How this guide works

• Fishing locations listed are not the only place to catch these fish. These are just the locations that we found convenient and easy to access.
• Most of the fish recipes are not taught by Cooking trainers. You’ll need to either buy the recipes from vendors or the Auction House. It’s up to you whether you gather them all before hand, or just get them when needed.
• You may not need all of the Cooking recipes, especially at high levels (260+). It really comes down to RNG with what fish you catch. Since recipes are cheap, we recommend just buying all of the ones listed and cooking whatever you catch.
• In each cooking section, the list of items to cook is a priority list. Cook the first item on the list until you run out. Then start cooking the second item, etc.

Recipes needed

Most of these can be purchased on the Auction House. The vendors/source for each recipe are listed in parentheses if you want to collect them yourself, which will save money but take more time.

• Recipe: Brilliant Smallfish (Many vendors — [A] Stormwind City: Catherine Leland or [H] Thunder Bluff: Sewa Mistrunner)
• Recipe: Bristle Whisker Catfish (Many vendors — [A] Stormwind City: Catherine Leland or [H] Thunder Bluff: Naal Mistrunner)
• Recipe: Longjaw Mud Snapper (Many vendors — [A] Ironforge: Tansy Puddlefizz or [H] Thunder Bluff: Naal Mistrunner)
• Recipe: Mithril Head Trout (Many vendors — [A] Ironforge: Tansy Puddlefizz or [H] Orgrimmar: Shankys)
• Recipe: Filet of Redgill (Stranglethorn Vale: Kelsey Yance)
• Recipe: Cooked Glossy Mightfish (Stranglethorn Vale: Kelsey Yance)
• Recipe: Baked Salmon (Feralas: [A] Vivianna or [H] Sheendra Tallgrass)
• Recipe: Poached Sunscale Salmon (Tanaris: Gikkix)
• Recipe: Spotted Yellowtail (Tanaris: Gikkix)
• Recipe: Nightfin Soup (Tanaris: Gikkix)
• Recipe: Blackened Trout (Zangarmarsh: [A] Doba or [H] Gambarinka)
• Recipe: Feltail Delight (Zangarmarsh: [A] Doba or [H] Zurai)
• Recipe: Blackened Sporefish (Zangarmarsh: Juno Dufrain)
• Recipe: Poached Bluefish (Nagrand: [A] Uriku or [H] Nula the Butcher)
• Recipe: Kungaloosh (Dalaran: Washed-Up Mage – requires Sholazar Basin quest The Taste Test completed)
• Recipe: Snapper Extreme (Dalaran: Cooking vendor next to the trainer for 3x Dalaran Cooking Awards)

Preparation

1. Train Fishing and Cooking.
2. Get a fishing rod (the normal one is fine, but grab the strong one if available).
3. [Optional] Collect all of the recipes above, or wait until you need them.

Fishing 1-75

Location: Elwynn Forest (Crystal Lake) or Durotar (Southfury River)

Catch these fish:

• Raw Brilliant Smallfish
• Raw Longjaw Mud Snapper

Cooking 1-50

Cook the following:

• Brilliant Smallfish

Cooking 50-75

Cook the following, prioritizing the fish at the top of the list:

• Brilliant Smallfish
• Longjaw Mud Snapper

Go train both skills to 150.

Fishing 75-125

Location: Stormwind City (Canals) or Orgrimmar (Valley of Spirits)

Catch these fish:

• Raw Brilliant Smallfish
• Raw Longjaw Mud Snapper
• Raw Bristle Whisker Catfish

Cooking 75-110

Cook the following, prioritizing the fish at the top of the list:

• Brilliant Smallfish
• Longjaw Mud Snapper

Fishing 125-175

Go train before heading out to fish.

Location: Hillsbrad Foothills (inland lakes or rivers), Ashenvale (inland lakes or rivers)

Catch these fish:

• Raw Longjaw Mud Snapper
• Raw Bristle Whisker Catfish

Cooking 110-175

Remember to go train at 150.

Cook the following, prioritizing the fish at the top of the list:

• Longjaw Mud Snapper
• Bristle Whisker Catfish
  • Unfortunately this turns green at 160.
  • A non-fishing alternative for this level is Curiously Tasty Omelet.
    • Farm Raptor Eggs from any raptors in the Arathi Highlands, Wetlands, or Stranglethorn Vale.

Fishing 175-225

Locations: Desolace (inland lakes) or Alterac Mountains (Lordamere Lake)

Catch these fish:

• Raw Mithril Head Trout

Cooking 175-225

Cook the following:

• Mithril Head Trout

Go train both skills.

Fishing 225-260

Location: Tanaris (Steamwheedle Port)

Catch these fish:

• Raw Spotted Yellowtail
• Raw Glossy Mightfish
• Raw Summer Bass (summer) or Winter Squid (winter)
• Raw Rockscale Cod

Fishing 260-290

Location: Feralas (inland lakes)

Catch these fish:

• Raw Redgill
• Raw Nightfin Snapper or Raw Sunscale Salmon
• Raw Mithril Head Trout

Cooking 225-240

Cook the following, prioritizing the fish at the top of the list:

• Rockscale Cod
• Mithril Head Trout
• Spotted Yellowtail
• Filet of Redgill
• Cooked Glossy Mightfish

Cooking 240-275

Cook the following, prioritizing the fish at the top of the list:

• Mithril Head Trout
• Spotted Yellowtail
• Filet of Redgill
• Nightfin Soup
• Poached Sunscale Salmon
• Hot Smoked Bass
• Grilled Squid

Fishing 290-300

Locations: Feralas (Jademir Lake, top left of the zone) or Winterspring (western lake by Donova Snowden)

Catch these fish:

• Raw Whitescale Salmon

Cooking 275-300

Cook the following, prioritizing the fish at the top of the list:

• Hot Smoked Bass
• Grilled Squid
• Nightfin Soup
• Poached Sunscale Salmon
• Baked Salmon

Fishing 300-340

Go train Fishing and Cooking to 375 at the Cooking and Fishing bookshelves in Shattrath City.

Location: Zangarmarsh (inland lakes)

Catch these fish:

• Spotted Feltail
• Barbed Gill Trout
• Zangarian Sporefish

Fishing 340-350

Location: Nagrand (Skysong Lake)

Catch these fish:

• Spotted Feltail
• Icefin Bluefish

Cooking 300-340

Cook the following:

• Blackened Trout
• Feltail Delight
• Blackened Sporefish

Cooking 340-350

Cook the following, prioritizing the fish at the top of the list:

• Blackened Trout
• Feltail Delight
• Blackened Sporefish
• Poached Bluefish

Fishing 350-400

Go train fishing 450 at Marcia Chase in Dalaran.

Location: Sholazar Basin (River’s Heart)

Catch these fish:

• Barrelhead Goby
• Nettlefish – Save these for Fish Feasts at Cooking 450. If you don’t plan to make Fish Feasts, you can cooked Poached Nettlefish as well during this range (not recommended).

Cooking 350-375

Go to Dalaran and train Sauteed Goby and Grilled Sculpin from the Cooking trainer.

Cook the following:

• Sauteed Goby. This turns green at 365 but it’s worth grinding because the Nettlefish you’re catching at the same time will be used for Fish Feasts.

Cooking 375-400

If you have already done The Taste Test quest, talk to the Washed-Up Mage in the Dalaran sewers to get Recipe: Kungaloosh. If you haven’t done it, you may want to consider doing the quest because it will make this stretch much easier.

Cook the following:

• Kungaloosh (if you have the recipe). You can purchase ingredients from Applebough in Dalaran.
• Grilled Sculpin

Fishing 400-450

You may want to focus on catching the fish that are used in Fish Feast, which is the best food buff available in WotLK.

Locations: Varies, based on the fish — see below.

Catch these fish:

• Save these fish for 450:
  • Musselback Sculpin (Borean Tundra, Lake Kum’uya [52,43]).
    • You’ll have to cook some of these for 400-415. Save the rest once you hit 415.
  • Nettlefish (Sholazar Basin, River’s Heart [49,63])
  • Glacial Salmon (Grizzly Hills, any inland lake)
• Bonescale Snapper (you’ll get this while collecting the other fish above).

Cooking 400-415

Cook the following:

• Grilled Sculpin

Cooking 415-450

If you don’t have it already, purchase the Recipe: Snapper Extreme from the Cooking vendor in Dalaran for 3x Dalaran Cooking Awards, which are rewarded from completing the cooking dailies given by the chef in Dalaran.

Cook the following:

• Snapper Extreme

At 450 Cooking you can finally cook all of your Fish Feasts! The recipe is purchased from the Cooking vendor in Dalaran for 5x Dalaran Cooking Awards.