000 gp each. Prices are as follows:

A skill cape gives insignificant defense benefits but is of course desired as a way of showing that you've reached level 100 in that skill. While you are wearing the skill cape, you are able to set up one more fishing cage at a time (for a total of 5) and will be able to fish 1 tile further away (for a total of 7). In addition you will have access to a unique emote that features you plucking into a puddle and pulling out three successively larger fish, one at a time.