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OSRS Fishing Money Making: Using The Right Bait

By Jesus Marquez | Created: March 02, 2024 | Last updated: December 18, 2024 | Read Time: 12 minutes

In OSRS, Fishing is a helpful skill, but it’s not the most beloved one. It’s not like Combat or Magic; however, that doesn’t mean you can’t do great things in the game with it. All skills have their methods where you can generate a profit by using them, and Fishing is not outside this list. For OSRS Fishing Money Making, you only need patience while the fish and other sea life pick your bait. Come with us to find the best spots for fishing in OSRS!

OSRS Fishing Money Making: Items

This skill is open to every player in the game, meaning F2P and P2P players can use it and level up Fishing; still, Members will have access to a wider variety of items and fish. Moreover, you must notice there will be different methods of fishing available in OSRS; you can even catch a fish with your bare hands, but some of them require a specific item you should use to be able to grab things like shrimps or a crab than just a Fishing Rod. Here are some useful items you can use during OSRS Fishing Money Making methods: 

  • Nets: The item you will use to catch low-level fish. There are two variants: Small Fishing Nets and Big Fishing Nets. The difference is that a Big Fish Net can catch other types of fish and items like a Casket. To use them, you should head to a Fishing Spot and discover if you see the option of “Net fishing spot” available. The most common spots are in Draynor Village, Lumbridge Swamp, Musa Point, the coastline close to Rimmington, Wilderness Bandit Camp, Al Kharid and Corsair Cove. 
  • Fishing Rods: The item to catch mid-level fish you can use in rivers and seas. Usually, you will need bait; you can buy them for 3 coins in the Port Sarim Fishing Shop, but you can get bait from some monsters and random events. You will find different Fishing Rods during your Fishing Money Making OSRS adventures, but you will know the Pearl Fishing Rod, Oily Fishing Rod, and Oily Pearl Fishing Rod are only available for Members. There are other rods like Fly Fishing Rod and Pearl Fly Fishing Rod for fish like Salmon.
  • Harpoon: With this item, you can only catch mid and high-level fish in the seas. You can only use it in the spot where the option “Harpoon Fishing Spot” appears. Harpoons can get you to catch Swordfish, Tuna, and even Sharks. There are four types of harpoons excluding the normal Harpoon. These are Barb-Tail Harpoon, Dragon Harpoon, Infernal Harpoon, and Crystal Harpoon. Each of them will grant you a boost like the Dragon and Infernal Harpoons with a 20% faster catch than a normal Harpoon or a 35% faster catch using a Crystal Harpoon. 
  • Lobster Pot: As the name suggests, it is used to catch lobsters in the seas. You can use the Lobster Pots when they find a fishing spot that allows this method. You will know you can use it when the option “Cage Fishing Spot” appears. Not only that, but you can also catch Dark Crabs; the only thing you will need is Dark Fishing Bait in your inventory. 
  • Karambwan Vessels: You can only obtain this item from Lubufu, south of Brimhaven, once you start the Tai Bwo Wannai Trio quest. After you complete the quest, you can buy it at Tiadeche’s Karambwan Stall in Tai Bwo Wannai. Karambwan vessels are filled with Karambwanji, which you can catch on the lake near Lubufu. You can catch Karambwan on the northeast shore of the Ship Yard. 
  • Rada’s Blessing: An item that will help you during Fishing Money Making OSRS gives you an extra chance to catch a fish, with no additional XP granted. There are four levels, and for each, the effects start at 2% at Rada’s Blessing 1 and go up to 8% with Rada’s Blessing 4. 
  • Spirit Flakes: This item will grant you a 50% chance of yielding double catch in every fishing spot except from Tempoross and the Ruins of Camdozaal. It will cost you one flake per fish caught and won’t give you extra XP. You can stack with Rada’s Blessing. 
  • Tackle Box: A must-have since most common fishing supplies can be stored in this box, all in a single spot, to simplify your inventory. 
  • Fish Barrel: This is also a storage you can use to put up to 28 raw fish of many types. This will double your inventory capacity while OSRS Fishing Money Making.
  • Fish Sack Barrel: You can use this item to store up to 28 raw fish of most types; however, the twist is that you can use it in the cape slot. 
  • Angler’s Outfit: You can get this outfit in the Fishing Trawler minigame and Aerial fishing. With this outfit, you can expect to gain more XP for each piece until you get all the pieces; this will grant a 2.5% XP bonus increase. 

osrs fishing money making

OSRS Fishing Money Making: Level Up 1-99

Most of the methods with decent profit require higher levels in a specific skill; in this case, you will need to level up Fishing to be able to catch some fish or access some location with an advantageous Fishing spot; that’s why we will guide you from level 1 to level 99. Let’s start gaining some XP: 

Questing Level 1 to 24

You can use some quests like Sea Slug to skip the tedious grind of low-level fishing levels. However, you must consider you will be required to have level 30 Firemaking. Still, this is the best way to gain some level and avoid starting from level 1 to grind indefinitely. An alternative way to level up is fishing Shrimp and Anchovies with a small net on the east coast of Lumbridge Swamp. Here are some quests you can do to gain some XP for OSRS Fishing Money Making:  

  • Recipe For Disaster (Pirate Pete subquest): 1,000 XP gain. Other Requirements: 30 Cooking.
  • Fishing Contest: 2,437 XP gain. Requirement: 10 Fishing.
  • Heroes' Quest: 2,725 XP gain. Requirement: 53 Fishing. Other requirements: 55 Quest Points, 53 Cooking, 25 Herblore, 50 Mining
  • The Fremennik Trials: 2,812 XP gain. Other requirements: 25 Fletching, 40 Woodcutting, 40 Crafting.
  • Tai Bwo Wannai Trio: 5,000 XP gain. Requirement: 5 Fishing. Other requirements: 15 Agility, 30 Cooking
  • Sea Slug: 7,175 XP gain. Other requirements: 30 Firemaking.
  • Rum Deal: 7,000 XP gain. Requirement: 50 Fishing. Other requirements: 42 Crafting, 40 Farming, 47 Prayer, 42 Slayer.
  • Swan Song: 10,000 XP gain. Requirement: 62 Fishing. Other requirements: 100 Quest Points, 66 Magic, 62 Cooking, 45 Smithing, 42 Firemaking, 40 Crafting

Quest With Skill Choice: 

  • X Marks the Spot: 300 XP in any skill.
  • Client of Kourend: 500 XP twice in any skill.
  • Fairytale II - Cure a Queen: 2,500 XP in any skill above 30.
  • A Tail of Two Cats: 2,500 XP twice in any skill above 30.
  • The Great Brain Robbery: 5,000 XP in any skill above 30.
  • King's Ransom: 5,000 XP in any skill above 50.
  • Darkness of Hallowvale: 2,000 XP three times in any skill above 30.
  • A Taste of Hope: 2,500 XP three times in any skill above 35.
  • A Kingdom Divided: 10,000 XP in any skill above 40.
  • In Search of Knowledge (miniquest): 10,000 XP in any skill above 40.
  • Curse of the Empty Lord (miniquest): 10,000 XP in any skill above 50.
  • One Small Favor: 10,000 XP twice in any skill above 30.
  • Recipe for Disaster: (The final battle) 20,000 XP in any skill above 50.     
  • Sins of the Father: 15,000 XP six times in any skill above 60

fishing money making osrs

Fly Fishing level 24 to 47/58

You will unlock the ability to Fly Fishing Rod to catch for Trout, Salmon, and Pike. You will require a Fly Fishing Rod and feather to do so. You can do this method on the eastern banks of the river by Barbarian Village, south of Edgeville. If you only want the XP, you can drop the fish when your inventory is full. The XP per hour is around 25,000. 

Drift Net Fishing level 47/58 to 70

This is a faster way to gain XP; however, you will need a Hunter level of 44 to access this method; you will gain XP for both Fishing and Hunter. You will also need several items; here’s the list you will need to use these OSRS Fishing Money Making methods: 

  • Fishbowl Helmet  
  • Diving apparatus
  • Flippers, Weight reducing armor such as Graceful, Merfolk or Trident of the Seas
  • Noted Drift nets
  • Stamina Potions
  • Nummulites
  • Rune Pouch with teleports to a bank

Once you have all the items, you must go to the Fossil Island’s underwater area. Upon your arrival, you can use passive or active ways to train the skills. For the passive method, you will only need to place the Drift Nets and wait for the time to pass until you get the message in the chat that you will need to replace the nets. The active method will be similar to the passive, but you can also expect some Hunter XP for the job. You must chase the Fish Shoals and click on them to lead them into the nets; this method will require more attention. 

For this Fishing Money Making OSRS method, you will need a Trident. If you don’t have a Trident, you must chase the shoals multiple times to finally make them get into the nets. With Fishing level 47 and Hunter level 66, you can expect to get 44,000 Fishing XP and 80,000 Hunter XP per hour if actively training. These numbers will increase with higher levels up to 60,000 XP in Fishing with a level 65 and 100,000 XP in Hunter level 76; both are calculated per hour.  

Barbarian Fishing Level 58/70 to 99

For this method included in the OSRS Fishing Money Making, you need to use a Heavy Rod, obtainable from Otto Godblesses; you can find him in Otto’s Grotto, southwest of the Barbarian Outpost. Talk to him to begin your Barbarian Training; then, search under his bed to obtain the rod. Other requirements for this method are level 15 Agility and Strength to begin. Start with Barbarian Fishing at level 58 if you already use tick manipulation; wait until level 70. You must use tick manipulation to reduce the time and boost the catch rate from 5-tick to 3-tick fish catching. 

For 3-tick fishing, you must use multiple items and actions to interrupt the normal 5-tick catch. To do this, you will need Feathers and the Heavy Rod in your inventory to catch fish. You must prefer to drop the fish when your inventory is full instead of banking. Furthermore, this method will help to train Agility and Strength XP. The average XP gain for Fishing is 65,000 XP at level 58, 87,000 XP at level 70, 95,000 at level 80, and 102,000 XP at level 90; all these numbers are XP per hour. Without tick manipulation, rates can slightly decrease. 

Money Making Fishing OSRS: Methods

It’s not uncommon to think Where is the Money Making in Fishing OSRS; however, you can expect profit from some methods and good food for your adventures. Still, Fishing is a great way to earn pocket money, and you can do it to gain some coins without needing to fight bosses or use teleports to go from one site to another, with all this considered let’s catch some fish!

Dark Crabs

One of the best options to get some coins directly to your bank; however, you will need at least Fishing level 85+ to use this OSRS Fishing Money Making Method. Besides, it has around 350K coins per hour profit, so you must consider having some extra gear against PKers; we recommend the following items: 

  • High Defence Gear
  • Slash Weapon (to Slash the web near the wilderness lever)
  • Lockpick (if you need to escape PKers)
  • Wilderness Elite Diary (It’s an essential item to maintain the rates)

You can find the Dark Crabs in the Wilderness Resource Room, and since you can also find several PKers in this location, try to avoid bringing items you can’t afford to lose. Bank all your essential stuff and then go directly to the spot. Don’t forget to bank the crabs frequently to avoid losing your profit. 

money making fishing osrs

Minnows

A decent Money Making Fishing OSRS method since you will expect a profit of around 320K coins per hour. You will need Fishing level 82 to catch these little guys, and you will require an Angler’s outfit to access the platform and Rada’s Blessing since you can catch double the Minnows. Note that this is not an AFK method, and the spot to catch minnows changes every 15 minutes; you must know where the Minnows move. These fish stack, so you don’t need to bank too often, and you can exchange your Minnows with Kyle to Shark to sell them for a profit. The rate of exchange is 40 Minnows for 1 Shark; this is a great OSRS Fishing Money Making method. 

Raw Karambwan 

For this method, you must have a Fishing level of 65+ and Karambwan vessels filled with the Raw Karambwanji bait. From all the items you will be required to have for this OSRS Fishing Money Making, let’s see what you need: 

  • Rada’s Blessing
  • Spirit Flakes
  • Fish Barrel 
  • Dragon Harpoon (to boost fishing if you are below level 99)
  • Angler’s Outfit
  • Dramen or Lunar Staff
  • Completion of Tai Bwo Wannai Trio and partial completion of Fairytale II - Cure a Queen to use Fairy Ring. 

For approximately 600 fish caught, you can expect a profit of around 238K per hour, but you can increase this number if you are level 99 since you will have a collecting time of around 4 minutes against the 6.5 minutes on level 65. You can find a fishing spot at the Holy Lake south of Tai Bwo Wannai Village, next to the Fairy Ring (code: CKR); if you have enough bait, head to northeastern Karamja, near the Fairy Ring DKP, but the downside is the way to bank. The closest no-requirement bank fishing spot is in Shayzien, near the Fairy Ring DJR.

Sacred Eels

This excellent method can lead you to a decent profit, but you will need Fishing level 87 and Cooking level 72 to complete the OSRS Fishing Money Making method. You will need to complete the Regicide quest and have some equipment like: 

  • Fishing Rod
  • Bait
  • 1 Knife

You can expect a profit of around 350K coins per hour, but you can get extra rewards if your Cooking level is high enough since you can extract Zulrah’s Scales from these fish. You can expect a boost in earnings if you get many of these scales. 

Raw Swordfish 

This method will benefit the F2P players, and it’s inside all the OSRS Fishing Money Making methods; since it is a method that everyone can use, the profit can be low compared to other methods. You will need a Harpoon and to go directly to Karamja or Corsair Cove Resource Area if you already completed the Dragon Slayer and Corsair Curse quest. The profit for this method is around 30k coins per hour, which isn’t bad for a free method. 

osrs money making fishing

Fishing OSRS Money Making FAQ

There will always be doubts, and we always want you to get all the answers you need to have the complete information. Here are some of the most common questions around Fishing Money Making OSRS. 

When Can You Start Making Money with Fishing OSRS?

In most methods, you will be required to have a Fishing level above 80, but those are the best-paying methods; you can expect to get some profit from around Fishing level 40 to 60, but it won’t be massive.

Do I Need To Be a Member To Access OSRS Fishing Money Making Methods?

No, there are a few F2P methods that you can follow, but they won’t make as many coins as the one used for P2P. If you expect a decent reward from this skill, you must consider becoming a Member. 

OSRS Fishing Money Making Summary

Considering this skill focuses on food mainly, having a profit from catching some fish and sea creatures doesn’t sound bad. OSRS Fishing Money Making is a great way to make some coins as a side hustle, but it’s not the only way, so we recommend you look at our blog section for other money-making methods like this one. Or, if you're looking for an alternate method to get your hands on some extra in-game cash, check out our affordably priced OSRS gold page. With all being said, we hope to see you soon in another blog; see you soon!


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Jesus Marquez

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