Fishing pool

	Fishing (Profession)
	Equipment Skill required Items Fish Locations Schools Quests Trainers Vendors

Fishing pools, or Schools of Fish, are location objects found in different bodies of water in WoW that have a significance to the fishing profession. Typically, a higher portion of more desirable items can be fished within a fishing pool. Fishing pool is a more general term; School of Fish is a fishing pool that contains (primarily) fish. School of Fish can also mean a kind of critter object in WoW that is not directly fishable (but appears only in fishable waters), and so fishing pool is more specific as regards the fishing profession; School of Fish critter objects are not fishing pools.

Fishing

Fishing pools are shallow cylindrical regions within fishable water. They designate small regions within fishable water that give better kinds of catches than the surrounding water. Some fish can only be obtained from Fishing pools.

In order to fish a Fishing pool, your bobber must be within the circular area on the surface of the water that defines the boundaries of the fishing pool. Only the top surface has significance for fishing.

To do this, face the pool, pole in hand. Cast, then if you want to only fish the pool, recast each time you miss. An AddOn such as Fishing Buddy can make this easier to do.

If your bobber lands close to the boundary of the pool, it may be unclear if it is within the pool or not. You can often tell from what you catch, but if you are in a hurry you may not want to wait.

Some of the uncertainty is from the 3-D nature of the pool. Depending on the type of pool, it may be partly outlined by fish critters swimming within the pool boundaries. These will be under the surface of the pool and from your point of view will appear to be offset toward you on the surface. Also, some of the defining graphics fade in and out, simulating the effects of light on water.

Another visual challenge is that the barrels and crates in a Floating Wreckage pool can somewhat obscure your bobber. Also, they are slightly bobbing, and can make your bobber seem to be bobbing prematurely relative to themselves. (Enabling sound effects can avoid this problem, if you're not near other fishers; just listen for the splash.)

Fishing pools never yield junk, even at a skill level of 1, and they give skillups just as fast as the surrounding water.

Fishing pools are not permanent, but appear and remain until fished out (like mineral nodes are mined out) then respawn at a different location. The respawn rules vary, some types have a delay, some do not.

• Schools are important objects for selective farming of Alchemy or Cooking ingredients.
• Some schools must be fished as part of a quest.
• A  [Weather-Beaten Journal] teaches the [Find Fish] ability for Tracking fishing pools. It can be looted from fished containers or as a reward from the Fishing Dailys from Old Man Barlo.

Types

Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor schools

Name	Main Catch	Coastal or Inland	Zones Located
Bloodsail Wreckage	[Mithril Bound Trunk]	Coastal	Stranglethorn Vale
Firefin Snapper Pool	[Firefin Snapper]	Coastal	Various
Floating Debris	[Tightly Sealed Trunk]	Coastal & Inland	Azshara Darkshore Duskwood Northern Barrens Redridge Mountains Silverpine Forest Westfall
Floating Wreckage	[Mithril Bound Trunk]	Coastal	Stranglethorn Vale
Greater Sagefish School	[Raw Greater Sagefish]	Inland	Eastern Plaguelands Western Plaguelands
Mixed Ocean School	[Firefin Snapper]	Inland	Stranglethorn Vale
Muddy Churning Waters	[Zulian Mudskunk]	N/A	Zul'Gurub†
Oily Blackmouth School	[Oily Blackmouth]	Coastal	Arathi Highlands Ashenvale Azshara Blasted Lands Darkshore Desolace Hillsbrad Foothills Swamp of Sorrows Tanaris Wetlands
Sagefish School	[Raw Sagefish]	Inland	Ashenvale Duskwood Silverpine Forest Stranglethorn Vale Wetlands
School of Deviate Fish	[Deviate Fish]	Inland	Northern Barrens
Schooner Wreckage	[Watertight Trunk]	Coastal & Inland	Ashenvale Hillsbrad Foothills Stonetalon Mountains Wetlands
Speckled Tastyfish Pool	[Speckled Tastyfish]	Coastal	Stranglethorn Vale†
Stonescale Eel Swarm	[Stonescale Eel]	Coastal	Blasted Lands Swamp of Sorrows Tanaris Thousand Needles
Waterlogged Wreckage	[Iron Bound Trunk]	Coastal & Inland	Desolace Dustwallow Marsh Feralas Western Plaguelands

^†Muddy Churning Waters and Speckled Tastyfish Pools were removed in Patches 4.0.3 and 5.1.0 respectively.

Outland schools

Name	Main Catch	Zones Located
Bluefish School	[Icefin Bluefish]	Nagrand
Brackish Mixed School	[Golden Darter]  [Spotted Feltail]	Terokkar Forest Zangarmarsh
Highland Mixed School	[Golden Darter]  [Furious Crawdad]	Terokkar Forest
Mudfish School	[Figluster's Mudfish]	Nagrand
Pure Water	[Mote of Water]	Nagrand
Steam Pump Flotsam	[Heavy Supply Crate]  [Steam Pump Debris]	Zangarmarsh
Zangarian Sporefish School	[Zangarian Sporefish]	Zangarmarsh

Northrend schools

Name	Main Catch	Coastal or Inland	Zones Located
Borean Man O'War School	[Borean Man O' War]	Coastal	Borean Tundra
Deep Sea Monsterbelly School	[Deep Sea Monsterbelly]	Off Coast	The Frozen Sea Borean Tundra
Dragonfin Angelfish School	[Dragonfin Angelfish]	Inland	Dragonblight
Fangtooth Herring School	[Fangtooth Herring]	Inland	Howling Fjord
Glacial Salmon School	[Glacial Salmon]	Inland	Grizzly Hills
Glassfin Minnow School	[Glassfin Minnow]	Inland	Crystalsong Forest
Imperial Manta Ray School	[Imperial Manta Ray]	Coastal	Borean Tundra Dragonblight Grizzly Hills
Moonglow Cuttlefish School	[Moonglow Cuttlefish]	Off Coast	The Frozen Sea
Musselback Sculpin School	[Musselback Sculpin]	Inland	Borean Tundra Dragonblight
Nettlefish School	[Nettlefish]	Inland	Sholazar Basin

Cataclysm schools

Name	Main Catch	Coastal or Inland	Zones Located
Albino Cavefish School	[Albino Cavefish]	Inland	Deepholm
Algaefin Rockfish School	[Algaefin Rockfish]	Coastal	Twilight Highlands
Blackbelly Mudfish School	[Blackbelly Mudfish]	Inland	Uldum
Fathom Eel Swarm	[Fathom Eel]	Coastal	Uldum, Tol Barad
Highland Guppy School	[Highland Guppy]	Inland	Twilight Highlands
Mountain Trout School	[Mountain Trout]	Inland	Mount Hyjal
Pool of Fire	[Volatile Fire]	Lava	Mount Hyjal, Twilight Highlands
Shipwreck Debris	[Sealed Crate]	Coastal & Inland	Tol Barad Peninsula

Pandaria schools

Name	Main Catch	Coastal or Inland	Zones Located
Emperor Salmon School	[Emperor Salmon]	Coastal & Inland	Valley of the Four Winds, Krasarang Wilds
Giant Mantis Shrimp Swarm	[Giant Mantis Shrimp]	Coastal	Various
Jade Lungfish School	[Jade Lungfish]	Inland	The Jade Forest
Jewel Danio School	[Jewel Danio]	Inland	Timeless Isle
Krasarang Paddlefish School	[Krasarang Paddlefish]	Coastal & Inland	Krasarang Wilds, Valley of the Four Winds
Redbelly Mandarin School	[Redbelly Mandarin]	Inland	Townlong Steppes
Reef Octopus Swarm	[Reef Octopus]	Coastal	Various
Spinefish School	[Spinefish]	Inland	Various
Tiger Gourami School	[Tiger Gourami]	Coastal & Inland	Kun-Lai Summit

Draenor schools

The continent of Draenor is available to players with the Warlords of Draenor expansion.

Name	Main Catch	Coastal or Inland	Zones Located
Blind Lake Sturgeon School	[Blind Lake Sturgeon]	Inland	Shadowmoon Valley
Fire Ammonite School	[Fire Ammonite]	Inland	Frostfire Ridge, Nagrand
Jawless Skulker School	[Jawless Skulker]	Inland	Gorgrond
Blackwater Whiptail School	[Blackwater Whiptail]	Inland	Talador
Abyssal Gulper School	[Abyssal Gulper Eel]	Inland	Spires of Arak
Fat Sleeper School	[Fat Sleeper]	Inland	Nagrand
Savage Piranha School	[Savage Piranha]	Coastal & Inland	Ashran
Sea Scorpion School	[Sea Scorpion]	Coastal	Various
Felmouth Frenzy School	[Felmouth Frenzy]	Inland	Tanaan Jungle

Broken Isles schools

The Broken Isles is available to players with the Legion expansion.

Name	Main Catch	Coastal or Inland	Zones Located
Black Barracuda School	[Black Barracuda]	Coastal	Broken Isles
Cursed Queenfish School	[Cursed Queenfish]	Coastal & Inland	Azsuna
Highmountain Salmon School	[Highmountain Salmon]	Coastal & Inland	Highmountain
Mossgill Perch School	[Mossgill Perch]	Coastal & Inland	Val'sharah
Runescale Koi School	[Runescale Koi]	Coastal & Inland	Suramar
Fever of Stormrays	[Stormray]	Coastal & Inland	Stormheim

Kul Tiran and Zandalarian schools

The Kul Tiras and Zandalar schools are available to players within the Battle for Azeroth expansion.

Name	Main Catch	Coastal or Inland	Zones Located
Great Sea Catfish	[Great Sea Catfish]	Inland	Kul Tiras and Zandalar
Tiragarde Perch	[Tiragarde Perch]	Inland	Kul Tiras
Lane Snapper	[Lane Snapper]	Coastal	Kul Tiras
Frenzied Fangtooth	[Frenzied Fangtooth]	Coastal	Kul Tiras
Redtail Loach	[Redtail Loach]	Inland	Zandalar
Slimy Mackerel	[Slimy Mackerel]	Coastal	Zandalar
Sand Shifter	[Sand Shifter]	Coastal	Zandalar

Several rare schools of fish related to the  [Underlight Angler], both in obtaining it and leveling it up:

Name	Main Catch	Coastal or Inland	Zones Located
Ancient Highmountain Salmon	[Ancient Highmountain Salmon]	Inland & Coastal	Highmountain, Broken Isles
Ancient Black Barracuda	[Ancient Black Barracuda]	Coastal	Great Sea, Broken Isles
Ancient Mossgill	[Ancient Mossgill]	Inland & Coastal	Val'sharah, Broken Isles
Tainted Runescale Koi	[Tainted Runescale Koi]	Inland & Coastal	Suramar, Broken Isles
Ghostly Queenfish	[Ghostly Queenfish]	Inland & Coastal	Azsuna, Broken Isles
Oodelfjisk	[Oodelfjisk]	Inland & Coastal	Stormheim, Broken Isles

In addition, a handful of other fishing pools were added to newer zones later in the expansion:

Name	Main Catch	Coastal or Inland	Zones Located
Viper Fish	[Viper Fish]	Inland	Nazjatar
Mauve Stinger	[Mauve Stinger]	Inland	Nazjatar
Ionized Minnow	[Ionized Minnow]	Inland & Coastal	Mechagon
Aberrant Voidfin	[Aberrant Voidfin]	Inland	Vale of Eternal Blossoms
Malformed Gnasher	[Malformed Gnasher]	Inland & Coastal	Uldum

Shadowlands Pools

This section concerns content related to Shadowlands.

These schools are available to players within the Shadowlands expansion:

Name	Main Catch	Coastal or Inland	Zones Located
Lost Sole	[Lost Sole]	Inland	All Shadowlands zones except for The Maw
Iridescent Amberjack	[Iridescent Amberjack]	Inland	Ardenweald
Silvergill Pike	[Silvergill Pike]	Inland	Bastion
Pocked Bonefish	[Pocked Bonefish]	Inland	Maldraxxus
Spinefin Piranha	[Spinefin Piranha]	Inland	Revendreth
Elysian Thade	[Elysian Thade]	Inland	All Shadowlands zones except for The Maw

Special Pools

There are some pools that, while visible at the water surface, are not used as a fishing resource. These may be used as quest objectives or to summon a boss. These have a slightly different appearance than normal fishing schools. A normal Fishing school will look like a circular outlined darker patch of water. A quest objective pool will look like a speckled surface area.

• School of Red Snapper Used for  [1-30] Red Snapper - Very Tasty!
• School of  [Tasty Reef Fish] Used for  [10-70 Daily] The Way to His Heart...
• Strange Pool in Serpentshrine Cavern within Coilfang Reservoir in Zangarmarsh must be fished to summon the boss, The Lurker Below.
• School of  [Northern Salmon], an objective of  [15-30] A Bear of an Appetite
• Pool of Blood, a created pool for the daily quest   [10-30 Daily] Blood is Thicker
• For the Fish of the Day event, Large Pools of a specific Pandarian fishing pool can spawn along with smaller pools. The Large Pool, when fished in, has a chance of raising Krakkanon, a kraken that can drop Fishing-related items.

Achievements

The following achievements require fishing from Pools:

•  The Old Gnome and the Sea
•  The Scavenger
•  Outland Angler
•  Northrend Angler
•  The Lurker Above
•  Master Angler of Azeroth
•  Turtles All the Way Down

Additionally some element of pool fishing is needed to complete these Achievements:

•  Mr. Pinchy's Magical Crawdad Box - Requires fishing up  [Mr. Pinchy] a rare spawn from Highland Mixed Pools.

Patch changes

• Hotfix (2009-04-16): Certain fishing nodes for one of the fishing daily quests should no longer be spawned on land.
  
• Patch 1.9.0 (2006-01-03): Schools of fish have appeared around the world that can be fished from a few times before being fished out.