Fishing is generally a calm, solo activity, so long as you aren’t avoiding Rogues on a PvP server while casting your line. However, there are two server-wide Fishing Competitions, both of which occur weekly. The Kalu’ak Fishing Derby and The Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza are both held in neutral locations (Dalaran and Booty Bay, respectively), and both offer stiff fishing competition. The reason it’s so competitive? The excellent Fishing rewards handed out to the winners of the contests, the Master Angler of Azeroth achievement, and, of course, the bragging rights.
One nice thing about the competitions is you aren’t going to get stomped by people with maxed out fishing. Because both competitions involve pool fishing, you only need Fishing level 1 (and a Fishing pole) to participate!
Note: Both tournaments take place at a set time, based on the server clock. If you want to show up on time, confirm that you know the time zone your character’s server is in.
Tips & Tricks for Fishing Tournaments
The following tips apply to both fishing competitions; specific advice for the individual tournaments can be found in their individual sections.
- Equip move speed items
- The Fishing Competitions involve fishing from pools, which means Fishing skill level doesn’t affect your chances of catching fish during the competitions. With that in mind, unequip your fishing skill items and replace them with items that grant move speed (as doing so allows you to get from pool to pool faster).
- If you’re fishing in a level where you won’t be able to easily kill mobs you might aggro, items that let you deal with mobs may also be helpful to equip.
- On a PvP server, you may want to equip PvP gear if you’re fishing in a zone where you could get into a fight with another player — it can also be helpful to bring a friend as a bodyguard if you have friends nice enough to play “protect the president”
- Buy an Elixir of Water Walking
- Unless your class has an ability that allows you to walk on water, purchase an Elixir of Water Walking from the Auction House, or craft one.
- Bring Class Ability Reagents
- Train Cold Weather Flying
- Equip Movement Speed Glyphs if your class is able to
- Use Movement Speed boosting consumables and items like Nitro Boosts
- Clear your bags to make space for fish and junk
- Learn Find Fish (see our General Fishing Guide for details)
- Recast your bobber immediately if it misses the pool and recast
- Know what prize you want so you can pick it right away if you win — you can lose if you take too long to decide and someone else picks!
The Kalu’ak Fishing Derby
- Time – Saturday 14:00-15:00 server time
- Location – Northrend
- Rewards
- First place
- Boots of the Bay – +15 Fishing; Transport to Booty Bay on use
- Dread Pirate Ring – Heirloom Ring (Crit, Hit, + 5% experience from killing mobs)
- Not first place
- Bag of Fishing Treasures
- 75 Kalu’ak reputation
- First place
The Kalu’ak Fishing Derby takes place in Northrend every Saturday. This competition is a race to bring Elder Clearwater x1 Blacktip Shark. It begins when Elder Clearwater makes a server-wide announcement that the Fishing Derby has begun. He shows up in Dalaran by the fountain an hour before the event starts, so if you aren’t sure about your server time, you can pop into Dalaran and see if Elder Clearwater is there yet or not.
You can only catch a Blacktip Shark while the Kalu’ak Fishing Derby is happening. They are found in any Northrend pool that Pygmy Suckerfish can be caught (see below for suggested fishing locations).
Strategy
Prep
The fishing derby is mostly luck, but you can still increase your chances of winning. Since you don’t have to pick up a quest, you don’t need to start in Dalaran to participate in the derby. However, you need a way to quickly return to Dalaran if you catch a Blacktip Shark. Here are some options for returning to Dalaran:
- Set your Hearthstone to Dalaran
- Have a mage friend create a portal, or create one yourself
- Use a Kirin Tor Ring, such as Runed Signet of the Kirin Tor — don’t forget not to use it in the 30-minute window before the derby starts!
You should also make sure you know exactly where Elder Clearwater is, so you don’t waste time looking for him upon returning to Dalaran:
Location
Be next to a pool right when the competition begins. An ideal location has lots of other nearby pools you can swap to once your current pool runs dry — Find Fish is very helpful for locating nearby pools. It’s important to keep in mind that your server will have its own specific places people like to fish, so you may need to participate in a few competitions in order to find a spot that isn’t crowded, but still has decent pool density. In a PvP server, it’s even more important you find somewhere that isn’t crowded.
Listed below are suggested areas to fish that have lots of fishing pools in close proximity to one another:
- Grizzly Hills
- The Blue Sky Logging Grounds
- Sholazar Basin
- The River’s Heart
- Howling Fjord
- Winter’s Breath Lake
- Eastern side of Cauldros Isle (north of Utgarde Keep)
- Daggercap Bay, by the Valgarde pier
The zones listed above all have rivers that can also spawn schools. It seems like inland pools have a better drop rate, so while you can technically catch a Blacktip Shark in any pool in Northrend, your best bet is to stick to the zones listed above.
Keep Fishing!
While you can only get the Boots of the Bay or the Dread Pirate Ring if you turn in the first Blacktip Shark, it’s still worth trying to catch a shark while the competition is ongoing — if you turn one in before the derby ends, you’ll be able to turn it in to complete Better Luck Next Time. This rewards you with a Bag of Fishing Treasures (which includes rewards that might help you win your next derby), and 75 Kalu’ak rep.
Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza
- Time – Sunday 14:00-16:00 server time
- Location – Stranglethorn Vale
- Rewards
- First place
- Arcanite Fishing Pole – +40 Fishing
- or
- Hook of the Master Angler – Trinket, on use: Turns you into a fish which allows underwater breathing and increases swim speed
- Rare Fish – Keefer’s Angelfish
- Rare Fish – Dezian Queenfish
- Rare Fish – Brownell’s Blue Striped Racer
- Rare Fish – Rockhide Strongfish
- One That Didn’t Get Away achievement
- First place
The Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza is a weekly fishing competition that takes place in Booty Bay every Sunday, and lasts for two hours. From 14:00 to 16:00, server time, School of Tastyfish will appear along the Stranglethorn Vale coast. The first person to bring x40 Speckled Tastyfish to Riggle Bassbait will win the competition.
Strategy
Travel to Booty Bay in Stranglethorn Bay early, and set your Hearthstone to the inn in Booty Bay. You’ll turn in your x40 Speckled Tastyfish, and any rare fish you catch, to Riggle Bassbait, who he hangs out close to the inn (see below). Note the small wooden box, by the edge of the dock near the inn’s entrance — that’s where Riggle will be standing.
There are a few more things you can do to prepare:
- Make sure your hearthstone won’t be on cooldown when the contest is underway
- Turn on auto-loot
- Prepare the following macro, which will allow you to check your total quantity of caught Tastyfish:
#showtooltip Speckled TastyfishWhere to Fish
Now you’ll need to decide where you want to fish. Most people are pretty lazy, so the crowded spots will be the ones closest to Booty Bay — unfortunately, the southern half of the coast is also where the pools are densest — this can be mitigated by move speed buffs, fortunately. Since you set your hearthstone to Booty Bay, you can fish almost anywhere along the coast — pools are found everywhere except Booty Bay, Jaguero Isle, and the east coast of Northern Stranglethorn. As always, your server may have its own quirks, so pay attention to which spots are crowded and try to avoid them the following week.
If you have swim speed buffs either via race or consumables, you might want to try the island near the northern graveyard, as it can spawn pools and it’s unlikely anyone will be fishing them. Some consumables you can use are Murliver Oil, Swim Speed Potion, and the Azure Silk Belt. Warlocks can also use Glyph of Unending Breath, and Druids can use Aquatic Form (though note it doesn’t stack with the Azure Silk Belt).
If you’re on a PvP server, you should try and bring some friends to watch your back. If you can’t, you’ll want to make sure you pick a spot that’s near a graveyard — fishing near the northernmost graveyard is your best bet, and it’s often the least-crowded area of the coast as well).
When to Move
If you’re fishing at a pool by yourself, you can chill there and fish it out. If someone else is there fishing it with you, however, you’ll need to keep track of how many times the pool has been fished. The pools generally contain 4 or 5 Speckled Tastyfish, so if you’ve already fished 3 fish out of a pool and someone else casts in the pool before you do, you should move on to the next.
Keep Fishing!
Even if someone else gets to x40 Speckled Tastyfish and wins the competition, you can continue fishing for the rare fish listed in the Rewards section until the competition ends. There is no limit to the number of times you can turn in the quests, nor is there a limit on the number of players that can redeem them, so feel free to fish as long as you want.
When the competition ends, or when you decide to stop fishing, make sure you turn in all of your Speckled Tastyfish to Jang, who is standing next to Riggle Bassbait — she’ll remain there for an hour after the tournament ends at 16:00. You can only turn them in in batches of 5, so make sure you have a multiple of 5 before you stop fishing. Depending on your level, you will receive up to 1
90
for x5 Speckled Tastyfish.
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