Rats, Turtles and Pinchy, Oh My!

This week’s shared topic over at Blog Azeroth was suggested by Martha from Martha.net. I admit I haven’t done too many of these in the past but this topic involved something I can relate to; especially when you get so many awesome things from it.

Fishing is an odd sort of mini-game in WoW and people I’ve talked to either love it or hate it. So what’s your take on the most grindy of sports?

If you love it: Why? Where’s your favourite spot to go drop a line and veg while waiting for a strike?

If not: Why not? What would make it more fun? Or is there a way to make fishing fun?

And lastly, for those of you with hard-won turtles and rats and lobsters ‘o doom—show ’em off! (Because I’m proud of my stupid rat and darned if I’m not going to sneak my own screenshot in.)

Salty Title

I admit that I do like to focus on all my professions when an expansion rolls around, even the secondary ones. In fact, I’ve maxed out on all the secondary professions and I wouldn’t mind levelling up a third primary profession if it were possible, but I won’t hold my breath on that one.

Fishing is not a profession I love to level but I do like the things they bring to the table like gathering fish for buff food, not to mention the pets and mounts they offer. I’ve been lucky enough to get all the fishable ones to date. Remember when it took so many casts to level each point? It sure was a grind… My proudest accomplishment would have to be when I achieved the Salty achievement. For this reason, it’s my title of choice.

Magical Crawdad

During BC and Wrath, I did not have much luck when it came to fishing up pets – it took FIVE Mr Pinchy’s before he granted me a Magical Crawdad pet. Boy was I glad that grind was over. I had spent countless hours night after night in Skettis and the surrounding areas fishing up pools for this.

There were 5 wishes he could grant:

• Summon a level 70 non-elite guardian which assists you in battle for 10 minutes.
• Gift box with 5 Super Healing Potions and 5 Super Mana Potions.
• Magical Crawdad Box containing a Magical Crawdad non-combat pet.
• Mr. Pinchy’s Blessing: Health increased by 1200. This effect persists through death and is considered a flask. 2-hour duration.
• Furious Mr. Pinchy: Level 70 non-elite attacks you and your party. Has 5560 HP, with 3155 Mana.

Giant Sewer Rat

The Giant Sewer Rat in Dalaran took quite a bit of effort. I spent a few weeks on and off trying to farm that huge thing down in the sewers. In fact, I remember Coolidge being sweet as he planned on fishing the rat up to give me later as a surprise. That is until he managed to get it after ~15mins of fishing himself. Of course, it was only then he realised that the pet was BoP. But it’s the thought that counts, right?

Old Ironjaw

Heading into Ironforge for that damn fish was one I always dreaded. I mean, first of all, you had to head into enemy territory. Not only that but head into the heart of their major city. Being on a US server, I usually went in either via tram or the front gate, expecting a death or two until I reached my fishing spot. In hindsight, I should have checked the Shattrath Fishing Daily beforehand as it just so happened that the daily happened to be for the crocolisk. This happened at least once or twice. Those were the days when you could lie down in the back of Forlorn Cavern and fish, with titles turned off to draw the least attention to yourself. A few times I would fish until 2 or 3 am in the morning, spending up to 5 or 6 hours at a time.

Sometimes Coolidge would keep me company helping me get in there and staying until he went to bed. On one occasion, I went AFK for a few minutes and when I came back I saw he had the achievement in chat. My initial response was “…” mostly because he doesn’t really care for these things but he was nice enough to hang around and keep me company quite often. Thankfully, the Alliance would usually leave me alone, although some would come close enough to wave, etc. Most people just went about their business which was much appreciated. I would often give Alliance the same courteous behaviour in Org as I knew exactly what they went through.

Crocolisks

The fishing daily outside Shattrath offers a whopping four crocolisk pets from the ‘Bag of Fishing Treasures’ – Chuck, Snarly, Toothy and Muckbreath. The drop rate on these was so crappy back then. I only had one or two of the crocolisks until the end of the expansion. That’s when they changed the drop rate to 50%, provided of course the right daily was up.

Sea Turtle

Although he may not be very fast on land, the Sea Turtle gives a nice speed boost allowing you to move 60% faster in a body of water. When the Sea Turtle was announced, I was not looking forward to another round of fishing with not much to show for it but I would soon find out the tide was turning. After psyching myself up one particular afternoon, I flew to a picturesque spot in Howling Fjord and settled myself in where the unexpected happened… I managed to get it from my very first cast!

Strand Crawler

The Northrend version of the fishing daily in Dalaran. I can’t remember if it took a long time to get the Strand Crawler but since I was doing the daily anyway it really wasn’t an issue. There was also a chance to get four different (blue quality) fishing poles in the ‘Bag of Shiny rewards’. Some people preferred the other poles from rep but I liked the uniqueness of these other ones.

This little guy is tiny and sometimes blows bubbles when idle

Sea Pony

The latest pet I’ve managed to acquire is the Sea Pony, fished up during the Darkmoon Faire. Since I heard the drop rate was high during the first day or so, I wanted to get it ASAP in case they decided to hotfix it. That first night, after fishing in various spots for 45mins, I managed to get it just fishing in open water. Woot!

One of my absolute favourite pets (which goes great with my Poseidus mount)

I don’t normally have a certain spot I like to fish as there’s always a reason for why I’m fishing, be it a pet, a particular fish or a pool for an achievement.