The ULTIMATE F2P Fishing Guide

[MstrMonopoly]

 

So, you want to fish.

 

Fishing is one of the oldest skills in Runescape, and one of the simplest. There is but a singular Fishing-related minigame (Fishing Trawler, which is a big no for training by the way), and but a couple ways that one can gain XP in the skill. Depending on how you train fishing, it can either lose a small amount of money or make tens of millions on the way to 99. This guide will attempt to break fishing down into Fishing for fishing experience and Fishing for money. There are even some ways where you can do both at the same time =O.

 

QuickGuide to Fishing For Experience (F2P)

 

Crayfish 1-20

Trout+Salmon Fly Fishing at Barbarian Village 20-99

 

QuickGuide to Fishing For Profit (F2P)

 

Crayfish 1-20

Trout 20-40

Lobsters (Karamja) 40-50

Lobsters OR Swordfish + Tuna (Karamja) 50+

 

Fishing For Experience, F2P

 

[hide]The first fish that you're going to want to do are Crayfish. Crayfish were introduced in mid-2008 with the Lumbridge and Draynor diary. They fish much faster than shrimps, and you won't be making much money with shrimps, either. Simply powerfish (fish and then drop) these with a Crayfish Cage, which can be obtained for free from Hank's Fishing Store in Lumbridge. It will take 447 Crayfish to get from Level 1 to Level 20, so a little bit of work is required.

 

IMPORTANT CRAYFISH LOCATIONS:

 

 

You're going to want to fish a little behind the church in Lumbridge.

 

After you fish those Crayfish, get ready for 79 levels, 13 million experience points, and about 250 (at the very minimum) hours of solid fish 'n' drop at Barbarian Village.

 

Inventory for Barbarian Village should be just your feathers and your fly fishing rod. MouseKeys can prove to be very effective for power-dropping. Other than that, I have nothing. Fishing for XP in F2P is long and difficult for you, but writing a guide on it sure is easy. You will need 200K+ feathers to get 99 Fishing, so start buying ASAP. By using this method of fishing, you will lose 3 million coins or more.

 

IMPORTANT BARBARIAN VILLAGE LOCATIONS:

 

[/hide]

 

Fishing for Money, F2P

 

[hide]The first fish that you're going to want to do are Crayfish. Crayfish were introduced in mid-2008 with the Lumbridge and Draynor diary. They fish much faster than shrimps, and you won't be making much money with shrimps, either. Simply powerfish (fish and then drop) these with a Crayfish Cage, which can be obtained for free from Hank's Fishing Store in Lumbridge. It will take 447 Crayfish to get from Level 1 to Level 20, so a little bit of work is required.

 

IMPORTANT CRAYFISH LOCATIONS:

 

 

You're going to want to fish a little behind the church in Lumbridge.

 

At level 20, move to Barbarian Village Trout until Level 45. It will take approximately 34,000 experience or one and a half hours at the most. Simply grab a fly fishing rod and about 1K feathers and go powerfish the Trout. At level 30, experience will become faster because you are also catching salmon.

 

IMPORTANT BARBARIAN VILLAGE LOCATIONS:

 

 

Be prepared to spend the rest of your life on Karamja, as you will be fishing there from 40+. From 40-50 fish lobsters with a lobster cage (no bait is necessary), remember always to have 30 coins in your inventory for the Karamja trip. Banking the fish from Karamja can sometimes be a pain. I will here list a couple of routes from best to worst (standing in a neutral location)

 

ROUTE 1:

 

1) Use your Explorer's Ring 3 to teleport to the cabbage patch north of Port Sarim

2) Run south to Seaman Lorris/Thresnor/Tobias

3) Pay them 30 gp and sail to Karamja

4) From there, run northwest through the banana plantation to get to the docks

5) Fish your full inventory of lobsters

6) Teleport back to the cabbage patch and bank in Draynor

7) Repeat

 

Route 1, Visualized

 

 

Now, for a mini-essay

 

Swordfish/Tuna or Lobsters?

 

This is perhaps the most oft-debated question in all of Runescape. I'm going to prove now that Lobsters are pretty much better than Swordfish/Tuna over the long run, at any fishing level (this applies to F2P only, in P2P there is a reason why fishing Swordfish/Tuna is better and I will explain why).

 

Although it is true that the Swordfish to Tuna ratio gets better as you continue to level, for Swordfish/Tuna to be better than Lobsters they would have to follow this formula (obviously), and this is assuming that Swordfish/Tuna and Lobsters fish at the same rate:

 

(x%)Swordfish + (x%) Tuna > 1 Lobster

 

I have done tests with my old account (96 Fishing) which suggest that the Swordfish-to-Tuna ratio is no better than 55-60% Swordfish at best. Therefore,

 

(55%) Swordfish + (45%) Tuna > Lobster

 

would be necessary for Swordfish/Tuna to equal Lobster. At current GE prices, Tuna are 162 gp, Swordfish are 575, and Lobsters are 409. Using our formula - 316.25 + 72.9 = 389.15. This is close but certainly no cigar. And these tests, remember, were done at an extremely high fishing level (96).

 

But wait - we shouldn't assume that these two methods fish at the same rate. In fact, Lobsters kick Swordfishies rear end in this department. They can provide up to 3-5K an hour better experience than Swordfish, and this test was again done on a 96 Fishing account. Tests at every level of fishing (63, 73, 85, and 96) confirm that Lobsters are better experience.

 

There is one way that Swordfish/Tuna can be better than Lobsters, and that is using Swordfish Gloves from Fist of Guthix. I would not recommend going out of your way to buy Swordfish Gloves. If you enjoy playing Fist of Guthix, using Swordfish gloves (which double the experience from catching Swordfish, 100 to 200) that cost 200 tokens is a perfectly acceptable reason for fishing swordfish. Otherwise, steer clear.

 

Mini essay over.

 

Fishing Lobsters to 99 will take approximately 140,000 Lobsters. This will be 56,000,000 GP, give or take a few. It will also be 560 hours at the very least. Get ready for a long, long journey. On the plus side, with 56 million GP, you can now buy Cooking, Firemaking, and Magic 99's too.

 

[/hide]

[theroyiel]

res

[K4ylan]

Just a tip, if I may add something:

 

 

As you can see in the picture, I've added the location of a Bank Deposit box. It is situated near the Monks of Entrana. The fastest method I have found for F2P fishing is to wield you explorer's ring 3 and take some money in your inventory (30 times the amount of trips you want to make). When you catch a full inventory, Cabbage-port to the field and deposit your fish in the box, then make the 3-second run to Karamja. This proves far more efficient than constant running to Draynor, although if you accidentally deposit your lobster cage and/or your cash, it may be frustrating. Also note that this deposit box is faster for chopping willow trees than Draynor and for mining clay. It's really a great F2p secret that not too many people know about.

[MstrMonopoly]

Wow, thanks a lot for that image =D

 

And thanks for sharing your secret knowledge =P

[Kaida23]

There's also an NPC named Stiles on Karamja who will one-click note all your lobsters, tuna and swordfish (cooked and raw) for you so you don't have to leave the island at all.

 

You can find him here: