Fishing Guide

In runescape, fishing is a great skill to have, and it doesn't cost much to start, so your profits are almost 100%, not to mention it's incredibly easy to do. Cast and catch, simple as that.
Not only can it help you make a ton of gold, but it helps you in other ways as well. For example when you catch fish, you must start a fire to cook the fish, then you cook the fish, then you can use those cooked fish to heal you when training your combat.
When your character is a higher level, you'll need more and better food to keep your health up. So rather than having to buy food from other people you can catch it yourself, saving you a lot of gold.
Before you can start making big bucks, you need to be at least level 50 fishing, so I'll give you a few hints and tips on how to level up your skills.
Lobsters sell for around 200 gold each and when you're level 80 fishing you can fish for sharks and sell them for between 700-1000 gold each. As you can see, this is definately a very good trade to get involved in, it can make you a lot of money once you've leveled up your skills a little.
Basic Tools You Need To Get Started:
Here's what equipment you can use and what you can catch with that equipment.
Fishing Gear
Equipment With The Equipment You Can Catch
Net Shrimp, Anchovies, Karambwanji, Giant Frogspawn
Fishing Rod & Bait Sardine, Herring, Pike, Slimey Eel, Cave Eel
Big Net * Mackerel, Cod, Bass
Fly-Fishing Rod & Feathers Trout, Salmon
Harpoon Tuna, Swordfish, Shark
Lobster Cage Lobsters
Oily-Fishing Rod * & Bait Lava Eel
Karambwan Vessel Karambwan
*=Members only
Small Fishing Net:
When you get started, the only thing that you'll be able to catch is shrimp. For this, you'll need the small fishing net. A great place to get started with fishing is South of Draynor Village bank. There's a bank nearby (Obviously) where you can store all your shrimp and there's plenty of trees around so that you can easily cook them all once you're done.

You can buy the Small Fishing Net at the Port Sarim fishing shop for about 5 gold pieces. Once you get to level 15 fishing, you can also catch anchovies with the Small Fishing Net.
Fishing At Sea:
Once you've caught enough shrimp to level your fishing to level 5, you can then fish for Sardines. However this will cost more money, as you not only have to buy a fishing rod, but you must also buy bait. The Fishing Rod costs about 5 gold pieces and the bait cost varies with the amount that the shop has in stock. It's normally about 3 gold pieces each, so if you want to make any kind of profit, you'll have to sell each fish for more than 3 gold pieces each, more on making money with fishing in the making money guides : )
Once you get to level 10 fishing, you can also catch Herring with a Fishing Rod and bait. You can catch both Sardines and Herring from the sea, South of Draynor Village (The same place you where fishing for Shrimp).
To use your Fishing Rod and Bait, make sure you have them both in your inventory (Along with extra space for you to store your caught fish), then right click on a fishing spot and select "Bait". Each time you catch a fish you'll use one bait. Now you just have to wait until you're inventory fills up : )
Lure Fishing/Fly Fishing:
Next, you can begin Lure Fishing (Some times called Fly Fishing, they are the same thing, but just different names). It's pretty much the same as Bait Fishing, except you use Feathers instead of Bait, also there are certain fish that you can only catch by Lure Fishing/Fly Fishing.
You can only Fly/Lure fish in rivers, so you'll have to choose a different fishing spot this time.
I suggest that you go Lure Fishing in the river East of the Barbarian Village, as there are 2 fishing spots and to the north in Edgeville, there is a bank where you can store all your fish. Also, Edgeville is very close to the Wilderness. So if you cook your caught fish here, you can sell them to the player killers (PKer's) so they can restore some health.

To lure fish, right click on the fishing spot, then click "Lure", you'll use one feather each time you catch a fish.
Bait Fishing In Rivers:
Exactly the same as "Fishing At Sea" , except you do it in rivers instead. You wont catch Sardines or Herring in rivers, as they are sea fish. Instead you'll catch Pike, you need to be level 25 Fishing before you can catch it though. You can use the same fishing spots as above.
Harpooning Tuna:
A new piece of equipment is now required, a Harpoon. Again you can get this from Port Sarim for about 5 gold pieces. Now you need to catch a boat from Port Sarim to Karamja. First you'll be catching Tuna with the harpoon. Later, you'll be able to Harpoon Swordfish.
Talk to one of the guys in blue here to get to the island of Karamja (Costs 30g) You'll arrive at the docks and you should harpoon here. There are quite a few fishing spots.

To Harpoon Tuna, you should go to the docks just outside Karamja port, North of the bananna field.
Since there isn't a bank nearby, you have a few choices. You could (A) Catch the Tuna and then drop them, for continuous fishing experience, (B) Catch the Tuna then sell them uncooked to the general store, (C) Catch the Tuna, then cook them, then sell them to the general store, or (D) Catch the Tuna, go back to the main land, and stick them in your bank for later.
The trip to Karamja will cost you 30 gold pieces to get there and another 30 gold pieces to get back. When you get to the fishing spot, make sure you have the Harpoon in your inventory, right click on the fishing spot, then click on "Harpoon".
Caging Lobsters:
While at Karamja (If your level is high enough) you can also cage lobsters with a "Lobster Pot". You can get a "Lobster Pot" from the Port Sarim Fishing Shop for about 20 gold pieces. Lobsters are a great way of making money and you don't need a very high level to begin catching them. With the Lobster Pot in your inventory, right click on the fishing spot then click on cage. You can catch Lobsters in the same place as where you were Harpooning Tuna.
Harpooning Swordfish:
Once you get to level 50 you can Harpoon Swordfish in the same place that you can Harpoon Tuna. You'll probably catch more Tuna than Swordfish, so you can either drop them, or sell them.
Member's Fishing Spots:
The following is a list and description of members only fishing spots.
Catherby:
The fish here are the same as in the fishing guild. There's a bank very nearby so you can deposit anything you catch and get back to fishing quite quickly. There is also a fishing shop nearby that sells most of what you'll need. It doesn't selling Fly Fishing Rods or Feathers, but you're fishing at an ocean, so that shouldn't be a problem. At the Catherby Fishing Spots you can catch the following: Oysters, Caskets, Seaweed, Mackerel, Cod, Tuna, Lobsters, Bass and Sharks.

Fishing Platform:
Not a fantastic fishing spot as the nearest bank is in East Ardougne, so it's a bit of a trek, therefore it's not very efficient. Before you can start fishing here (If you really feel you must) you have to first complete the Sea Slug Quest. You can net bait harpoon and cage fish. The fish you can catch are Shrimps, Sardines, Anchovies, Herring, Tuna, Lobsters and Swordfish.

Fishing Guild:
Very similar to Catherby, except there's a few more fishing spots.

Here's a List of what you can catch, where you can catch them and more:
Fishing Chart
Fish Fishing Level Required Fishing Experience Gained Where To Catch Equipment To Use Where To Find Approximate Selling Price (Cooked) Healing Points
Shrimp 1 10 Oceans Net Any Ocean 3 3

Karambwanji * 5 10 Holy Lake south of Tai Bwo Wannai Net Holy Lake south of Tai Bwo Wannai - 3

Sardine 5 20 Oceans Fishing Rod + Bait Any Ocean 10 4

Herring 10 30 Oceans Fishing Rod + Bait Any Ocean 10 5

Anchovies 15 40 Oceans Net Any Ocean 10 1

Mackerel * 16 20 Catherby Shore & Fishing Guild Big Net Catherby Shore & Fishing Guild 15 6

Trout 20 50 Rivers Fishing Rod + Feather Rivers 20 7

Cod * 23 45 Catherby Shore & Fishing Guild Big Net Catherby Shore & Fishing Guild 20 7

Pike 25 60 Rivers Fishing Rod + Bait Rivers 25 8

Slimey Eel 28 65 Rivers in the Mort Myre Swamp Fishing Rod + Bait Rivers in the Mort Myre Swamp - 6-10

Salmon 30 70 Rivers Fishing Rod + Feather Rivers 30 9

Giant Frogspawn * 33 75 Lumbridge Swamp Caves Net Lumbridge Swamp Caves - 3-6

Tuna 35 80 Karamja Dock & Catherby Shore Harpoon Karamja Dock & Catherby Shore 70 10

Cave Eel * 38 80 Lumbridge Swamp Caves Fishing Rod + Bait Lumbridge Swamp Caves - 7-11

Lobster 40 90 Karamja Dock & Catherby Shore Lobster Cage Karamja Dock & Catherby Shore 150 12

Bass 46 100 Catherby Shore & Fishing Guild Big Net Catherby Shore & Fishing Guild 200 13

Swordfish 50 100 Karamja Dock & Catherby Shore Harpoon Karamja Dock & Catherby Shore 250 14

Lava Eel * 53 60 Black Demon Lava Spot Oily Fishing Rod + Bait Black Demon Lava Spot - 14

Karambwan * 65 105 Northeast of Tai Bwo Wannai Vessel Northeast of Tai Bwo Wannai 300 18

Shark * 76 110 Catherby Shore & Fishing Guild Harpoon Catherby Shore & Fishing Guild 700 20

Sea Turtle * 79 105 Trawler Game Trawler(Mini Game) Trawler Game 2700 21

Manta Ray * 81 115 Trawler Game Trawler (Mini Game) Trawler Game 2700 22