Fishing for World of Warcraft Gold
Fishing is one of those secondary professions in World of Warcraft that players either love or hate (rather like Archeology). After all, why would anyone stand idly by watching their bobber – well bob? But learning to fish is a great way to earn a little extra gold and provides players with an extra gathering opportunity for a wide variety of valuable mats – not just fish.
Now, the Horde have a saying ‘It takes a big one to catch a big one‘.
The meaning of this has become lost over time, but the Alliance have always taken it to mean that, when it comes to the secondary profession of fishing, the size of ones pole really does matter. So, listen to the Horde in this matter and equip the biggest fishing pole you can lay your hands on as this will increase your skill and improve your success rate when fishing. Most fishing vendors now stock a ‘Strong Fishing Pole‘ in addition to the standard fishing pole which will boost your skill by +5. For the Horde the preference is still the Big Iron Pole which can be farmed from the shellfish crates off the horde village in Desolace and that adds a +20 buff.
If you can’t get you hands on a decent pole then the next best thing is to add an enhanced lure or bait to your pole. Examples include:
- Shiny Bauble +25 for 10 minutes
- Nightcrawlers +50 for 10 minutes
- Bright Baubles +75 for 10 minutes
- Flesh Eating Worm +75 for 10 minutes
- Aquadynamic Fish Attractor +100 for 5 minutes
- Heat Treated Lure +150 for 15 minutes
Now the products of fishing are – well fish!  But not always, for as your skill advances your chances of catching the odd loot locker increases along with other items of value such as gems and pearls. Watch for nodes of floating wreckage which yield catches of valuable mats. These are common all along the seashore.
Selling Fish in the Auction House
Fish are a class of Meat and are thus a valuable commodity to trade on the Auction House. Browse the Auction House under the general category of Trade Goods->Meat and you’ll see the types of fish that are commonly traded and the prices they fetch. You’ll be surprised at how much gold can be made from the trading of common types of fish, providing players at all levels with an additional income stream. This is because fish are used in a wide variety of cooking recipes, thus keeping them in demand.
Where to Fish
The best place to fish are the frequent animated ‘pools’ found in most bodies of water. Depending on your location these will yield valuable types fish and a wide variety of valuable mats including Elemental mats such as Elemental Water, Motes of Water, Crystallized Water and Volatile Water, depending on which expansion you are playing. A nice area to fish for Volatile Water is Uldum from the many pools of Blackbelly Mudfish found along the delta. It’s also possible to fish the laval pools for Volatile Fire in the Cannon’s Inferno of the Twilight Highlands.
In summary, fishing can be a valuable addition to your arsenal of gold making professions in the World of Warcraft. By selecting a good pole from the start, enhanced with bait, a players fishing skill can be raised allowing a wide variety of locations to be fished even during the early levels. As well as providing players with a variety of valuable fish to trade on the Auction House, the secondary profession of fishing can be used to farm valuable Elemental material across all the expansions of the game.
Posted by
Marcus Ty
Marcus Ty writes on all aspects of gold making in the World of Warcraft. His latest Gold Making Blog chronicles his trials at making gold and is part of his Journal of Marcus Ty series of books and articles. You can follow Marcus on Twitter @MarcusTy
[Try my guide to catching expensive fish here – The Gold Queen]
The Gold Queen 
On a fishing-related tip – the three fish used in the seafood magnifique feast are a potential cross-faction gold earner. It’s such a niche market that there being just one or two more people fishing on one faction could drastically lower the price. I’ve been flipping stacks of lavascale catfish and fathom eels recently for 100g profit per stack. (There just haven’t been enough highland guppies on the AH to flip, I’ve just been using them myself.)
As for actually fishing for profit – because of the severe lack of highland guppy on my server’s AH, I thought it might be worthwhile to go out to Twilight Highlands and spend some time fishing. I had no idea how slowly those pools spawn… if you do try for them, you’re probably better off just taking a loop around the lake there every 5 or 10 minutes but otherwise just fishing in open water.
Tol Barad (peninsula) is another good place to fish… lots of fathom eels, plus driftwood which can have cloth, ore, volatiles, etc. If you can’t water walk, bring a potion – it’s far quicker to run along the coast in the water, and much less chance of getting ganked.