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 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.

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 three types of fish - 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.

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).