1-99 Fishing Guide OSRS

The fastest route to 99 Fishing, what each method actually pays, and which one to pick at the level you are on now.

Fastest: 2-tick harpooning, around 137k an hour at 99
Standard route: Barbarian Fishing, 58 to 99
Most AFK: Drift net fishing and anglerfish
Best profit: Sacred eels, dark crabs, minnows

The short answer

Barbarian Fishing from 58 to 99 is the answer for most accounts, and it has been for years. It is roughly 70,000 experience an hour at 99 with a regular harpoon, closer to 95,000 with a crystal harpoon, and it quietly trains Agility and Strength while you do it. That last part is why it beats methods that are nominally faster: you are getting three skills for one grind.

If you want the ceiling rather than the sensible answer, 2-tick harpooning swordfish and tuna reaches around 137,000 experience an hour at 99. It is tick manipulation, which means a click every 1.2 seconds for as long as you can stand it, and almost nobody does it to 99. It is worth knowing the number exists so you can decide you do not want it.

Below 58 the route is short. Fly fishing trout and salmon from 20 covers the early game without any thought, and questing handles the first twenty levels faster than fishing does.

Every method, by level

Every current training method in the skill and the level each one opens at, so you can find the row for the level you are on rather than reading a whole guide to get to it. This table is generated from the game's current method list and regenerated when it changes, which is why it includes methods most guides have not caught up with yet.

Level	Method
20 to 58	Fly fishing
35+	Tempoross
43+	Aerial fishing
47+	Drift net fishing
58+	Barbarian Fishing
62+	Monkfish
65+	Karambwan
69+	Deep sea trawling
71+	2-tick harpooning swordfish/tuna
78+	Leechfin Fishing
80+	Infernal eel
82+	Minnows
82+	Anglerfish
85+	Dark crabs
87+	Sacred eel

15 methods. Level 1 to 99 is 13,034,431 experience.

What to do if you want to be AFK

Drift net fishing from 47 is the honest AFK pick, and it is the one most people land on once they stop trying to optimise. Anglerfish from 82 are slower again but close to zero effort, and they sell.

There is a real trade here that guides tend to skip. The gap between a fully engaged method and a genuinely AFK one in this skill is roughly a factor of two, not a factor of ten. Fishing is not a skill where grinding attention buys you enormous rates, which is a good argument for picking the method you will actually keep doing rather than the one with the biggest number next to it.

Raw shark

Raw anglerfish

Raw karambwan

Harpoon

Fishing for money rather than experience

The profitable end of Fishing is the slow end, which is the usual shape of a gathering skill. Sacred eels from 87, dark crabs from 85 and minnows from 82 all pay considerably better than Barbarian Fishing and all level you considerably more slowly.

Minnows are the interesting one, because they convert to raw sharks, so what that method is really worth tracks the shark price rather than anything about fishing. The prices on this page are live, so the figures below are what the market is paying today rather than what it paid whenever a guide was written.

Frequently asked questions

What is the fastest way to 99 Fishing in OSRS?

2-tick harpooning swordfish and tuna, at around 137,000 experience an hour at level 99. It needs a click roughly every 1.2 seconds throughout. Barbarian Fishing is the realistic fastest for most players at about 70,000 an hour with a regular harpoon and 95,000 with a crystal harpoon.

How long does 1-99 Fishing take?

13,034,431 experience. At Barbarian Fishing rates of around 70,000 an hour that is roughly 185 hours; at the 2-tick ceiling of 137,000 an hour it is closer to 95. Most accounts land somewhere in between because nobody holds a perfect rate for 185 hours.

Is Barbarian Fishing still the best method?

For most players, yes, and the reason is not the Fishing rate. It also trains Agility and Strength while you fish, so the effective value per hour is higher than the raw number suggests. Methods that beat it on Fishing experience alone usually lose once that is counted.

What is the most AFK Fishing method?

Drift net fishing from level 47, and anglerfish from 82 if you want it slower and more profitable. Neither is truly idle, but both are far less demanding than Barbarian Fishing and much less than any tick manipulation method.