Where to reel in Pandaria's delicious fish
There are a few purposes for fish in Mists of Pandaria. You can cook them to eat for a Well Fed buff or to give to a Tillers NPC for personal reputation. There's a fish for alchemy oils and even the "vendor fish" this expansion is pretty useful. You can bag extra stacks of fish together for a currency.
The catch is (pun intended) that many raiders aren't used to fishing their own Well Fed buffs. This leads to many questions on where to find which fish. Jump behind the cut and I'll summarize for you the pools and catch rates of open water fishing in Pandaria.
There's only thing the casual fishertoon needs to remember about fishing skill. Ever since Ulduar, open water requires a certain skill to never catch any junk, but pools can be fished with a skill of 1.
Emperor Salmon can be used to make Steamer feasts and the 300 intellect food. Pair it with a quintet of Scallions to give to Tina Mudclaw. The salmon is an inland fish, and you can find its pools in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, Valley of the Four Winds, and Krasarang Wilds. The best places to find the salmon in open water are the rivers of the Valley or the Wilds.
Giant Mantis Shrimp can be used to make Wok feasts and the 300 strength food. Cook it alone to give to Ella. The shrimp is a coastal crustacean, so you can find its pools all over Pandaria. The coasts are equal in open water catch statistics.
Golden Carp can be used to make dishes for leveling to 525 Cooking, for completing one daily for the Order of the Cloud Serpent, and one of Nomi's Master Cook dailies. Carp don't swim together in pools, but you can find them in any open water. In coastal waters, you'll catch carp a little over a third of the time. The inland waters range from one fifth of the time in the Dread Wastes to about half the time in the Vale, but it's over three-quarters of the time in Kun-Lai Summit!
Jade Lungfish can be cooked alone to give to Gina Mudclaw or paired with a quintet of Striped Melons to give to Sho. If you guessed that the lungfish's pools are only in Jade Forest, you'd be correct! You'll catch it almost a fifth of the time in open inland water in Jade Forest.
Jewel Danio can be used to make Pandaren feasts and the 300 spirit food. It is only found in the Vale, whether in pools or a quarter of the time in open water.
Krasarang Paddlefish can be used to make Oven feasts and Fish Fellreed's favorite food. The paddlefish is an inland fish like the salmon and often shares the same waters. Its pools and best open water catches are in the Valley and the Wilds, though you can also catch it in open Vale water.
Redbelly Mandarin can be used to make Grill feasts and the 450 stamina food. Its pools can be found in the Vale and Jade Forest, but you won't find it in open water in the Vale. There can be pools in Townlong Steppes' few lakes, but you'll find it a quarter of the time in the lakes' open waters.
Reef Octopus can be used to make Pot feasts and Chee Chee's favorite food. Reef Octopus shares the same coastal waters for pools with Giant Mantis Shrimp, and you'll find it the same percent of the time as the shrimp.
Spinefish can't be cooked, but alchemists can use it to make Darkwater Potions with Desecrated Oil. You'll only find Spinefish in sha-touched waters, such as anywhere in inland Dread Wastes or southern Kun-Lai Summit.
Tiger Gourami is only cooked for the 300 agility food. Its pools and open water catches are found best in northern Kun-Lai Summit, though you can find some near Binan Village.
Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.
