WoW - Fishing for fun and profit
Cross posted from WoW_Ladies.
I hate dailies. I hate them with a fiery passion. I can't explain why, I just do. I know I could be making 250-500g a day if I did my dailies. Instead, I sit around Dalaran and complain about being broke and beg my guildie who's gold capped to give me money. (/sarcasm)
Until the past few days that is.
I don't remember why I decided to pick my fishing pole back up (after having said I'd never fish again once I got my turtle), but on Wednesday I did. Since Wednesday, I've made about 600-800g solely from fishing. Now, I've made a bit more additionally on my priest who herbs, but I'm pretty content with 600-800g for maybe 6-8 hours of "work."
It occurred to me, though, that other people might enjoy knowing my secrets to using a pretty boring profession for maximum profit. :) So here I offer:
Caelys' Guide to Fishing for Fun and Profit
Note: This is simply how I go about doing this. There may be better places to fish, there may be things I've left out, etc. Your milage may vary, take with a grain of salt, yadda yadda. Also - this is not a leveling guide.
Things you will need:
-Fishing Pole (Nat's Lucky Fishing Pole or the Kalu'ak one work well, though any pole can be used just fine. I personally use Nat's because I'm lazy and dislike farming rep almost as much as I hate dailies.)
-Fishing Lures (Sharpened Hooks sell on my server for fairly cheap. Don't skimp out on these! They help more than you might think!)
-A Flying Mount (Primarily for speedy travel)
-A lot of patience
-Music to listen to
Things that will help:
-Fish Tracking (obtained by fishing dailies or rare drop while fishing)
-Fishing hat (or other +fishing gear)
-Epic Flight
-Water Walking Potions (or a pocket shaman/DK/Priest)
-An Alchemist
-Various fishing addons (I don't use any, so if you have one you like, feel free to mention it, and I'll add it)
So what do I fish for, for maximum profit?
There are four different types of fish I aim to get; Musselback Sculpin, Nettlefish, Glacial Salmon, and Dragonfin Angelfish. The first three are used primarily for Fish Feasts, but the last is a fish used to make +Str and +Agi food.
How many of each do I fish up?
For the fish used in Fish Feasts, I normally do about 100 of each. Yes, this will take a while to get (~30-60 minutes per 100 fish, depending on your luck, skill, server (yay pvp), etc), but it's just how I do things. I have a lot of free time, so it doesn't bother me much. You may only have the patience to farm 20.
For the Dragonfin Angelfish, I tend to just farm as many as I can from the pools in Dragonblight. Since there's not that many pools of these, I normally walk away with 1-2 stacks by the time I finish fishing for the day.
Where should I go to fish?
Musselback Sculpin are best fished from the large pond/lake north of Warsong Hold in Borean Tundra. There's a lot of pools that can spawn here, so you can generally just keep making passes around the lake until you go insane.
Nettlefish are found only in Sholazar Basin. Normally I come here after I get my Sculpin, so I come in from the south. I start to make my way around the basin, following the rivers around. There are a few good spots though that are slightly better for pools than others; River's Heart in the center usually has 3-5 pools at any given time and the lake in the northwest (the name eludes me right now) near the Oracle camp. Both of these lakes have a good spawn rate and pool count, but don't skip the rivers entirely. Quite a few spawn along any of the rivers here!
Glacial Salmon are found in Grizzly Hills, and the best spot I've found to farm these is in the Blue Sky Logging Grounds. Similar to the lake in Borean Tundra, just keep making passes around the water there until you go insane, and you should get quite a few fish.
Dragonfin Angelfish are only found in Dragonblight and along the river between it and Grizzly Hills. There's fewer pool spawns of these, so don't be discouraged if you don't find a lot. Lake Indu'le and the water to the west of Westwind Refugee Camp (horde camp) has a few pools, so make sure you check those out.
Here's a map of the general path I follow on any given day:
A link if the picture isn't working.
(Note - I apologize for the crappiness of this map, I did it fairly quickly for the sake of having a map.)
How much should I put these up on the AH for?
Obviously this depends greatly on your server's economy, but I usually do anywhere from 20-40g/stack (and I always sell in full stacks) for Fish Feast fishies and 50-70g/stack for Dragonfin Angelfish. I have been able to set my own price before since there are so few people actually farming fish. Check out what your server is selling fish for before you start. Don't farm JUST one kind since you'll do better in the long run if you get some variety to sell. While some people might only want salmon for Firecracker Salmon recipes, other people might only need sculpin. Variety is the spice of life after all. :D
Why do I need an alchemist?
You don't, but you will be better off if you have one or if you have a friend that doesn't mind you jeopardizing 5-20 minutes of their time. About 90% of your casts are going to get you a Pygmy Suckerfish along with something else (the fish you're going for, a crate, crystallized water, or crap). These fish are more or less useless. They really only have one use, and that's to be made into Pygmy Oil - which is only done by an alchemist. These oils are used for a few potions, elixirs, and flasks as an alchemist - or, much more amusingly, turning your entire raid into voodoo gnomes.
What if my fishing is really low?
Fear not! Recently, Blizz changed fishing up so that you can do it in Northrend at any level. This is a fantastic change IMO since I actually leveled my fishing from ~150-450 in my attempts to get my turtle mount. In that time, I got a ton of fish that I sold for a nice tidy profit. Do make sure you're using the best lures you can though to help up your chances of not getting crap. You're more likely to lose a fish too, but that comes with leveling fishing regardless.
Why don't you have Wintergrasp listed as somewhere to fish?
Simply a preference thing. I like to go somewhere to farm a specific fish rather than the crapshoot of Wintergrasp. Sure you can get all of these fish from Wintergrasp, but you don't know which one you're going to get on each cast - making farming a little less predictable. On top of that, there's already too many people farming it for ore, and I'm not a fan of involuntary PvP. The zones I go through don't usually have a lot of people farming.
How long do you fish for?
Depends on my attention span really. When I get in a farming sort of mood, I can fish for hours upon hours. Sometimes I get bored 10 minutes in and say, "Fuck it." and go do something else instead, but normally I don't farm fish if I'm not in the mood to stand around a lake for an hour or three.
Is this more profitable than farming ores or herbs?
Yes and no. If you're able to set your own price, it can certainly be more profitable, but not everyone uses fish since not everyone cares enough to level their cooking. (>_> I am guilty of this myself, which is probably why I sell them instead of using them...) Multiple professions use ore or herbs, so you're definitely going to get a steady clientele if you farm those, but they're also more competitive farming. How many times have you landed at an ore/herb node only to have someone kill you for it or swipe it out from under you? You don't really get that kind of competition with fishing. (Note: It's good fishing etiquette to not fish from the same pool as someone else if they were there first. Sure you can kill them for it if you're on a PvP server, but really - probably more trouble than it's worth given the propensity for pool spawns in all of Northrend.) I farm fish on my paladin (who is actually a miner also) and herbs on my priest. Both sell very well, but fishing tends to be a bit calmer for me since I'm on a PvP server.
How long did it take you to get your turtle?
Ok, not really fishing for profit related, but if you're going to be fishing for a long period of time, you might hope to see that elusive turtle after a while. I believe, for me personally, it took me somewhere between 1500-2000 casts to get it. Some people got it sooner than that, some got it much later than that.
If you have questions or comments, lemme know! :D
I hate dailies. I hate them with a fiery passion. I can't explain why, I just do. I know I could be making 250-500g a day if I did my dailies. Instead, I sit around Dalaran and complain about being broke and beg my guildie who's gold capped to give me money. (/sarcasm)
Until the past few days that is.
I don't remember why I decided to pick my fishing pole back up (after having said I'd never fish again once I got my turtle), but on Wednesday I did. Since Wednesday, I've made about 600-800g solely from fishing. Now, I've made a bit more additionally on my priest who herbs, but I'm pretty content with 600-800g for maybe 6-8 hours of "work."
It occurred to me, though, that other people might enjoy knowing my secrets to using a pretty boring profession for maximum profit. :) So here I offer:
Caelys' Guide to Fishing for Fun and Profit
Note: This is simply how I go about doing this. There may be better places to fish, there may be things I've left out, etc. Your milage may vary, take with a grain of salt, yadda yadda. Also - this is not a leveling guide.
Things you will need:
-Fishing Pole (Nat's Lucky Fishing Pole or the Kalu'ak one work well, though any pole can be used just fine. I personally use Nat's because I'm lazy and dislike farming rep almost as much as I hate dailies.)
-Fishing Lures (Sharpened Hooks sell on my server for fairly cheap. Don't skimp out on these! They help more than you might think!)
-A Flying Mount (Primarily for speedy travel)
-A lot of patience
-Music to listen to
Things that will help:
-Fish Tracking (obtained by fishing dailies or rare drop while fishing)
-Fishing hat (or other +fishing gear)
-Epic Flight
-Water Walking Potions (or a pocket shaman/DK/Priest)
-An Alchemist
-Various fishing addons (I don't use any, so if you have one you like, feel free to mention it, and I'll add it)
So what do I fish for, for maximum profit?
There are four different types of fish I aim to get; Musselback Sculpin, Nettlefish, Glacial Salmon, and Dragonfin Angelfish. The first three are used primarily for Fish Feasts, but the last is a fish used to make +Str and +Agi food.
How many of each do I fish up?
For the fish used in Fish Feasts, I normally do about 100 of each. Yes, this will take a while to get (~30-60 minutes per 100 fish, depending on your luck, skill, server (yay pvp), etc), but it's just how I do things. I have a lot of free time, so it doesn't bother me much. You may only have the patience to farm 20.
For the Dragonfin Angelfish, I tend to just farm as many as I can from the pools in Dragonblight. Since there's not that many pools of these, I normally walk away with 1-2 stacks by the time I finish fishing for the day.
Where should I go to fish?
Musselback Sculpin are best fished from the large pond/lake north of Warsong Hold in Borean Tundra. There's a lot of pools that can spawn here, so you can generally just keep making passes around the lake until you go insane.
Nettlefish are found only in Sholazar Basin. Normally I come here after I get my Sculpin, so I come in from the south. I start to make my way around the basin, following the rivers around. There are a few good spots though that are slightly better for pools than others; River's Heart in the center usually has 3-5 pools at any given time and the lake in the northwest (the name eludes me right now) near the Oracle camp. Both of these lakes have a good spawn rate and pool count, but don't skip the rivers entirely. Quite a few spawn along any of the rivers here!
Glacial Salmon are found in Grizzly Hills, and the best spot I've found to farm these is in the Blue Sky Logging Grounds. Similar to the lake in Borean Tundra, just keep making passes around the water there until you go insane, and you should get quite a few fish.
Dragonfin Angelfish are only found in Dragonblight and along the river between it and Grizzly Hills. There's fewer pool spawns of these, so don't be discouraged if you don't find a lot. Lake Indu'le and the water to the west of Westwind Refugee Camp (horde camp) has a few pools, so make sure you check those out.
Here's a map of the general path I follow on any given day:
A link if the picture isn't working.
(Note - I apologize for the crappiness of this map, I did it fairly quickly for the sake of having a map.)
How much should I put these up on the AH for?
Obviously this depends greatly on your server's economy, but I usually do anywhere from 20-40g/stack (and I always sell in full stacks) for Fish Feast fishies and 50-70g/stack for Dragonfin Angelfish. I have been able to set my own price before since there are so few people actually farming fish. Check out what your server is selling fish for before you start. Don't farm JUST one kind since you'll do better in the long run if you get some variety to sell. While some people might only want salmon for Firecracker Salmon recipes, other people might only need sculpin. Variety is the spice of life after all. :D
Why do I need an alchemist?
You don't, but you will be better off if you have one or if you have a friend that doesn't mind you jeopardizing 5-20 minutes of their time. About 90% of your casts are going to get you a Pygmy Suckerfish along with something else (the fish you're going for, a crate, crystallized water, or crap). These fish are more or less useless. They really only have one use, and that's to be made into Pygmy Oil - which is only done by an alchemist. These oils are used for a few potions, elixirs, and flasks as an alchemist - or, much more amusingly, turning your entire raid into voodoo gnomes.
What if my fishing is really low?
Fear not! Recently, Blizz changed fishing up so that you can do it in Northrend at any level. This is a fantastic change IMO since I actually leveled my fishing from ~150-450 in my attempts to get my turtle mount. In that time, I got a ton of fish that I sold for a nice tidy profit. Do make sure you're using the best lures you can though to help up your chances of not getting crap. You're more likely to lose a fish too, but that comes with leveling fishing regardless.
Why don't you have Wintergrasp listed as somewhere to fish?
Simply a preference thing. I like to go somewhere to farm a specific fish rather than the crapshoot of Wintergrasp. Sure you can get all of these fish from Wintergrasp, but you don't know which one you're going to get on each cast - making farming a little less predictable. On top of that, there's already too many people farming it for ore, and I'm not a fan of involuntary PvP. The zones I go through don't usually have a lot of people farming.
How long do you fish for?
Depends on my attention span really. When I get in a farming sort of mood, I can fish for hours upon hours. Sometimes I get bored 10 minutes in and say, "Fuck it." and go do something else instead, but normally I don't farm fish if I'm not in the mood to stand around a lake for an hour or three.
Is this more profitable than farming ores or herbs?
Yes and no. If you're able to set your own price, it can certainly be more profitable, but not everyone uses fish since not everyone cares enough to level their cooking. (>_> I am guilty of this myself, which is probably why I sell them instead of using them...) Multiple professions use ore or herbs, so you're definitely going to get a steady clientele if you farm those, but they're also more competitive farming. How many times have you landed at an ore/herb node only to have someone kill you for it or swipe it out from under you? You don't really get that kind of competition with fishing. (Note: It's good fishing etiquette to not fish from the same pool as someone else if they were there first. Sure you can kill them for it if you're on a PvP server, but really - probably more trouble than it's worth given the propensity for pool spawns in all of Northrend.) I farm fish on my paladin (who is actually a miner also) and herbs on my priest. Both sell very well, but fishing tends to be a bit calmer for me since I'm on a PvP server.
How long did it take you to get your turtle?
Ok, not really fishing for profit related, but if you're going to be fishing for a long period of time, you might hope to see that elusive turtle after a while. I believe, for me personally, it took me somewhere between 1500-2000 casts to get it. Some people got it sooner than that, some got it much later than that.
If you have questions or comments, lemme know! :D