Learn the best spots and techniques for Fishing and Mining in RuneScape, from catching shrimps to mining coal and beyond. Get tips for power fishing and power mining!
Hey there! So, you're diving into RuneScape and want to get a handle on some of the core skills? Awesome! This section is all about getting you started with Fishing and Mining. We'll cover the best places to go, what to aim for at different levels, and even some tricks to speed things up. Let's get you leveled up!
Skills Covered:
- Fishing (including Power Fishing)
- Mining (including Power Mining)
- Crafting (briefly mentioned with Mining/Smithing)
Fishing: Your First Steps
To start, hit up the shop in Port Sarim for your fishing supplies. For your very first catches, aim for shrimps. You can find good spots near Draynor Village or a bit southwest of Port Sarim. Once you hit level 15, switch to anchovies – forget the fish in between, they're not worth the effort. Fishing is also a great way to train Cooking, so keep a hatchet and tinderbox handy to cook what you catch. You can eat them or drop them if you're not planning on cooking.
When you can catch trouts (around level 20), grab some feathers and a fly fishing rod. Head over to Barbarian Village and just keep fishing trouts. Don't bother banking or cooking them; just let them drop. The closest bank is in Edgeville, to the north.
Once you unlock tuna (level 30), you'll need a harpoon and some cash for trips to Karamja. There's no bank on Karamja, so you'll be making trips back to Draynor Village or Falador. You can cook the tunas there too, as there are trees nearby. After hitting level 40, you can start fishing lobsters! Most players cook their lobsters as they're great for leveling up. While cooked lobsters aren't in high demand for selling anymore, raw ones can fetch about 100gp each, or 1k per 'cert' (a special item representing 5 raw lobsters). Swordfish are also caught in the same spot with a harpoon, but be prepared to catch a lot of tuna along the way.
Power Fishing Trick: For the fastest fishing, head to Barbarian Village with a fly fishing rod and lots of feathers. Just keep fishing trouts and let them drop – don't bank or cook them. This is all about speed!
Mining: Getting Your Hands Dirty
You can snag a free pickaxe in Barbarian Village to get started. Your first ores will be tin and copper. Since these don't sell for much, your best bet is to smelt them into bronze bars. A good loop is mining tin and copper in the Varrock Southeast mining site, running to the furnace north of Lumbridge to smelt them, and then heading back to Varrock's anvils to smith them into bronze swords. You can then sell these swords to the shop in Varrock for a decent profit. Remember, you need 1 tin and 1 copper for each bronze bar.
At level 15 mining, you can start on iron ore. Iron can be mined in many places like the Dwarven Mines, Varrock mining sites, and the Scorpion Pit. Smelting iron ore into bars has a 50% success rate, but you can use magic to boost this to 100%. You can sell iron bars for around 100gp each, or about 500gp per ore cert.
Once you hit mining level 30, you can mine coal! This is a popular choice. You'll find coal rocks in the mining site southwest of Varrock, Barbarian Village, and other spots. If you're comfortable fighting level 25 skeletons, the mining site northwest of Edgeville is packed with over 20 coal rocks. Be warned, it's in the wilderness (level 8-10), so PKers are a risk. If you go, take only your three best items (weapon, legs, chest) and don't get a skull so you don't lose them if you die. You'll still lose your ore and pickaxe, though. You can heal at the Monastery nearby and bank your coal in Edgeville. Coal certs usually sell for about 1k each.
Higher-level ores like Mithril and Adamantite are harder to sell. Most players stick with coal. At level 60 mining, you can access the Mining Guild, which has about 20 coal rocks and 4 mithril rocks. It's safer than the wilderness spots (no PKers) and has a bank right next to it (Falador, south bank), though it can get crowded. If you reach level 85 mining, you can mine Rune ore – that's impressive!
Power Mining Trick: For a faster mining experience, you can mine copper or tin until around level 60, then switch to iron. A good spot is Barbarian Village with its three tin rocks. Position yourself between two rocks and keep mining them, dropping the ore as you go. This method focuses on speed over banking.
Crafting Quick Tip: While not a main focus here, you can get started in crafting by mining 27 clay west of Varrock, wetting it in the cooking guild, and then crafting items in Barbarian Village. Another route involves collecting cowhides near Lumbridge, tanning them in Al Kharid, and then using a needle and thread to craft leather armour, gloves, or boots. You can also mine silver in the Scorpion Pit, smelt it into bars in Al Kharid, and craft Holy symbols of Saradomin using a mould bought from the crafting store.
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