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Introduction

Nat Pagle fishing (gnome perspective).

You improve your fishing skill by successfully catching fish. It doesn't matter where you fish or what you catch, so long as you successfully catch something. You can even catch junk items. In the next section we will discuss why you might want to do more than "just catch fish" to skill-up fishing.

The table below shows the expected number of catches required for each point of fishing skill. As discussed in the Role of Skill, the number of catches per skill point gradually rises.

Catches Required to Gain a Point of Skill
Current Fishing SkillAverage Number of Successful Catches to Gain a Point of Skill
FromTo
11151
1151352
1351603
1601904
1902155
2152406
2402607
2602858
2852959
29530013
3003159
31535510
35542511
42545012

About 2,700 catches are required to train from skill 1 to 450.

You cannot forget how to fish ((unlearn or reset the skill)). There is no need to unlearn fishing - it is secondary skill.

Ranks

There is a maximum skill level that you may achieve at each profession rank. You will need to improve your professional rank to advance beyond each maximum skill level. The table below summarises these levels, and what must be done to advance rank.

Fishing Rank and Skill Levels
RankMinimum character levelMinimum fishing skillMaximum fishing skillCostHow to train
Apprentice5-751sAny Fishing Trainer.
Journeyman10501505sAny Fishing Trainer.
Expert101252251gAny Fishing Trainer.
Artisan102253002g 50sAny Fishing Trainer.
Master1027537510gAny Fishing Trainer in Outland or Northrend.
Grand Master1035045035gAny Fishing Trainer in Northrend.

As Alliance at level 10, you can ask Gubber Blump in Darkshore to train you as an Apprentice: Take the quest The Family and the Fishing Pole, and then talk to Gubber again and he will teach you to fish for free (thanks Wyllow).

Patch 3.1 removes Expert and Master rank books. Artisan fishing is no longer taught by a quest (the old artisan quest now rewards a +25 fishing pole).

Grand Master

valgarde Fishing Trainer

Grand Master rank is trained directly from fishing trainers in Northrend. This means you must have Wrath of the Lich King to train Grand Master rank. Lower level anglers can train all ranks from Northrend trainers. Marcia Chase in Dalaran can only be safely reached using a portal or summon, but other trainers can be visited alone.

Northrend fishing trainers:

Cooking trainers are also found in the same towns. Most cooking trainers are found in inn kitchens.

Gaining rank simply means catching a lot of fish, right? Yes, but there are many different strategies you can use to level fishing.

Learn More