Drift net fishing

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A player drift net fishing

The Drift Net Fishing activity is a skilling method that provides the player with Fishing and Hunter experience. The activity consists of catching fish shoals in Fossil Island's Underwater area. With level 70+ Hunter and Fishing, players can gain up to 110k Hunter and 82k Fishing xp/hr. It is not possible to obtain the Heron pet from this skilling method. It is possible to obtain clue bottles (medium) from drift net fishing.

Introduction

With at least 44 Hunter and 47 Fishing, and a drift net in the inventory, players can set up a net trap by clicking on the drift net anchors . When a fish shoal swims towards the net, it may get caught in the net. The player can choose to actively chase the fish shoals to speed up the process. Merfolk trident and Trident of the seas give an increased chance to scare off fish shoals into the net.

If ten fish shoals get stuck in the trap, the net will be full, and the player will have the option to "check" the drift net. This will reward the player with ten raw fish. The drift net will be destroyed in the process.

To be allowed access to the activity, players must first speak with Ceto, located just north of the anchor rope. 200 numulites are required as payment to enter the instanced area and allowance lasts for a full day. Players can also pay a fee of 20,000 numulites to gain permanent access.

To partake in this activity players must use drift nets, which can be crafted by using two jute fibre on a loom at level 26 Crafting. Annette, located in the area, will store up to 2,000 drift nets for the player.

Hunter and Fishing experience gained scales up to level 70 in both of these skills. Hunter experience per shoal caught scales from 72xp at level 50 to 101.5xp at level 70. Fishing experience per shoal caught scales from 56.5xp at level 50 to 77xp at level 70.

Requirements

• Completion of Bone Voyage is required to access Fossil Island.
• 44 Hunter and 47 Fishing
• At least 1 net (the player will use between 80 -110 nets an hour, depending on efficiency)

Recommended

• Completion of Skippy and the Mogres is highly recommended for access to flippers.
• Partial completion of the Freeing Pirate Pete subquest of the Recipe for Disaster quest is recommended for access to a diving apparatus and fishbowl helmet.
• A Merfolk trident, Trident of the seas, Trident of the swamp, or Dragon harpoon is recommended to chase fish shoals into the net.
• Graceful or weight-reducing items.

Getting there

1. While on Fossil Island, go to the northeastern part of the Mushroom Forest.
2. Use the small boat to row out to the sea.
3. While on the small island, right-click the small boat and select the dive option.
4. Now swim north to arrive at the entrance to this activity.

Mechanics

There are two ways of filling up the drift nets: passively or actively.

Passive training

Go to the Hunter area to set the drift nets in place. The drift nets will slowly get filled with fish while logged in to the game. The player doesn't have to be in the area for this to happen. Every once in a while some Fishing experience will be rewarded, indicating some fish being caught. When the drift net gets full, a game message will appear in the chat box. No Hunter experience is rewarded for this method.

Active training

It is also possible to actively fill up the drift nets. This will result in the drift nets getting filled much quicker. This training method will reward both Fishing and Hunter experience.

Set up the drift nets and click on any fish shoal to chase them. Once a fish shoal has successfully been chased, it will eventually get caught once it gets near an empty drift net. Without a trident, it is possible that a fish shoal has to be clicked on multiple times before it has successfully been chased.

When a fish shoal that has been successfully chased attempts to enter a full drift net, the fish shoal will return to its idling state.

Fish shoals can get stuck on each other, the player, or the rocks around the edges of the area. As such, it is recommended to focus on the fish shoals closer to the nets, and ignore the ones near the entrance where there are many obstacles. Standing right between a fish shoal and the net can also stop it from entering.

Rewards

Upon harvesting a drift net, the drift net will be destroyed and the player will be given the option to discard, bank, or take all rewards. Your fishing level determines what type of fish you can catch. Boosts do not allow you to catch higher level fish. The loot will contain 10 rolls on the following loot table, and the catch rate for all types of fish is equal. Players can use the bank option when the harvest interface is open to bank all the fish caught for a fee of 5 Numulite, apart from pufferfish which can not be banked.

Possible Catches

Catch		Fishing Level
	Oyster	47
	Clue bottle (medium)	47
	Numulite	47
	Pufferfish	47
	Raw anchovies	47
	Raw sardine	47
	Raw tuna	47
	Raw lobster	50
	Raw swordfish	60
	Raw shark	70
	Raw sea turtle	80
	Raw manta ray	90

Possible Set up

• Once inside the Hunter area, equip the merfolk trident. It is not possible to swim through the seaweed door with a weapon equipped.
• The fishbowl helmet and diving apparatus are must-haves.
• Flippers allow players to 'run' while underwater and increase XP rates. Note that if you log in underwater wearing other equipment, you may need to relog after equipping flippers in order to enable run.
• Bring plenty of drift nets. It is possible to bring them noted, store them at Annette, and withdraw them unnoted.
• Active fishing uses approximately 100 drift nets per hour with flippers and a merfolk trident equipped.
• Stamina potions provide some convenience but are not necessary. It's possible to fish for 20-30 minutes before depleting your run energy if you're careful with positioning and avoid constantly running from one net to another. This saves a lot of money with similar xp rates and makes the activity easily accessible for ironmen.
• The Angler's outfit does NOT affect fishing experience gained in this activity.

Creatures

The following Hunter creature may be caught using the drift net fishing technique.

Creature		Fishing		Hunter
		Level	Exp	Level	Exp
	Fish shoal	47	Varies	44	Varies