What is the best Fishing method?
With introduction of the new “barbarian” ways to catch fish an old question “What is the best fishing method?” arisen again. I, being a long time advocate of Monkfish and Salmon/Trout fly-fishing, was quick to rule out these new “barbarian” methods. But then I thought: “Why? Am I really sure?”
So I ended up making a set of experiments on most common fishing methods to find the truce. What can I say? Results appeared to be quite shocking.
Here is what I did at fishing level of 79.
15 minutes fishing sessions in Shilo village, Catherby, Barbarian Outpost and Pistachios Colony. I tried:
- Sharks in Catherby (banking them of course)
- Lobsters in Catherby (banking them)
- Swordfish/Tune using Harpoon in Catherby (banking them)
- Swordfish/Tune with bare hands in Catherby (banking them)
- New ‘barbarian’ fly-fishing at Barbarian Outpost (powerfishing using caviar and roe as bait)
- Monkfish in Pistachios Colony (banking them)
- Salmon/Trout fly-fishing in Shilo (selling to the store)
- Rainbow fly-fishing in Shilo (banking them)
I calculated average experience and money I was getting from 15 min fishing sessions. Money were calculated with the following prices in mind:
- Sharks – 1K ea
- Monkfish – 400 ea
- Lobsters – 250 ea
- Swordfish – 300 ea
- Tuna – 50 ea
- Rainbow fish – 100 ea
- Salmon/Trout – based on a price in the shop at the moment.
Here are the results.
As you can see the new ‘barbarian’ fly fishing appeared to be the fastest way to 99! Plus it gives generous Agility, Strength and Cooking bonuses. Salmon/Trout fly-fishing ought to go away (at least for members).
Though, Monkfish is also very good way up. Yes, it gives less experience, but it is compensated by a good monetary reward.
And what came as a shock to me is that Shark fishing apparently does not make any sense! Monkfish gives better experience and money! No more Shark fishing for me.
Finally, harpoons getting obsolete (unless you are a pure skiller). Bare hands fishing is exactly as fast as Harpooning, but gives an additional Strength bonus.
I hope you find this report useful. If you haven’t completed the Barbarian training, it is probably a time to do so 
. At least as fishing goes.
P.S. It would be interesting to find out if the same proportions remain on other fishing levels. Mine was 79 at the time. If you decide to try it out on another level I would appreciate if you could share the results with me. Thanks!
Posted by vrunewise (owner of Runewise)
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(15 votes, average: 4.4 out of 5)
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July 17th, 2007 at 5:55 am
Nice study about fishing. I’ve tried the bare hands fishing for swords/tuna. I’ll have to try the barbarian fly-fishing.
CH3WY Says:July 18th, 2007 at 5:22 pm
well, my problem with what you said is that for skillers like me … we cant do the barbarian training :/
vrunewise Says:July 20th, 2007 at 12:19 am
Just one clarification on the way barbarian fly-fishing is done. Take 20-25 bait, knife and barbarian rod and teleport to the Barbarian Outpost. Start fishing using your bait. When the bait is gone, use your knife on the fish. It is really quick (much faster than dropping it) as you can click on the nearest fish to the knife all the time. As a result you get roe, caviar and entrails. Drop entrails and fish the next load using roe and caviar as bait. When roe and caviar are not enough for a load, use a few entrails. That’s it - you can stay there forever, no banking, no dropping, no need for new bait.
Chris Says:July 20th, 2007 at 12:21 pm
Great report vRunewise! I’ll have to stop fishing for lobs and sharks!
john smith Says:June 10th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
I think sharks are more profitable than monks at a certain level, just not at your level. Try them again at 83.
Eric Says:May 11th, 2009 at 12:37 am
John Smith - Monkfish are always more exp and more gp per hour than Sharks.