5 Best Fishing Methods For Profit & XP in OSRS

Fishing is one of the hardest skills to get to 99 in the game, and it takes a long time to learn.

People in the community are split between those who want to have the most fun fishing and those who want to make the most money.

Since fishing can be a great way to make money and get gold!

Fishing Equipment

Unless you are fishing like a savage with just your hands, you will almost certainly need some kind of fishing tool to help you catch fish.

For different kinds of fishing in OSRS, the following gear is needed:

  • Both small and large fishing nets are used to catch fish.
  • A fishing stick and bait are used to fish with bait.
  • The fly fishing stick and feathers are used to catch fish with flies.
  • Lobster pots are used to catch lobsters in cages.
  • Harpoons are used to fish with harpoons.
  • Cormorant and food (King Worms or Fish Chunks) are used for aerial fishing.
  • Barbarian fishing requires a stick and bait, which can be feathers, fish scraps, roe, caviar, or fishing bait.

Angler’s Outfit

The Anglers outfit is a piece of gear that boosts experience. When worn, it adds 2.5% to all fishing experience.

It can be worn at fishing level 34, but you have to play the Fishing Trawler minigame to get it. It will save about 337k fishing experience on the way from level 34 to level 99.

Most likely, the time it takes to get the set will not be worth the time it saves.

But in the long run, it’s worth it because you need that set to finish some steps on the master hint scroll.

Also, players will need to have bought this set in order to play Minnows.

Spirit Angler’s Outfit

The outfit of the Spirit Angler works just like the outfit of the standard Angler.

When the whole set is worn, it gives a 2.5% boost to fishing experience. But instead of the Fishing Trawler, you get it from the Tempoross minigame.

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Getting the set doesn’t take as much random chance as the Fishing Trawler. Players can trade 1,200 spirit flakes for one piece of a spirit fish set. Since the set has four pieces, they will need 4,800 spirit flakes.

Before following the steps in this osrs fishing guide, you should definitely get a gear.

Rada’s Blessing

When you finish the Kourend and Kebos diary stages, your chances of catching two fish at once go up. Giving 2%, 4%, 6%, and 8% for each of the diary’s four levels.

This item has nothing to do with any of the ways to gain experience quickly listed below, since the extra fish don’t give any extra experience.

But it works well for some of the other ways we show below that focus on making money without doing much work.

But which ways are worth your time the most?

Let’s look at and talk about some of the best ways to fish in OSRS.

Note: Before you go fishing, you should also get the angler’s outfit from the fishing Trawler minigame.

Each piece of the set gives you more experience while fishing!

5. Barbarian Fishing

Fishing Methods For Profit

Aerial fishing is great because you can train two skills at once (Fishing and Hunter) and get good experience rates.

But you can only fish from the air at Lake Molch, and you need at least level 35 Hunter and level 43 Fishing to start here.

When you fish here, you have a rare chance of getting Molch Pearls, which you can use to buy a lot of unique rewards like the Fish Sack and different Pearl fishing lines.

Starting out, you can expect to gain between 18k and 25k experience per hour in Fishing and Hunting, which isn’t too bad.

At level 99, this goes up a lot, to about 60k fishing experience and 80k hunting experience per hour. Not too bad, but there could be other things to do with your time.

Where to Go: You can begin Ariel Fishing at Lake Molch in Kourend.

4. Monkfish

The only other way to get Zulrah scales than by killing Zulrah is to catch a Sacred Eel.

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So, a lot of people use these eels to make money.

You’ll get less scales from fishing than from killing Zulrah, but it’s safer and only costs bait.

You’ll get about 20k Fishing experience and 24k Cooking experience per hour, and you’ll also make about 1400 Zulrah scales, which are worth about 180k.

Just keep in mind that you’ll need a fairly high Fishing level of 87 to catch these eels. But it’s kind of AFK.

And if you have a level 72 in Cooking, you can skin the eels right away to get scales without leaving the area. This gives a little bit of Cooking knowledge as well.

Players should also be aware that the higher their level in Cooking, the more scales they will get. So if you want to make money, you should work on your cooking skills.

Where to Go: Head over to Zul-Andra near where you start the Zulrah fight. This will require the completion of the Regicide quest to access. Eels require a Fishing Rod to catch.

3. Minnows

The best way to get sharks in OSRS is to catch minnows.

It takes a lot more clicks than using a harpoon, which is a very AFK thing to do. But when people fish for minnows, they catch a lot more sharks per hour.

Here, the rate of experience isn’t the best. At level 82, you’ll get about 15,000 Fishing experience per hour.

At level 99, this can give no more than about 25,000 experience per hour.

At level 82 Fishing, you can catch 375 sharks in an hour, so the profit is pretty good. At level 99, this can reach as high as 625 sharks per hour!

So, if you fish for minnows, you can make anywhere from 250k to 416k per hour. Worth every penny.

I’d suggest using a Rada’s blessing here to catch more fish.

Where to Go: To catch minnows you’ll need a minimum of level 82 in fishing, and a full Anglers outfit. You should then head over to the Fishing guild and take the row boat to the minnows platform. And remember to take a small net, since minnows require a small net to catch.

2. Sacred Eels

Monkfish can be caught with just a level 62 Fishing skill. They offer a good mix of money and experience.

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Depending on your Fishing Level, you can catch between 200 and 400 of these per hour.

You could expect to get about 300 of these per hour, on average. You also get about 35,000 experience points per hour.

This is worth about 90k gp, so the money you could make from it isn’t too bad.

Overall, you can catch Monkfish faster than sharks with a gun, they give you more experience, and you can leave them alone for much longer than minnows.

Many people do Monkfish all the way to 99 Fishing, too, because they can watch a movie and relax while doing it.

Where to Go: Monkfish are only obtainable at the Piscatoris Fishing Colony, which requires that you complete the quest “Swan Song”. This is a Master level quest, so be ready for quite the fight at the end! Monkfish require a small net to catch.

1. Aerial Fishing

Barbarian Fishing is the most commonly used method to get to level 99, since the experience is really good and you’ll be training multiple skills at the same time.

Barb Fishing is available starting from level 48. There are multiple ways to train this too, since you can simply choose to AFK it, or use the 3-tick method to maximize efficiency.

But the 3-tick techniques can be very click intensive.

Without the 3-tick method, expect about 50k experience from level 70 fishing, and 90k-100k experience per hour from level 99 fishing.

You should also expect to gain some minor Agility and Strength experience, roughly 5k agility and 8k Strength per hour, from level 80 onward.

These experience rates are the best in the game for fishing by a mile.

However, there’s no money made here, since all fish are dropped.

Where to Go: Barbarian fishing can be done by Otto’s Grotto, or just outside the Chambers of Xeric. You’ll need to finish barbarian training first before you can start Barbarian fishing. Also you’ll need to use a unique Heavy Rod found under Otto’s bed for this style of fishing.