Making Gold with Fishing

But Llani, fishing is so boring and monotonous and takes soooo long to level, how can you possibly make gold from it? Well, those qualities actually help you to make gold with fishing.  It really doesn't take as much time as you think if you head off with a plan.  If you have fifteen minutes to spare, then head off to one of the locations in this article and grab yourself a stack of fish to cook!  You will catch at least 2 fish per minute, even if you are a slow clicker.  That one stack, cooked, should net you 100g if you fish Dragonfin, or 60g if you fish Glacial Salmon or Imperial Manta Ray.  Those are just a few options!  Some fish take a little more time to catch than others, but if you don't fool around when getting to your fishing hole, you can make some quick money.

First, let's go over fishing basics.

All itemlinks will come from Wowhead. There is a wealth of information there just waiting to be gathered and used, all you need to do is go search/play around with it! I will do my best to pull the information off the database and explain as much as I can.

You'll need a [Fishing Pole] for starters. There are several that you can use but this one is the most basic fishing pole.

While you are purchasing your fishing pole from any fishing supplies vendor in any major city or area, you can also pick up some lures. You may need to start with [Shiny Bauble] until your skill is high enough to use the other lures.

Equip your fishing pole, after you train fishing! Then, right click on your lure in your bag, and apply it to your fishing pole. Then, find some water. Go to your spellbook, find the fishing icon under the general tab, and drag it to your action bar. When you want to fish, equip the pole and push that button. Hover your mouse over the bobber in the water and when it bounces, right click on it. Then you will be able to get your fish!

From 1-375 you may not catch anything that great. You can fish in any city until 300, and then move to Zangarmarsh if you'd like until 375. Then, go to Northrend! Be sure to take lots of +100 fishing lures with you. This is where the REALLY good fish are.

From level 15+ you can fish Deviate Fish in the Barrens at the pools near The Crossroads. If you are Alliance, be careful! You need to avoid hitting guards or flagged horde. These sell well raw or sell well to chefs to make Savory Deviate Delights. You can usually get away with posting these for at least 1g each, but usually around 15-20g for a stack of raw ones.

If your character is between level 1-59, you can fish Oily Blackmouth and Firefin Snapper in several locations. There are Sparse pools and Abundant pools. Both fish are used in Alchemy to make Blackmouth Oil and Fire Oil. The prices vary greatly on these.

If you are between 60 and 67, you can fish the Highland Mixed Pools in the lakes above Terokkar Forest. These have a rare chance to drop Mr. Pinchy, and also give Furious Crawdad, which can be cooked by chefs leveling to 375 cooking. Mr. Pinchy gives you three wishes (as the tooltip says) and has a chance to give you Magical Crawdad Box, a companion pet! Or, you can continue fishing the Oily Blackmouth and Firefin Snapper.

If you are level 68+, head to Northrend and start fishing anything mentioned after the jump.



You can either sell your fish raw, or sell it cooked. You will want to either buy [Northern Spices] or do the cooking daily to get them yourself. They can be a little pricey and you may find them 1-2g per spice. If you want to cook your fish, you MUST use the spice and cook it into the "higher end" version. This is what people who do the raids like Icecrown Citadel will purchase.  The other fish in Northrend can also be cooked to various foods (+spirit, +mp5, etc) but for casters and healers, the best stats right now (as far as I know) are spellpower and haste. For melee it is agility and strength.

You can choose to sell them in stacks of 5, 10, or 20.


First, let's discuss [Fish Feasts]. These are platters that a chef can "place" on the ground for a party or raid to eat. They give a very nice buff as you can see in the tooltip. They are composed of [Northern Spice] x 1, [Nettlefish] x 2, [Glacial Salmon] x 2, and [Musselback Sculpin] x 2. They require 450 cooking to cook and to place. Make friends with a chef if you are not one yourself!

>> Fish feasts sell for between 7 and 9 gold each. Any less and it is more profitable to sell the fish raw.



SAVE your [Pygmy Suckerfish]! These are used to make [Pygmy Oil] which is used in [Potion of Speed], [Potion of Wild Magic], [Guru's Elixir], and [Flask of Pure Mojo], all which can be used by everyone. If you don't have access to an Alchemist friend, then just sell the fish by themselves.



In Dragonblight, we have [Dragonfin Angelfish]. These can be cooked into [Blackened Dragonfin] and [Dragonfin Filet].

>> These sell 5 cooked for 25 or 30g. I've found that on raid nights I can garner up to 30g, but on offnights I may need to reduce to 25g. Use the 48 hour option, post everything on Monday night. Forget about it until Wednesday when it expires (but hopefully everything sells).  The best place for these is the little pond south of Star's Rest. Grab a few water walking potions from your favorite alchemist or auction house, and head on over!  You can knock out all 3 or 4 pools easily in 15 minutes.  That's a quick 100g, if you are also a chef, or about 50g if you sell it raw.




Also in Dragonblight, but along the coast EVERYWHERE in Northrend, are [Imperial Manta Ray]. These cook into [Imperial Manta Steak]. Yummy!

>> These sell a little less than the previous two fish, so try for about 5 for 15g. If they sell well, bump the price up to 5 for 20g. The advantage to this is that they are plentiful in Northrend, whereas Dragonfin are found only in two spots -- the river and the pond in Dragonblight.



In Grizzly Hills, we have [Glacial Salmon], which is not only used in feasts but also in [Firecracker Salmon]

>> These sell 5 cooked for 25 or 30g also. You can sell these in stacks of 20 for 100g if you want to add in a small discount for your customers buying in bulk.



In Crystalsong Forest, we have Glassfin Minnows, which alchemists can squish into Ethereal Oil. I haven't tried selling these yet but I would try and sell them for at least 3g each, otherwise it isn't worth your time! But, if you want them just for fun, they are very enjoyable!



Great Feasts take Deepsea Monsterbelly and Rockfin Grouper (and Chunk of Mammoth). People enjoy playing with these feasts as it makes you BIGGER! Your stats are less than a fish feast (or spice food) but the fun part is being a giant while riding around on your mammoth, naturally!

On the other hand, Small Feasts do the opposite! They take Nettlefish and Glacial Salmon, plus Rhino Meat.




Here is a list of all the cooking recipes from the vendor in the inn in Northrend (horde/alliance are the same recipes but different locations):

Alliance Vendor
Horde Vendor

Best places to find each fish:

Note: You can find only Glacial Salmon, Nettlefish, and Musselback Sculpin by fishing in Wintergrasp; however, this will pvp flag you so be very careful! You can always fly under the bridge and hide on the ledge while you fish (you can probably go about an hour without being detected, or at most until the next battle). However, you do not get any other fish so it is verrrrry convenient!

Glacial Salmon >> Grizzly Hills

Dragonfin Angelfish >> Dragonblight

Moonglow Cuttlefish >> The Great Sea (off the coast, in the icebergs of Dragonblight)

Fangtooth Herring >> Howling Fjord

Nettlefish >> Sholazar Basin

Musselback Sculpin >> Borean Tundra

Borean Man O' War >> Borean Tundra

Imperial Manta Ray >> Dragonblight (off the coast, along the beach)



No Schools (Pools) but still cookable (fish in open water, not pools):

Barrelhead Goby >> Sholazar Basin

Bonescale Snapper >> Howling Fjord

Rockfin Grouper >> Borean Tundra

Deep Sea Monsterbelly >> Dragonblight (off the coast)



Happy fishing!

Good Read for today: Jar at Rank 4 Healing Touch talks about "that guild..." that everyone seems to have at least one of on their server. The one that trash talks all day, every day, in trade, in general, in ICC general (I've left this channel on most of my toons) and harbors no manners or respect for any of their actions. What are the causes behind this? The only thing he and I can think of is summed up at the end of the post.