This chapter describes how to fish pools such as schools or floating debris, and analyses some of the catches. In this chapter:

"When lightning strikes the ocean, why don't all the fish die?" - Children's Week orphan

An Introduction to Pools

Conventional "open-water" fishing is endless. There is no need to move or do anything other than cast your line and reel in your catch. Pools of fish (schools, shoals, circles, holes) are similar to other "node-based" resource gathering, such as mining ore veins. Pools appear at points in the water. Once a few (typically 4-6) fish have been caught from them, the pool disappears, and you must look for an alternative pool to fish from. Otherwise, pools remain until fished.

Pools look like swirling patches of water, clearly visible from nearby land. ((Moving the cursor over the pool will tell you what the pool contains - for example "Firefin Snapper School" mostly contain Firefin Snappers.)) To fish from a pool you must have sufficient fishing skill (with any gear or lure bonuses) to meet the base skill requirement of the area you are fishing in. Stand a short distance away from the pool, facing it, and cast. The bobber must land within the swirling water, or very close to the edge. If it doesn't land correctly, recast until it does. There is no way to control precisely where the bobber lands, so you might need to cast several times. When the bobber splashes, reel the line in as normal to recover your fish.

Pools can only be found in certain zones. The list below is based on Pleather, with additions and corrections:

Azeroth Pools and Zones
PoolZone
Deviate FishInland (oasis) areas of The Barrens (see the Catching Deviate Fish topic).
Firefin SnapperCoastal areas of Arathi Highlands, Azshara, Desolace, Dustwallow Marsh, Feralas, Hillsbrad Foothills, Stranglethorn Vale, Tanaris, and Wetlands. Stonetalon Mountains (Blackwolf River/Cragpool Lake) as "Oil Spills".
Greater SagefishInland areas of Alterac Mountains (Lordamere Lake) and Stranglethorn Vale (Lake Nazferiti).
Oily BlackmouthCoastal areas of Arathi Highlands, Azshara, The Barrens, Darkshore, Desolace, Dustwallow Marsh, Feralas, Hillsbrad Foothills, Silverpine Forest, Stranglethorn Vale, Tanaris, Westfall, and Wetlands.
SagefishInland areas of Ashenvale, Hillsbrad Foothills, Loch Modan, Silverpine Forest, and Stonetalon Mountains (Mirkfallon Lake).
Stonescale EelCoastal areas of Azshara, Feralas, Stranglethorn Vale (south of the Grom'Gol only), and Tanaris (see the Catching Stonescale Eels topic).

Each of these pool types can be replaced by a pool of wreckage. These are fished in precisely the same way.

In addition, there are three particularly unusual pool types, which are described separately:

Pools appear at a fixed set of possible locations within a zone. Not all locations will have a pool at any one time. In most zones, each possible spawning location may contain any of the pool types that appear in the area. For example, a pool along the coast of Hillsbrad Foothills may contain Firefin Snapper, Oily Blackmouth or wreckage. However, coastal and inland pools are completely separate sets, so inland pools in Hillsbrad Foothills will only ever contain Sagefish or wreckage. Within some zones there are several distinct sets of pools. For example, in Azshara, Elemental Water pools never interchange with the other types of pool found in Azshara. In Stonetalon Mountains Sagefish pools are restricted to Mirkfallon Lake, while Oil Spills are restricted to Blackwolf River/Cragpool Lake.

Stranglethorn Vale's Tastyfish pools are only found during the Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza. They temporarily replace all other pool types along the coast of Stranglethorn Vale.

Pool Spawning

All pools are grouped into linked sets, even though they seem to be separate. Each zone has at least one set, and at least one set per inland or coastal area in that zone. Each set consists of a series of possible locations where a pool might appear. The number of possible locations in the set varies by area.

When a pool appears it can be of any type possible in the set. For example, if an area can contain Oily Blackmouth and wreckage pools, either of these two types can appear at any of the possible pool locations. Some sets contain only one type of pool (such as Patches of Elemental Water). Others contain four different pool types (such as the coast of Feralas).

The probability of a specific type of pool appearing might be equal for all pool types in the same area. In the previous example, an Oily Blackmouth pool might be just as likely as a wreckage pool. "Cherry picking" means that you are more likely to find one pool type than another pool type.

Cherry picking involves fishing only one type of pool in an area, and leaving all the others. Once pools appear, they remain until fished completely. However, the type of pool that eventually "replaces" the one that is fished, is not decided by the type of pool that was originally fished. So in the previous example, if you were to fish only wreckage pools, and ignore the Oily Blackmouth pools, eventually there would be far more Oily Blackmouth pools to fish than wreckage pools: When a wreckage pool is fished, there is only a 50% chance of a wreckage pool appearing to "replace" it. So for every two wreckage pools you fish, only one new wreckage pool will appear. To maintain a steady supply of wreckage pools to fish, someone needs to be fishing the Oily Blackmouth pools too. For a full explanation, with evidence, see the Pool Appearance topic.

There appear to be three principles that determine pool spawns within a set:

  1. There are a fixed number of pool spawning locations in the set, any of which may spawn. Be warned that there may be several sets in any one zone.
  2. There is a maximum number of pools that will be visible at one time across the set, regardless of time since last catch. This is typically between 30-50% of the all possible pool spawning locations.
  3. For medium and high level fish/pools: Each pool will commonly respawn 60-65 minutes after it was last being fished (emptied). However, this time period is variable: It is very unlikely to respawn in less than 40 minutes, but will sometimes take as long as 90 minutes. This rule does not apply for pools such Deviate Fish or Sagefish. Some pool types may use different time delays.

In simple terms, if nobody else has fished recently, fishing one pool empty will cause another pool in the set to spawn. For low-level fish, such as Sagefish in Mirkfallon Lake (Stonetalon Mountains), there will always be a fixed number of pools available to fish (in that case, two). For most pools, if you fish all the pools in the set faster than the time delay on respawning, eventually you will run out of pools to fish, and will need to wait for them to respawn.

For further discussion, see the Pool Appearance topic. If you are routinely fishing in busy zones, where someone else was fishing before, during and after the time you fish, you will only ever see pools randomly appearing.

Azeroth Pool Contents

Pools may contain more than just fish. All sorts of materials seem to fall from ships and cluster in pools. Any type of pool in Azeroth (except Elemental Water and Tastyfish) may contain Stranglekelp, trunks, or some "Rumsey" brand rum. However these are most common in wreckage pools.

The type of trunk caught depends on the zone:

The type of rum caught also depends on the zone:

Bloated fish, which often contained gems and other rare items, can no longer be caught from pools ((this was removed by patch 1.11)).

I fished 243 pools and recorded their contents ((all with patch 1.11)). These are summarised in the table below. No Deviate, Greater Sagefish, Tastyfish pools were included. Elemental Water pools are considered in the Fishing Elemental Water topic. Schools of Deviate Fish are analysed in the Catching Deviate Fish topic. Pools were fished in many different parts of Azeroth.

Pools Fished
Pool TypePoolsAverage Catches per PoolAverage Items per Pool
Firefin Snapper/Oil Spill684.04.3
Oily Blackmouth504.14.4
Sagefish296.06.4
Stonescale Eel423.73.9
Wreckage542.94.1

The number of items is higher than the number of catches because rum and Stranglekelp are caught in batches of 1, 2 or 3. The above-average number of catches from Sagefish pools is not a glitch. Sagefish pools often last up to 8 catches, while other pool types last up to 6 catches. All pools were fished as they were found. In some cases other fishermen and women may have taken some fish and then moved on, without emptying the pool. This will happen to anyone who fishes pools, so accurately reflects what you are likely to catch.

The table below shows the average number of items caught from fishing one pool of each type. The type of "fish" caught relates to the pool type - for example, all the fish caught from a Firefin Snapper pool will be Firefin Snappers. The type of trunks and rum caught will vary by zone, as described above.

Average Contents of a Pool
Pool TypeFishTrunkRumStranglekelp
Firefin Snapper/Oil Spill3.30.40.20.3
Oily Blackmouth3.40.30.20.5
Sagefish5.20.40.10.7
Stonescale Eel3.20.20.10.3
Wreckage-1.60.71.8

Don't read too much into the precise numbers - not nearly enough pools have been fished to make them accurate. However, we can draw some conclusions from the general patterns: Each pool containing only fish gives just over three fish per pool, with the exception of Sagefish pools which give just over five. Wreckage pools give about four times as many trunks, rum and 'kelp as fish-only pools.

Trunk Contents

Four types of trunk can be caught from pools. Each trunk contains money (typically some silver coin). Most trunks contain one or more other materials, which vary by type of trunk:

All types of trunk may contain items, such common and uncommon equipment and bags, and patterns, plans and similar crafting instructions. None of these are unique to fishing, and may also be carried by monsters.

The contents of 155 different trunks were examined - 56 Watertight Trunks, 23 Iron Bound Trunks, and 76 Mithril Bound Trunks ((all with patch 1.11)). No Tightly Sealed Trunks were looked into. The table below shows the average contents of one trunk. Values are averages. For example, over a series of Mithril Bound Trunks, you should expect to gain half a bolt of Runecloth for each trunk you open: You will not get half a bolt in each trunk. Indeed, the content of trunks is very variable: You are more likely to open four and find two bolts in one trunk, and no bolts in the other three.

Average Contents of a Trunk
TrunkLeatherCloth BoltPotionOther
MediumHeavyThickRuggedWoolSilkMageRuneManaHeal
Watertight Trunk1.90.5--0.60.4--0.30.10.2
Iron Bound Trunk-1.30.7--0.60.7-0.30.30.2
Mithril Bound Trunk--1.10.5--0.80.50.30.40.1

Patches of Elemental Water

In Azshara, pools called "Patch of Elemental Water" may be found. The pools look like bright blue swirling masses of gas, but may be fished just like other pools. From the pools you can catch Essence of Water, Elemental Water and Globe of Water.

For more information about fishing these pools, please read the Fishing Elemental Water topic.

Muddy Churning Waters (Zul'Gurub)

Most of the waters in Zul'Gurub contain similar sorts of fish to the hot springs of Winterspring. Some argue that they are easier to fish, because you can reach the water without fighting the trolls. ((You will need to part of a raid group to enter Zul'Gurub.)) In the waters around the centre island, you will find pools of "Muddy Churning Water". From these you can fish Zulian Mudskunk. Each pools contains 2-4 fish. Zul'Gurub, like many higher-level dungeons, has a base fishing skill requirement of 330. The pools are surrounded by packs of nasty looking crocodiles, so cannot be easily fished alone.

The only reason to fish these pools is to summon Gahz'ranka. You will also need a Mudskunk Lure, which can be obtained from Nat Pagle after completing the quest "Nat's Measuring Tape". That quest starts at Nat's Battered Tackle Box, at Pagle's Point in Zul'Gurub. The lure requires five Zulian Mudskunk per summoning. While Gahz'ranka rarely carries much of value, most who fight it find bouncing up and down in the water a strangely entertaining way to finish off a visit to Zul'Gurub.

Money-Making Strategies

Pool fishing can be surprisingly profitable. This is still true after the disappearance of "bloated fish" from pools, which were, quite literally, stuffed with valuable gems ((these were removed in patch 1.11)). As discussed in the Valuable Fish chapter, the three fish used in Alchemy are always in demand. Even Stranglekelp will fetch a reasonable price at the Auction House. You will rare fill your bags with "vendor trash" when fishing pools.

In most cases, the best profits are to be made from fishing wreckage pools. The contents of a single Mithril Bound Trunk typically sells for about one gold at the Auction House. Bolts of Mageweave and Runecloth sell particularly well to tailors. For those fishing in easier waters, bolts of Woolen Cloth and Medium Leather will still sell for some Silver. Equipment, such as rings and bags, are now less commonly fished from pools than was the case when bloated fish were caught. But there is still about a 1 in 10 chance that trunk will contain uncommon equipment or bags.

If you fish every pool type, you can expect to fish about 20 pools an hour. From those you should expect about 10 trunks and 50 fish. Assuming reasonable Auction House prices, that's over 15 gold per hour from the hardest waters (those where Mithril Bound Trunks and the odd Stonescale Eel can be caught).

There are a few issues to consider when fishing pools for profit.

If you are trying to fish wreckage pools in the same area over several hours, you will need to fish all the other pool types too. This will ensure enough wreckage pools appear. Alternatively, keep on moving between different zones, or rely on other people to fish your unwanted pools.

The proximity of pools to each other, the total number of pools in the area, and the rate at which pools reappear are important factors. Ideally you want a location where pools are very close together, so you spend less time walking or riding between them. If the area is popular with other fishermen and women, the more pools the better. Otherwise, the rate at which they reappear becomes more important.

For example, one of the best locations for less experienced fishermen and women (around level 20 with about 100 fishing skill), is Mirkfallon Lake in the Stonetalon Mountains. It contains about 5 or 6 possible pool locations, all very close together. The pools reappear very rapidly - there always seem to be two. Although Sagefish are not the most prized fish, they cook up into a tasty Smoked Sagefish. And a proportion of pools (Chadwicked says about 1 in 8) will be wreckage pools. The main disadvantage of the area is that there are only enough pools to allow one person to fish efficiently.

Slightly more experienced fishermen and women tend to favour Stranglethorn Vale. The waters here are the easiest to fish of any location where Mithril Bound Trunks can be caught. The zone also has more possible pool locations than any other. However, Stranglethorn Vale is commonly fished: It has more possible pool locations, but often has less active pools than quieter zones. For those with sufficient fishing skill, places like Feralas can sometimes allow more catches.

Lastly, where the factions are at war ((PvP realms)), consider the amount of enemy activity carefully. When fishing in open water one can usually find a quiet part of the zone, safely away from other people. Pool fishing not only exposes you to attack while fishing, but also while moving between pools. And some zones are notoriously dangerous - not least Stranglethorn Vale.

Further Reading