OSRS Fishing Guide 1–99: AFK, Fast XP and Money Making

Why Fishing 1–99 Still Matters

Fishing has three separate roads to 99: 3-tick barbarian fishing for XP, karambwans that fill an inventory without a click, and anglerfish that pay for the grind. Pick the goal for the session (XP, AFK time or money) and the method follows.

Bils Services offers hand-done Fishing training if you would rather outsource the grind. Everything below assumes you are doing it yourself.

The XP and GP numbers on this page are the OSRS Wiki's Fishing training rates for efficient play, read on 14 October 2026. Fish prices move with the Grand Exchange, so treat every GP figure as a snapshot and re-check the wiki's money making guide before a long grind.

Fishing 1–99 Level Path

Quests cover the first 33 levels. After that the route splits by goal, and most methods stay usable all the way to 99, so the table below gives the level each one opens rather than a strict order.

Pick Your Fishing Method

Every main method side by side, with the wiki's XP per hour from Pay-to-play Fishing training and GP per hour from its money making guide. These are rates for efficient play; expect a little less while you learn a method.

Fastest XP Methods

Tick manipulation sets the ceiling. The wiki lists 3-tick fly fishing as the fastest method from 20 up to 58 (drift nets overtake it from 47 if you also want Hunter), and barbarian fishing on the same 3-tick rhythm as one of the fastest methods from 58. Plain fly fishing without ticks is only a low-effort option past 35, not a fast one.

If you will not tick manipulate, Tempoross is the wiki's pick near 99 when you own a crystal harpoon; without one, it rates drift nets higher. 2-tick harpooning swordfish and tuna at Port Piscarilius only beats the other methods from 61.

Your harpoon changes the rates. The crystal harpoon has the best catch rate of the three. The dragon harpoon's special attack raises Fishing by 3 levels. The infernal harpoon cooks some catches as you go, which the wiki puts at about 20,000 to 26,000 passive Cooking XP an hour while 2-tick harpooning.

The full angler's outfit adds 2.5% XP per fish. It comes from Fishing Trawler (about 6 hours on average for the set) or from aerial fishing, which takes about as long but is more click-heavy.

How 3-tick and 2-tick fishing work

3-tick fishing means starting a three-tick action, usually a herb used on swamp tar, then clicking the fishing spot. Timed right, you get a catch roll every three ticks instead of five on fly fishing. Shift-drop each fish before the next click so the inventory never fills.

At Barbarian Training's heavy rod spots there is a cut-eat variant: gut the fish with a knife and eat the roe or caviar to hold the cycle. It adds Cooking XP, saves dropping and makes fish offcuts to use as bait. The wiki recommends 80 Cooking first, because from there cutting salmon and sturgeon never fails.

2-tick harpooning sits above both. Lure two rats west of the Port Piscarilius bank, wield a shortbow with no ammo, turn on auto retaliate and click the spot on the tick a hitsplat lands. That gives a roll every two ticks instead of six. The wiki says it is not worth doing at all without the tick timing.

Cheapest / Budget Approach

Fishing costs almost nothing to train. The recurring bills are bait: feathers or fish offcuts for barbarian fishing, sandworms for anglerfish, and raw karambwanji for karambwans. Tempoross needs only a harpoon.

Dropping is faster than banking on most methods, so bank only when the fish is food you will eat or something that sells. On an Ironman that calculation flips, which is covered below.

Rada's blessing from the Kourend & Kebos Diary gives a 2%, 4%, 6% or 8% chance (easy to elite) to catch two fish at once. The extra fish gives no XP, so it is a money upgrade rather than an XP one.

AFK & Lower-Intensity Options

For AFK fishing you want a spot that never moves. Every method below has one, and the inventory times come from the wiki's training page.

The fish barrel holds 28 raw fish and can only be emptied at a bank or deposit box. It doubles a banking trip and does nothing for a dropping one.

Barbarian Fishing vs Monkfish vs Karambwan

These three open within 17 levels of each other and all run for hours without much thought, so they are the usual mid-game argument. The numbers settle it quickly. Rates are from Pay-to-play Fishing training; quest requirements from Tai Bwo Wannai Trio and Swan Song.

The 3-tick column is the one that changes the decision. Only barbarian fishing has a tick method among these three, so if you are willing to learn the herb-and-tar cycle, nothing else here comes close. If you are not, barbarian fishing still leads on XP (57,000 an hour at 99 against 42,000 for the other two), so the real choice is XP or money.

For an Ironman, the outputs matter more than the rate. Barbarian fishing gives roe, caviar and offcuts plus Cooking XP when you gut, karambwans are the standard PvM food, and monkfish is another food option once Swan Song is done.

Hours to 99 Fishing

Hours below are the XP gap from the wiki's Experience table divided by the wiki's rate averaged between each level it lists. Breaks, bank mistakes and learning time push real numbers up.

The fastest common route without 2-ticking: quests to 33 (18,424 XP), 3-tick fly fishing to 58 in about 3.5 hours, then 3-tick barbarian fishing to 99 in about 126. That is roughly 130 hours of actual fishing for 1–99.

Fishing Money Making

The fish themselves turn properly profitable in the 80s; below that, karambwans and monkfish are mostly about food. The exceptions are activities rather than fish: aerial fishing from 43 and Tempoross from 35 sit near or above the top fish on the wiki's money making list today.

These are the wiki's live figures on 14 October 2026, for efficient play. Fish prices move with every update and every supply change, so check the wiki's money making guide before you commit a week to one fish. Rada's blessing (a 2–8% double catch) and spirit flakes (a 50% chance to double catch) raise every row that sells fish.

Practical Tips That Actually Matter

• Do Sea Slug before you catch anything. It is 7,175 Fishing XP for one quest.
• Talk to Otto Godblessed at his grotto above Baxtorian Falls before 48. Barbarian Training has no skill requirement to start, and the barbarian rod is under his bed.
• Gutting leaping fish with a knife gives 10 to 15 Cooking XP each, so barbarian fishing trains Fishing, Agility, Strength and Cooking at once.
• Play Tempoross early if you plan to bank fish later. The fish barrel and tackle box are both 1/400 reward rolls.
• Fishing Contest and Tai Bwo Wannai Trio gate minnows and karambwans. Do them before you need them.

Ironman Notes

Fishing is a supplier, so on an Ironman it pays for itself twice: the XP, and the food that stops your PvM being gated on shark stock. Bank the catch rather than dropping it, and train Cooking on the same trips instead of scheduling a separate Cooking project later.

The thing worth planning is which fish you need, not which gives the most XP. Karambwans at 65 are a standard Ironman PvM food, and minnows at 82 are the usual route to sharks. An account that needs Cooking XP wants different spots, and only one of them wants to be dropping everything.

A working Ironman route

1. 1

   1–33, quests.

   Sea Slug, Fishing Contest, Freeing Pirate Pete, Tai Bwo Wannai Trio and The Fremennik Trials give 18,424 XP and unlock minnows and karambwans for later.

2. 2

   35+, Tempoross while cooking the harpoonfish.

   Cooking costs XP but earns more points and loot, and the wiki suggests ironmen switch to the infernal harpoon once they can use it. The fish barrel and tackle box are 1/400 rolls each.

3. 3

   48–70+, barbarian fishing with a knife.

   Gutting gives Cooking XP, roe or caviar, and offcuts that replace feathers as bait. At 80 Cooking the cut never fails on salmon and sturgeon.

4. 4

   65, karambwans.

   Your PvM food line. Bank through fairy rings; the quest point cape or a house fairy ring keeps trips short.

5. 5

   80+, infernal eels.

   Hammer them for tokkul, onyx bolt tips and lava scale shards. The wiki's profit figure assumes the tokkul buys uncut onyx with Karamja gloves on.

6. 6

   82, minnows or anglerfish.

   Minnows need Fishing Contest and the full angler's outfit and turn into sharks. Anglerfish need sandworms: buy them from Tynan a pack at a time to hold the 90-coin price, or dig your own with 15 Hunter.

UIM, Hardcore and free-to-play notes

1. 1

   UIM:

   the dropping methods (barbarian fishing, Prifddinas fly fishing, any 3-tick method) never need a bank, which is why they suit the mode. A fish barrel adds nothing there.

2. 2

   Hardcore ironmen:

   dark crabs are in the deep-Wilderness Resource Area, and the wiki warns that a player who keeps fishing there can expect to die to a player killer eventually. Get your food from karambwans and minnows instead.

3. 3

   Free-to-play:

   barbarian fishing, monkfish and karambwans all sit behind members' quests or training. The wiki's F2P money figures are about 17,000 an hour for lobsters and 20,000 for tuna and swordfish.

Common Mistakes

1. 1

   Starting barbarian fishing at 48 for speed.

   Leaping trout are slow. The wiki says drift nets or 3-tick fly fishing stay faster until leaping salmon open at 58.

2. 2

   Bringing a fish barrel to a dropping method.

   It only empties at a bank or deposit box, so it does nothing while you drop. Save it for karambwans, anglerfish and other banking trips.

3. 3

   Leaving Tai Bwo Wannai Trio until 65.

   It gates karambwans and its 5,000 Fishing XP is part of the quest route to 33. Do it with the early quests.

4. 4

   Wearing Rada's blessing for XP.

   The extra fish gives no XP. It is a money and supply upgrade only.

5. 5

   Taking gear you care about to dark crabs.

   The Resource Area is deep Wilderness. Wear cheap defensive gear, keep your expensive items to the ones you can protect, and bank in Edgeville often.

When Paid Training Makes Sense

The case for buying Fishing rests on what it is blocking. The cost of a gathering skill is hours rather than gold. Worth buying if those hours are the only thing between you and the content you actually log in for; not worth buying if you find the rhythm of it relaxing, which plenty of people genuinely do.

If you do order it, the thing to specify is the route as well as the level range: AFK and fast XP and profit are different jobs on this skill, with different timelines and different supply bills for the same 99. Our Fishing page lists what we need from you, and the work is played rather than botted.

FAQ

Still stuck on a mechanic? Ask the team on our Discord, it is free.

Final Takeaway

Quest to 33, then choose: 3-tick or Tempoross for speed, karambwans or anglerfish for AFK, and the 80s fish for money. Between barbarian fishing, monkfish and karambwans, barbarian wins on XP and karambwans on money. Our Tempoross guide and aerial fishing guide cover the two minigame-style methods in detail.

To skip the grind, see Fishing training. To plan the next skill, start with the skill guides or the full blog.