July 2, 2014 October 17, 2018
Wizard101 Beginner Fishing Guide
New to fishing? Here’s some helpful information
to get you started!
Not new, but having a hard time finding a certain Fish? If so, check out our guide to W101 Fish Locations!
Grab a Lure and Get Started!
To get started, talk to Lucky Hookline in the Wizard City Commons and grab his quest “A river runs through it“. He’ll walk you through the basics of fishing and grant your first Fishing Quest! You must be a Level 7 and higher to speak to Lucky.
Getting his quest will also grant your first Lure, the Lesser Frost Lure. This Lure, as you may have guessed, is great for catching Ice School fish. That’s convenient, because the quest requires you to catch two Ice School fish. Note: Fishing lures cost 0 energy to cast. They only cost energy when you try to catch a fish!
Your first quest will have you attempting to catch a “Frost Dekoi” and an “Icecuda”. Both of these fish can be caught from behind Prospector Zeke in the WC Commons.
So run on over to Zeke and get started!
Fishing Basics
Catching One
- Whenever you’re near an area with fish, a Fishing Interface Icon will show up. You can click that icon to bring up your Fishing Menu, where you’ll be able to select Fishing Spells.
- You’ll see shadows of fish in the water. Your goal is to cast a lure in front of that fish. If you cast your lure behind the fish, or too far in any direction, it won’t see the Lure.
- Fish have schools and lures have schools. A Fire fish is more likely to bite a Fire lure, etc.
- When you are ready to cast, open your Fishing Menu and click a lure to cast it.
- If your Lure goes somewhere you don’t want, click “Cancel Spell” and recast it. It costs zero energy to cast a lure, so don’t worry about having to cast a lot.
- Once a fish nibbles your lure, it will bob a little bit. You must wait until the lure goes completely under water and click Space Bar quickly one time to hook the fish. If you’re lucky, you’ll catch that fish and find out what it is!
- You can buy “Fishing Luck” elixirs in the crowns shop to improve your Luck and make it more likely to catch fish.
- Different areas have different fish, you’ll have to explore to find out where to catch certain types!
Inventory & Angler’s Tome
- You can find your fishing info in your Backpack, after your Housing items. It will show an inventory of the fish you currently have, and provide a link to your Fishing Tome.
- Your Fishing Tome holds a record of every fish you’ve ever caught, along with your biggest and smallest fish records.
Angler's Tome More Info
The image above is the Angler’s Tome. Things to note:
- On the right is a list of every type of fish you’ve ever caught. You can click one of those names to see your stats for that specific fish. We have selected the Dekoi.
- On the left is the page for this specific fish.
- The bottom-left of the picture shows the school for this fish.
- The bottom-right of the picture shows what type of aquarium is required for this fish. Tank types are Tall, Long, or Standard. A fish can only go in the correct tank type.
- The top-right of the picture sometimes shows an Icon of a fish with a crown. The icon means this is a Rare or Epic type of fish. (Thanks to Katherine Light)
- Below the picture are your stats for this fish.
- Total Caught
- Fish Rank
- Total Small Frys
- Total Whoppers
- Smallest Caught
- Largest Caught
- There is also an entry for Treasure Chests. It simply displays the total number caught.
Fishing XP and Levels
Like Gardening, you’ll see your Fishing XP bar any time your Fishing Interface is open. You gain XP by catching fish. Catching a new type of fish gives you much more XP than catching the same type repeatedly. Here are the Fishing Level Badges we’ve found so far:
- Novice Angler (Rank 1)
- Neophyte Angler (Rank 2)
- Apprentice Angler (Rank 3)
- Initiate Angler (Rank 4)
- Intermediate Angler (Rank 5)
- Journeyman Angler (Rank 6)
- Expert Angler (Rank 7)
Other Fishing Badges
Other fishing badges are given for various milestones. For instance, you get a “Gone Fishin'” badge for catching your first fish. Here are some of the found badges so far:
- Gone Fishin’ – Catching your first fish.
- Fishy Business
- Deep Sea Pro
- Catch of the Day
- Hook, Line and Sinker
- Angler Management
- Master Caster
- Baited Breath
- Skipper
Fishing Quests
- Quest 1: A River Runs Through it, given by Lucky Hookline in WC Commons.
- Quest Goals: Catch a Frost Dekoi and an Icecuda.
- Quest 2: Fishful Thinking, given by Lucky Hookline in WC Commons.
- Quest Goals: Catch a Sharkspeare, a Mechanical Armorhead, a Catfish, a Garrfish, a Fish Sandwich, a Mainstream Dekoi, and a Bone Fish.
- Quest 3: Ol’ Fishing Buddy, given by Haarek Silverscale in GH Northguard.
- Quest Goals: Catch a Bearracuda and a Todd Pole.
- Quest Rewards: Learn the Slow Fish Spell.
Advanced Fishing!
Once you complete you first quest, you’ll go back to Lucky Hookline for the next quest “Fishful Thinking“. This will send you all over the spiral, hunting for different types of fish. You’ll need more lures, and some other helpful fishing spells to make this easier. Lucky sells those also.
Fishing Lures from Lucky Hookline
Fishing Lures
Fishing Utility Spells
Along with Lures, Lucky sells a few spells to make your life easier.
Reveal Fish School
This spell costs 3 energy to cast. It shows you not only where fish are, but what school they are by glowing with a specific color, depending on the school of the fish. Now if you want to catch a Life fish, you can cast Reveal Fish School and know which one is Life.
Reveal Fish School Colors
- Orange for Fire
- Light Blue for Ice
- Light Purple for Storm
- Yellow for Myth
- Green for Life
- Black for Death
- Maroon for Balance
Reveal Fish
This spell costs 1 energy to cast. It will place a ball of light above the location of every fish in your current fishing area, so it is easier for you to find them. Since we can see the fish fairly easily anyway, I haven’t found this to be very useful.
Level Up!
Just like Gardening, as you catch fish you get XP. As you level up in Fishing, you gain access to stronger Fishing Spells. Here are some that we have found!
Rank 5 Lures from Haarek Silverscale in Northguard – Grizzleheim:
Utility Spells from Frode Silverscale in Northguard – Grizzleheim:
Summon Fish
Rank 6. Costs 10 Energy to cast. Resets all Fish in the Fishing Hole. Useful if you’ve scared them away, or the type of fish you want hasn’t spawned.
Charm Fish
Rank 6. Costs 6 Energy to cast. Attract all fish in the Fishing Hole. Useful if you don’t feel like chasing them down? Maybe if moving scares them away. We are unsure.
Fish Lullaby
Rank 6. Costs 8 Energy to cast. Immobilize all Fish in the Fishing Hole. Will stop fish from moving so you can get in place to cast a lure in front of the right one.
Fishing Luck
We haven’t quite figured out how the fishing luck works just yet. However, you can see the percentage of luck you gain from each piece of gear! To see this, just hover over the fish on the status bar while in fishing mode.
Okay, but why would I want to fish?
To Show Off
There are new aquariums available in the Crowns Shop and as crafting recipes from Frode Silverscale and Eudora Tangletree. You can put your trophy fish into these aquariums in your home, and show off your most rare catches! Look how impressed Jon is:
Learn about the three Aquarium recipes
You only have to be a Novice Crafter for the Aquarium Recipes
Regular Keeper Aquarium
- 5 Life Shields
- 15 Jade
- 10 Lifeacuda
- 50 Mistwood
- 35 Leather Straps
- 5 Diamonds
Regular Small Fry Aquarium
- 5 Fire Shields
- 15 Onyx
- 10 Frost Dekoi
- 50 Mistwood
- 35 Leather Straps
- 5 Fire Blossom
Regular Whopper Aquarium
- 5 Life Shields
- 15 Saphire
- 10 Frost Dekoi
- 50 Mistwood
- 35 Leather Straps
- 5 Black Pearl
Large Keeper Aquarium
- 5 Fire Shields
- 15 Ruby
- 10 Catfish
- 50 Mistwood
- 35 Leather Straps
- 5 Blood Moss
Large Small Fry Aquarium
- 5 Death Shields
- 15 Amethyst
- 10 Charred Dekoi
- 50 Mistwood
- 35 Leather Straps
- 5 Grendleweed
Large Whopper Aquarium
- 5 Ice Shields
- 15 Black Coal
- 10 Fabled Dekoi
- 50 Mistwood
- 35 Leather Straps
- 5 Water Lily
Tall Keeper Aquarium
- 5 Myth Shields
- 15 Saphire
- 10 Gullfish Grouper
- 50 Mistwood
- 35 Leather Straps
- 5 Nightshade
Tall Small Fry Aquarium
- 5 Storm Shields
- 15 Citrine
- 10 Mud Dekoi
- 50 Mistwood
- 35 Leather Straps
- 5 Ancient Scroll
Tall Whopper Aquarium
- 5 Myth Shields
- 15 Peridot
- 10 Corroded Dekoi
- 50 Mistwood
- 35 Leather Straps
- 5 Springs
To Craft With
Fish are required in the recipes for craftable Teleport Tapestries. Frode Silverscale is already offering crafting recipes that require certain Fish in them also. Here’s one example, a Rank 10 Pet Snack that gives 10XP:
Crab Louie |
|
For more information about crafting visit our Crafting Guide.
For Loot
First, you can sell your fish for gold at the fishing vendors. It’s not a huge amount – 150 gold for most fish from Wizard city – but getting a fish you didn’t want is not a total waste.
There’s also a chance for you to catch “other” things when fishing. Sometimes you’ll reel in a treasure chest:
There does not seem to be a “location” for chests. Any fish you attempt to catch has a chance to be a treasure chest, from what we can tell. They give rewards which seem to be loosely based on the level of the area you’re in. Chests caught in higher level worlds tend to give gear for higher levels. (Thanks to Morgrim Shadowfist in the comments.) After the Test Realm update, Heather Shadowslinger received a Spinyfish Pet (DNA 61) from a chest in the Wizard City Pond. We’ll add more as we find out more about treasure chests.
Comments
Have you tried fishing yet? Let us know how its going for you in the comments.
Happy Fishing!