Fishing can be both AFK and click intensive with the options available to players. In this osrs fishing guide, we’ll be taking you through the fastest and most efficient ways to train the skill to 99. In Addition to a range of alternative methods that may suit you better for 1-99 fishing osrs.
Fishing in OSRS can be trained in a variety of different ways, whether it be AFK or high-intensity methods. This OSRS Fishing Training Guide will aim to showcase some of the most efficient training methods to level 99, as well as a range of viable alternatives for players wanting AFK or Profit when training.
Fishing Equipment
Unless using the barehand barbarian fishing method to catch fish, you will almost need some sort of fishing tool to help you attract and catch fish. The required equipment for different types of fishing in OSRS is as follows:
- Small & Big fishing nets – used for net fishing.
- Fishing rod & bait – used for bait fishing.
- Fly fishing rod & feathers – used for fly fishing.
- Lobster pot – used for cage fishing lobsters.
- Harpoon – used for harpoon fishing.
- Cormorant & bait (King Worms or Fish Chunks) – used for Aerial Fishing.
- Barbarian rod & bait (feathers, fish offcuts, roe, caviar or fishing bait) – used for Barbarian Fishing.
Angler’s Outfit
The Anglers outfit is an experience-boosting outfit, when worn this equipment will boost all fishing experience by 2.5%. It can be worn at level 34 fishing, but must be obtained via the Fishing Trawler minigame. From level 34 to 99 fishing it will save approximately 337k fishing experience.
The experience it saves will likely not be worth the time spent to acquire the set. However, it’s worth it in the long-run as the set required to complete certain master clue scroll steps. Additionally, to gain access to Minnows players will need to have acquired this set.
Spirit Angler’s Outfit
The Spirit Angler’s outfit works exactly the same as the regular Angler’s outfit. Providing a 2.5% boost to fishing experience with the full set equipped. But, is obtained via the Tempoross minigame rather than the Fishing Trawler.
Unlike the Fishing Trawler there is not as much RNG required to achieve the set. Players can exchange 1,200 spirit flakes for 1 spirit angler piece, in total the set contains 4 items, so 4,800 spirit flakes are required.
Rada’s Blessing
Completion of the Kourend & Kebos diary tiers will increase the chance of catching two fish at once. Providing 2%, 4%, 6% and 8% for each respective tier of the diary.
This item is not relevant to any of the fast experience methods below, as there is no additional experience granted for the extra fish. But, is great for some of our alternative methods below, that is focused on passive profit.
Fastest Fishing Experience
Below you can find the most efficient road to 99 fishing in Oldschool Runescape. All of the fastest fishing xp methods dependant on your current fishing level.
Questing: Levels 1-33
Questing your way through the early fishing levels is the most efficient strategy to use in OSRS.
Completing Sea Slug, Fishing Contest and the Pirate Pete (Recipe for Disaster sub-quest) will reward you with 10,612 fishing experience. This will take you to level 27 fishing and can be done with minimal requirements.
With slightly higher requirements, players can then complete the Tai Bwo Wannai Trio and Fremennik Trials. This will provide enough experience to reach level 33 and is still the most efficient way to get through these early fishing levels.
Fly Fishing: Levels 20-47/58
Fly Fishing for Salmon and Trout provides experience rates of up to 65,000 per hour at level 58, providing you are using tick manipulation techniques. With AFK methods it is still possible to get 37,000 fishing xp per hour. This is the fastest fishing training method to use between level 20 and 58.
To use tick manipulation players will have to use the three-tick cycle. This process involves a herb and tar or a knife and teak/mahogany log and the actions to use are as follows:
- Catch Fish
- Start 3-tick cycle (herb + tar or knife + mahogany/teak log.
- Drop Fish
- Click Fishing Sport.
Always drop the fish you catch, it is never worth banking due to their low price.
Drift Net Fishing: Levels 47-58/99
Drift net fishing is the most efficient method of training the fishing and hunter skills together. Although, it is not the best fishing xp in the long-term, it is best to do this from fishing levels 47-58.
The method is found underwater on Fossil Island, so Bone Voyage quest completion is a hard requirement. Once there you will need to chase fish shoals into the drift nets. A trident can be used to chase the shoals, as seen in the gear setup above.
Experience rates at level 50 fishing is around 64k experience per hour, significantly better than fly fishing. The full breakdown of fishing and hunter experience for this activity can be seen below.
Barbarian Fishing: Level 58-99
From level 58 to 99 players will be able to use Barbarian Fishing as an efficient fishing training method. It provides experience rates up to 108k fishing exp/hour at level 99 or 90k/hour at level 70 fishing, a full breakdown can be seen the in table below.
To use the method, players will need to complete a portion of the Barbarian Training mini-quest. Another requirements is a minimum of level 30 Agility/Strength to catch leaping salmon and 45 Agility/Strength to catch leaping sturgeon.
The same strategy of 3-tick fishing noted in the fly fishing section must be used to get the highest experience rates. Although, this method can still be viably AFKed without tick manipulation, as seen by the experience rates in the graph above.
Additionally, since this method provides small amounts of additional strength and agility experience it can be useful to power level to 99 fishing with this method on low level accounts. As it is possible to get around level 70-75 agility and strength without actually training the skills directly, when training to 99 fishing.
2-tick Tuna & Swordfish: Levels 71-99
2-tick Tuna and Swordfish fishing in OSRS is the fastest fishing training method available. At level 99, with a crystal harpoon, expect rates up to 135,000 exp/hour. At level 85 players should expect around 115,000 exp/hour and at level 71 expect 87,000 exp/hour.
For this method to be worth doing, tick manipulation is a hard requirement. Without tick manipulation, you should continue with any of the other methods shown in this guide.
The setup used for 2-tick harpoon fishing is a little more advanced to learn. Head to the north-western section of Piscarilius and get attacked by two rates. Each rat must attack at two ticks apart from the other rat. When a hitsplat appears on your character you should then click on the fishing spot to fish. This example can be seen in the animation below.
Alternative OSRS fishing methods
Not everyone wants to use the fastest fishing experience methods from our 99 fishing guide osrs. Understandably so, as many of them include tick manipulation which can be extremely click intensive. Below you can find a range of OSRS fishing training method alternatives, with AFK and profitable methods included.
Tempoross: Levels 35-99
Tempoross provides the fastest fishing experience per hour if tick manipulation methods are not being used. At level 99, with a Crystal Harpoon, expect around 95,000 fishing exp per hour. This starts at 30,000 exp per hour for levels 35 and the scaling for different levels and harpoon tiers can be seen in the table below.
For the best experience rates it is important to not cook the harpoonfish during the minigame and to bring your best harpoon. Although, it is worth noting, not cooking the fish will result in lower points and loot per game.
Aerial Fishing: Levels 43-99
The Aerial Fishing method trains both Fishing and Hunter at the same time. Making it similar to drift net fishing, only with slower hourly experience overall.
Since it is not as fast, this method is only really recommended to players who want to obtain the unique rewards on offer here.
In addition to having 43 fishing, you will also need a minimum of 35 hunter. Experience rates can be found in the table below, assuming you are paying moderate attention and catching around 1600 fish every hour.
Monkfish: Levels 62-99
Fishing monkfish is extremely low effort, the fishing spawns last for a relatively long time allowing you to AFK between them. Additionally, the bank is super close, only a 5 second run from the fishing spots.
There is also small amounts of profit from this method, which can be seen to the right of this section. However, Swan Song is a hard requirement to access the Piscatoris Fishing Colony, the only location monkfish can currently be fished.
Karambwan: Levels 65-99
Karambwan Fishing is one of the best AFK training methods for fishing in OSRS. Players can expect experience rates of around 30,000 fishing exp per hour, however, they are extremelty low effort and players can use this method while focusing on other activities.
The completion of the Quest Tai Bwo Wannai Trio is required for fishing Karambwans. You will also need a Karambwan Vessel and raw Karambwanji. Tiadeche will sell 50 raw Karambwanji per world at 10gp each, or they can be fished near the fairy ring code C-K-R.
To reach the area where karambwan are caught, players can use the fairy ring code D-K-P. This is the best way to get to the area, a quest point cape or PoH fairy ring can be used to reach a fairy ring efficiently.
Some minor Quality of Life improvements for this method include having complete the Lumbridge & Draynor Elite Diary, as this means players will no longer need their Dramen or Lunar Staff for using the fairy rings, this means they can equip the dragon/crystal harpoon instead. Also, the Fishing Barrel (tempoross reward) can be helpful as it allows players to double up on the amount of fish they can carry in a single trip, effectively doubling AFK time.
Anglerfish: Levels 82-99
Anglerfish are also unlocked at level 82 and can be fished if you have 100% Piscarilius favour. They provide very low amounts of fishing experience. Around 12k exp per hour at level 82, scaling to around 18-20k at level 99.
However, they are one of the best food to have in PvM situations. Meaning this method may be popular for ironmen accounts who want to sacrifice experience rates for high-tier food.
Minnows: Levels 82-99
Minnows provide moderate experience rates, around 56k fishing xp/hour at level 99. But, are best known for being one of the best methods of obtaining raw sharks. This makes them a very viable training method for Ironmen in need of a steady food source for bossing, pvm and day to day activities.
However, the full anglers outfit is a requirement to use this method, as you need to wear the set to gain access to the Minnow’s Fishing platform. The Rada’s Blessing is not required, but is strongly recommended, as it increases minnows catch by 2% for each Kourend diary tier completion.
Infernal Eels: Levels 80-99
With access to Mor Ul Rek below Karamja, players will be able to find the Infernal Eel fishing spots. This provides around 35k fishing experience per hour. However, the method is mainly popular as you are not required to bank.
Players can use a hammer to smash the infernal eels in exchange for Tokkul, Onyx bolt tips and lava scale shards. Making this method relatively AFK, with small levels of passive profit.
Sacred Eels: Levels 87-99
The Sacred Eels are very similar to how the Infernal Eels. Both in terms of their functionality and benefits. Players with 87 fishing and access to Zul-andra (regicide quest requirement), can fish sacred eels.
They provide relatively low rates of experience, topping out at around 25k per hour. However, they do also provide passive cooking experience of around 30,000 exp per hour. In addition to around 1,500 zulrah scales per hour which can be very useful for ironmen or as a passive source of profit, with very low levels of effort.
Dark Crabs: Levels 85-99
For fishing dark crabs to actually be a viable method, you will need to complete the elite tasks in the Wilderness Diary. As this will provide free access to the Resource Area in the deep wilderness. Dark Crabs will also be caught at a far faster rate. Providing some decent profit per hour, with around 40,000 fishing experience per hour if you’re not distracted by PKers.
Since this is a wilderness activity, bring no more than 4 expensive defensive items. The Dinh’s Bulwark should be a priority if you have it. Additionally, remember to always maintain your protect item prayer if you’re taking 4 items, you can drop down to 3 if you wish to be safe. Also, turn off left click attack player to avoid accidental skulling.
Fishing Guild
At level 68 players may enter the Fishing Guild. This is a boost-able requirement, so players with as low as 63 can theoretically enter the guild with a spicy stew boost. The Guild is located north of East Ardougne and slightly south-west of the Ranged Guild.
When inside, players will experience a +7 invisible fishing boost. The Guild is home to its own bank and docks. The docks have about 11 cage and harpoon spots, 9 big net and harpoon spots, there is also the fishing platform where minnows can be fished.