This page summarises how to catch Dark Herring.
About Dark Herring
- "Herring seeks your life!" I wonder if it cuts down trees?
- Use: Equip: Acts as a One-Hand Dagger: 146-271 damage, speed 1.90 (109.7 DPS). Improves critical strike rating by 50 (no longer does fire damage). Requires level 78. Binds when equipped.
- Value:
- Vendor: 11g 80s 83c
- Auction: 200g (prices vary) - Novelty value.
Catching Dark Herring
Commentary: Tentatively: Catch rate from Fangtooth Herring School is higher than open water.
Related Achievement: One That Didn't Get Away: Catch one of the rare fish: Dark Herring, Rockhide Strongfish, Steelscale Crushfish, 103 Pound Mightfish, 22 Pound Lobster, 15 Pound Mud Snapper, 52 Pound Redgill, 29 Pound Salmon, 68 Pound Grouper, 32 Pound Catfish. All these fish are very rare catches: This may be the most frustrating of all fishing achievements because the heaviest off-hand fish are exceptionally rare. Guide to options for completing the One That Didn't Get Away.
History:
- Wrath of the Lich King: First caught.
- 3.1: Unconfirmed: Catch rate from Fangtooth Herring School increased.
| Water | No-junk skill | Areas | Catch Rate * | Commonly caught fish | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % of Catch | Source | |||||
| Fangtooth Herring School - Inland | 475 | <1% | Sample: 1045. | |||
| Open Water - Inland and Unnamed Coastal | 475 | <1% | Sample: 236. | |||
- [*] % of Catch is the approximate proportion of all catches in this area/water, that are the named fish.
Other Tomes
Learn More
- Valuable Fish - Details the most valuable fish, and how to catch them.
- Wrath of the Lich King - Fishing changes in Wrath of the Lich King, the second expansion to World of Warcraft.
- Fishing Achievements - Introduction to fishing-related personal achievements.
- One That Didn't Get Away - Options for completing One That Didn't Get Away.
Below are anglers' comments about Dark Herring.
Dark Herring Bug
Miraclemaxx, April 2009:
Hi all well its just after the 3.1 patch and i was fishing for the turtle in herring schools in the fyord ..
I got the Dark herring a few weeks back after weeks of fishing an hour or 2 a night . So i get to my first herring pool 2 casts and Dark herring and i yell in vent . To funny i thought all the work and 2 casts and i get another . But it did'nt stop there i fished about 20 -30 more casts maybe 10 pools in 20 min and caught 3 more dark herrings for a total of 4 ??????
Is there a bug with the new patch that causes this when you have already gotten the herring ??
Enough to drive you crazy ....
Dethwolf, April 2009:
was that today (4/16) after the restarts this morning, or before the restarts
Nonzor, April 2009:
Miraclemaxx: LOL - Isn't that the way it always goes? I've got the Sea Turtle, but can't catch the Dark Herring to save my life ... hours upon hours working on that one. Cheers!
Neraren, April 2009:
3 people in my guild caught dark herrings yesterday in less than 200 casts each. Somethings definitely up.
Enarka, April 2009:
Lawl, I got two of them in 5 minutes.
The Dark Herrings seek my life; too bad I'm not an easy prey. I see them coming.
Isadora, April 2009:
I caught one last night myself in about 20 casts, was expecting it to take a lot longer than that
Shamius, April 2009:
Go catch your Darky now!!
I just saw this post, and thought I would give it a shot. Well, here are the results... 7 casts and 3 minutes later:)
http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/9506/wowscrnshot041709022522.jpg
Oom, April 2009:
I spent about 2 hours yesterday fishing, no mount or Dark Herring for One that Didn't get way/Salty title.
Decided to go at it for an hour and boom first cast I get Dark Herring!!!!
Bug or not I am extremely happy!
1180 casts total in Howling Fjord
Aysluria, April 2009:
guild mate catched 3 within 10 minutes.. my brother catched one at the 4te cast.
thinking of my 4500 cast catching 15 pound mudsnapper... fu blizzardi decided not to wear the salty title anymore.. will be much too mainstream in near future.. but what about making money with disenchanting many dark herrings?^^ enchanting mats are quite expansive on my realm..
greetz
Dethwolf, April 2009:
bah 100 casts nuthing =( mybe my server didnt get "the love"
Eloderung, April 2009:
800 casts to get one dark herring post-patch.
Then again, 3000 fish + other things caught for the turtle and counting.
Skelleth, April 2009:
I didn't believe this so I went to HF to work on the turtle and I've caught 3 X dark herring today.
EDIT: 4 x now
EDIT: Last update but 5 dark herring now. I do believe something is bugged.
skankinpezhead, April 2009:
So I spent 2 hours fishing for the Dark Herring and Sea Turtle before logging off for the night. I learned about the bug a few minutes later, and thought, I'll go back and try for a while. First cast: Crystallized Water. Second cast: Dark Herring. Works for me. Going back to work on the turtle.
icemage24, April 2009:
Got the Dark herring on 2 different chars in less than an hour. Go. Fish. Now. WIN!
Renetta, April 2009:
I got my first dark herring on my second cast on a herring pool, and the second within 80 casts. Definitely weird considering that I did over 1000 casts back when I was grinding for the one, without luck.
I'd definitely recommend trying this for those who don't have the one that didn't get away yet.
splunge, April 2009:
Throwing another 'confirmed' on the pile. Got the dark herring on the 4th pool, about my 15th cast.
Flew there immediately after reading this, and took less than 10 mins. Thanks!
setsuko, April 2009:
Fished for over an hour last night without knowing about this "bug," didn't get a dark herring. Still fishing now and nothing :|
Edit: Caught near 200 fish, and afk'd. Went back and got herring in 4th pool. lol
el, April 2009:
I caught 3 Dark Herring out of around 300 catches from Fangtooth Herring School. Before we'd guessed at maybe a 1/1000 or 1/2000 catch rate from pools. So my gut feeling is that something has changed, and One that Didn't Get Away has just became a lot easier.
Utopia, April 2009:
I just got 2 Dark Herring in 260 catches in the lake north of Skorn in HF, but last night I fished at Cauldros Isle and had no luck at all in 500 catches.
fknlo, April 2009:
I'm up over 200 fish caught in herring pools in the past couple of days with no dark herring. I had a couple thousand casts for the one that didn't get away that didn't net me one either.
Dark herring.. how i got it in 1hr..
pukeman, December 2008:
hey all, New here.. Thought i would share My results on catching the Illusive dark herring in 1hr.
If this has been covered, then i apologise.
I fished at Cauldrous Isle, Just north of utgarde keep in HF. the re spawn rates are quite fast if you keep moving around the edge of the island. Fished Fangtooth herring schools in a clockwise route around the island, if nobody else is there you will get constant re spawns. at lvl 450 fishing i didn't even need to use Lures.
After 1hour i had
107 fangtooth herring
22 bonescale snapper
11 Crystalized water
8 reinforced Crates
7 pygmy sucker
7 Glacial Salmon
& 1 Dark HerringHope that helps anyone who still needs the Achieve.
Renetta, December 2008:
I'm at about 1500 catches without luck in that location with that strategy. I'm inclined to say that <200 catches is just insanely lucky. I haven't observed any advantage from fishing from pools yet. Lets see where I end up catching it. Did 2500 in shadowglen before I gave up and moved for dark herring. At least that fish has some value. But 4000+ catches is rather mental for the achievement... and it's my last one to get salty.
pukeman, December 2008:
Trust me.. It worked for me.. Maybe i just have a horseshoe stuck somewhere.. but It was about an hour. Pickled Fangtooth seems to sell well on the AH also.
Good luck!
Renetta, December 2008:
Well I could use some luck. Added another 800 catches to the tally without luck. I'm going to take a break now because I had enough.
Isa, December 2008:
I keep trying to catch the bastard, mainly because I want to do something brain-deadish after another day of thinking hard at uni ;)
I got the little whelplings and firefly pets in the same brain-dead fashion after all...
Adys, January 2009:
Took me about 350 casts in schools as well. I am very strongly believing that the dark herring is a rare drop from fangtooth herring themselves, and that it's definitely worth fishing in schools.
On that note, it's my new year's gift :D http://devcub.com/~adys/salty.jpg
Renetta, January 2009:
I don't know. I did 3300 casts for the dark herring without luck. My guess is that about 1000 of these were school catches. In any case grats!
Renetta, January 2009:
Another thing. Catching from herring pools the only things I have ever seen are fangtooth herrings, reinforced crates and crystalized water. I've done a lot of catches. I'm very sure that if someone fishes up a pygmy fish or a snapper or salmon the bobber didn't count as being inside the pool and it was an actual non-pool catch.
dvanci, January 2009:
I would like to make a correction to some of your posts. Autoloot DOES effect catching rare fish...to a point. I had autoloot on when i caught old crafty. I got the achievement HOWEVER I did not get the fish. It would not let me loot it with the message (you cannot loot this at this time, I had this happen twice before i realized the error. I turned autoloot off and Immediately caught him again and THIS time I was able to loot him. I am not sure if this will happen with all rare fish, but it does happen with old crafty.
Norrinir, January 2009:
Strange, I caught 90% of BoP items with auto-loot on, including Sewer Rat, Old Crafty and Ironjaw. And yes, I was able to loot in normally.
dvanci, January 2009:
Well I guess it could have just been a "bug" in my situation then...who knows....lol
spixie, January 2009:
Got my dark herring today after about 26 catches by fishing in a herring school in Howling Fjord.
Violette, January 2009:
After about 6hrs of fishing over 3 days I fished up 171 Fangtooth Herring, 43 Pygmy Suckerfish, 296 Bonescale Snapper, and 115 Glacial Salmon, I finally fished up my Dark Herring of the jetty at Valgarde! Hurrah!!
Sibrea, April 2009:
Hi, i followed advice, and got my Dark Herring less than one hour at isle. Previously, i have tryed anywhere else at Fjord, without luck, but in isle it was less than hour wich where nice .)
and for autoloot, i allways use it, and i have catched Old Ironjaw, Mr.pinchy, Giant sewer rat, well,
all but Stranglethorn fishing extravagasanza and old crafty :) those are next on list.
But thanks for good advice .)ollan1, April 2009:
I had 32 normal herrings in my bag.. took me about 30 minutes to get it.
drgryphon, April 2009:
I fished in the same kinds of areas as everyone else around the Fjord, varied it a bit when pools seemed to disappear. Fished only in pools and finally got the guy after 251 regular herrings. I guess it took me about 5 hours because I was flying around so much looking for pools.
Havelock, April 2009:
I don't know if it's a bug or not, but this evening i decided to fish some fangtooth schools while looking for my turtle mount. About 15 minutes in, I fish up a Dark Herring, which gave me the acheivement. Happily, I continued fishing; amazingly, not more that 3 pools later, I fish up Dark Herring again! What are the odds?! I apologize to those of you who are having trouble with this one, I'm usually not nearly this lucky.
Arithin, April 2009:
I caught my Dark Herring fishing in and out of pools at the Valgarde dock (when pools were up I fished in them; when not, I just fished in non-pool water). The Dark Herring was fish #5777. Grats to all of you with more luck then me. :)
powerman, April 2009:
Ok I know this will piss people off but here goes....
I would consider myself a mildly enthused fisherman, I just recently picked up fishing and started leveling it in the hopes of money and achievements.
I would consider myself pretty unlucky because level from 1 - 400 fishing I only fished in ironforge and never saw old ironjaw. I then partook in an adventure to teldrassil where I caught the seemingly easy 15 pound mud snapper seeing as it has the most common drop rate there for the One that didnt get away achievement.
After that I went to northrend and this is the part where people will be angry and I know this was extremely rare and all luck on my part.
I was fishing for northrend angler and just found my first fangtooth herring school and low and behold the first fish out of the school [Dark Herring].
I recieved tons of hate-mail from guild, friends, and generally any and everyone on the server.Posting this to let people know you can get it on your first cast or 5,000,000th it just depends how hard or little you want to try :)
Faela, April 2009:
I just caught a Dark Herring after about 30 casts at Winter's Breath Lake in my hunt for the turtle mount... the crazy thing is, I already have the One That Didn't Get Away achievement for the 15lb Mud Snapper, which I got in 15 casts at Crystal Lake. Yet after thousands of casts I still don't have Old Ironjaw. Go figure.
OTDGA: turtle, swordfish out; Dark Herring in
Gummo, November 2008:
The latest version of the One That Didn't Get Away achievement has removed "Baby Coralshell Turtle" and "113 Pound Swordfish" (possible Northrend catches) and replaced it with a different unknown, "Dark Herring." Maybe it's a red herring?
el, November 2008:
Thanks Gummo. Dark Herring remains just as much a mystery as the 2 catches it replaced. Possibly a variation on the Fangtooth Herring.. but I'm inclined to agree that a red herring is more likely. Oh my!
el, November 2008:
I have one report that the Dark Herring does actually exist. I'm very interested in additional information...
Cnirec, November 2008:
More info: Dark Herring, green (uncommon) dagger, 146-271 Dam, 1.9 Speed, 109.7 dps, req. level 78, Chance on hit: Blast enemy for 70 Fire Damage. And a quote in gold lettering "Herring seeks your life". Looks just like a silver fish when held in hand cept it's shiny "oh my".
Landed it in the lake just west above Valgarde, Howling Fjorde while fishing a Fangtooth Herring pool.. Since I can't seem to get the name of the lake to pop up on the screen I'll call it Lake Utgarde Keep, as one can enter Utgarde from the lakes NE corner.
el, November 2008:
Thanks Cnirec. I've added Dark Herring. Curious that it requires level 78, even though it is caught in a level 68+ zone.
On the plus side, it means people trying to complete the One that Got Away can now fish in a zone where they will catch valuable fish. Still, this is not a common catch. So I guess the achievement did not get any easier.
I'd still love to know if Dark Herring can be caught elsewhere. Logically it should also be caught in inland Grizzly Hills, which shares the same open water fish as Howling Fjord. But it might be found in other zones too.
spiny, November 2008:
Caught today from "Lake Cauldros", immediate N/NW waters from utgarde keep. It was fished directly from a Fangtooth Herring school.
Ixumi, November 2008:
Ditto on the above! Got my 'Salty' title. ^_^
castorshell13, November 2008:
heres the question tho, is it only fangtooth schools? or can you also catch it free water?
Gummo, November 2008:
My guess is it's possible to catch a Dark Herring from open water. For example, the fishing quest "Shrimpin' Ain't Easy" appears to merely substitute a Bloated Barbed Gill Trout whenever you would normally catch a Barbed Gill Trout, which is why you sometimes catch some other fish -- open water in Zangarmarsh will fish up about 70% Barbed Gill Trout. If the Dark Herring is a similar rare substitution for a Fangtooth Herring, any time you'd catch a fangtooth, you have a small chance of getting a Dark Herring instead, and you can get a Fangtooth Herring from some open water, just not as often as a pool.
As an odd aside, the Shattrath daily fishing quests gives 0 XP, but the cooking daily in Shattrath gives you XP (12,650 at level 70).
Cayena, November 2008:
How many pools are people fishing before they're pulling up the Dark Herring? I'm over 500 fish caught from pools and no Dark Herring, so it really doesn't seem to be much different from other rare fish.
Arek, November 2008:
I've fished up 600 herrings now, and no luck yet.
I think the reason the dark herring is alluring is because in other cases of the rare catches for OTDGA, you're fishing in ponds with multiple kinds of fish to catch, not all of which have a rare replacement that fulfills the achievement. With herring schools being very plentiful, it's pretty easy to constantly circle a pond (I have had no competition so far) and constantly catch herring, so you've got the chance to get the rare with every cast. If you're fishing in a pool with three kinds of fish that have equal drop rates, your chances of getting what you want dropped by a third.
I doubt it has any higher of a catch rate, but the consistency of which you're testing the RNG works in your favor in this case.
aparchee, November 2008:
Hi, got him today, 987 fish caught when he popped from a pool excluding catches of Crates and Waters, easily over 1000 including them. I just fished from the pier at Valgarde moving between the 2 respawning pools as and when they were up. ;-)
Nomi, November 2008:
Fished up Dark Herrig today from Grizzly Hills, lake around the area called Blue Sky Logging Grounds, open water.
JohnClark, November 2008:
650 catches in the Fjord .. still no Herring .. its all i need for Salty but must admit .. slowly losing resolve.
Mitzy, November 2008:
Hehe, I feel for you. I as well only need the One that didn't get away achievement for Salty. Sucks really :<
Oberweiss, November 2008:
I finally fished up a Dark Herring yesterday after doing laps around the big lake North of Skorn, fishing in only the schools. I was the only person fishing there, and they respawned fast enough to fish in them continually. It was the last achievement I needed to complete to get the Salty title.
I did some open water inland fishing as well, because the Pygmy Suckerfish sell well, and you don't get any of them fishing exclusively in the schools, unfortunately. At least the Fangtooth Herring are used in three different cooking recipes, so they sell pretty well, too.
Rezn, January 2009:
I caught the Dark Herring at 54.61 57.7 . Was 2:20 am server time. Fishing Skill 480.
Caught it on first cast!rakoth, January 2009:
As I noted in another thread, I caught the Dark Herring fishing pools in WInter's Breath Lake in HF. Fourth cast - talk about lucky...
VoicesInMyHead, January 2009:
01.30.2009 21:41 server time
Cauldron Isle - 56.8 , 39.1
Fishing 450 + Mastercraft Kalu'ak Fishing Pole + Truesilver Fishing Line
Fished 3 Fangtooth Herring pools
10 Herrings
1 crate of Colbolt Ore x2
1 Dark Herring-The Voices
Axolara, February 2009:
I got this pretty fast today from fishing herring schools, I highly recommend trying this fish for your achievement.
Dark Herring
Marlburo, November 2008:
any consensus whether this can be caught non-pool fishing?
ztrapon, November 2008:
It can. I just caught it fishing in Howling Fjord open water with a skill of 488.
Els Pagle, November 2008:
I have mailed off my "excess" fangtooth herring, so will ahve to take a survey to say how many I have caught; I expect at least 400.
I am getting a little worried. Has anyone UNDER level 78 (required to equip and use this fish) caught it? Are any of the other rare weapon-fish catchable by toons who cannot equip them?
"..I used to sleep standing on my feet, and I'd dream about the shoals of herring."
-Ewan MacColl, "Shoals of Herring"
Trotline, November 2008:
I caught Dark Herring last night, fishing coastal open water in Howling Fjord. I'm level 67, so there's only the casting skill requirement.
I too, would love to know if there are other rares to be caught! Oh, and I sold it in about ten minutes for 500 gold.
Akatia, November 2008:
This may have been bugged at launch or I should have played lotto - I caught 3 Dark Herring within the 1st hour Wrath went live. All three were in herring pools fished from the shore of Valgarde. Until I found this site, I hadn't realized how rare they were. I sent one to a friend and put the other two in the bank until my rogue reaches 78 - can't wait to see him ambush horde while dual-wielding fish. :)
Manip, November 2008:
I'm at 640 fish + 36 other assorted items from crates and such. I did approx. 200 additional catches spread across two previous days.
Still no Dark Herring. I'm starting to wonder if it only appears at night. I did this around mid-day to early afternoon realm time.
Arek, November 2008:
I'm at more than 2000 casts, mostly in the evening or at night, and still have nothing.
It's just a RNG crapshoot, really. Keep trying and we'll make it.
Darkcat, November 2008:
Els Pagle wrote:
I have mailed off my "excess" fangtooth herring, so will ahve to take a survey to say how many I have caught; I expect at least 400.
I am getting a little worried. Has anyone UNDER level 78 (required to equip and use this fish) caught it? Are any of the other rare weapon-fish catchable by toons who cannot equip them?
"..I used to sleep standing on my feet, and I'd dream about the shoals of herring."
-Ewan MacColl, "Shoals of Herring"Caught it at L75, in a pool in HF.
Gamal, December 2008:
Im having now about 2000 casts, still none. Fished mostly at night, mainly open inland water. Pools are not liklier to have the herring, arent they?
Could someone please tell me, if this auto loot addon http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info11404-cAutoConfirmLoot.html is working (Is there appearing a confirmation box?) or recommend me another? I have fishing buddy too, if theres interfernce. Cause Im panicking about loosing it as I did once with Mr. Pinchy.
Thx
(Please dont mind my english)
The Dark Herring is Mine! (Plus Some Stats)
painn, November 2008:
Just caught in open water in Valgarde on the rocks next to dock. Did open water casts and when pools appeared i fished them otherwise I didn't move. Tried doing pools only to much travel so gave that up for the not leaving till i have it method. Here are my numbers. By far one of the harder to catch fish for me was like all my luck had run out big time! The Rat was probably my next hardest see stats below for more info:
Bonescale Snapper 1710 - 42.2 %
Fangtooth Herring 1302 - 32.1 %
Glacial Salmon 593 - 14.6 %
Pygmy Suckerfish 295 - 7.3 %
Reinforced Crate 85 - 2.1 %
Crystallized Water 64 - 1.6 %
Dark Herring 1 - 0.0 %Since I'm already "Salty I figured i had to have some of the tough to get fish. I caught the Steelscale Crushfish and Rockhide Strongfish already before the patch and couldn't use a mace so I had to get the Dark Herring to go with the others. I had the 15 pound mud snapper for the one that didn't get away achievement.
Since I was not being lazy here are some of my other noteworthy catches with stats for the metrics people:
Steelscale Crushfish
Rainblow Fin Albacore 96 - 59.3%
Oily Blackmouth 43 - 26.5%
Firefin Snapper 13 - 9.9%
Stranglekelp 3 - 1.9%
Watertight Trunk 3 - 1.9%
Steelscale Crushfish 1 - 0.9%15 Pound Mud Snapper
Brillinat Smallfish 460 - 60.9%
Longjaw Mud Snapper 285 - 37.7%
Minor Healing Potion 3 - 0.4%
10 Pound Mud Snapper 2 - 0.3%
12 Pound Mud Snapper 2 - 0.3%
Minor Mana Potion 2 - 0.3%
15 Pound Snapper 1 - 0.1%Giant Sewer Rat
Location 1 Circle of Wills (No Rat Dropped)
Sewer Carp 1055 - 76.6%
Magic Eater 231 - 16.8%
Empty Vial 31 - 2.3%
Crystallized Water 23 - 1.7%
Leaded Vial 18 - 1.3%
Reinforced Crate 14 - 1.0%
Crystal Vial 3 - 0.2%
imbued Vial 2 - .01%
Giant Sewer Rat 0 - 0.0%Location 2 Cantrips & Crows (Rat Dropped Yea!)
Sewer Carp 816 - 53.5%
Magic Eater 406 - 26.6%
Empty Vial 102 - 6.7%
Drowned Rat 74 - 4.9%
Partially Eaten Fish 66 - 4.3%
Leaded Vial 31 - 2.0%
Crystal Vial 14 - 0.9%
imbued Vial 3 - 0.2%
Enchanted Vial 3 - 0.2%
Giant Sewer Rat 1 - 0.1%Old Crafty
Longjaw Mud Snapper 162 - 62.8%
Bristle Whisker Catfish 51 - 19.8%
Brilliant Smallfish 42 - 16.3%
17 Pound Catfish 1 - 0.4%
Cadet Boots 1 - 0.4%
Old Crafty 1 - 0.4%Old Ironjaw
Longjaw Mud Snapper 189 - 58.0%
Bristle Whisker Catfish 72 - 22.1%
Lesser Mana Potion 2 - 0.6%
19 Pound Catfish 1 - 0.3%
Dwarven Hatchet of Agility 1 - 0.3%
17 Pound Catfish 1 - 0.3%
Lesser Healing Potion 1 - 0.3%
Old Ironjaw 1 - 0.3%Mr Pinchy
Furious Crawdad 160 - 65.8%
Golden Darter 38 - 15.8
Curious Crate 14 - 5.8%
Mote Of Water 14 - 5.8%
Inscribed Scroll Case 8 - 3.3%
Goldenscale Vendorfish 2 - 0.8%
Spotted Feltail 2 - 0.8%
Enormous Barbed Gil Trout 2 - 0.8%
Huge SPotted Feltail 1 - 0.4%
Barbed Gil Trout 1 - 0.4%
Mr. Pinchy 1 - 0.4%Irien, December 2008:
2700 casts and counting in Howling Fjord. The weird thing is, I would swear four or five of those timed out without bobbing. I'm probably just paranoid, but if it's not bugged, the random number generator really has it in for me.
update: 3300 and still going...
Oberweiss, December 2008:
Irien wrote:
I think it's possible to go without a splash if there's a small lag spike, but other than that I'd chalk it up to being in a "fisherman's blur," heh.The weird thing is, I would swear four or five of those timed out without bobbing. I'm probably just paranoid, but if it's not bugged, the random number generator really has it in for me.
Noodle, December 2008:
Well I am about to go insane and i doubt the fish exists
Here are my Stats:
Bonscale Snapper (3209 52.4%)
Glacial Salmon ( 1193 18.5 %)
Fangtooth Herring ( 1160 18.0 %)
Pygmy Suckerfish ( 589 9.1%)
Crystallized Water ( 62 1.0 %)
Reinforced Crate ( 42 0.6% )Just hit 12k total fish caught =)
pharmacist, December 2008:
Caught mine in Grizzly Hills on a smallisland by Bloodmoon Isle. You get the achievement before looting and it can be traded. Have mine on the AH but no one is buying. I guess I'll just keep it ;)
Arithin, December 2008:
I'm glad I'm not the only one with poor luck--I've been fishing mostly above the waterfalls in Howling Fjord by Utgarde Keep (standing at 60.5,44.5), though I've fished at the docks at Valgarde a couple times. FishingBuddy tells me I've caught a total of 2602 (and counting, fishing as I write this) fish/things so far, and no Dark Herring.
At least its a profitable fishing spot! And means I don't have to buy food or water. :)
Marlburo, December 2008:
Irien wrote:
2700 casts and counting in Howling Fjord. The weird thing is, I would swear four or five of those timed out without bobbing. I'm probably just paranoid, but if it's not bugged, the random number generator really has it in for me.
update: 3300 and still going...I laughed so hard at this post. The #1 fishing thought is, "WTF that never bobbed! NO! I SWEAR THAT NEVER BOBBED!....wait did it?"
Talathan, January 2009:
I got Fishing Buddy VERY late in my fishing career, but I thought I'd pass along some numbers that it's chalked up for Grizzly Hills, at the river by Alpine Lodge (where the bears are on the little "islands" in the river)
Bonescale Snapper: 1470
Fangtooth Herring: 520
Glacial Salmon: 512
Pygmy Suckerfish: 250
Reinforced Crate: 26
Crystallized Water: 19
Dark Herring: ZERO!!This is my "favorite fishing hole." I used a combination of Snapper Extreme and Small Feast to bring my Cooking up to 450. Although Snapper Extreme stays green all the way until 450... I used 50 Northern Spices and didn't get a single skill up when I was 441. That's when I bought Small Feast (since I had a bunch of Glacial Salmon anyway). That took less than 20 cooked items to get the last 9 skill ups.
==============
Also, while I don't have the numbers I did my skilling up from 290 to 410 in Ironforge going after Old Ironjaw - again without any luck. Anyone familiar with the skill up formula can calculate how many casts I had to make. I think it's somewhere in the vicinity of 500.
Raeliss, January 2009:
I just wanted to share my theory, based on experience posted by various people here as well as my own. I believe Dark Herring catches work this way:
Every Fangtooth Herring catch has a chance to be a Dark Herring (personally I believe the odds are 1 in 1000 for this, but I have no evidence to support that - just that Blizz seems to do these things in even numbers like that and so far the odds seem to fit that profile).
If I am right, this means that if you fish open waters, (which have 22% chance to get Fangtooth Herring), you are greatly reducing your chance at getting Dark Herring, as 78% of casts have 0% chance at Dark Herring.
Fishing Fangtooth Herring pools yield 90% Fangtooth Herring, so this is your best bet by far.
Again, this is all speculation, but those fishing in open water have seen some insanely high numbers, and I have yet to see anyone fishing only in pools experience anything close to that level of bad luck.
Just on this note, I read in another thread that a GM confirmed pools vs open water makes no difference to the drop rate. This is still technically correct and in line with my theory, if he was referring to the chance that any Herring would be a Dark Herring.
Herring Seeks Your Life!
Bhavani, January 2009:
So, I logged on today after class with my first priority being to get the Dalaran cooking daily out of the way. I usually head out to Howling Fjord to collect any required Chilled Meats, as the drop rate isn't bad and there generally isn't a lot of competition. On the way, I collect any herbs I see and fish a few nodes. I happened to spot a Fangtooth Herring node and thought to myself ' I'll just fish this node real quick before I go on my merry way.' Imagine my surprise when, lo and behold, I received Dark Herring along with a normal Fangtooth Herring after less than 5 casts! Here are my total stats, plus around 100 casts that occured before I uploaded Fishing Buddy:
Howling Fjord
Bonescale Salmon (44%) - 125
Fangtooth Herring (29%) - 83
Glacial Salmon (12%) - 36
Pygmy Suckerfish (7%) - 22
Crystalline Water (2%) - 8
Reinforced Crate (1%) - 4
Dark Herring (0%) - 1Total Casts: 279
Kalahdune, February 2009:
lvl 73 Orc Hunter on Kilrogg. Got one on 6 Feb in a pool of herring near the bridge leading south from Gjalerbron. About half-way between the coast and the lake.
Sixtyeight, March 2009:
Hi all, caught Dark Herring today and this is how it went:
- 399 fish caught before catching Dark Herring.
- I had 450 base fishing + 28 rod + 100 lure.
- Fished in Howling Fjord, and tried the subzones Cauldros Isle/Lake Cauldros, Daggercap Bay and Caldemere Lake
- Caught the fish from a Fangtooth Herring Pool in Caldemere Lake.
- I started fishing at 8 am, and caught it at 12:30pm approx.
Speedsteel, March 2009:
I got it in some 70 catches a while back. Around Caudron Isle in the pools. I was like "Woah! Are you serious?!?" And just a few days after I had gotten the huge lobster for The One That Didn't Get Away...
Lukin, March 2009:
Got Herring on 4th day today and got Salty Achievement aswell!!
Tengarth, March 2009:
Caught Dark Herring on 5th day (approx. 2hrs per day). Just the extravaganza to go before Salty!
Caught Herring in Fangtooth Herring School in Caldemere Lake. All data in Howling Fjord is in Caldemere Lake (Fishing Buddy sees some of the edges as Howling Fjord and not Caldemere). The lake is perfect because you can go in a counter-clockwise circle around the lake hitting each school. By the time you come all the way back around more pools have respawned. I was able to consistently hit 6-7 schools per circle. There are only 4-5 mobs at the beginning of the circle around the lake which most of the time can be avoided. There are no other mobs once you get past those (majority of lake).
Caldemere Lake:
Fangtooth Herring (161:51.9%)
Pygmy Suckerfish (116:37.4%)
Reinforced Crate (14:4.5%)
Crystallized Water (7:2.3%)
Glacial Salmon (7:2.3%)
Bonescale Snapper (5:1.6%)Howling Fjord (actually edges of Caldemere Lake):
Fangtooth Herring (238:52.1%)
Pygmy Suckerfish (183:40.0%)
Bonescale Snapper (16:3.5%)
Reinforced Crate (5:1.1%)
Crystallized Water (11:2.4%)
Glacial Salmon (3:0.7%)
Dark Herring (1:0.2%)Tythor, March 2009:
The herring seems to blow the rest of the rare fish outa the water in terms of the RNG.
After about 400 or so catches I pulled up this baby to gain me some Saltyness
<img src="http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c223/Tombus/th_Salty.jpg" border="0" alt="Salty" >
Dark Herring!
paxford, November 2008:
Just got my Salty (Nagrand server) - Dark Herring fished up at top of falls above Howling Fjord (54,58)
"Salty" Lindlass
Tezuix, November 2008:
Grats mate =)
i nearly have mine... just got beaten in the fishing comp by litterally half a second though...
not bad for a first time though xD
grats on your silty =) im indeed jealous
how many casts did it take for dark herring?
paxford, November 2008:
my second cast in that exact area. I was just tootling about hoping I'd get lucky (about 30 casts upstream too)
Tezuix, November 2008:
hahah wow =D nice one!!
zimphella, May 2009:
Just caught my fifth dark herring today. It's the only rare fish I've ever caught.
Hordriss, May 2009:
Finally got my herring yesterday, after maybe 1000 casts in HF - just the Tournament left for Salty...
Dark Herring: Pools vs. Open Water
Ohlookatank, March 2009:
Anyone care to comment on this subject or provide some useful statistics? I've been reading lots about this particular fish from a number of different sites and its hard to decipher if there is a clear advantage to Fangtooth herring pools vs. casting in open water (in Howling Fjord).
After about 2200 casts, both in pools and open water (mostly in open water) I'm beginning to wonder if it's pure luck that I see many posts claiming to catch a Dark Herring in a pool rather quickly, or if there is more too it and the chances of catching one is better in the pools than just casting in open water.
Thanks for any info.
zimm, March 2009:
Well i caught the dark herring after 20 minutes of fishing the other day, all in pools, and last night a friend caught it in a pool after getting just 6 stacks of fangtooth herring, but we could have just been lucky.
Ohlookatank, March 2009:
That's bizarre, I just must be one of those people with bad luck. I've spent many hours fishing just the pools and haven't had any luck yet. Thanks!
Azaguth, March 2009:
There is speculation that the Dark Herring is a rare spawn of the Fangtooth Herring...so, while possible to catch the Dark Herring in open water, it may be more common in pools since the chance of catching a regular Fangtooth Herring is so much greater.
Ohlookatank, March 2009:
Azaguth wrote:
There is speculation that the Dark Herring is a rare spawn of the Fangtooth Herring...so, while possible to catch the Dark Herring in open water, it may be more common in pools since the chance of catching a regular Fangtooth Herring is so much greater.
Yes, that was essentially the conclusion I came to too, but there is no concrete proof to prove this as far as I know. I've asked a GM about it and of course they aren't allowed to reveal that kind of information so at this point it's all really speculation.
Gizmoh, March 2009:
I guess I should contribute my own first hand experiences from a few minutes before.
Beware! Reading this can be frustrating for someone who has been hunting the elusive Dark Herring for days.I had been fishing the pools in the lake at Fort Wildervar for about an hour with no success. So I decided to do some stuff with an alt. Logging back in for another round of fishing I caught the Dark Herring on the first cast. Resisting the urge to dance and hearth back to Dalaran I decided not to waste almost 10 minutes left on my bait timer and continued fishing.
With the result of catching another two Dark Herrings at the second and fifth pool around the lake.
Now I'm somewhere between puzzled and freaked out.I don't believe that multiplied probabilities are responible for such a "lucky" streak. Maybe the game mechanics insert the rare spawns into the pools at a specific time? And the composition of each pool is predetermined at its spawn?
Anyway ... since nobody will believe me, I will send some screenshots to el for close examination :-)
Edit: And for everyone else - at least for the next 7 days : http://rcpt.yousendit.com/661097963/a8d72d9f03a6472ca6b3d497a5ffaf6e
Stupid question re: dark herring
rasmfrackn, December 2008:
I'm one of those unlucky schmoes who's broken 6,000 catches in the Fjord with no dark herring. I just wanted to ask this stupid question:
Does having autoloot on or off pose any problems with catching rare fish, or BoP fish things?
Since the herring is BoE not BoP, it probably isn't even relevant, but assuming a 0.1% catch rate I'm really at the end of the statistical tail here, so I've started grasping at straws. :) I love fishing but this is starting to crush my spirit a little bit.
On the bright side, thanks everyone for reminding me to actually AH all these fish. I'm not using FishingBuddy, but BankItems tells me my alt now has 2500 snappers, 2000 herrings, 1000 salmon, 500 suckerfish, and a bunch of assorted water and crate fodder in her mailbox. :) (I spent 1 night doing herring schools, which is why the ratio is a little off there)
I'm so not looking forward to catching another Mr. Pinchy (or more...).
And while I'm here... Daggercap Bay, Caldemere Lake by Wildervar, and whatever lake is north of Skorn by Winterhoof. All viable dark herring waters, right?
-- Oh, crap. Someone asked this yesterday! It wasn't there when I planned this post, honest. It just took a while to get my password and then I forgot until today. :) Sorry.
I've had a few "no catch" bobs at the tail end of the timer bar, and those just give me a really bad feeling that they may have been the rare fish... superstition, I'm sure.
Oberweiss, December 2008:
rasmfrackn wrote:
Does having autoloot on or off pose any problems with catching rare fish, or BoP fish things?
You're right that autoloot does not have any effect on the BoE Dark Herring, but it also has no effect on BoP fish. The only issue with BoP fish is you will have to click "Yes" on the dialog box that tells you that looting the item will bind it to you. You need to do this regardless of whether autoloot is on, and it is fairly easy to miss if you aren't watching for it. People tend to blame autoloot because fishing with autoloot on allows you to fish much faster, and the faster you fish, the easier it is to cast again before clicking "Yes," which will cause you to lose the BoP fish.
rasmfrackn wrote:
And while I'm here... Daggercap Bay, Caldemere Lake by Wildervar, and whatever lake is north of Skorn by Winterhoof. All viable dark herring waters, right?
I'd double check the Dark Herring page on this site, but IIRC all places where Fangtooth Herring are caught, the Dark Herring can be caught.
Hope this helps!
Stump, December 2008:
I caught the Dark Herring near the docks (there's fishing pools there) of Valguard. My auto-loot was on.
Moolisa, December 2008:
I got the Dark Herring on cast #80 at the Winter's Breath Lake. There's a ton of Herring schools there so just run around in a circle until you get lucky.
The only +Fishing item I was using was the Kalu'Ak fishing pole. No baubles, hooks, or anything extra.
Invisible_Elf, December 2008:
Does anyone know if it has a higher chance of dropping from pools? So far I think I caught 1000 fish in valgarde but haven't been fishing in any pools
Dark Herring Changed
Boldot, February 2009:
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=44703
Dark Herring has had the flame damage proc removed and is now 50 crit rating.
No more flaming fish blasts =(el, February 2009:
Thanks - I missed that. The change is live on EU realms as I write, so happened before 3.0.9.
monkmikey, April 2009:
granted i did not fish only in the right areas since they started keeping count i am at 7,473 and today i caught mr dark herring, at long last my title of salty has been achieved, i know i could have opted for easier caught fish i figured go for the hardest that way when it is caught you will feel such greatness like mr crawdad(whom i have had the pleasure of catching 8 times, and two total pets, the second could not load into pets bar sadly...), and to say it, yes I am very very elated to have caught such a fine fish. conundrum, sell or equip? i think as a rogue i have to enchant and equip. just for pvp purposes.
well long story short i made rounds all over Howling Fjord today. ended up catching him in a pool at valguarde cords. 60, 61 .... to all those out there who love to fish and want a nasty fishy-fish mount up and hit up all the pools you can inland in the howling fjord.
have a pleasurable time fishing!
Ingensu, April 2009:
Just caught one today. :) Here's my statistics, but I've a few thoughts at the end:
Fangtooth Herring: 30 (54%)
Pygmy Suckerfish: 21 (38%)
Bonescale Snapper: 3 (5%)
Reinforced Crate: 1 (~2%)
Dark Herring: 1 (~2%)Most of these were fished from the schools north of Skorn, but a few (~10 casts) were caught in open water.
Thought I might add my observations, post 3.1.1. It appears as though the schools still have a higher chance to fish Dark Herring (comparing my statistics to the previous posts from other locations). My assumption is that Dark Herring is indeed fished instead of Fangtooth Herring, and therefore schools of fangtooth herring would theoretically give you higher chances, because you simply catch more fangtooth herring.
The evidence is somewhat shown by virtue of the fact that most of my casts yielded one Fangtooth Herring, one Pygmy Suckerfish, while the catch with the Dark Herring still included a suckerfish, but with a Dark Herring and no Fangtooth Herring.
...Not to mention, fishing from schools also gives one a chance to catch the Sea Turtle, as well. You may as well fish from the schools anyway.
Just my two cents. Obviously since this uses a small data sample, it's probably not the most reliable source, but I'm mentally combining the statistics I've seen of all anglers who fished from the schools vs other places like Valgarde.
anakhahawk, April 2009:
Fished last night out of Fangtooth Herring School in Howling Ford. Caught it in my 6th pool. Not tried for this achievment previously. Wish i had the same luck fishing up the other rares :(
Dark Herring...Caught
hominids, February 2009:
The Dark Herring was caught in a fangtooth herring school in Winter's Breath Lake.
palanthiel, February 2009:
Wanted to add that I also caught it at this location, in a school.
Faderaven, February 2009:
I caught this fish in a Fangtooth pool also. Was going to do Stonebulll but decided if it was going to be long and painful I might as well get a nice weapon...got it after about 50 casts! That was a nice change....
Eltressa, February 2009:
I got this the other day from a Fangtooth pool in north Howling on my first cast. Since I was only there for the Northrend Angler achievement, it was a nice surprise. Especially since I haven't had any luck at all with crafty/ironjaw/giant rat/mr pinchy/etc >_>
Gungner11, April 2009:
my lucky day! got my Giant sewer rat on 7th cast and my dark herring on my 13th cast now i just hope ill get that turtle soon
A tip for One That Didn't Get Away
Daranox, February 2009:
I'm not sure if this is just luck, but I decided to try and catch the Dark Herring for achievment. After trying about 1000+ catches for 15 pound mud snapper, I wasn't sure how this would go. Well whad'ya know, 17 fangtooth herrings later, I got the Dark Herring. Once again this could be just luck, but for anyone needing One That Didn't Get Away, I reccomend looking for Dark Herring.
ollan1, February 2009:
Same, got mine from a pool of herring... about 30 casts.
TheTacoMan, February 2009:
Agreed. While it took me much longer to catch this (i'd say about 800ish casts), it was still shorter than i had expected. Plus as an added bonus, you can sell all the fangtooth herring you catch (or cook them up).
However, it seems that in 3.1, pinchy, old crafty and old ironjaw will count towards the one that got away. As it stands, the only reason to get the one that got away is for the title, and as you have to get pinchy to get the title, it seems rather pointless to fish for any of the others
Doby, February 2009:
I caught Dark Herring in a pool today. Of all the places that I spent fishing, this one was by far the shortest. I was at just over 9,000 casts total, but I don't have the breakdown of how many per fishing spot. I would bet that it was just my luck finally kicking in, but it's certainly worth looking into for those who don't have it yet.
Samago, February 2009:
Worked for me. Caught it in 38 mins of straight pool fishing, or after only 44 Fangtooth Herrings.
