El's Extreme Anglin' - World of Warcraft Fishing Guide // Achievements // The Limnologist

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  This is a guide to completing The Limnologist fishing achievement, which requires over 40 different freshwater (inland) fish to be caught. On this page:

  • Introduction and Requirements
  • General Tips
  • Old Azeroth
  • Cataclysm
  • Northrend
  • Outland
  • Learn More

Introduction and Requirements

The Limnologist is an achievement which requires over 40 named freshwater (inland) fish to be caught. The achievement was added with the Cataclysm, which means catches before Cataclysm will not count towards the achievement. The Limnologist is not required to become Salty.

While high level and fishing skill are helpful to complete the achievement, you can start working on The Limnologist at level 5 with fishing skill 1:

To complete The Limnologist you must be at least level 82, unless being summoned. This level is required to visit Deepholm, the only place Albino Cavefish can be caught. Catching fish only requires level 5 (to train fishing ranks), so the achievement can be started at far lower level. Normally higher level simply makes it easier to travel to different fishing locations.

650 effective fishing skill is recommended to fish the hardest waters. Fortunately even high-skill zones can be fished at lower skill - you will just waste more time catching junk. Many Limnologist catches can easily be caught with fishing skill 1, especially fish that can be caught from pools (which never contain junk).

Patch 4.1 removed the need to catch 5 rare bloated fish, which made The Limnologist much less time-consuming to complete.

General Tips

• Achievement fish are grouped here by continent/expansion for convenience. Fish can be caught in any order. Since there will be a lot of travel time involved, consider completing parts of The Limnologist alongside other achievements, such as The Oceanographer.
• The tables (below) list the locations with the highest catch rate for each fish. It may be simpler to visit fewer locations, and fish for longer at each of them, catching several achievement fish from one place. This depends on how many different fish can be caught from the same water, how many achievement fish you have already caught, and your speed of travel. Unfortunately it is not practical to list every place each fish can be caught on a single page. Full details of each fish can be browsed on the Fish Finder (follow the fish name link).
• Catch rates of certain Old Azeroth fish vary by time of day. For example, Raw Nightfin Snapper have the highest catch rate between 00:00-06:00 (realm time), but will never be caught 12:00-18:00. At other times the chance of catching Raw Nightfin Snapper is merely lower than between 00:00-06:00. For more information read Variation by Time.

Old Azeroth

Each of Old Azeroth's fish is commonly caught from several different zones, so you will not need to fish in every zone.

There are many zones containing several achievement fish in their open water. Easy location groupings to consider:

• Deadwind Pass - Barbed Gill Trout, Bloodfin Catfish, Crescent-Tail Skullfish (Barbed Gill Trout is mostly caught in Outland, but can be easily caught here to).
• Loch Modan - Raw Bristle Whisker Catfish, Raw Loch Frenzy, Raw Longjaw Mud Snapper.
• Northern Barrens Oasis (or The Wailing Caverns) - Deviate Fish, Raw Brilliant Smallfish, Raw Bristle Whisker Catfish, Raw Longjaw Mud Snapper.
• Silverpine Forest or Undercity (or Blackfathom Deeps) - Raw Brilliant Smallfish, Raw Bristle Whisker Catfish, Raw Longjaw Mud Snapper, Sickly Looking Fish.

• [1] Best catch rate 00:00-06:00

Cataclysm

You will need to visit each Cataclysm zone (except Vashj'ir and Tol Barad, which are entirely coastal), because each zone contains 1 unique catch. Pools are the fastest way to catch these fish. You will also have to fish some open water for Lavascale Catfish, Sharptooth and Striped Lurker. There are no rare catches required.

Northrend

This part primarily involves travelling round Northrend, briefly stopping to fish in each zone - mostly pools, sometimes open water (described below). One catch is slightly more time-consuming: Giant Darkwater Clam, which can only be caught from Wintergrasp. The catch rate is moderately low, and anglers must enter a combat zone (becoming PvP flagged) to fish. Nervous anglers can fish from the edge of the zone - standing in Dragonblight, while their bobber lands in Wintergrasp (see Wintergrasp for more information). Wintergrasp's open water can easily be fished for Glacial Salmon, Musselback Sculpin and Nettlefish.

• [1] Lucky buff reduces catch rate

Outland

Similar to Northrend, this stage primarily involves travelling round all the zones in south/central Outland. Stop to fish pools and/or open water, as described below. There are 2 catches that are more time-consuming: Goldenscale Vendorfish and Huge Spotted Feltail. These can (very rarely) be caught from any open water in Outland, but the highest catch rate is from Outland pools. If you have not yet caught Mr. Pinchy, consider focusing on Highland Mixed School (in the lakes of Terokkar Forest), for a chance to gain a Magical Crawdad minipet (see Catching Mr. Pinchy).

Learn More

• The Limnologist/The Oceanographer - Forum discussion.
• Also in Achievements: Achievements Overview, Salty, Pool Achievements, Cross-Faction Fishing, The Oceanographer, One That Didn't Get Away, and The Lurker Above.

Comments about The Limnologist

Below are readers' comments about "The Limnologist":

The Limnologist/The Oceanographer

1. Enarka, November 2010:

   El says: For general guides on these achievements, read The Limnologist and The Oceanographer. Original post below:

   Anyone working on these already =) ?

   I know I am! Just asking 'round.

2. Enarka, November 2010:

   Also, WHERE IS THE SUMMER BASS GONE O.O ?

3. Jaeletha, November 2010:

   When my husband hears that with all the new content, the first thing I did is fly around fishing up old fish, he's going to look at me like I'm crazy :D

1. Kiingy, November 2010:

   Enarka wrote:

   Also, WHERE IS THE SUMMER BASS GONE O.O ?

   Summer Bass can only be caught from 20th of March till the 22nd of September.

   So your going to have to wait a few months yet.

2. el, November 2010:

   Raw Summer Bass is a seasonal fish. It replaces Winter Squid at the Spring equinox, so cannot be caught before then - see Catching Winter Squid. [Edit - Kiingy beat me to it :-) ]

   For general guides on these achievements, read The Limnologist and The Oceanographer.

3. tokugawa98, November 2010:

   Maybe I am missing something but since Northrend Angler and Outland Angler mention that "a fish" has to be caught in those pools, those can be checked against for Limnologist/Oceanographer.

   So if one has the former two achievements, are they filled in for the Cata ones?

4. narvil, November 2010:

   tokugawa98 wrote:

   Maybe I am missing something but since Northrend Angler and Outland Angler mention that "a fish" has to be caught in those pools, those can be checked against for Limnologist/Oceanographer.
   So if one has the former two achievements, are they filled in for the Cata ones?

   no

5. Sigtyr, November 2010:

   Felblood Snapper
   Lightning Eel
   Enourmous Barbed Gill Trout

   these aren't in either of the achievements

6. Shadygrove, November 2010:

   First thing both my husband and I are doing is working on these fishing achievements! We've made a lot of progress.

7. marmotrider, November 2010:

   I'm not seeing Nightfin Snapper on your list...

   oops, nevermind. Missed the Raw part... :D

8. el, November 2010:

   Both Raw Nightfin Snapper and Felblood Snapper are part of The Limnologist.

   There's not a lot of logic behind what's included in the achievement and what's not. Plenty of less common catches are missing, yet we have the very rare bloated catches listed.

   And Salmon and Redgill are part of The Oceanographer, even though they are inland fish (in Azeroth, at least).

9. Noodleguitar, November 2010:

   I'm a bit stuck on Mithril Head Trout. I'm fishing in Stranglethorn Vale, and the guide says that it can be found in The Cape of Stranglethorn, inland. Though I can't find any inland water in the Cape of Stranglethorn except from maybe the Sundering but there I'm catching Yellowtail which means you can't catch Mithril Head Trout there.

   If there is any, please explain to me which regions are counted as inland for the Cape of Stranglethorn.

10. el, November 2010:

    The Cape of Stranglethorn inland is specifically the water on the hill half way between Booty Bay and Hardwrench Hideaway. From memory there's a naga shrine there.

11. Cocosbro, November 2010:

    Has anyone caught the bloated fishes after the patch (4.0.3a?) I got the bloated giant sunfish yesterday but other than that nothing so far. I'm just scared that I'll spend too much time on a spot where it later turns out they can't be caught :/

12. Naee, November 2010:

    Same here, I've only caught the bloated giant sunfish so far after about 4 hours total only fishing for bloateds. I think I'll hold off on these until someone confirms that they're still catchable in their previous areas.

13. el, November 2010:

    The bloated fish are catchable. I have 2 so far (plus the Sunfish). But catch rates are very low. Each has taken me about 1000 catches, but that might be luck: The pre-Cataclysm data (especially gathered during One that did not get away) suggests somewhere between 1/1000 and 1/5000. At those sorts of odds, you can fish all day and not catch any bloated fish.

14. Noodleguitar, November 2010:

    el wrote:

    The Cape of Stranglethorn inland is specifically the water on the hill half way between Booty Bay and Hardwrench Hideaway. From memory there's a naga shrine there.

    Thanks alot, this wasn't visible on the map as water, which isn't surprising because it's really a minuscule body of water. I wouldn't have thought to try to cast in it if you hadn't said there is something fishable in this area.

15. Jinxa, November 2010:

    Well I have just caught the Bloated Trout in The Cape of Stranglethorn. Put in 1000 casts up at Western P and just moved out of boredom. 95 casts here and it drops. :)

16. Renetta, November 2010:

    Seems like Spinefin Halibut is not listed in either achievement.

    EDIT: Looking at wowhead it is not clear I got it from fishing. Seems to be a loot only item. So nevermind.
    EDIT2: Lightning Eel is a catchable fish that isn't part of the achievements though.

17. Klinch, November 2010:

    I just caught the Bloated Brilliant Smallfish, but on an ALT :( , while doing the SW fishing daily "Thunder Falls" for violet perch (outside of SW)

18. 92 more comments. Continue reading or reply »

The Limnologist/Oceanographer Bloated fish. How many casts?

1. Zapz, January 2011:

   So this is a thread for the same purpose as Pandangal's thread as to how many catches it took for you to get each of the rare bloated fish.

   It is intended as an information tool as to what you could be in for trying to go for these fish.

   I imagine that if you are reading this, you are an avid fisherman/fisherwoman and likely have some way at recording your catch rates or have a best overall guess.

   So, feel free to post below about how many catches it has taken you to catch, or not catch (so far) in most cases, any of the bloated fish below.
   Include as little or as much info as you like in terms of what you caught and how many. and please include the location of where you caught the fish, and the approximate server time of the catch.

   The Fish in Question are;

   The Limnologist;

   Bloated Catfish
   Bloated Mud Snapper
   Bloated Redgill
   Bloated Smallfish
   Bloated Trout

   The Oceanographer;

   Bloated Salmon

   Regards,
   Zapz

2. Zapz, January 2011:

   My catches so far;

   Bloated Mud Snapper;

   Caught after 419 casts.
   Caught off the boat north of the fishing trainer in The Canals in SW City
   Caught about 6.30pm-7pm server time.

   Bloated Smallfish;

   Caught within 20 casts.
   Caught unknowingly while doing the SW fishing daily to catch Violet Perch at Thunder Falls.
   Caught about 8.30pm-9pm server time

   My so far unsuccesful attempts;

   Bloated Catfish

   Up to 1600 casts - Still not caught
   Currently fishing in Redridge Mountains > Lake Everstill
   -----UPDATE 14/01/11-----
   Up to 1900 casts - Still not caught
   Still fishing in Redridge Mountains > Lake Everstill
   -----UPDATE 17/01/11-----
   2500 casts. still not caught
   Fishing in Redridge Mountains > Lake Everstill
   time to move to a new zone or different fish i think

   Bloated Salmon

   Up to 500 casts - Still not caught
   Have fished so far in Blasted Lands > Tainted Forest.

3. Eccentrica, January 2011:

   Edit:

   Previous comment deleted. After 3 days and 2664 casts (500 in various locations around Elwynn and 2164 in Crystal Lake), I finally caught the Bloated Smallfish in Crystal Lake.

   Caught across from the dock around 10pm server time. Lost around 10pm server time.

   I was lulled into a near semi-concious state by constant casting and neglected to notice that I had no free bag space when the fish was caught. When I recast as I was accustomed to doing after a catch, I lost the Bloated Smallfish <cry>.

   I tried again tonight, and the Gods of Fishing smiled upon me. I recaught the Bloated Smallfish, and got a checkmark on the Limnologist Achievement after another mere 417 casts in the same location at 8:20ish server time.

   If the rest of the Bloated are going to take as many (or more) casts, I think that the Limnologist Achievement should award a tabard, a combat-pet, a companion pet, a mount, the ability to walk on water without potions, and the title <God/Godess of the Waters>. It only took me 790 casts to catch Old Ironjaw. This was just ridiculous.

   While fishing for this, I caught the 15lb Mud Snapper 5 times :(, and I levelled fishing from 325 to 525 :).

   The Bloated Smallfish will now get put into my bank (unopened) alongisde Old Ironjaw so one day I can show my grandchildren the worthless but annoying little fish that took me 12 odd hours of clicking two buttons to find.

1. Eccentrica, January 2011:

   Sorry for the above thread spam.

   Bloated Smallfish - 2664 casts (and 417 casts) - 10pm server (and 8:20 server) - Crystal Lake across from the dock.

   Bloated Mud Snapper - 107 casts - 10:25 pm server - Stormwind Canal, near Catherine Leland on the boat nearest Cathedral Square - fishing towards the Square.

2. horsk, January 2011:

   Concentrated on bloated Salmon in the run up to cataclysm, Must have fished almost 1200 fish in Tainted Forest but no luck.
   I figure its the best bloated fish to aim for as it the only difficult one leading to one of the fishing achievements.

   Horsk

3. Hoddie, January 2011:

   Bloated Redgil is the one that's killing me, over 2k casts for certain. I got the Smallfish and Mud Snapper pretty quickly but I've just about given up on the Redgil for the moment.

4. Skin, February 2011:

   My catch status so far:

   Bloated Smallfish
   Durotar - Thunder Ridge
   1172 casts - caught 2:00 am

   Bloated Catfish
   Ashenvale - Felfire Hill
   1758 casts - caught 11:00 pm

   Bloated Mud Snapper
   Orgrimmar - Valley of Wisdom
   3243 casts - caught 3:30 pm

   Bloated Trout
   Western Plaguelands - South of Andorhal between the two bridges
   591 casts - caught 18:15 pm

   Bloated Redgill
   Moonglade - Nighthaven/Lake Elune'ara/Moonglade
   12:00-18:00:
   2500 casts - not caught
   18:00-24:00:
   227 casts - not caught
   24:00-06:00:
   118 casts - not caught
   06:00-12:00:

   Bloated Salmon

5. Malak, February 2011:

   The Limnologist;

   Bloated Catfish
   Bloated Mud Snapper - 9 Casts (SW Canels)
   Bloated Redgill
   Bloated Smallfish - 47 Casts (Elwyn Forest, Crystal lake)
   Bloated Trout

6. Fenguri, March 2011:

   +3300 casts in Lake Elune'ara and no bloated redgill. I am officially depressed.

7. airborne_78, March 2011:

   Just caught a Bloated Salmon on my lvl 19 in 94 casts :D

8. bradipedro, May 2011:

   stupid question

   I started today on the limnologist, and OF COURSE came to El's guide but...I never checked before the list of fishes for this achievement, however now I cannot see those bloated fishes as a requirement for the ach...am I reading wrong???? Why are you fishing for those bloated fisshes if they are not required for the achi?

   on my (long) way to Salty I feel I have still plenty of things to understand...

   thank you for answering.

   Barbara

9. el, May 2011:

   Bloated fish were removed from the achievements in patch 4.1.

10. Reply to this topic »

Bloated Smallfish

1. Lucca, November 2010:

   Just caught this as part of the Limnologist achievement, and wished to provide a listing of my catches until I snagged this fish.

   Location: Thunder Ridge, Durotar
   Total Catches: 76
   Skill Level: 480 (using Jeweled Fishing Pole)

   Brilliant Smallfish: 45 (63.9%)
   Longjaw Mud Snapper: 27 (33.3%)
   Minor Healing Potion: 2 (2.6%)
   10 Pound Mudsnapper: 1 (1.3%)
   Bloated Smallfish: 1 (1.3%)

2. Zapz, January 2011:

   Managed to just fish up the Bloated Mud Snapper in SW, off the boat in The Canals north of the fishing trainer.

   My Skill Level is maxed using the Mastercraft Kalu'ak Fishing Pole with + 3 Fishing (total base skill of 558)

   The catch rate in the end was as follows;

   Fish :: Amount Caught :: %

   Longjaw Mud Snapper :: 271 :: 64.6778%
   Bristle Whisker Catfish :: 90 :: 21.4797%
   Brilliant Smallfish :: 54 :: 12.8878%
   17 Pount Catfish :: 2 :: 0.4773%
   Bloated Mud Snapper :: 1 :: 0.2387%
   19 Pound Catfish :: 1 :: 0.2387%

   Total :: 419 :: 100.0000%

   Did this over several nights fishing for up to 30-60 mins at a time.

   i have also caught the Bloated Smallfish in Thunder Falls while getting the Violet Perch for the fishing daily. i wasnt fishing for the Bloated Smallfish, just a nice surprise while i did the daily.

   Catch rates there were as follows (i was extremely lucky)

   Fish Caught %

   Longjaw Mud Snapper :: 9 :: 50.0000%
   Brilliant Smallfish :: 8 :: 44.4444%
   Bloated Smallfish :: 1 :: 5.5556%

   Total :: 18 :: 100.0000%

   Good Luck!

3. Malak, February 2011:

   Took me 47 Casts in Elwyn Forest, Crystal Lake

1. Orion, February 2011:

   Started working on Bloated Smallfish today, fishing at Crystal Lake in Elwynn Forest

   Longjaw Mud Snapper: 67 (44.67%)
   Brilliant Smallfish: 81 (54%)
   Minor Mana potion: 1 (0.67%)
   Minor healing potion: 1 (0.67%)

   Total: 150 (100%)

2. Orion, February 2011:

   2nd Attempt:

   Longjaw Mud Snapper: 82 (35.19%)
   Brilliant Smallfish: 148 (63.52%)
   10 pound Mud Snapper: 2 (0.86%)
   Bloated Smallfish: 1 (0.43%)

   Session Total: 233 (100%)
   Total of 383 fish caught before Bloated Smallfish

3. Xcision, April 2011:

   This was my first attempt at catching the Bloated Smallfish (3pm - 3:45pm server time)

   525 Fishing + Arcanite Fishing Pole

   Tirisfal Glades @ Brightwater Lake

   Raw Brilliant Smallfish - 160
   Raw Longjaw Mud Snapper - 90
   Sickly Looking Fish - 54
   Old Skull - 21
   Old Teamster's Skull - 5
   12 Pound Mud Snaper - 4
   10 Pound Mud Snaper - 1
   Total Fish Caught - 335

   No Bloated so far. Will try again later tonight

4. Marlburo, August 2011:

   Got lucky with this one...although reading previous posts it seems like this is the easiest bloated fish to catch. Here are the stats from Durotar (Thunder Ridge):

   Raw Brilliant Smallfish - 706 (59%)
   Raw Longjaw Mud Snapper - 461 (38%)
   10 Pound Mud Snapper - 11 (0%)
   12 Pound Mud Snapper - 6 (0%)
   Minor Mana Potion - 2 (0%)
   Minor Healing Potion - 2 (0%)
   15 Pound Mud Snapper - 1 (0%)
   Bloated Smallfish - 1 (0%)

   TOTAL: 1190

5. Reply to this topic »

Patch 4.1 Changes

1. Thay, February 2011:

   Hmm, looks like 4.1 is removing most of the Bloated fish from these 2 achievs.

   The Limnologist: Bloated Catfish, Bloated Mud Snapper, Bloated Redgill Removed
   The Oceanographer: Bloated Giant Sunfish, Bloated Salmon Removed

   Off-Topic: It also adds in achievs for 100 & 125 pets collected. ^_^

   Thay

   Ref: http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/2189-Patch-4.1-on-PTR-Zul-aman-and-Zul-gurub-are-back

2. el, February 2011:

   Bloated Smallfish and Bloated Trout are still required for The Limnologist. And this is currently only data-mined information (although it is hard to go wrong with achievement data). But it looks like a dramatic shift in time commitment from the insane towards the trivial.

3. el, February 2011:

   As for the rest of the data files: There's an intriguing spell called "Gub Fishing" (97014). Gub is one of the new Zul'Gurub bosses. No sign of Gahz'ranka, but there is a trigger called "Summon Nat Pagle" (96600), so he probably hasn't been entirely forgotten.

   The PTRs aren't playable yet, but thus far 4.1 looks like a dungeon-heavy patch.

1. el, February 2011:

   The only other change I've found so far is that The Steam Pools (just south of Feralas) now contain fish - the same fish as inland Feralas, nothing special. The Goblin resort built there may be still in development.

2. whibla, February 2012:

   Before the Cataclysm, Old Azeroth's Salmon (Raw Sunscale Salmon and Raw Whitescale Salmon) and Raw Redgill were inland fish. The Cataclysm has not changed where these fish are caught - they are still only found inland.

   This is incorrect, though I'm not sure whether this was a patch change, or one made prior to that. The fish can be caught in the great sea, off the coast of Winterspring. Simply fly east, out of Winterspring, and a long way down...

3. el, February 2012:

   Thanks, Whibla. I don't think it changed, rather was forgotten: The area is now just like Silithus - there are not specific coastal fish allocated, so all parts of the zone default to inland fish.

   I'm unsure of the history of Winterspring, but from memory, pre-Cataclysm the coastal area was all zoned as The Great Sea - a separate zone, not part of Winterspring. That's different from now, which zones the water as Winterspring, then a sub-zone called the Great Sea. Without being told otherwise, the sub-zone inherits from Winterspring, and has no connection to the Great Sea parent zone.

   There is still a small part of the original Great Sea zone on the border between Winterspring and Darkshore (roughly north of Moonglade), containing Raw Rockscale Cod and Raw Spotted Yellowtail.

4. Reply to this topic »

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