Dragonwilds fishing guide: spots, bait, rods and fast levelling

How to unlock Fishing in Dragonwilds

Fishing arrived on 21 April 2026 with the "Eye on Ashenfall" update, as the game's eleventh skill. Jagex held it back from an earlier update to tune it for the level 99 cap. It's unlocked through a short tutorial quest, Shrimp Catcher:

1. Make a coarse net at a crafting table from 2 coarse thread. (Coarse thread is spun from flax at a spinning wheel.) Crafting the net starts the quest.
2. Talk to the Wise Old Man in Bramblemead Valley. He asks you to catch a sardine from the waters of Brynmoor.
3. Net some shrimp at a net fishing spot until you reach Fishing level 3, which unlocks fishing rods.
4. Make an ash rod (1 ash log and 1 coarse thread) and shrimp bait (1 shrimp each) at the crafting table.
5. Catch a sardine at a rod fishing spot and bring it back to the Wise Old Man.

The rewards are the Tome of Fishing, Vol. 1 and 3 feather bait, enough for your first few trout.

Net fishing vs rod fishing

Net fishing

Equip any net, stand by a net fishing spot and trawl. Each trawl costs 10 stamina and brings up either fish or junk. A catch is usually one fish (60% of the time), sometimes two (30%) and occasionally three (10%). Net fish give less XP, but there's no skill involved.

Rod fishing

Equip a rod (and ideally bait), then hold the cast button to charge your cast towards a rod fishing spot. Too weak or too strong a cast simply misses, and costs no stamina or bait. Once a fish bites:

1. Strafe left or right, against the direction the fish is swimming, to tire it out. If the fish bar turns red, the fish has changed direction, so switch sides.
2. When the fish is tired, a reel option appears. Hold cast to reel it in quickly, but go back to strafing if it starts swimming again.
3. Wrong inputs drain your stamina. Run out and the fish escapes.

Rod fish are worth roughly two to three times the XP of the net fish from the same region, so rods are where most of your levels come from.

Where to fish: every region

Fishing spots are scattered along the rivers and coasts of every region. Each region has one net fish and two rod fish:

Every fish and its XP

Desert sole is the best XP per fish at 65, followed by armoured catfish and beltfish at 60. Shrimp, the first fish you'll catch, gives just 8. The cooking power level tells you the Cooking level you need to cook it: power level 2 from Cooking 12, 3 from 27 and 4 from 41. See our cooking guide.

Bait: what to use and how to make it

Bait isn't always required for rod fishing, but the right bait improves your chance of catching the fish you want, and fishing without bait makes junk more likely. Every bait is made at a crafting table, one item per bait, and gives 20 Artisan XP.

Your net fish are your bait

In every region the net fish becomes bait for one of the rod fish, so a single fishing trip can supply itself:

• Shrimp → shrimp bait → sardines (Brynmoor)
• Anchovies → anchovy bait → herring (Ghornfell)
• Lobster → lobster bait → undead eels (Fellhollow)
• Giant krill → giant krill bait → infernal eels (Dowdun Reach)
• Monkfish → monkfish bait → desert sole (Umbral Sands)

The other rod fish use their own bait: feather bait (made from feathers) for trout, feathered lures for salmon, spooky bait for undead bass, animated feathers for armoured catfish and kalphite bait for beltfish.

Rods and nets

Rods

There are five rods, one for each region: ash, oak, willow, maple and yew. Using the rod that matches the region you're fishing in lowers your chance of catching junk there. Higher-tier rods also drain less stamina while you reel and last longer before they need repairing. Your first, the ash rod, takes 1 ash log and 1 coarse thread at a crafting table once you reach Fishing level 3. The logs for each rod come from the matching tree; see our woodcutting guide.

Nets

Nets come in five tiers: coarse, wool, fine, mystic and desert. Any net works at any net spot. The coarse net (2 coarse thread) is the starter; the wool net (2 wool thread, spun from fleece) is the next step up for Brynmoor and Ghornfell.

Rods and nets wear out with use. Repair them at a blacksmith's bench, or anywhere with the Magical Mending spell.

Fishing spots, junk and respawns

• Spots run out. A net fishing spot holds 10–15 catches, depending on the region, and then shows "no fish here".
• Junk uses up a catch too. Junk gives no XP but still counts against the spot. Most junk is weeds (70%), then stone (20%), rune essence (5%) and the occasional pack from the region's enemies (5%).
• Spots respawn after 3 in-game days (72 hours), so it pays to know several spots and rotate between them. A lodestone near a good cluster saves a lot of walking.

Fishing spells and perks

• Fishing Frenzy (level 10): enchants a fishing spot so every successful catch gives an extra fish of the same type, effectively doubling your XP per catch. It costs 15 water and 5 astral runes, with a 5-minute cooldown. At level 43, Troubled Waters also lowers fish stamina by 15% while it's active, so they tire faster.
• Pristine fish (level 17): rare pristine versions of each rod fish (1.5% of catches) give more food, or can be mounted as trophies.
• Infernal Rod (level 30): sets your rod alight for 2 minutes, and any fish you catch comes out already cooked.
• Fishnado (level 55): summons a tornado that pulls up to 5 fish from a spot. It gives a flat 20 XP per cast plus the XP for each fish (boosts don't apply to the flat 20). Greater Fishnado at level 60 shortens its cooldown.
• Experienced Angler (level 70): unlocks the angler's hat, and each catch has a 10% chance not to use up the spot.

Fastest way to level Fishing

Fishing XP depends almost entirely on which fish you catch, so the fastest route is to move to better fish as soon as you can reach them, keep Fishing Frenzy running and never fish without bait.

Levels 1–3: shrimp

Net shrimp in Brynmoor during the Shrimp Catcher quest. At 8 XP each it's slow, but it only takes a few dozen shrimp, and you'll want them for bait anyway.

Levels 3–10: sardines and trout

Make an ash rod and switch to rod fishing as soon as you can. Sardines (20 XP, shrimp bait) and trout (25 XP, feather bait) are worth three times as much per fish as shrimp. Net a batch of shrimp, turn them into bait, then fish sardines until the bait runs out. Repeat.

Level 10 onwards: Fishing Frenzy on every spot

Cast Fishing Frenzy on each spot you fish. Twice the fish per catch means twice the XP for the same stamina and half the bait.

Moving up the regions

As the story opens new regions, move to their rod fish. Bring the matching rod and that region's net fish as bait:

• Ghornfell: herring (30 XP) and salmon (35)
• Fellhollow: undead eels and bass (45)
• Dowdun Reach: infernal eels (55) and armoured catfish (60)
• Umbral Sands: desert sole (65), the best XP per fish in the game, and beltfish (60)

Even at the top, Fishing is a long skill: going from 1 to 99 on desert sole alone would take about 15,400 fish, or around 10,250 with the Inspiring Ring of Fishing, a Sweet Veg Ball and a +30% Focused Fishing potion all active.

XP boosts

You can have one food perk and one potion perk active at once. The Cooking spell Internal Alchemy keeps a food perk going indefinitely.

Carrying and storing fish

Fish are heavy (up to 4.5 weight for an armoured catfish), so storage matters on long trips:

• Fish Weight Reduction (level 23) makes every fish 25% lighter.
• Fishing barrel (level 34) stores up to 4,752 raw fish at your base.
• Personal Chest gives weightless storage for up to 1,980 fish while you're out.
• Leggings of Lightness add 50 to your carry weight.

Fishing, Cooking and Farming

• Every fish is a Cooking ingredient worth 10 Cooking XP when cooked, so a fishing trip doubles as Cooking training. Our cooking guide covers burning and the stations you need.
• Infernal Rod cooks fish the moment you catch them, saving a trip to the campfire.
• Junk isn't useless. Weeds are an ingredient of plant cure and go in the compost bin, and burnt fish are worth 10 compost each. See our farming guide.
• The Sweet Veg Ball, grown in Ash plots and cooked on a range, gives +10% Fishing XP like every other skill.

Fishing level unlocks

Dragonwilds fishing FAQ

How do I start Fishing in Dragonwilds?

Craft a coarse net from 2 coarse thread at a crafting table. That starts the Shrimp Catcher quest, which the Wise Old Man in Bramblemead Valley walks you through.

What's the best fish for XP?

Desert sole in Umbral Sands, at 65 XP each. Before then, the best options in each region are trout (25), salmon (35), undead eels and bass (45) and armoured catfish (60).

Do I need bait to fish?

Not always, but fishing without bait catches more junk, and junk uses up the spot. Each region's net fish makes the bait for one of its rod fish.

Why does my fishing spot say "no fish here"?

It's depleted. Net spots hold 10–15 catches, and every catch counts, junk included. Spots respawn after 3 in-game days.

How long does it take to get 99 Fishing?

Level 99 takes 1,000,000 XP. That's about 15,400 desert sole without boosts, or around 10,250 with the ring, a Sweet Veg Ball and a strong Focused Fishing potion. Fishing Frenzy halves the number of catches. Use the fishing XP calculator for your own numbers.

Which rod should I use?

The one that matches the region: ash in Brynmoor, oak in Ghornfell, willow in Fellhollow, maple in Dowdun Reach and yew in Umbral Sands. The right rod means less junk.

Sources