You say you want one? Well here’s how I got it. For a much more comprehensive and logical guide to fishing with much less commentary and digressions, try this guide (it helped me tons).
First things first, work your fishing up to 300ish. After 300ish, when you throw on an Aquadynamic Fish Attractor (made by engineers, sold by vendors as well, usually as limited supply), you can fish pretty much anywhere in Outland. The deal is, you should have about 90-95 points over the minimum required level of fishing for the zone you’re in so you don’t tear your hair out in frustration that all your danged fish are getting away. So if you’re in Zangarmarsh, where the fishing level is about 305 (last I checked), and your fishing is say, 310 – you should expect a lot of fish to get away from you. But with bonuses, including fish bait, enchants, special gear, etc, you can give yourself the added boost, and then so many fish will not escape from you. So make sure you always have fishing bait on you. The bright shiny baubles that are readily purchasable (is that a word?) from fishing vendors and such give a boost of +75, which is a nice alternative if you can’t find an engineer or the mats or don’t want to pay absurd prices on the AH.
Also, you can definitely get buffs and bonuses to fishing in many other ways, including a +2 enchant to gloves and all the awards you can win during the Stranglethorn Fishing Contest that’s held every Sunday from 2-4 server time. Since I work nearly every single Sunday, I’m never able to join in on the fun and try my hand at the fishing contest, so I’ve never been able to get myself better fishing gear. Woe is me.
Anyway, at 300ish, start fishing in Zangarmarsh. The lake around the Karazhan area is about 330, so with some bait, you can fish there too. I only fished in Deadwind Pass a couple of times, and got strange fishy items before TBC released. I haven’t gone back to see what kind of things I could get now, soooo…dunno.
You have a variety of options here – you can keep fishing your way up in Zangarmarsh til you hit 375, or you can start testing out different waters. For me, at about 310 I started fishing in Nagrand, at Skysong Lake (at the Throne of Elements) and at the Elemental Plateau. The big bonus to these waters is finding the globs of “pure water” – if you fish these, you get motes of water! There’s also a chance overall in Nagrand (and Terokkar) that you will fish up motes of water, but each of those “pure water” globs can yield 5-7 motes on average. Nice treat! Also found in these waters here are the Figluster’s Mudfish and Icefin Bluefish – I have no idea what the mudfish gets cooked into, but it probably involves agility, since Loth always wants them. The bluefish can become poached bluefish, which provides a buff of +23 spell damage and I think +20 spirit? – lovely for casters.
See? I digress.
Back to fishing. I tried to start fishing in the Highland Mixed School ponds in Terokkar at 330 - but with a +20 fishing pole and the +100 bait, that only brought me to +450, and the lakes in Terokkar require a 430 effective skill – so I was having a LOT of fish escape from me – and that can get extremely frustrating even with a high tolerance for the mundane like I have. Between 330 and 360, if I felt like a challenge and was in the mood, I’d go try my hand in Terokkar. When I felt frustrated I’d go back to Nagrand - and it was always such a relief to go back and fish there. Oh and just FYI, you need about 10-12 successful fish catches for every point from 300 on (the number increases with your skill level). At 360, armed with my graphite fishing pole in one hand and aquadynamic fish attractors in the other, I set off for Terokkar Forest and the Highland Mixed Schools. My effective fishing level was 480, and with a cushion of +50, I felt very confident. Keep in mind Mr. Pinchy is very rare. The person who created the aforementioned guide clocked in a Mr. Pinchy at a little over 1000 catches, but thereafter fishing up a few more Mr. Pinchys and turning the average to about 1 in every 500; this person’s guide (another very helpful one) rates the catch rate at 0.2% also (yes that’s 1 in 500). While I could have waited and waited until 375 so less fish would escape, I felt my chances would be better over the course of time if I just started at 360, so I did. The Highland Mixed Schools are great (and I think the only places) to catch Furious Crawdad and Golden Darters. Over the last week I managed to fish up also a myriad of Inscribed Scrollcases (inside of which are a bunch of scrolls), lots of off-hand fish, a few Curious Crates (packed with Fel Iron Ore and Netherweave Cloth), and some motes of water as well.
I never sold off any of my fish I got, so I should go back and count how much fish I have – but I’m sure it’s around 400 fish (edit: it’s only about 200 fish, and a spattering of other crap from the crates and scrolls) - I definitely did better than the average time it took for me to fish up a Mr. Pinchy – Lady Luck was truly on my side. Very much unlike my netherwing egg ordeal, and pretty much anything else I try to do in WoW – it always seems that I wind up having to go the long way for anything, so I’m so very happy for Mr. Pinchy coming to me so soon.
So: Highland Mixed Schools, found only in Terrokar Forest (I’m assuming, anyway, I haven’t looked anywhere else). I’ll even be nice and list spawn points:
Blackwind Lake (at Skettis):
68,79
68,77
64,79
65,83
69,80
64,78
66,80
63,77
There’s apparently 10 locations…but I can’t find the other two. Yet.
Lake Ere’Noru (just southeast of Allerian Stronghold):
58,60
60,59
58,58
58,61
Lake Jorune (just northeast of Stonebreaker Hold):
47,40
46,39
45,40ish, not fully confirmed, it hasn’t respawned yet and it’s 2am. Confirm later.
Happy Fishing!
