OSRS 1–99 Fishing Guide: Routes, Tempoross & Supplies

Reviewed 24 October 2026 · Members’ routes with F2P alternatives

Start Fishing with a simple net-and-bait route, move to fly fishing at 20, then choose your longer-term method. Tempoross is available from 35; Barbarian Fishing becomes a useful combined-skill option once you meet its secondary requirements. If you want food supplies, build a banking route instead of copying a method that drops every catch.

This guide covers practical progression to 99, with separate choices for XP, attention and resources. The level needed to catch a fish is not necessarily the level at which it becomes a good training method.

Choose the outcome you want

1. Match the tool to the fishing spot

A fishing rod, fly fishing rod and barbarian rod are different items. At a spot with multiple menu options, select the one for your intended method. An eligible rod without its matching bait will not start the session. Check the Fishing equipment reference if changing methods.

Before travelling, withdraw the tool, bait, transport items and enough free inventory space. Decide in advance whether your full inventory goes to a bank, a cooking station or the ground. That choice changes the route and the result.

2. Levels 1–20: a simple start

Levels 1–5: small-net fishing

Take a small fishing net to the fishing tutor area south of Lumbridge. Use a suitable Net spot and catch shrimps until level 5. Each shrimp gives 10 Fishing XP; from zero XP, 39 catches give 390 XP, just above the level-5 threshold.

Use the nearby area to learn when your character stops fishing and how to handle a full inventory. A spot moving is a cue to select the correct new spot, rather than assume your previous click is still working.

Levels 5–20: rod and bait

Switch to a fishing rod and fishing bait at a suitable sea-bait spot, such as the same Lumbridge coastal area. Sardines are available at 5, with herring added at 10. This is a mixed catch, so the number of bait items needed depends on what you catch; bring a buffer and check the remaining stack during bank visits.

Staying with a small net is another simple option, with anchovies joining the catch at 15. For lower-combat accounts, avoid choosing a Draynor spot beside aggressive dark wizards merely because it looks close to a bank.

Quest alternative

Sea Slug awards 7,175 Fishing XP, enough to reach 24 from zero, and requires 30 Firemaking. It can replace early catching if your account is ready for the quest. Other Fishing-reward quests have their own prerequisites; use your actual post-quest level to join the route rather than repeating the first stages.

3. Levels 20 onward: fly fishing

At 20, use a fly fishing rod and feathers at a Lure spot. Barbarian Village is an accessible location. You catch trout first; salmon enters the catch at 30. The rod is reusable, while successful catches consume feathers.

1. Withdraw your fly fishing rod and a feather stack.

2. Travel to the chosen river spot and select Lure.

3. Re-engage the spot when it moves.

4. At a full inventory, drop the fish for an XP session or follow your chosen banking route.

5. Check XP across a complete session, including inventory handling.

For banking, Shilo Village is useful after its quest unlock. Keeping fish for Cooking is a valid combined project, but it does not have the same Fishing XP rate as dropping them. Cooking them immediately adds another processing step.

Fly fishing can continue beyond its early-level role, particularly in F2P. Members can try Tempoross at 35 or reassess Barbarian Fishing at 58 instead of remaining on one method solely because it was the easiest place to start.

4. Barbarian Fishing: check all three skills

Complete the relevant heavy-rod introduction with Otto. Ask about using a fishing rod, then obtain the barbarian rod from under his bed. Take suitable bait, such as feathers, to the lake near Otto’s Grotto. The rod unlock and the separate barehanded-fishing training are not interchangeable. Heavy-rod requirements.

For an ordinary session, fish and drop the leaping catch when the inventory fills. This gives Fishing XP alongside smaller Agility and Strength gains. Level 48 is the entry point, but the catch mix improves at 58 when your secondary skills also allow leaping salmon.

At 70 Fishing, check Agility and Strength again before expecting sturgeon. Reaching the Fishing level alone does not unlock the full catch mix. Ordinary Barbarian Fishing can take you to 99; you do not have to use tick manipulation to complete the skill.

Advanced techniques are a separate choice

Three-tick fishing uses a timed item-action cycle to speed up catches. Two-tick harpooning uses an attack cycle and a different setup. Neither is the result of selecting a normal fishing spot and waiting. Learn the ordinary method first, then use a current demonstration if the extra input suits you.

Do not combine a demanding new technique with unfamiliar dangerous activity to claim more efficient training. Your sustained output matters more than a short peak rate.

5. Tempoross from 35: your first group encounter

Travel from Al Kharid via the ferryman south of the bank to the Ruins of Unkah, then board the encounter ship. You need 35 Fishing. Start on a current group world from the in-game world list; a solo rotation has different timing.

Collect a harpoon, rope, hammer and buckets from the available supplies. Fill two buckets with water before setting out. The rope tethers you during waves; the hammer repairs damaged tether points; water puts out fires. The complete Spirit angler outfit can replace the rope, but a first-time player can use the ordinary supplies.

Follow the energy and essence phases

1. Catch harpoonfish. Fish on the island; prioritise visibly active double-catch spots when available.

2. Choose whether to cook. Cooking at the shrine favours points, while raw-fish strategies favour Fishing XP. For a first trip, learn the cooked-fish loop.

3. Respond to the wave warning. Tether to an intact mast or totem pole before the wave hits; repair a broken tether point if needed.

4. Load the ship’s ammunition crate. The cannons use your fish against Tempoross.

5. When its energy reaches zero, fish the spirit pool. This reduces its essence during the vulnerable phase.

6. Repeat as needed. Resume gathering when it resurfaces, and watch the round’s meters instead of following fixed inventory counts blindly.

Douse obstructing fires with water and refill buckets when convenient. A wave or fire can remove encounter supplies and fish, so replace lost equipment promptly. Tempoross’s attacks disrupt the activity rather than dealing ordinary damage. Encounter equipment and strategy reference.

Points, permits and rewards

The first 2,000 points qualify for one reward permit, with a further permit per additional 700 points and a proportional chance from partial progress. For example, 3,400 points gives three guaranteed permits. Use a small or big fishing net to search the Reward Pool outside.

Reward quality uses your base Fishing level when searching the pool. Unlike Wintertodt, defeating Tempoross does not add a separate end-of-round XP bonus. Do not continue a strategy that repeatedly misses your intended points target just because it advertises faster Fishing XP. Reward rules.

6. Equipment for longer resource trips

The fish barrel holds 28 eligible raw fish. Open it to automatically store catches; empty it at a bank or deposit box. It does not let you withdraw and drop its contents while standing at the fishing spot. Leechfin, Tempoross harpoonfish and several other special catches cannot go inside.

The Angler outfit provides a full-set 2.5% Fishing XP bonus. Rada’s blessing can provide extra eligible catches without extra XP. They affect different outputs, so extra fish should not be counted as an identical percentage improvement in Fishing XP.

7. Karambwan and other resource choices

Karambwan at 65

For a straightforward long-term route, complete Tai Bwo Wannai Trio and prepare a karambwan vessel with raw karambwanji bait. The fishing portion of the quest is the precise unlock; completing the quest also resolves the surrounding quest interactions. Karambwan fishing needs 65 Fishing.

Catch karambwanji with a small net at its inland spot near fairy ring CKR. Travel to the karambwan spot north of DKP with the vessel and bait, then fish until your inventory and any barrel space fill. The spot does not move, which makes it useful for a lower-input resource session.

Choose a bank route your account actually has. A simple fairy-ring banking detour is valid; a guide’s cape teleport or POH fairy ring is not available merely because you reached 65 Fishing. Return, refill as needed and record the whole round trip. Karambwanji can be consumed without a catch, so do not buy an exact one-bait-per-fish target. Vessel and bait rules.

Later fish are choices, not automatic upgrades

Monkfish need 62 Fishing and Swan Song access. Anglerfish need 82, a fishing rod and suitable bait. Infernal eels at 80 require inner Mor Ul Rek access, an oily rod, bait and ice gloves; they are processed with a hammer rather than banked as an ordinary food catch. Pick the output you need before comparing their rates.

Dark crabs involve deep Wilderness and player-killer risk. They are not the default recommendation for a relaxed beginner session. Deep-sea trawling is a separate Fishing-and-Sailing project with boat equipment and shoal requirements; its combined progress should not be presented as Fishing-only XP.

8. More active alternatives

Drift nets: Fishing plus Hunter

Drift net fishing requires 47 Fishing, 44 Hunter and Bone Voyage. Underwater breathing equipment, flippers and a suitable chase weapon are important setup considerations. Pay the entry cost to Ceto, set nets, then chase nearby shoals toward them.

A net fills after ten shoals and is consumed when harvested. Choose whether to discard the catch or pay numulites to bank it. Record Fishing and Hunter XP separately, along with nets used; a combined total can conceal a slower Fishing-only result. Access, equipment and net costs.

Leechfin at 78

After The Blood Moon Rises, take a big fishing net to Vampyrium’s leechfin spots. Align the net left, centre or right with the incoming fish, and use gaps to clear inventory space. This is an active directional method, not ordinary AFK net fishing.

Leechfin cannot be stored in the fish barrel. Cutting them for blood sacs adds a processing choice and can reduce Fishing output; dropping during the interaction does not interrupt it. Use the current leechfin mechanics before comparing this newer option with a specialist tick method.

9. XP benchmarks with matching conditions

These are published examples from the members’ training reference, checked on the review date. They are not Onyx tests or guarantees. Tool, level, banking, cooking, missed inputs and time between games affect the result. Acquisition of unlocks and equipment is outside those rates.

For your own comparison, time the full session from withdrawal to the final bank visit. Record Fishing XP, other skill XP and banked resources separately. A method that drops fish earns no sale proceeds from those discarded catches.

10. F2P, Ironman and Cooking plans

F2P players can use the early net-and-bait route and continue with trout and salmon from 20. Lobsters at 40 and tuna/swordfish harpooning at 35/50 are resource alternatives, usually with more banking travel. At Corsair Cove, resource-area and banking access have separate quest requirements; check both before travelling. F2P methods and access.

For an Ironman, banking useful fish can be worth slower Fishing progress. Reserve a target quantity for the meals you intend to cook, then decide whether to continue gathering or switch to XP. Your Fishing level and Cooking level can differ greatly, so catching a fish does not mean you can cook it successfully yet.

Do not calculate “free Cooking XP” from a route that drops every fish. When you keep catches, include cooking time and burns in the next step. Tempoross harpoonfish are encounter resources rather than a stack of normal food to take home.

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