Tiny Carp Battle Pets
Four new battle pets can be caught in Pandaria:
- Tiny Blue Carp
- Teaches: Summon a Tiny Blue Carp.
- "These little guys only live in the clear, magical waters of the Vale of Eternal Blossoms."
- Where to catch »
- Tiny Green Carp
- Teaches: Summon a Tiny Green Carp.
- "It is believed that the green coloration and stripes on the tiny green carp serve as camouflage in the waters of The Jade Forest, Valley of the Four Winds and the Krasarang Wilds."
- Where to catch »
- Tiny Red Carp
- Teaches: Summon a Tiny Red Carp.
- "The red scales of these fish are believed to be a warning to predators of the Townlong Steppes and the Dread Wastes that their flesh is toxic."
- Where to catch »
- Tiny White Carp
- Teaches: Summon a Tiny White Carp.
- "These hardy fish can survive in a wide range of climates, from the snow capped mountains of Kun-Lai Summit to the temperate, salty waters of the oceans around Pandaria."
- Where to catch »
Tiny Carp are bound when caught. The pet journal states they are unique and cannot be traded (once learned). Learnt Tiny Carp are rare quality. Each Tiny Carp pet looks similar, but with different colored scales. Tiny Blue and White Carps are illustrated.
The location descriptions above are taken from the pet journal. Typically one of the 4 Tiny Carp is possible to catch from any one pool or area of open water in Pandaria. However there are quirks, which are discussed in the guide to Catching Tiny Carp. Read that guide before trying to catch a Tiny Carp.
Tiny Carp are "very rare". They are certainly among the rarest minipets to be caught by fishing. Good luck!
Nat Pagle
Each rare fish that grants Nat Pagle's Friendship awards 600 reputation with him (before bonuses), up from 500. In addition, Mumper says:
"Rare [Pagle] fish catches are essentially twice as good."
On average, 4.4% of catches from both open water and pools in Pandaria will have a Pagle fish attached. Slightly better than twice as good, especially as this feels much less variable than the 1 or 2% in patch 5.1.
There are 6 different groups of waters Pagle fish may be caught from: Each of the 3 fish may be caught from pools or open water. One specific type of water was tested to represent each of these 6 different groups. The results are shown in the table below. Note that Pagle fish are now caught alongside a regular catch. So in the first case, 1,018 regular fish were caught from Swarm of Panicked Paddlefish, and 45 of those were caught with a bonus Flying Tiger Gourami.
| Pagle Fish | Sample Water | Pagle Fish Catch | Total Regular Catch | Percentage of Regular Catch with Pagle Fish | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total/Average | 275 | 6235 | 4.4% | ||
 | Flying Tiger Gourami | Pool (Swarm of Panicked Paddlefish) | 45 | 1018 | 4.4% |
| Open Inland Water (Townlong Steppes) | 46 | 1017 | 4.5% | ||
 | Mimic Octopus | Pool (Reef Octopus Swarm) | 43 | 1035 | 4.2% |
| Open Coastal Water (Krasarang Wilds) | 53 | 1103 | 4.8% | ||
 | Spinefish Alpha | Pool (Sha-Touched Spinefish) | 45 | 1050 | 4.3% |
| Open Sha-Touched Water (Kun-Lai Summit) | 43 | 1012 | 4.2% | ||
In practical terms, this suggests that all sources of Pagle fish have identical catch rates. Charmed fishing of densely packed pools (such as Fish of the Day pools) will be comparable to fishing open water with sufficient skill. The choice is yours.
Nat's achievement, "Learning from the Best", now correctly refers to "becoming best friends". Nat's Hat is still labelled as requiring "Exalted" reputation to buy.
Darkmoon Faire adds another item that adds a 10% bonus to reputation (and experience), including gains with Nat Pagle: The Darkmoon Top Hat. This consumable is sold by Gelvas Grimegate (at the Faire) for 10 Darkmoon Prize Tickets. The Hat is also rarely found in Darkmoon Game Prize containers, which are the new reward for the 5 Darkmoon dailies. Darkmoon Top Hats are consumed on use. Each lasts an hour, during which time a firework-laiden top hat can be seen on your head. When the hat's buff ends, the hat explodes - fortunately without causing any injury. The item "requires Darkmoon Faire", so Darkmoon Top Hats only exist while the Faire is active, but can be used away from Darkmoon Island. They can only be used during the Faire, but their buff can remain afterwards, for up to an hour. This buff does not stack with WHEE!, gained by riding the Faire's Carousel.
Fish of the Day
Fish of the Day - previously "pool migrations" - are new events: Clusters of pools around one specific location in Pandaria. As the name suggests, one active Fish of the Day migration may be found somewhere in Pandaria each day. Days start and end with the daily quest reset. The location of each day's active migration will vary between realms, seemingly at random.
Ben of the Booming Voice (who is fishing just east of Halfhill in Valley of the Four Winds) will tell you what and where today's Fish of the Day is. If you ask Ben, he will also mark the current Fish of the Day migration on your map with a red cross.
There are 9 possible Fish of the Day locations, listed below. Each location has unique pool types, but there are some features common to all migrations:
- Many rapidly re-spawning normal-sized pools, containing the same fish as one of the existing Pandarian pools.
- A single "large"-named pool with a wider diameter, fished to summon a hostile elite Krakkanon.
- A set of travelling Anglers including myself, and sometimes other people who "interact" with the pools.
High pool density and rapid pool respawn make Fish of the Day pools the most efficient place to catch any fish they contain. Large "Krakkanon" pools contain challenging solo Lurker Below-style encounters, plus a chance to gain Nat's Fishing Journal without first gaining Nat's friendship.
Golden Carp Replaces Junk...
Junk will no longer be caught in Pandaria when your fishing skill is too low. Instead of junk, you will catch extra Golden Carp.
Each area of open water still requires a certain fishing skill to catch (only) regular fish from open water. Before patch 5.2, if your effective fishing skill was below that value, a proportion of your casts into open water would catch junk items, like Driftwood or Weeds. Since patch 5.2, any Pandarian catch that would have been junk becomes a Golden Carp.
Pandaria's catch tables have not changed, so a proportion of open water catches are still Golden Carp, even when you have sufficient fishing skill. Catching extra Golden Carp due to insufficient skill means catching a lower proportion of every other fish in the water's catch table. So personal fishing skill and Equipment remains just as important as before.
The change has advantages and disadvantages:
- New and low-skilled anglers can fish in Pandaria for Golden Carp. This is especially helpful for new cooks, who use Golden Carp in certain leveling recipes. (A quest that introduces Carp fishing for new cooks is offered by Ben of the Booming Voice, at Halfhill.)
- Anglers will no longer get confused when they catch Scoured Fishbones or Desecrated Carcass - junk-quality items that are part of the regular catch table, and have never indicated a lack a skill.
- However, it becomes much harder for anglers to estimate whether their skill is sufficient, since catching a Golden Carp may, or may not, mean that you have insufficient skill.
- Golden Carp are likely to become more plentiful at the Auction House, lowering prices for those fish.
- There is more than one skill mechanic for anglers to learn - Pandaria's waters use a slightly different approach to other continents. (Outland, Northrend and Cataclysm zones all have similar "trash fish" to Golden Carp, but have not been changed.)
This change currently only applies to Pandaria: Skill-related junk may still be caught on other continents.
Or Catches Vary by Skill?
When fishing open coastal water around Darkmoon Island, your personal fishing skill determines which tier of fish catches the water contains.
Catches defined by the 6 original Old Azeroth Zone Groups (described in the Gazetteer) increment every 50 skill points, from skill 1 to 300. Then each expansion has a tier covering 75 skill points, up to 600. The table below shows the resulting skill brackets and common (coastal) catches within each.
| Fishing Skill | Tier | Common Catch |
|---|---|---|
| 1-50 | Zone Group 1 | Raw Slitherskin Mackerel |
| 50-100 | Zone Group 2 | Raw Rainbow Fin Albacore and Raw Slitherskin Mackerel |
| 100-150 | Zone Group 3 | Oily Blackmouth and Raw Rainbow Fin Albacore |
| 150-200 | Zone Group 4 | Raw Rockscale Cod and Raw Spotted Yellowtail |
| 200-250 | Zone Group 5 | Raw Glossy Mightfish and Raw Spotted Yellowtail |
| 250-300 | Zone Group 6 | Darkclaw Lobster, and Raw Summer Bass or Winter Squid |
| 300-375 | The Burning Crusade | Giant Sunfish |
| 375-450 | Wrath of the Lich King | Imperial Manta Ray, Moonglow Cuttlefish and Rockfin Grouper |
| 450-525 | Cataclysm | Deepsea Sagefish and Murglesnout |
| 525-600 | Mists of Pandaria | Giant Mantis Shrimp, Golden Carp and Reef Octopus |
Some notable quirks:
- Only your personal fishing skill is relevant: Equipment with skill bonuses has no affect.
- Junk may be caught between skill 1 and 25.
- The catch that takes your skill from one tier to the next tier contains a fish from the previous tier that cannot be looted successfully.
- Sea Pony can still be caught, apparently regardless of tier: The catch is unique to Darkmoon Island. Mimic Octopus cannot be caught: Pagle fish are apparently only found in Mists of Pandaria-tiered waters in Pandaria.
If applied universally, this approach is flawed, because there is no way to reduce an angler's personal fishing skill. One possibility is that the system will only apply up to a zone's native tier, for example, Outland waters would never yield anything higher than the Outland tier catches.
The problem with the Golden Carp change to skill is that low-skilled anglers will see almost no variety in their catch: Almost everything caught will be a Golden Carp, which is rather boring! Unfortunately the system now found on Darkmoon Island does not fit with MoP's changes to Cooking, which allow new cooks to train solely using Pandarian ingredients. So perhaps we will see further changes to pre-MoP Cooking? Or perhaps some combination of both new approaches, each on different continents? When asked what the odds of a "revamp for fishing" were, designer Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street replied, "Odds are high, but not for 5.2."
New Islands
Two new islands are accessible, each with fishable coastal water, but no new catches:
- Isle of Giants - Island full of elite grindable dinosaurs, north of Zouchin Village in Kun-Lai Summit.
- Isle of the Thunder King - New daily quest and raid hub. Like Isle of Quel'Danas, realm-wide quest progress adds to and unlocks new parts of the island over time. The Isle appears on the map north-west of Townlong Steppes, but can only be accessed via portals at Shado-Pan Garrison.
Both islands' coastal waters contain regular coastal Pandarian catches - mostly Golden Carp, Giant Mantis Shrimp and Reef Octopus. Giant Mantis Shrimp Swarm and Reef Octopus Swarm can also be found. 700 skill is required to fish these coastal waters without "junk" (or extra Golden Carp, see above). Neither island appears to have any fishable inland water: Their inland lakes and swamps are too shallow to cast into.
Darkmoon Fishing Cap
A new fishing hat can be caught:
- Darkmoon Fishing Cap
- Skill bonus: +5
- Use: Summon a pool of Shipwreck Debris (Darkmoon). Requires the Darkmoon Faire to be open. 1 Hour Cooldown.
The Darkmoon Fishing Cap is a rare (possibly very rare) catch from Darkmoon Island's open water.
The Cap grants a fixed +5 bonus to fishing skill, like other fishing hats. Every hour, while the Darkmoon Faire is open, the Cap can be used to create a single Shipwreck Debris (Darkmoon). The pools the Darkmoon Fishing Cap summons are identical to Shipwreck Debris (Darkmoon), the pools normally found around Darkmoon Island.
Minor Fishing Changes
Bloodsail Wreckage Pools return to Azeroth in patch 5.2, having been removed by patch 5.1. Bloodsail Wreckage Pools replace Waterlogged Wreckage Pools around the Stranglethorn peninsula. This allows The Scavenger to be completed again.
Ben of the Booming Voice (illustrated, who is fishing just east of Halfhill in Valley of the Four Winds) offers a quest aimed at cooks who want to learn to catch fish: No Fishing Pole Necessary. Simply catch 5 Golden Carp, and Ben will give you 10. What a generous chap! With the changes to junk outlined above, this quest is easy (indeed, easiest) with fishing skill 1. Ben also trains fishing and sells basic fishing supplies.
Rumsey Rum Black Label no longer buffs Stamina when drunk (thanks Cynwise).
Some minor fishing bugs have been fixed. For example, the bobber no longer splashes as the cast bar runs out.
Cooking: Advanced Refrigeration Unit
Engineers are expected to be able to create a new cooking bag:
- Advanced Refrigeration Unit
- Equip: 36-slot cooking bag.
- Source: Engineering (see below). Binds when equipped.
Unlike the Portable Refrigerator (sold by Nam Ironpaw for Ironpaw Tokens), the Advanced Refrigeration Unit binds when equipped, allowing it to be used by low-level characters, especially bankers. The Advanced model also offers 4 more slots than the Portable Refrigerator. Cooking Bags can contain a range of cooked food and cooking ingredients, including fish. Many anglers find Cooking Bags more useful than Tackle Boxes.
The Advanced Refrigeration Unit requires the new Lightning Forge on Isle of the Thunder King to make. Unfortunately, it appear that immediately prior to release, the Engineering items intended to unlock the Advanced Refrigeration Unit were removed. It is not known whether the Advanced Refrigeration Unit will be available in patch 5.2.
Farming: Sunsong Ranch Changes
Changes and additions have been made to Tillers Farming:
Ownership
Farmers can now properly own Sunsong Ranch. You must have completed the Tillers Union questline (with Tillers Exalted). Take the quest Inherit the Earth, which starts from Nana Mudclaw in Halfhill: Simply talk to Farmer Yoon and persuade him to take up a new job with the Tillers Union. Farmer Yoon then leaves your ranch and moves to Halfhill Market, where he continues to offer daily quests (and farming advice, if you still need it).
Ownership of Sunsong Ranch unlocks Work Orders (see below). It is also adds a "Farmer's Journal" to the floor of your hut, which you can bind your hearthstone to. The hut functions as an inn, allowing immediate log-out.
Work Orders
Several Pandarian factions may offer daily Work Orders. These are displayed on a post outside Sunsong Ranch's hut. Each Work Order is a 2-part daily quest, to first plant 8 of a named crop, then harvest and deliver 40 grown vegetables to a set of collecting boxes near your ranch's mailbox. Delivery rewards 300 reputation (before bonuses) with the appropriate faction. Since each faction's quests occupy 8 of Sunsong Ranch's soil patches, only 2 sets of Work Orders may be completed each day.
Work Orders are only offered to farmers with:
- Tillers Exalted reputation with all 16 soil patches unlocked (source). This requires level 90.
- Ownership of Sunsong Ranch.
- The relevant faction's dailies unlocked. For example, August Celestial and Shado-Pan Work Orders will not be offered until those factions are fully unlocked (via Golden Lotus quests).
Factions confirmed to offer Work Orders are (thanks perculia and Vishali):
- August Celestials - Striped Melon
- Dominance Offensive (Horde only) - Red Blossom Leek
- Golden Lotus - White Turnip
- Klaxxi - Mogu Pumpkin
- Operation: Shieldwall (Alliance only) - Witchberries
- Shado-Pan - Green Cabbage
Seeds
Seed bags are now sold which plant the same crop in up to 4 of the farm's soil patches at once. Using the bag AoE targets patches on the ground. Each bag has 10 charges - the potential to plant 40 crops.
Seed bags are only sold for vegetable and special (profession materials) crops. Vegetable seed bags require Tillers Revered. Special Crop seed bags require Tillers Exalted. Bags are sold by 2 vendors:
- Merchant Greenfield sells vegetable seed bags for 4g 50s each, and special crop seed bags for 30g each.
- Milly Greenfield, his young assistant, sells the same seed bags for 30 of the seed type which the bag plants.
Farming
Using the Earth-Slasher Master Plow on an Occupied plot now causes the Virmen to pop out, stunned and at 30% health.
There are reported to be fewer Wild (tentacle) crops to tend. More competitive yields from special (professions materials) crops are also reported (although this was already improved in patch 5.1).
Learn More
- Catching Tiny Carp - Guide to catching Tiny Blue, Green, Red and White Carp from the waters of Pandaria, including a list of locations, analysis of waters and catch rates, and strategies.
- Fish of the Day - Details the daily clustering of pools at specific locations in Pandaria.
- Darkmoon Skill Tiers - Describes how personal fishing skill determines the set of fish you may catch from open water around Darkmoon Island.
- 5.2: Darkmoon Catches Vary by Skill - News from 10 February 2013. Describes an alternative role for fishing skill, where the entire set of fish caught is determined by your personal fishing skill.
- 5.2: Pagle Reputation and Catch Changes - News from 5 February 2013. Data and analysis showing patch 5.2's increased catch rates for fish that grant Nat Pagle's friendship.
- 5.2: Pool Migrations - News from 29 January 2013. Describes the appearance of large numbers of fast-respawning pools at specific locations in Pandaria, alongside a single larger pool containing a Krakkanon.
- 5.2: Pandarian Junk Changes - News from 26 January 2013. Explains how extra Golden Carp are caught with insufficient skill.
- 5.2: El Catching Sea Monsters - News from 24 January 2013. Summoning the Krakkanon, and spotting Salty El.
- Patch 5.2 PTR Patch Notes - Official patch notes, unusually including a section on fishing.
- Also in Mists of Pandaria: Mists of Pandaria Essentials, Mists of Pandaria Fishing, Mists of Pandaria Catches, Mists of Pandaria Cooking, and Tillers Farming.
Comments about Patch 5.2
Below are readers' comments about "Patch 5.2":
Salty El
el, January 2013:
I got an overwhelming reaction to this on Twitter, so I'll post it here too.
Image: El at Sri-La Village / Image: Just the Two of Us
Level 90 Angler, "Salty El", is found in Sri-La Village during appearance of Large Swarm of Migrated Reef Octopus, as described in 5.2: El Catching Sea Monsters.
Killing all hostile octopi nearby disconnects the client, making a logic-defying picture of self stood next to self reassuring improbable, at least for now.
I'm, still blushing, but can you tell which one?
Yoco, January 2013:
Congratulations, well deserved!
Druidmoon, January 2013:
Ah! A wonderful touch by Blizzard and so very much deserved.
A just reward for your dedication and generosity in providing the ultimate WoW angling resource over these years.
Congratulations El. It could't of happened to a nicer gnome :)
Marlburo, January 2013:
sooooooooooooooooooooooooo jealous!!!! we need horde representation!!! But in all seriousness despite all my fishing accomplishments NO ONE has done more to promote fishing than you El, congrats! You deserve it!
Enarka, January 2013:
Nooo way :D
Vincent, January 2013:
Congratulations! You are my favorite Gnome!
Cailleach, January 2013:
I'm proud of you El! Just like Breanni getting a home in Dalaran, you deserved to be an Angler! Now, if only El would offer dailies and you could earn rep like Nat Pagle, what kind of items would you want to dole out from your NPC likeness? El's fishing net? Toss a net onto a fishing school and catch all of the fish at once? Just something fun to think about, it's totally cool you got a permanent spot in the game!
Congrats El!!
el, January 2013:
El would be handing out guides to fishing, obviously!
Actually, El's inactivity complements the location well:
- Pandaria suits El's increasingly contemplative nature. Not to mention the chance to be a member of the Anglers, WoW's first fishing faction.
- Sri-La Village is one of those places in WoW with no core game purpose, but is there anyway, filling a gap in the landscape.
- El can't always be found in the village. Sometimes she goes somewhere else.
anglinbrewmeister, January 2013:
Too awesome! Well-deserved for sure. Thanks for all the hard work on elsanglin!
Basill, January 2013:
Awesome......
been long due imho...I have only 1 question
Can the "fake" El be killed? ;)
el, January 2013:
"Fake" El is an Angler, so it would depend on whether that can faction can be set to hostile. I suspect not, because it would block too many quests.
Sri-La Village isn't the only location Salty El may be found. Here's a teaser: Image: Els Fishing in Fields of Niuzao
It appears that "pool invasions" can occur in many specific locations in Pandaria. First one just sees more pools form. But eventually (overnight so far, so hard to be sure) a larger monster pool spawns. These invasions are tracked by a group of Anglers, including Salty El (although the precise NPCs involved changes slightly from location to location), who move from place to place.
More details in due course - this will take a while to fully research.
Cailleach, January 2013:
Fishing guide! Of course! And it should grant anyone who has caught over 15k fish a better chance of catching a Sea Turtle and other rare fish/items/pets! XD
I'd like to see anyone who tries to kill El's NPC get smacked to death by fish clubs (perhaps Rockhide Strongfish)! Then receive the debuff "Smackereled" where you can only speak in some weird fish language and your breath meter is active while out of water, on dry land. That's what you get for messing with El.
Al, February 2013:
Fantastic! ... and well deserved!
Trokair, March 2013:
I've been doing my other WoW hobby (exploration) since 5.2 hit. I was completely oblivious to the 5.2 fishing changes until a couple of days ago.
El, a huge congratulations on Angler status with the in-game representation. You have been the authority on our shared hobby since the beginning. It is grand that they honor you in this fashion. So glad to see it.
The changes with 5.2 look good. I love new uber-rare pets to catch, that always gives you something to think about when you're angling. Ever since Pandaria hit I feel Blizzard has shown that it will continue to pay serious attention to the fishing community. I say hooray to that!
~ Wizard Trokair
Balazar, April 2013:
Hey El, long time no see - and congrats!
"There is no loot." fishing bug
GormanGhaste, March 2013:
Has anyone else run into this? The bobber dips, I click on it, and then this message appears instead of loot. This hasn't happened to me until 5.2. It happens for both short and long casts.
el, March 2013:
This happened to me during testing, on a few of the Brew Frenzied Emperor Salmon pools. I've also had it a couple of times from open water just recently. There doesn't seem to be any pattern to it, so I presume it is just a server glitch.
I don't know how the loot code changed in 5.2, but I'm fairly sure it did: Various bugs seem to have been introduced... The most obvious is the massive delay when looting more than one item from a loot window or container - very obvious when opening Sealed Crates - and widely reported when milling herbs. (That was there obvious all the way through testing, but Blizzard tend to miss those sorts of bugs, presumably because they test internally at near-zero ping times.)
Mconniff, March 2013:
It happened to me while trying to catch the Tiny Red Carp. Till I figured out that it was the seagulls and Shark that were eating the pool before the cast timer. There were a couple of other times it happened when I wasn't trying to fish for Tiny Carp but I don't remember exactly where or circumstances.
Mconniff
Marlburo, March 2013:
Happened today to me on multiple Brewed Frenzied Emperor Salmon pools. I tried "clearing" the pool (making them go away) by fishing them. When I returned to the newly spawned pool it had the same error. Seems like the pools were concentrated near the coast. I've done about 4k in casts since 5.2, this is the first time I've seen this.
annie, April 2013:
To get rid of it, log out/quit program and open again. If this fails, exit the program and clear the cache: For Windows users, delete or rename the file Program Files/World of Warcraft/Cache. A new Cache file will be created when WOW next opens.
Big Iron Fishing Pole
jberryl, March 2013:
Have been collecting and selling Big Iron Fishing Pole's for the past two years. They are not a hot selling item but I've made over 30K gold in the two years. Went farming today inasmuch as I just listed my last pole. Found that the traps are non-clickable. Can anyone else verify they are gone?
el, March 2013:
They're not gone: I just managed to loot a Big Iron Fishing Pole. However I could only interact with the minority of the Shellfish Traps. Perhaps the traps are not respawning correctly? If you can, check immediately after the weekly maintenance.
jberryl, March 2013:
Will do. I clicked on several on the circuit I normally take - not all of them though and like I said I did put a ticket in. thanks.
jberryl, March 2013:
Wow - How totally annoying. Got one also. Not only is the interaction with the Shellfish traps decrease, as you loot them they decrease further. 25 mins and I'm down to one being available as a respawn. Wonder if they reset daily. Will live my lock there and see what comes up tomorrow am. Oh, just got two more on the pm reset.
5.2 Fishing Junk
el, January 2013:
In addition to the headline 4 new Tiny Carp battle pets (see 5.2: Tiny Carp Battle Pets), Wowhead shows a range of new junk items which sound rather fishy:
- Diamond-Crusted Golden Hook
- Dimly Glowing Scale
- Crystallized Barnacle
- Failed Experiment Brew
- Fishcicle
- Gokk'lok's Shimmering Pearl
- Humming Jade Scale
- Jin'yu Pearl
- Master Snowdrift's Vial
- Nam Adam's Pumpkin Sout
- Octopus Egg
- Ruby Ring
- Tangled Kelp
- Yaungol Horn Fragment
- Yun's Chocolate Stout
All fit in the Tackle Box. Hard to get excited about junk, I know, but sometimes this points to further additions, as yet unseen.
Enarka, January 2013:
This is fishy, especially since they actually have pretty telling names.
el, January 2013:
Very early days, with a lot of research to do, but it looks like junk catches (from insufficient skill) have been removed in 5.2. Instead catches that would have been junk yield the trash fish - i.e. extra Golden Carp.
So a first test in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms at 600 skill gave around 75% Golden Carp. That's roughly the 47% Golden Carp expected with sufficient skill, plus 47% of the overall catch as junk. At 815 skill, I got 50% Golden Carp, against an expected junk catch of 2%.
Clearly this needs mountains more data, especially outside Pandaria, so all might yet change. But that's my first gut feeling.
