This page summarises how to catch Mimic Octopus.
About Mimic Octopus
- "Even in death, this strange creature continues changing color to blend in with its environment." Binds when caught. Unique.
- Use: Quest: Starts Mimic Octopus (Quest) - bring the fish to Nat Pagle at the Anglers Wharf in Krasarang Wilds. See Nat Pagle's Friendship. Nat Pagle says, "A buddy of mine caught one of these off the coast of Zandalar a few years back. He barely made [it] back alive, actually. Pesky trolls, but great fishing! Anyhow, they aren't as rare as you might think because they use camouflage to hide amongst the rocks and plants; only a very skilled fisherman has any hope of catching this elusive, and delicious, morsel."
Catching Mimic Octopus
- Notes: Mimic Octopus may be caught from any of Pandaria's open coastal waters. Since patch 5.1, the fish can also be caught from pools - typically the pools found in the same areas of open water. This fish is unique: You cannot catch a second Mimic Octopus while the first is in your bags. The fish starts a quest which can only be completed once each day. If you catch a second Mimic Octopus after completing the quest, you will not be able to deliver the second catch until the following day. Quest "days" reset at 03:00 (PST for US realms, CET for EU realms, and Australian EST for Oceanic realms).
- Commentary: The catch rate from open water is similar to pools. Pool fishing is slightly slower than open water fishing, since time is spent moving between pools. This penalty is only partly offset by using an Ancient Pandaren Fishing Charm (which increases the number of fish caught from pools by 20%, but does not increase the time taken to fish those pools). Pools contain a much higher proportion of Valuable Fish than open water, so are a better option if you are fishing for food or profit. Pools only require skill 1 to fish effectively, so are the best choice at low skill. Both open water and pools have sufficiently similar overall catch rates, that sometimes the choice between open water and pools is a matter of personal preference - do you feel like sitting down or moving around?
- Guide: Nat Pagle's Friendship - Guide to gaining Nat Pagle's friendship.
- Achievements:
- Learning from the Best: Become Best Friends with Nat Pagle.
- Pandarian Angler: Catch each type of fish native to Pandaria: Emperor Salmon, Flying Tiger Gourami, Giant Mantis Shrimp, Golden Carp, Jade Lungfish, Jewel Danio, Krasarang Paddlefish, Mimic Octopus, Redbelly Mandarin, Reef Octopus, Spinefish Alpha and Tiger Gourami.
- History:
- 5.2: Catch rate increased from about 1% to 4%.
- 5.1: Also caught from pools.
- Mists of Pandaria: First caught.
- [1] Caught alongside another fish (total catch rate will add up to more than 100%)
Learn More
- Nat Pagle's Friendship - Guide to gaining Nat Pagle's friendship.
- XKCD's Mimic Octopus - The implications for oceanographic classification.
Comments about Mimic Octopus
Below are readers' comments about "Mimic Octopus":
Mimic Octopus caught in Krasarang Wilds within sight of Nate
Seranthor, July 2012:
caught the Mimic 2x within an hour standing on the rocks just SE of Nat.
el, July 2012:
Indeed. At the moment it can be caught from any coastal open water that contains coastal fish - The Jade Forest, Krasarang Wilds and the tiny slither of coast on the east side of Valley of the Four Winds. That list will likely expand as more zones have inland and coastal waters split. I wrote a bit more about these fish under Nat Pagle's Friendship.
Druidmoon, July 2012:
Location: Coastal Open Water - Krasarang Wilds
Total: 317Golden Carp - 114
Giant Mantis Shrimp - 102
Reef Octopus - 86
Sealed Crate - 6
Junk - 8
Mimic Octopus - 1Always hard to say from small samples but 2% catch rate may be a little optimistic? Maybe closer to 1%. Either way, could take a while to catch one of each quest fish per day with the RNG like this. I don't really mind though as it makes it one for the more determined, especially if they do add in drops from pools.
el, July 2012:
So far I have 9 Pagle fish catches (Flying Tiger Gourami or Mimic Octopus) out of 571 catches in relevant open water since the patch. That's 1.6% average. That number will become more accurate as the days pass, but I'm fairly confident that you've just been unlucky with your first catch.
Now, Flying Tiger Gourami was reported as being possible to catch from inland open water in Krasarang Wilds on the US forums. That also fits Nat's story about the fish, that suggests it can be caught from any inland water in Pandaria. I have 580 catches there, but no Flying Tiger Gourami, which either makes me very very unlucky, or suggests the catch rate there is much lower. Since catches (and skills) are still a work in active progress, this may be resolved in the near future.
el, July 2012:
Spinefish Alpha, the last of the 3 Pagle rare fish can be caught from (at least) open water in Firebough Nook, Kun-Lai Summit. I'll update information on Kun-Lai tomorrow - it has changed quite a bit in the latest patch.
Druidmoon, July 2012:
Location: Coastal Open Water - Krasarang Wilds
Total: 237Golden Carp - 100
Giant Mantis Shrimp - 67
Reef Octopus - 60
Sealed Crate - 5
Junk - 4
Mimic Octopus - 1Stats from the second Mimic Octopus quest fish caught in Krasarang Wilds.
I think I need to borrow your pair of lucky gloves ;)
el, July 2012:
Sounds like you're going to need to borrow Nat's Hat. I did have one unlucky Flying Tiger Gourami, which took about 250 catches, but currently I'm averaging 1.4%: 19 Pagle fish from 1359 catches in relevant open water.
Yoco, August 2012:
el wrote:
Now, Flying Tiger Gourami was reported as being possible to catch from inland open water in Krasarang Wilds on the US forums. That also fits Nat's story about the fish, that suggests it can be caught from any inland water in Pandaria. I have 580 catches there, but no Flying Tiger Gourami, which either makes me very very unlucky, or suggests the catch rate there is much lower. Since catches (and skills) are still a work in active progress, this may be resolved in the near future.
For your info: I just caught a Flying Tiger Gourami whle doing the "Shocking!" daily quest - so it is apparantly possible to catch these special fish while fishing for the daily quest fish. I was fishing in the lake just east of Thunder Cleft (part of the "Dojani River"), while still standing in an area labeled as Thunder Cleft
el, August 2012:
Interesting. Last time I checked, Dojani Eel could not be caught from waters categorised as Thunder Cleft, although an angler standing in that area has a good chance of their casts landing in the Dojani River - which, er, muddies the water for data.
My current theory is that Krasarang Wilds' Flying Tiger Gourami can only be caught in inland waters that do not contain an (Anglers) quest fish: More conjecture here - perhaps there's a bug caused by more than one quest fish in the loot table? I'm looking for a catch that is irrefutably from the Dojani or Krasarang Rivers.
Marlburo, September 2012:
Here are stats for the Mimic Octopus on my first go around (note: I think I fished a pool or two in the area so stats might be a little off):
Giant Mantis Shrimp: 49 (46%)
Golden Carp: 45 (33.1%)
Reef Octopus: 36 (25.5%)
Sealed Crate 5 (3.7%
MIMIC OCTOPUS: 1 (.7%)Total: 136
Fished it up at the flight path in Soggy's Gamble (Dread Wastes) because I could get to 700 fishing, not 750 at the time.
Drayner, October 2012:
Came here to see if anyone has seen what I have today.
Since the 2nd day of MOP, I have fished up 1 of each of these rares and turned in. I am not 1/4 through "Pal" with Nat.
You can do the quest 3 times per day (once for each type).
TODAY I TURNED IN ALL 3 and while doing the regular dailies, I caught another Mimic. I clicked it for giggles and it let me take the quest for a 2nd time today. I went out and caught the other two again, but they won't let me do 2x. I will try to catch another Mimic today to see if I can turn in a 3rd time for that one fish. Might be a bug. Not sure.
UPDATE: Went and caught a 3rd Mimic and it wouldn't let me do again today. Must have just been a bug.
oh... and here's a tip for the Flying Tiger Gourami and Spinefish Alpha.
1. Go to Rinan Village. In the village, just cast for the Flying Tiger Gourami by the flight dude or behind the buildings.
2. Once you caught the Flying Tiger Gourami (inland open water rare), move northwest until you see that you are in Inkgill Mere area. Fish it up.Thanks Blizz for funner Fishing stuff.
Marlburo, October 2012:
Well just caught the last mimic octopus I'm gonna catch. Here are the stats for 27 (caught one outside of zone) of them in Anglers Wharf:
Golden Carp: 872 (36%)
Giant Mantis Shrimp: 707 (29%)
Reef Octopus: 706 (29%)
Sealed Crate: 47 (1%)
MIMIC OCTOPUS: 27 (1%)TOTAL 2359 (stats might be VERY slightly skewed due to a very small number of pool fish)
Enarka, October 2012:
Caught a Flying Tiger Gourami in 300~ catches in Valley of the Four Winds
Corgi, December 2012:
El, you might find this interesting -- I found by serendipity that if one fishes the Gilded Stream but while STILL IN Halfhill, you can get all 5 basic food-fish at the same time (it sort of goes in little binges, first some octopus, then some paddlefish, then salmon, then a run of carp... that sort of thing). I have caught a Mimic Octopus twice in this same spot, but curiously, no Gourami yet.
If you want to check it out, I've been fishing from the western bank of the Gilded Stream, between the goatherd's hut and the southern bridge, opposite the lesser of the two angled zig-zags in the eastern bank - around 58:51. If you stand at the edge of the water, it changes to Gilded Stream, so you have to be a little uphill.
el, December 2012:
Interesting. The catch is determined by where the bobber lands. So my guess is that at that location the bobber is sometimes landing in "Halfhill" and sometimes in the "Gilded Stream", and Halfhill is (unintentionally) not zoned with inland water. Paoquan Hollow (in north west of the zone) has the same coastal quirk. I suspect that any water in that zone that hasn't explicitly been set as inland is yielding coastal fish.
