Guild Wars 2: An Extensive Fishing Guide

Fishing in GW2 is a way to escape from all the enemy slaying and chaos that is happening all over Tyria, Cantha, and the Crystal Desert. All you need is two things, a Fishing Rod and either a Bait or Lure to start catching fish. It is easy to get into and is really rewarding once you have enough Fishing Power, which is a topic we will cover later in the guide.

In this guide, we will go over how you can get started with fishing and everything else you have to know about.

How to fish in Guild Wars 2

To start fishing in Guild Wars 2, you have to get the End of Dragons expansion, then complete Old Friends which is the first quest in End of Dragons on at least one character. This will give you a quick overview of how the mechanic works, a Fishing Rod, some Wooden Fishing Lures, and also account-wide access to the mechanic.

Let’s go over how to get your first fish by following those simple steps:

• Setup
  • Open your hero panel by pressing “H” then navigate to the Fishing tab.
  • Make sure you have a Fishing Rod equipped.
  • Make sure you have either a Lure or Bait equipped. At least one of them is needed to start catching fish.
  • Go to any area where you can be near water, or anchor a Skiff in the middle of the ocean.
• Play the Fishing game
  • Activate the Start Fishing mastery that is located on the bottom left-hand corner of your Skill bar
  • Use Cast Line on the water then wait.
  • Once you see a red exclamation mark above your head, use Set Hook to begin the mini-game.
  • You have to use Reel In Left and Reel In Right to keep the orange square hovering over the green square.
  • If the yellow progress bar fills up, you will get the fish, and consume one Lure or one Bait or both if you have them both equipped. Otherwise, you will lose the fish, but keep the lure and bait.

Fishing game tips

When you start the mini-game, keep an eye out for the hook color that is located in the bottom left corner of the HUD. Red and yellow hooks mean that your Fishing Power (FP) is low, and a green hook means you can easily catch the fish. Speaking of FP, this attribute dictates the quality of fish you can catch, and we will cover this mechanic later down in the guide.

What to do with Fish

There are multiple things you can do when you catch fish, the end goal is to gather as many Ascended Flawless Fish Fillets as possible to sell them or turn them into something useful.

• Collect 10 Flawless Fish Fillets to purchase Chunks of Ancient Ambergris that are used to craft Generation Three Legendaries, or sell at the trading post for some decent gold.
• Cooking
• Crafting tonics
• Selling the fish at the trading post for gold

Fish Fillets can be deposited in your Material Storage.

Fishing mechanics

Fishing is not just about grabbing your Rod, swinging it toward the ocean, and calling it a day. There are so many factors that decide the quality of fish that you will be luring in.

Fishing power

Fishing Power is an attribute that can be seen in the Hero Panel and it dictates the quality of fish you will catch as some zones require a specific amount of FP. Moreover, the higher this attribute is, the bigger the orange square is, and the easier the catch will be.

If you don’t meet the minimum requirements, it will be extremely hard or even borderline impossible to catch a fish.

You can do the following things to increase your Fishing Power:

Every zone that allows fishing has a specific power requirement, and they are as follows:

Fishing party

Gain a buff called Fishing Party Enhancement that increases your FP as you catch more fish from nodes with other players while on a Skiff.

This buff applies to all the party or squad members, and its effectiveness is based on how many fish the squad collectively captured.

If you have the mastery unlocked, the FP will be doubled so instead of getting 150 at tier 6, you will end up with 300 additional FP.

Fishing Holes

Fishing holes are similar to gathering nodes but they are only found in water. There are different types of nodes and they are spread all over Tyria.

Each node type has a list of unique fish that can be lured out of, for example, the Axolotl can only be lured out from the Cavern Fish hole, however, the less rare fish can be found in multiple nodes. For example, a Blowfish can be found in Channel fish nodes, Coastal Fish nodes, and Open Water.

Time of day

Some fish can only be caught during certain times in the game. For example, a Swordfish can only be caught during day time, whereas a Starry Flounder can only be caught during the night. You can check out the list of available fish and when is the best time to catch them on gw2fish.com.

Fishing equipment

We were constantly mentioning Lures and Baits, but what do they do and how do you actually get them? Well, both of them are used to increase your Fishing Power, and this allows you to catch higher-quality fish that will eventually earn you more gold.

Lure

Lure increases your Fishing Power by a certain number depending on which type you are using. You can buy Lure from Fishing Supply Vendors who are located all over Cantha and Central Tyria. All those vendors will sell you Lure in batches of 50, 75, or 100.

Bait

Bait increases your FP, and also allows you to catch exclusive fish that can only be caught with certain types of bait. They can be purchased from Fishmongers and Fishing Supply Vendors.

Rod

This is obtained after completing the Old Friends quest, can’t be unequipped, is account bound, and provides a base +25 FP. Those Rods can have their skins changed, and you can see all the available skins on the wiki page.

Fishing merchants

There are two fishing merchants that can be found in most major cities, and they are Fishmongers and Fishing Supply Vendors.

Fishmongers allow you to trade low-level fish fillets for high-level fish fillets, buy a bunch of minis, and trade in 10 Flawless Fish Fillets for 1 Chunk of Ancient Ambergris given that you have the Local Legend mastery.

Fishing Supply Vendors will sell you lure and bait.

Fishing Masteries

When it comes to the masteries, it’s extremely crucial that you level them up as each one will reward you with an additional 20 FP.

Mastery	Mastery Points	Description
Fishing Hole Master	2	Triples the experience you gain from fishing holes, and reduces the time needed to fish there. Adds 20+ base FP
Angler Sense	3	You now have a skill that detects nearby nodes. Adds 20+ base FP
Fishing on a Full Tank	4	You gain +100 additional FP while nourished. Adds 20+ base FP
Master Caster	5	Your fishing range increases by 50% Adds 20+ base FP
Local Legend	6	Fishmongers will now sell you additional goods. (Chunk of Ancient Ambergris being the most important one) Adds 20+ base FP