Part 2:World of Warcraft Guide: How To Level Fishing and Cooking To 300

Level 50-125 (yes, there is some overlap here) fish in the zone following your race’s transition zone. Horde go to Ratchet or the Silverpine coast, Alliance, fish Loch Moden, Darkshore or the Westfall coast. Make sure you buy the recipe for either Longjaw Mud Snapper or Rainbow fin Albacore, these are the lvl50 cooking recipes necessary for further skill-ups. Again, the recipes are always available in or near the town closest to the waters in which you can catch the fish. At some time, you will start to catch Bristle Whisker Catfish, which requires cooking lvl 100. If you are not to the right level yet, save the fish until your cooking catches up by cooking the Albacore/Mudsnappers you are also catching. This is the last time your fishing will be ahead of your cooking.

Further, in the second zones mentioned, you will start to catch Oily Blackmouth and Firefin Snapper, fish you can’t cook, but which are “money fish” meaning that you can sell them on AH for sometimes big profit. At one time, Oily’s were bringing 15s. each in IF. When I was learning the economy, way back when I was a n00b, I made my first (smallish) fortune just selling Oily Blackmouth and Firefin Snapper which I had caught using a fish-bot, which I have since abandoned.

Also, for you adventurous Allies, the Money fish of all money fish, Deviates can be caught at this level. If you wanna venture into The Barrens for fishing, go for it. My PvE server often has hated Alliance fishermen in the sacred Horde treasure fishing holes. Sometime, I have taken my NE hunter into Wailing Caverns just for the fishing. Inside the instance, Deviates drop twice as often as outside, however, there are no schools like you find in Lushwater Oasis.
One word parenthetically here. Darnassus, Stormwind, Thunder Bluff and Orgrimmar all have waters you can fish. These waters drop a few Smallfish, lots of Longjaws and some Bristle Whiskers. The spread on the fish levels is too great to rely on the city fishing to get too far cooking, but if you are in town with some time on your hands, you can always drop a line for some skill ups.

Level 100-175
Take your pick of zones. The rule of thumb I use is that the third fishing zone will give you the fish which you can eat when cooked which are appropriate for lvl 25-35 characters. Your cooking will be the BristleWhiskers and Tangy clam meat from the Small clams from the sea in the 20-something zones. Also, at this level, you should consider fishing the river in Hillsbrad Foothills., Decrepit Ferry in Silverpine, Mirkfallon Lake in Stonetalon Mts and Mystral Lake in Ashenvale for Sage Fish. You can cook these at skill lvl 80, from recipes sold by every cooking supply vendor and will get health and mana from eating them, plus a super buff for mana users of 3 mana per second for 15 minutes. The sagefish are only caught from the swirls which denote schools of fish. After catching 4-5 fish, the school dissipates and you have to move on the the next. This activity breaks up the monotony of fishing and provides you with a mess of food which your mana users will cherish.

Level 150-225
Any where you like, my dear, except Tanaris, Feralas and Azshara. You will be catching Mithril Head Trout and Rock scale Cod, which require a cooking skill level of 175, but which come in abundance now because you are catching 5-6 fish per skill point and don’t need to worry about having enough. Recipes are found here and there, keep an eye peeled whenever you are near a vendor along the seacoast. Also, at this level, you will want to be fishing the Lake in Strangle thorn and the south shore of Lake Loerderon for Greater Sage fish. Same benefits as the regular ones, but more of it and it takes a cooking level of 175 and the recipe is from the same vendor which sold you the junior Sage fish recipe. If you fish the coasts in zones from Dust wallow and Strangle thorn and higher, you will also be catching Spotted Yellowtail, which are the money fish after your master quest. You need skill level 225 to begin cooking them and you will get scallops all the way to 300 from them.

Quest time:

Look it up. The fishing quest takes you all over the world and is time consuming because of the travel. The cooking quest is a gemmed after you get the Large Eggs. The Clams you need for it will be falling among the fish you are catching.
Level 225+ Time for payback! Over half the fish you catch on your way to 300 will be caught after you become a Master Fisherperson. Your skill is high enough, with bait, to catch the granddaddy of money fish, the Stone scale Eel. It is only available in Tanaris, Feralas and Azshara. The drop rates average 10-15% and the rest of the time you will be catching mostly Yellowtail; Big Clams (10-15%), with their chance for Black, Lustrous or Golden Pearl drops; and some other fish thrown in. The cooking recipe for Yellowtail, btw, is from the goblin vendor in Steam wheedle Port, Tanaris. Also, I have found a small market for cooked Yellowtail. It gives 1335 health points on eating and sometimes fetches 40-50s. per stack on AH. The fish vendors charge 80s. for a stack and some players appreciate the discount, which is all profit to you, albeit not a big one because folks just do not go to AH to buy food. The only better food is the Lobster Stew which gives 2148 health, but the lobster is only caught off the shores of Azshara with a minimum fishing skill of 400! (your mixed out 300 plus Aquadyamic Fish Attractors).
I have left out some of the more exotic fish. Poached Sun scale Salmon, for example, restores 6 healths every 5 seconds for 10 min. You search what you want to cook. Go to Thottbot and knock yourself out.

Summary, fishing is not that difficult. If you are willing to spend almost 2 calendar days staring at the water, you can be the boss! Where does this lead? Why to the Essence of Water, of course. This wonderful commodity fetches 5-8g. Each and is most reliably available in the Azshara waters at skill levels ABOVE 400. Once you are mixed out fishing, your return will be awesome. After the swirls are fished out, you will be catching Stone scale eel, and thick shelled clam, all of which have dollar signs swirling around them.

And since you are fishing, the Cooking should be an automatic!