Fishing items

This page details items obtained by fishing. There are many kinds of items that can be caught using the fishing skill, going far beyond the denizens of the deep. Containers holding long-lost loot, legendary monsters and even weapons and armor can be retrieved from the waters with enough patience, skill and time.

Fish
In WoW, some fished water (or lava) creatures are not fish in a biological sense, although most are fish. There are many kinds of fish that can be caught. Most fit a specific game function category; some fish overlap more than one category.

Fish listed on this page are caught by fishing, but some mobs, such as murlocs will drop some these same fish, and some vendors sell some of these same fish.

Some fish are only sold by vendors and cannot be caught by fishing. These are just like any other vended food, but have the food type 'fish' which matters mainly to hunters for their hunter pets.

Some fish, such as the Threshadons, are water mobs and are killed in combat, not fished. Mobs have a graphic model that can be interacted with. Fished items generally have no specific graphic representation until they are caught, then appear as an inventory icon.

Note that, in terms of the "Cooking Skill Required" as it appears in the tables below, each of these reflects the individualized cooking skill of the expansion that these fish were introduced in.

Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor
These fish can be caught in various areas around the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor. Slitherskin Mackerel can also be caught on the Lost Isles. The fish in the below table can be consumed raw or cooked with recipes in order to increase their benefits.

† ''These are seasonal fish; the Winter Squid can only be caught from Sep. 23 to March 20. The Summer Bass can only be caught from March 20 to Sep. 23.''

The fish below can mostly be consumed for food, giving similar benefits to those in the above table. Many of them are also part of Alchemy recipes or give unique, non-health effects.

Outlands
A number of interesting grey-quality items can also be fished up in the Outlands, most of them in Zangarmarsh:

Mr. Pinchy
A unique fishing experience awaits adventurers in the Terokkar Forest. Highland Mixed Schools have a small chance of providing the rare Mr. Pinchy item. Much like the uncertainty of every cast that may have led to the new owner of this item finding it, Pinchy will provide a different effect upon use; each one of these items have three charges. The possible results are:


 * Mr. Pinchy's Blessing: Provides the user 500 extra health for two hours.
 * Furious Mr. Pinchy: Summons an enraged monolithic Pinchy that will attack the player! Be careful!
 * Benevolent Mr. Pinchy: Summons a kind Pinchy that will fight by your side for a limited time.
 * Mr. Pinchy's Gift: A package that contains a number of potions.
 * Magical Crawdad Box: The rarest of the five results, this box teaches the user how to summon the Magical Crawdad pet!

Margoss' Retreat
The above-mentioned Emblem of Margoss will teleport the user to a small floating island near Dalaran. There players can find the eccentric Conjurer Margoss and his despondent familiar Blythe. The former has forsaken his commitment to the Kirin Tor in favor of focusing his favorite hobby: fishing! Should they choose to do so, players can join him, fishing from the small pond he lords over:

Alchemic fish
Some fish are used in Alchemy to create potions and oils. Alchemic fish have the item type and subtype Trade Goods, Other, except Deviate Fish is a Consumable, Food & Drink.

Quest fish
Some fish are the object of a quest. They may or may not have other uses, and may appear in other sections of this page detailing that use.

The quest fish that are only used in a quest are typically a quest item type, and can only be caught while you are doing the quest. These will also typically have no vend value. Red Snapper, a typical quest item type quest fish, cannot be fed to a cat hunter pet that eats fish.

Some of these quests are repeatable. The quest fish for repeatable quests are typically not a quest type item and can be caught, traded, and vended normally.

Speckled Tastyfish are the object of the Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza fishing competition, and disappear from all players' inventory four hours after the competition, so that each week's competition starts with zero fish already caught. The secondary 'quest' for these fish is a special turn-in to redeem these fish for cash before they disappear.

Special Notes:
 * The Nat Pagle, Angler Extreme quest is no longer required to raise fishing from 225 to 300. Simply visit the appropriate fishing trainer.
 * †|Royal Monkfish Can also contain Set of Rusty Keys or Slimy Ring.

Trophy fish
See main article.

Certain uncommon fish can be caught which can be wielded in the off hand, with the exception of the trophy groupers and trophy lobsters which can not. Equipping the trophy fish in the off-hand will not show the fish on the character, but if the trophy fish is equipped, typing 'z' to show the wielded weapons will show the trophy fish.

Trophy fish are wieldable objects, they do not stack in your inventory. Each takes a slot, except see the wieldable cooking ingredient fish, which do stack.

These fish include the following:

These bind on pickup and cannot be traded, and are very rare (estimated roughly 0.1% of catches in their respective locations.)


 * Old Crafty adds +5 Stamina when wielded off hand. Caught in the fishing pond in Orgrimmar.
 * Old Ironjaw adds +5 Stamina when wielded off hand. Caught in the waters or lava in Ironforge.

The quest fish Feralas Ahi can be wielded in the off-hand as a trophy fish, but the Feralas Ahi can only be caught when you are on the quest, the fish has the unique property, so you can only have one, and the fish must be turned in to complete the Nat Pagle, Angler Extreme quest which grants artisan level fishing skill, raising the fishing skill cap from 225 to 300, so most people who catch it will prefer to turn it in than to display it. It can be used as a trophy fish while you are on the quest.

Mr. Pinchy
This very rare fish has a few magic effects. He binds on pickup. You'll need flight capability to even try to obtain him. Mr. Pinchy has three wish charges with one of five possibilities.


 * Mr.Pinchy's Blessing
 * 500 Health for 2 hours


 * Furious Mr.Pinchy
 * Summons a Giant Pinchy Crawdad that will attack you


 * Benevolent Mr.Pinchy
 * Summons a Giant Pinchy Crawdad that will fight with you


 * Mr. Pinchy's Gift
 * Contains 4-5 Super Healing Potion or Super Mana Potion


 * Magical Crawdad Box
 * Teaches the Companion Pet Magical Crawdad

Containers
Several kinds of containers can be fished.

Containers must be opened in order to loot the contents. After the container is fully looted, the container disappears. Except Clams (since patch 3.0.2) containers do not stack in your inventory, each takes a slot. Looting them can often save space since the loot will often stack.

If a container looks empty, but does not disappear, it still contains an item that you cannot see. Often the item is a, which is not visible to you once you have learned the skill it grants. These containers can be sold to other players who need the Weather-Beaten Journal.

Container fish
The Bloated variety of container fish are exceptionally rare fish caught in the same waters of their non-bloated counterparts (with the exception of the Giant Sunfish and the Barbed Gill Trout; the trout being a quest fish). They all can be caught in the same area as the non-bloated variety, but are only containers; they can't be used as food and disappear after they are opened. A few of these fish are part of fishing quests and require catching and opening to obtain the quest objectives.

Clams
Various Clams can be fished and should be opened for clam meats and occasional pearls. With the release of patch 3.0, clams are now stackable save for the Brooding Darkwater Clam; this is a rarer catch and was inserted into the game as a result of this post: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=9957005708&pageNo=2&sid=1#32


 * Small Barnacled Clam
 * Thick-Shelled Clam
 * Big-Mouth Clam
 * Jaggal Clam
 * Darkwater Clam
 * Brooding Darkwater Clam
 * Giant Darkwater Clam

Venture Company crates
These infrequently-found non-locked Venture Company crates are labeled "Venture Company Supplies" and always contain a small quantity of engineering supplies such as Rough Blasting Powder, Iron Strut, etc.
 * Dented Crate (level 15)
 * Waterlogged Crate (level 25)
 * Sealed Crate (item) (level 35)
 * Heavy Crate (level 45)

Trunks & Crates
These boxes may also contain the Weather-Beaten Journal which is used to learn Find Fish.

Locked chests
These infrequently-found chests are locked and can be opened by a rogue or blacksmith and/or engineer. These chests have rather disappointing contents compared to the Trunks routinely fished from Floating Wreckage.

Other
Message in a Bottle are infrequently found from ocean fishing in zones of level 20-40. Contents may include: Inscribed Scrollcase, found in Outland, contains scrolls.
 * Scrolls (Scroll of Protection, Scroll of Spirit, etc.)
 * Recipes (Plans, Schematics, etc.)
 * Damp Diary pages (from Message in a Battle).

Potions
Various common potions are occasionally caught while fishing.

Rumsey Rums
Several varieties of Rumsey Rum brand alcoholic beverage are occasionally caught while fishing from Floating Wreckage. In addition to getting you drunk, these provide a stamina buff.


 * Rumsey Rum Light
 * Rumsey Rum Dark
 * Rumsey Rum Black Label

Crafting ingredients
Several items generally obtained through other means can also occasionally turn up while fishing.


 * Coal, from Un'Goro Crater (Fire Plume Ridge).
 * Deviate Scale, from The Barrens (Oases and The Wailing Caverns).
 * Handful of Copper Bolts and Coarse Blasting Powder can rarely be caught in the Barrens as well, at the Sludge Fens.
 * Stranglekelp, worldwide.

Elemental goods
These drop from various elementals, but can also be fished. Azshara sometimes has Patch of Elemental Water Pools that will spawn, and Nagrand will sometimes have Pure Water Pools. These pools have an increased rate of elemental water catches.


 * Elemental Water
 * Essence of Water
 * Globe of Water
 * Mote of Water
 * Crystallized Water
 * Elemental Fire, from Un'Goro Crater (Fire Plume Ridge).
 * Essence of Fire, from Un'Goro Crater (Fire Plume Ridge).
 * Heart of Fire, from Un'Goro Crater (Fire Plume Ridge).
 * Volatile Water
 * Volatile Fire

Weapons and armor
Various weapon items or armor items are occasionally caught while fishing. This list is not intended to be an all-inclusive list, but only a list of those items that you can ONLY obtain via fishing. The Crushfish, Strongfish and Herring have the added benefit of looking like fish as you wield them. (Refer to Foodfight for other weapons that look like food)

Weapons and armor unique to fishing:
 * The 1 Ring, named in reference to The One Ring from The Lord of the Rings, which was also caught by fishing. Can be fished worldwide in low-level areas, but is very rare. It carries a high price at auction.
 * Broken Wine Bottle, a one-handed mace can be fished from The Sludge Fen in The Barrens.
 * Steelscale Crushfish, a one-handed mace caught off the coast of Wetlands or Hillsbrad Foothills.
 * Rockhide Strongfish, a one-handed mace caught rarely from Speckled Tastyfish Pools during the Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza.
 * Dustbringer, a dagger. Can be caught in any non-pool water in Northrend.
 * Dark Herring, a dagger. Caught in the waters of Grizzly Hills or Howling Fjord.

Fishing equipment

 * The Darkwood Fishing Pole, an extremely rare +15 fishing pole, can only be obtained by fishing. If you can find one, it fills a void in the fishing pole progression. Do not expect to find one in the auction house.
 * Although not obtained directly through fishing, the Bone Fishing Pole and Jeweled Fishing Pole can rarely be found in Bag of Shiny Things, which are rewards from daily fishing quests.
 * The Weather-Beaten Journal can only be obtained by fishing. It is not fished directly but is fished in box-like containers. It is not equipment used while fishing, but rather teaches a skill useful for fishing - tracking fishing nodes on your mini-map.

Vendor Quality Items
Various Vendor trash items can be caught while fishing.

The mechanics of fishing skill level were changed significantly in patch 3.1. Prior to 3.1, each zone had a minimum skill requirement to be able to cast in that zone, and a cap where you achieved a 100% catch rate in that zone. In between there was a chance your fish could "get away"; you would catch nothing and receive no skill-up for that cast.

As of 3.1, there is no longer a minimum skill requirement to fish in any zone, and all casts will catch something and award a chance for a skill-up. However, if your skill level is too low for a zone, you will catch mostly junk items. The skill level required to guarantee "no junk" catches is equivalent to the old "no get away" level.

The following list of "junk" items are specific to fishing:


 * Driftwood
 * Tangled Fishing Line
 * Tattered Cloth
 * Weeds
 * Sickly Fish
 * Empty Rum Bottle
 * Old Boot
 * Rock
 * Tree Branch
 * Water Snail
 * Acidic Slime
 * Old Skull
 * Old Teamster's Skull†
 * Old Wagonwheel
 * Rusted Engineering Parts
 * Seaweed
 * Steam Pump Debris
 * Broken Engine Part

† The Old Teamster's Skull is a reference to real-life Teamster Jimmy Hoffa, who famously went missing.

Quest items
Some fished items are the object of a quest. These are typically a quest item type, are only used in that quest, and can only be caught while you are doing the quest. These will typically have no vend value, but note that 'Strange Engine Part' can be caught outside the quest (since it starts the quest) and vends for. The quest is repeatable, although you can only have one active quest at a time.

Raid boss

 * , a boss in Zul'Gurub in Stranglethorn Vale is spawned by luring him out with Zulian Mudskunks. Catch 5 Zulian Mudskunk and use a Mudskunk Lure at Pagle's Pointe. The Mudskunk Lure is bought from Nat Pagle in Dustwallow after completing the quest Nat's Measuring Tape (quest). Requires 300 fishing. (Zul'Gurub is a level 60, 20 man instance, although most of it can be solo'd by level 80 players.) See Quests section above.
 * , a boss in Serpentshrine Cavern in Coilfang Reservoir, can only be spawned by fishing. Fish in the area and eventually you will 'catch' him.