Comments

Comment by ShaoranLi

One of the 3 Quest Fish, with Mimic Octopus and Flying Tiger Gourami grants 350 reputation with the New Pandarian Fishermens Faction called The Anglers, same as The Kalu'ak.

Comment by Alveia

This fish can be caught in the open waters of the Inkgill Mere in Kun-Lai Summit. It took me much longer to catch this one than the other two, but I imagine that was just my bad luck the first time, so don't give up trying!

Comment by Teebee2010

For those of you wondering where to find Inkgill Mere, from Wowpedia:

Inkgill Mere is the name of the large lake in southeastern Kun-Lai Summit and also the jinyu village on the eastern bank of the lake. Binan Village can be found on the southwest side of the lake, which feeds the Ancient Passage of the Veiled Stair. In the centre of the lake is the Inkgill Ritual Island."

Comment by ildios

Fished around 77:80 at Inkgill mere, Fishing Buddy told me it was a 1% drop rate.

Comment by Synit

There are 3 Daily Fish, as the name implies they can only be turned in once daily. It is however possible to catch one of them again after you turned it in, even on the same day. If you already turned it in you will get the message: "You have completed that daily quest today"

Flying Tiger Gourami - Can be cought in open freshwater areas in Krasarang Wilds and Valley of the Four Winds. (Good spot is Dojani River, just north of Anglers Wharf) (Coordinates are 64:28 in Krasaran Wilds)

Mimic Octopus - Can be caught in the salt water areas where you can catch Reef Octopus. (A good spot is Anglers Wharf - Just fish from the boat Nat Pagle is sitting in.) (Coordinates are 68:44 in Krasaran Wilds)

Spinefish Alpha - Can be caught at Inkgill Mere in Kun-Lai Summit. (If you have done the quests you will have waterwalking on while fishing) (Coordinates are 72:87 in Kun-Lai Summit)

All 3 of them can also be caught from schools of fish in the suggested areas.

Be patient even with the increased dropchance, they can still take a while to catch.

All of them gives the following upon turn in:

1 Lesser Charm of Good Fortune
350 Rep with The Anglers
600 Rep with Nat Pagle

Edit: Changes to reflect the changes to reputation.
Edit 2: Changes to rewards of quest since patch 6.0. (No longer offers valor points upon completion of the quest)

Comment by lphomiej

640 skill (600 + 40 Arcanite Fishing Pole)

32 minutes of fishing near the village:
Golden Carp x 81
Junk x 29
Tiger Gourami x 22
Sealed Crate x 2

I think I was too close to the village, because when I moved into the more purpley area, I caught completely different stuff (like spinefish, lol)
I'll update when I'm done fishing here.

Edit:

Ended up taking another hour to get the Alpha.
Caught a bunch of junk and 5 stacks of regular Spinefish and a handful of Crates.

Moral of the story: make sure you are catching spinefish and decaying fish and stuff like that. If you are, you're in the right place.

Comment by Askevar

I got mine after about 10 minutes of fishing at Inkgill Mere. Where I was standing I was fishing up Spinefish. I probably just got lucky on drop rate but it's either not bugged or fixed now.

Comment by lphomiej

I just spent literally 2 hours fishing for the mimic Octopus and then went to get the spinefish alpha and got it in 2 minutes... so that just shows what could happen. =P

640 Skill
Open Water
Inkgill Mere

2 minutes
Golden Carp x2
Spinefish x4
Scoured Fishbones x2
Desecrated Carcass x1
Spinefish Alpha x1

Comment by Nessephanie

Took me 78 casts in Inkgill Mere in Kun-Lai Summit, with 720 fishing (600+arcanite fishing pole 40+weather beaten hat 75) and still got 47 trash.

Comment by 730594

I and another party member managed to fish it up after about an hour in Fishbough Nook . (The lake directly next to Shado-Pan Fallback ) It does appear to be the hardest one out of the three.

Comment by pmakaro

There have been a number of post regarding the difficulty of fishing up this quest fish. Let me be clear I am not taking credit for this information just relaying it from El's Extreme Anglin'. El is one of if not the premiere authority for WoW fishing. The information on the site identifies three zones that you can catch this fish in. The first is the Sha ravaged area of southern Kun-Lai Summit, inland waters of Dread Waste, and the third is a small cave in Jade Forest called The Widow's Wail.

Each area has approximately the same awful chances of catching this fish. Please note that this is an open water catch. If you are trying to catch it do not waste your time in pools.

While there may be three different areas that you can catch this fish I believe that there is only one clear choice for where you should try to catch it. To clarify my point I will explain the issues with the other two zones. First, lets look at The Widow's Wail. This place might have an ever so slightly higher chance of catching the fish according to El, but it is the worst area. One it is all the way on the far north east corner of Jade Forrest above The Arboretum. This might not seem bad since you may already be out there for your Cloud Serpent dailies, but the major issue is the cave itself. It is jam packed wall-to-wall level 90 spiders that have a very fast respawn rate. You will need to clear your way back to the water and most likely need to clear out the spiders around you more then once while trying to get this elusive fish. My opinion skip it.

Second, inland waters of Dread Wastes. You should be able to catch the fish anywhere in the entire zone. The issue here is how highly congested an area this zone can be. Since this is the end zone for leveling and the daily questing zone for the Klaxxi you may find that you are dealing with too much stuff. I haven't spent too much time over there trying to find a nice quite clear space to fish in peace. If someone knows of an area that isn't over run with mobs or players feel free to drop me a reply.

This leaves the third and final area. The Sha touched lands of southern Kun-Lai Summit. This is the place I find to be the only logical choice. Just north west of the Golden Stairs is a lake in Firebough Nook. This place is ideal cause there is nothing here. No mobs to fight off and in the week or so of farming here I have seen perhaps one other player and I am on a high pop server.

As for all the trash you fish up while here all I can say is that it is the affect that the Sha have had on the water supply. As I said I have been getting this fish everyday for a week now and it is here I promise. Sometimes it just takes a little patience. Yesterday I got it on my first cast and today it took me almost 90. It is still your best bet though. Good luck my fellow fishermen. Hope this helps.

Comment by 1029021

Did it today. Took 87 casts to finally pull it up.

Got 4 Sealed Crate and my Pandarian Angler .

I will not be doing this daily for my own sanity and wouldn't recommend someone start this without scheduling 15 minutes for it.

Comment by Nightrider21

Got mine in 95 casts standing at inkmere lake in kun-li summit

Comment by ToviValdora

I was really, really unlucky with this fish or the few people that have posted were just lucky.

I fished up 140 Scoured Fishbones, 39 Desecrated Carcasses, 103 Golden Caps, 133 Spinefish, and about 10 crates before I got the Alpha.

I tried three different spots. Widow's Wail, Inkgill Mere, and Firebough Nook (where I caught it after about 30 cast.)

Comment by Neverknow

Remember that all of these fishes are UNIQUE and as such will no longer appear as lootable until you've handed in the first.

Comment by Schmiggles

Fishbough Nook is the place. I fished it up with 41 cast

1 sealed crate
18 Scoured Fishbones
11 Spinefish
2 Desecrated Carcasses
9 Golden Carp

Easy peasy.

Comment by Rondros

Right. Here's my experience of this:

I went looking for these fish for Nat rep, it took me 45 minutes fishing in Krasarang Wilds at the Anglers Wharf for it to drop. After this I went to Dread Wastes and starting fishing at the Lake of Stars, fishing for about an hour and got the drop. I am not sure why people are saying "Oh, it took me 1000 casts". I sense they were in the wrong place but anyways it's not too bad, you gain lots of fish which can be turned into groceries for extra cooking tokens, with more and more guilds starting to raid you will be glad to have them tokens to supply yourself, guild and auction house. Once you start this, you cannot stop, it's very faffy to begin with, so don't start unless you want to see this through, it's going to take you easily 3-4 hours to get these fish each day, sometimes you will get lucky, sometimes you won't, always assume the worst until they drop, then you won't be so disappointed if you still didn't get them after 2 hours. Will keep you posted for the last fish.

Comment by siindy

I fished At Inkgill Mere

Just abit outside of the questgivers, right side of the "bridge".
Took me around 49 for the first one. Going to dilver it now and update later for second cast

Edit: My second took 19 casts to get! Same spot as before!

Comment by 20323

for Flying Tiger Gourami - Can be cought in open freshwater areas in Krasarang Wilds and Valley of the Four Winds. (Good spot is Dojani River, just north of Anglers Wharf) (Coordinates are 64:28 in Krasaran Wilds)

i went to the spot just flat 8 minute. easy loot

Comment by baxrox

Can confirm catching Spinefish Alpha at the lake near Rikkitun Village in Dread Wastes.

with 722 fishing skill after 22 minutes I caught:

Scoured Fishbones x33
Spinefish x28
Golden Carp x15
Desecrated Carcass x4
Sealed Crate x2
Spinefish Alpha x1

Comment by VaporwaveEgg

Took me 57 minutes, judged by my fishing hat buff. Done at Inkgill Mere, in south-western Kun-Lai Summit

+ 64 Spinefish.
+ 48 Golden Carp
+ 106 Scoured Fishbones
+ 24 Desecrated Carcass
+ 4 Sealed Crate
+ 1 Spinefish Alpha

So much for "I'll fish it up quickly before I go to bed..."

Comment by Brum

Widow's Wail is the spider cave between Sri-La Village and The Arboretum.

Comment by Taoma

Note that this fish is UNIQUE, meaning you can have only one in your inventory/bank. You can, however, catch one, turn in the quest to Nat Pagle and then catch one more to turn in the next day.

Comment by godlessprayer

I fished at 75.0,87.2 in Kun-Lai Summit.

Took me 113 bites:

- 30 Spinefish
- 45 Scoured Fishbones
- 27 Golden Carp
- 10 Desecrated Carcass
- 1 Spinefish Alpha

Fishing Skill:

600 + 30 (Kalu'ak Fishing Pole) + 5 (Fishing Line) + 80 (Weather-Beaten Fishing Hat) = 715

Comment by 315792

Almost feels like droprate is getting worse. After you catch more... been at it for 2 weeks now and the first few days I woul;d catch each one in less than 30 minutes... A few days ago 1 or 2 would take me around an hour and at the moment it takes me a minimum of 1 hour for each fish with 2 sexceptions where it took me almost 90 minutes.

I hope I'm just experiencing some bad luck streak and not the apparent degrading drop rat ebecause then it would be insanity doing it til maximum for Nat.

Comment by 368129

Used to gain reputation with Nat Pagle

The reputation is used to purchase:

Nat's Hat (Exalted / Best Friend)

Friendship Levels

Stranger: 0-8400
Acquaintance: 8400-16800
Buddy: 16800-25200
Friend: 25200-33600
Good Friend: 33600-42000
Best Friend: 42000-42999

How to gain Reputation:
Standing with Nat Pagle is gained by catching daily fish. Mimic Octopus and Flying Tiger Gourami have a 1% droprate. Spinefish Alpha on the other-hand has a 2% droprate. Just like real life, Best Friend status takes 84 fish hand-ins. This means it will take between 28 and 84 days depending on how many of the three fish you turn in each day. The daily fish cannot be caught from pools, only open water.

Once you have catch a daily fish you should stop fishing its water until you have delivered it to Nat Pagle. Each daily fish is unique, so you cannot catch another while you have the first in your inventory. You can however move to a new location and catch your next fish before handing all three in. Once a daily fish has been turned in, you may fish it up again, although you will not be able to hand the new fish in until the following day. This allows you to catch three fish hand them in, catch the three fish again so for the following day all you have to do is hand them in. This is useful if you have other things planed or you got lucky with today's catch and had some spare time.

Rewards for each hand-in:
1 x Lesser Charm of Good Fortune
5 x Valor Points
350 x The Anglers Reutation
500 x Nat Pagle Reutation

The Daily Fish:

Mimic Octopus - Caught from any of Pandaria's open coastal waters. Anglers Wharf is a good spot, after competing dailies or handing another daily fish.

Water Areas No-Junk Skill
Coastal Dread Wastes, The Jade Forest, Krasarang Wilds, Kun-Lai Summit, Townlong Steppes, Valley of the Four Winds 700

Flying Tiger Gourami - Caught from all areas of inland open water in Pandaria, except waters near Sha-touched lands (where Spinefish Alpha are caught).

Water	Areas	No-Junk Skill
Inland	The Jade Forest	650
Inland	Krasarang Wilds, Valley of the Four Winds	700
Inland	Townlong Steppes	725
Inland	Kun-Lai Summit, The Veiled Stair	750
Inland	Vale of Eternal Blossoms	825

Spinefish Alpha - Caught from inland open water near Sha-touched lands, primarily in southern Kun-Lai Summit and inland Dread Wastes. Also possible to catch from The Jade Forest's Widow's Wail cave and small areas of (coastal) water around Townlong Steppes' Niuzao Temple.

Water Areas No-Junk Skill
Costal Townlong Steppes (Niuzao) 625*
Inland Dread Wastes, The Jade Forest (Widow's Wail), Kun-Lai Summit (Sha-Touched) 625*

* Spinefish infested water has unavoidable grey items, Scoured Fishbones and Desecrated Carcass. You can however catch Spinefish Alpha with any of the unavoidable greys. Fishing skill below 625 in these areas will cause "Failed Casts" and produce any of the 8 common junk items (Driftwood, Empty Clam, Sickly Fish, Tangled Fishing Line, Tattered Cloth, Torn Sail, Weeds and Withered Kelp) and 5 uncommon junk items (Empty Rum Bottle, Old Boot, Rock, Tree Branch and Water Snail). If you have the required "No-Junk" skill you will not catch any of the 13 junk items.

It may take sometime to see each fish, with a 1% drop rate, after fishing 200 fish there is only a 86.6% chance that you will have seen the daily fish. Just be patient and keep fishing. I have personally caught both the Spinefish Alpha and Mimic Octopus on the fist catch. I have also personally spent 5 hours fishing for Spinefish Alpha until I finally got it, I actually started to think it was removed from the area I was in.

Useful Macro:
/use Anglers Fishing Raft
/cast Fishing
/use Weather-Beaten Fishing Hat
/run UIErrorsFrame:Clear()
This macro will maintain your Anglers Fishing Raft and lure from your Weather-Beaten Fishing Hat while fishing with one click.

Comment by Sluggzo

Spent 40 minutes at Firebough Nook today trying to fish up the Spinefish Alpha for the achievement. Conveniently, it took exactly 100 casts, with the following catches:

- 46 Spinefish
- 44 trash (scoured fishbones/skeletons)
- 6 Golden Carp
- 3 Sealed Crates
- 1 Spinefish Alpha (obviously, my last cast)

Not bad if you just want the tick for the achievement, but disappointing that even with an effective fishing skill of 795**, nearly half the stuff I fished up was trash. You'll have to really want to be best friends with Nat Pagle to chase this daily.

**Fishing skill of 600, +40 (arcanite pole), +150 (heat treated lure), +5 (fishing hat)

Comment by vister4

Don't forget your Unburdened while doing your daily quests during Hallows End.

Comment by Niinami

I fished up my first Flying Tiger Gourami at 204 fishing skill in The Jade Forest near Order of the Cloud Serpent daily quests. So don't be discouraged by your low fishing skill. You might need some luck but it is possible! Keep fishing fishermen! Ohoy!

Comment by settlestone

idk, this feels like a waste of time. i've been fishing for this thing for like an hour and a half.

Comment by 975146

If fishing for this around Inkgill Mere, make sure you aren't too close to Binan Village - last night I was fishing very late trying to get this one before the reset (5am local time) and was standing near the village not paying much attention to what I was catching, and I guess the waters didn't have the full "Sha Touched" effect because while I did get some scoured fish bones and spinefish, I caught mostly Golden Carp and Tiger Gourami, didn't realize it until I got a Flying Tiger Gourami.

I moved back to the northern part of the lake where it's typically safe to fish free from aggro and got the Alpha, but I wonder if it's possible to catch both right by the village, as I was still getting the Spinefish.

Comment by Zivy

Not sure if this has a lower catch rate than the other 2, but I always have a hard time fishing this one up. Mimic Octopus & Flying Tiger Gouarmi I catch within 10 minutes, I spent over 6 hours in a 2 day span trying for this. Gave up then, trying again for today's turn in :/

Comment by Minnophous

While Scoured Fishbones and Desecrated Carcass are gray, useless vendor trash, they are not "failed casts". They are part of the loot table in sha-infested areas such as Kun-Lai (inland) and Dread Wastes (inland). The Spinefish Alpha can be looted alongside these items and I can confirm this.

Comment by 914685

Caught this at Inkgill Mere (72,87) after 59 casts. Don't give up! :)

Comment by 445261

These can be fished up while in a raid.

I sacrificed my time/sanity for Science! and tried to fish one up while waiting for raid to start tonight. I actually got lucky and caught one rather quickly. You can also accept the quest and turn it in while in raid, so you can basically do this entire quest while in a raid group. But in case you were wondering, you can definitely catch Spinefish Alpha and the other 2 Nat rep fish while you're in a raid.

Comment by Caradis

Apparently you can get these from pools now as well. I was farming spinefish for alchemy and ended up catching two alphas from the pools at the Lake of Stars in the Dread Wastes.

Comment by 1062405

I'd like to point out that either they changed this, or the OP is wrong, but you CAN DEFINITELY catch the rare daily fish in the appropriate pool. I just caught a Alpha Spinefish in the spinefish pool easily after about 20 casts. I also caught the Tiger fish this way, and I will now go do the same for the Mimic Octopus.

Comment by binnoma

0 hours and 15 minutes we have caught
Scoured Fishbones x16
Desecrated Carcass x6
Golden Carp x6
Spinefish x7
Spinefish Alpha x1

Comment by 214710

Caught mine on the north side of the lake of Firebough Nook as well. Took me between 5 and 10 casts and i did not have the quest from Nat Paggle in my questlog.

Comment by 1012488

It has been mentioned several times already that this fish is caught only in open water, not schools. Naturally, I didn't bother reading this until after I'd spent a certain chunk of my life fishing the schools of spinefish I'd noticed in the catacombs beneath Niuzao Temple while questing there. But the ancient Gods of Lure took pity on me. Happily for me no one had told the Alpha that I caught on my seventh school that he was an "open water" fish and should not have been in that cave...

Comment by Furydeath

I fish in schools and in open water have yet to see this stupid fish.

Comment by Felegund

After trying for this for about a week, I finally fished this up in Firebough Nook. I fished everywhere else where this was reported as being caught, with no luck. I fished in Spinefish pools, and just in open water around Spinefish pools. I don't know how many casts in total I had before finally catching it, but it was a lot. I caught it fishing in open water. I was trying to fish from a Spinefish pool, but the cast landed away from it, not within range. I left it, as I normally do, and bingo, got it. Just takes patience, trust me. If you haven't got it yet, keep at it. :)

Comment by 245300

Got this 3rd cast, Inkgill Mere, Kun-Lai Summit in open water.

Thank you for the previous information about not bothering with pools.

Comment by hmrhead

***Update for 5.2***

This route still works. It's just much much faster now. Instead of an hour, it's more like 15-20 minutes.

So I believe I have found a relatively painless and somewhat profitable way to farm up the three daily fish. Improvement suggestions are welcome. This is just how I've done it for the past three days. It's taken less than an hour to get them all, and I've made some fairly decent money on my server doing it.

1. Go to the lake just north of Grookin Hill in Jade Forest. Lots of Jade Lungfish schools here. Fish those up until you get the Flying Tiger Gourami. Stop fishing freshwater.

2. From there, fly west into the summit and fish the Sha touched waters around Inkgill Mere. Fish in the Spinefish schools until you get Spinefish Alpha. Stop fishing sha touched waters.

3. From there, fly east across Jade Forest until you reach coastal waters. Fish any school of fish you see on the coast while heading south. Sometime before you reach the Anglers location, you should fish up a Mimic Octopus. If you dont get it before you get to the Anglers, just keep going. I've never had to make an entire loop around Pandaria to get it done.

It should probably be noted that I am at 600 fishing and I use the following equipment.

Weather-Beaten Fishing Hat
Mastercraft Kalu'ak Fishing Pole
Glow Worm

Today's run of this route got me all three fish in less than an hour. And between vendor trash and items sold on the auction house from sealed crates as well as fish I wasn't going to use, a little over 700 gold.

Happy fishing everyone!

Edited because I fail at formatting.

Comment by CDClone

okay so i have been fishing a lot lately... and i have come up with a theory, at first i thought it had to be coincidence but after a week of testing it, i'm getting kind of sure about this

the idea is that the daily quest for the anglers raises the chance of the 3 nat pagle fish to get caught, i always end up getting more than 300 fish, and rarely more than 2 nat pagle rep fish

day 1 - coming up with the theory
i was fishing for these damn fish, catching almost 300 fish with no luck at all, so i decided to give up... just because i was annoyed i bought some boose and went to nat pagle to throw up at him... i then by pure chance took a look at the daily Q's, i dont normally do those since nat pagle fish give rep with anglers anyway, but i realised 1 of them was "catch 5 something" right where the Flying Tiger Gourami could get caught anyway so i decided to give it a go, did the quest, and came back and turned it in... while i was thinking what to do i throw out the fishing rod with a misclick and i thought wtf lets catch a few while i think... only got 2... the number 2 was the number i had to catch to get Mimic Octopus i was like WTF

day 2 - realising it could be
over the night and early day i was thinking about how extremely odd it was, so i came up with the ideer that those daily quest could be linked somehow to the nat pagle rep fish... i desided to make it a test, so i went there, did all 3 quests and then went for the rep fish, and with close to 100 catches i got all 3 fish... usually i do 300 catches and only get 2 rep fish but there i was with all 3...

day 3 - doing it again
basicly i did the same as day to, first the daily quests, then fish for nat pagle, and within 80 catches, including the daily Q i had all 3 fish...

day 4&5 - again?
day 4 and 5 went just like 2 and 3, swinging a bit between 75 and 150 fish, but getting all 3 fish within that

day 6 - weekend means time to test the other way around
This time i did not do the daily Q simply to see how long it would take without the daily Q so i startet out with the Spinefish Alpha becouse i red somewhere in here that it had higher droprate...and i got it, but only after 175 other fish/crap items

then i went for the Flying Tiger Gourami and for that one alone i got 325 fish, then i gave up for that day, couldent take no more fishing...

day 7 - repeat the succes
at day 7 i went back to doing the daily Q's first, and again i had it within 150

All of this could in theory be coincidence, but i'm having a hard time believing that...

i would however like someone else to test this theory just to see what they come up with ;) hope someone is up for that^^

Best regards
CDClone

Comment by peque

Im not sure if its helpful info to you guys but i was fishing in Inkgill Mere using the Kalu'ak fishing pole, the weather beaten fishing hat and Ancient Pandaren Fishing Charm when i got a Golden carp and second item was the Spinefish Alpha

Comment by Aquifel

Coming in 5.2:

The chance to fish up Flying Tiger Gourami, Spinefish Alpha and Mimic Octopus has been increased.
Reputation gains from bringing rare Pandarian fish for Nat Pagle to examine has been increased.

Improvements on both ends :D.

Comment by 1089937

Got the spinefish alpha on my second cast in inkgill just got to the sha ravaged areas and fish in open water not pools :)

Comment by 1051443

Spinefish Alpha Findings

Just chillen out maxing relaxin all cool, just fishin out some pools so tired ima drool. Caught one little fish and my guildies just don't care, said aye why you fishin all the way over there. ( 74, 81 )

15 mins

Inkgill Mere - Kun lai

1 Spinefish Alpha
20 Spinefish

Just using my handy-dandy Fishing Pole and Bright Baubles

Comment by 1094311

Im trying for more than a week to capture a spinefish alpha but got no luck.
My fishing skills are 500 + I use a +100 skill lure and a +10 pandaren fishing pole.

Im fishing in pools and open water at Inkgill Mere and the lake near Firebough Nook - Kun lai
and Lake of Stars - Dread Wastes..

Ive never capture a spinefish alpha and its just the only fish i need to catch for the achiev.

Does anyone have any suggestions about what i do wrong or something?

Comment by JulesPeace

Since 5.2 Droprate is 5%.

Comment by combatboots7

Don't want to waste time fishing if you don't have to?
/run if IsQuestFlaggedCompleted(31444) ~= 1 then print("Go catch a Spinefish Alpha.") end
You'll get a message if you haven't yet turned Spinefish Alpha in for the day.

Comment by Minnophous

At least as of 5.2, these can be fished from schools.

Comment by Ademptio

Got alpha spinefish after about 30 casts in Inkgill Mere.

Comment by 795337

Got mine after about 20 casts in Kun Lai Summit, in the smaller body of water in the west. Time was 12:48AM sever time. Didn't use my fancy pole or hat, just the new way of fishing.
Now I only have to catch all these fish every day for like a month to get exalted with Nat. :( Grrrr

Comment by Szokhee

To verify the increased drop chance from pools I have collected my catch/cast statistics for 2 weeks of fishing.
I was ONLY finshing from POOLS and always in the same ZONE and AREA.

Fishing location:

Spinefish Alpha
Zone / Area: Kun-Lai Summit - Inkgill Mere
Pool types: Spinefish

Flying Tiger Gourami
Zone / Area: Krasarang Wilds - Krasarang River
Pool types: Emperor Salmon & Krasarang Paddlefish

Mimic Octopus
Zone / Area: Krasarang Wilds - (South beach areas) Narsong Trench & Sandy Shallows & Kre Krak
Pool types: Giant Mantis Shrimp & Reef Octopus

Catch Statistics:

Fish / Week 1	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4	Day 5	Day 6	Day 7
*Spinefish Alpha*	15	41	33	6	13	50	8
Flying Tiger Gourami	1	80	8	3	7	1	74
Mimic Octopus	4	7	7	3	5	63	3

Fish / Week 2	Day 8	Day 9	Day 10	Day 11	Day 12	Day 13	Day 14
*Spinefish Alpha*	7	40	1	96	4	1	25
Flying Tiger Gourami	15	41	18	21	6	54	3
Mimic Octopus	8	62	16	26	15	33	14

Breakdown per type

Spinefish Alpha
Min. casts: 1
Max. casts: 96
Avg. casts: ~24

Flying Tiger Gourami
Min. casts: 1
Max. casts: 80
Avg. casts: ~24

Mimic Octopus
Min. casts: 3
Max. casts: 63
Avg. casts: ~19

In overall the drop chance for me during this 2 weeks was roughly 4-5% so it really seems so that the increased 5% drop chance after patch 5.2 is valid for pools too (I guess the drop chance for pools and open water is the same).

Comment by 1014697

I only fish for the flying tiger from the schools. The spinefish alpha can be fished up without pools in the Inkgill Mere within 15-20 casts so pretty easy as well. And since you are already at the Inkgill Mere to get the spinefish alpha fish go into the tunnel towards the veiled stair to get the flying tiger as this is just a short turn around from there to fish up with plent of pools & you don't really have to fly out of your way anyplace else to get them. And since you will have the spinefish alpha & the flying tiger then when you turn them in you can fish off the pier next to Nat for the mimic octopus. All in one stop vs flying in circles.

Comment by Berbe

Well, tried to fish it in Spinefish Schools but nothing (don't say u can't catch it there) all around Inkgill Mere, and then moved on to Waterspeaker's Sanctuary island in the middle of the golf, where i actually caught it in a few casts. I guess these 3 fish are made to be caught wherever you fish, not necesarely in Specific Schools...

Comment by 1060768

Today this fish took 12 casts for me. I stood on a small rock in the lake off shore. Coords are 72.8 - 88.5.

Comment by 1128957

So I followed Synit's instructions as he said. I went to Angler's Wharf in Krasarang Wilds and tried fishing for the Mimic Octopus just outside the Wharf on a rock. I cast the line two times and got nothing, so I started thinking 'Why don't I try fishing from the Reef Octopus Pools for the guild fishing achievement?'. So I went and flew around to find some pools and I didn't find any so I decided that was just a waste of time. So I went back to the Angler's Wharf, stood on the dock of it, cast the lure and got the Mimic Octopus in my first cast.

After that I went to the Dojani River just north of the Wharf for the Flying Tiger Gourami, just like Synit suggested. Doesn't really matter where you are, I got it in my second cast again.
I caught the Flying Tiger Gourami fish once before while fishing for the Golden Carp in a river in the Jade Forest for the Order of the Cloud Serpent daily.

I guess I was lucky at the other 2 fishes because it took a few casts before finally getting the Spinefish Alpha fish. I caught it once before at Inkgill Mere in Kun-Lai Summit when I was fishing for the Brawler's Guild quest item. There were a lot of pools up now aswell so I just fished in those and got it in about 28 casts.

My fishing level was 600+110. I used the Mastercraft Kalu'ak Fishing Pole (30+ fishing when equipped), the Weather-Beaten Fishing Hat which you can obtain from the daily fishing quest rewards in Orgrimmar/Stromwind or Dalaran (5+ fishing when equipped & 75+ fishing lure every 10 minutes - the lure lasts for 10 minuts aswell) and the Nat Pagle's Extreme Anglin' Boots obtained from the Booty Bay fishing contest (5+ fishing).

I hope this helps. Good luck fishin'! :)

Comment by kingthorin

I got sick of not being able to remember if I'd done a Nat Pagle turnin for a given day so I put together this macro:

#showtooltip Mastercraft Kalu'ak Fishing Pole

/run for k, v in pairs({ SpineFish = 31444, Mimic = 31446, Gourami = 31443}) do print(format("%s: %s", k, IsQuestFlaggedCompleted(v) and "\124cff00ff00Yes\124r" or "\124cffff0000No\124r")) end

Obviously showing your fishing pole isn't required, but I wanted things to be obvious for me. If you so choose simply use the part starting at /run.

Comment by 1135375

I fished one up after 5 casts in Kun Lai in Murkgill where the sha-touched pools are accumulating. There are roughly 20 pools there in one general spot.

Comment by 1131554

I don't know if I got lucky or its the actual drop rate but I found mine on the first Binan Village fish (Patch 5.3).

Comment by 1120942

Got him in 3 casts today at (72.73, 82.16)

Comment by 503133

not sure, but this guy seems harder to fish up than before...last time I got him quite easily, even on the days, there wasn't a spinefish swarm...I can get the flying and mimic ones just fine...but not this guy.

this is a bit early...but why am I not surprised this got downrated...¬.¬

Comment by 165964

I do not know when it was implemented, but as of now Ben of the Booming Voice who is just outside Halfhill market gives a hint everyday as to where lots of fish may be caught quickly. He will direct you to an area with a lot of crowded pools of fish. And I get Nat Pagle quests within a few catches every time. It will only drop the one quest that is dedicated to that fish/pool though but still better than the endless grind hoping for a rare fish to drop.

Edit: if it is a pool that drops a rare fish, be smart and hand in then go back to fish up another one for the next day. That way even if the next day it is a location with no rare drop, you still have something to hand in :).

Comment by Etreum

Got it on my third cast at Firebough Nook 45,83

Comment by NefariousV

Caught today Kun Lai 43, 82 as advised previously by Uriarra. Used Master Kaluak Fishing Pole and the Weather Beaten Fishing Hat with its cast active. 16 casts, jobs a good un!

Comment by rockegg

There is some erroneous information here. You can too catch them from Spinefish pools, and the drop rate is higher. I didn't know you "couldn't" and caught them repeatedly, then came here and saw people griping about the horrible drop rate. Try the pools. It's not that bad.

Comment by Jesterr

Something I found interesting about this. Today, I did my fishing dailies, then I got 1 more of each rare fish for the next day. After that, I was fishing a Large pool where Krakkanon can spawn from, and eventually I summoned him. Killed him and he dropped my 3rd Spinefish Alpha of the day, but I could not loot it due to it being Unique. So I finish up, do my business and return to town. Then in my mailbox, from the Postmaster, I have the Spinefish Alpha being returned to me since I did not claim it. In this way, you could theoretically get 3 days worth of all 3 rare fish in one day. Thought some others might like to know, would be a good strategy if you are going to be busy the next couple days, you can store up on them, log in for literally 30 seconds, turn in and get off.

Comment by 131064

All 3 Nat Pagle fish are supposed to be able to be gotten in Timeless Isle now. Octopus on the West coast, Flying Tiger up in the Ruby Pool, does anyone know the location to fish up the Spinefish Alpha on Timeless?

Comment by 76663

Many people have mentioned how more rare it is to catch the Spinefish Alpha. From Binan Village in the SE corner of Kun-Lai Summit; cross the bridge East to the other side of the water. There are three buildings and a fish fountain with NPCs. Among them are Wu-Peng and Merchant Shi. In this area, the south side of the building away from the other two is an area next to Inkgill Mere waters. It looks like an all dirt area with no vegetation.

Here I fish for the Spinefish Alpha quest item and I've tested it time and time again. I usually get it in less than a dozen casts.

Location 73.50, 85.00

Comment by Azrilar

When donated to Nat Pagle he has this to say about it:

"That's not what I think it is, is it? Oh wow, a spinefish alpha, one of Pandaria's deadliest predators.

Spinefish are malformed abominations created by the sha presence, and these big ones are simply terrifying. An alpha will often eat other spinefish, even though there isn't a single part of them that's edible.

Luckily for both of us, they are very interesting to alchemists."

Comment by Destruktio

Spinefish Alpha has got to have less chances to drop than the others, every day I need ~60 casts for this one while the others come within 10-20.

Comment by KMatchstick

So I've noticed if I pickup a quest fish, and then click the quest, I can then fish up a second quest fish to use the next day. Save me the hassle of fishing the quest fish every day.

Comment by leto504

I realized today, after fishing up two, that I get a much better drop rate from the Spinefish pools around the island in Inkgill Mere. A MUCH better drop rate. Normally it takes me about 30 minutes fishing in open waters to get the Alpha. Today I recieved my 1st one on the 2nd pool I fished, and the 2nd alpha in the 1st pool I fished. This might be pure RNG luck, but I will try tomorrow and update my results.

Update - Seems it was just RNG. Had to fish 6 pools before it dropped. Ah well, I'll still stick with this method as there's always a chance for the turtle to drop

Comment by lithompson

I was able to fish this up after 8 casts near 70,80 in Kun-Lai Summit from a spinefish pool. This is not necessarily an open water thing so don't ignore the pools. I do have 600 Fishing but just used standard fishing, no special rod or anything.

Comment by 1141200

I came across a trick maybe. I had fished up one of these Pagle fish and in the span of a few minutes fished up another. I really didn't want to lose it and as I have auto loot on and knew I couldn't have two in my bags at the same time I kept clicking it's icon. What happened is it went straight into my mailbox and a note from the Postmaster. Like when you are raiding and have run out of room sometimes the Postmaster is kind to you and sends you the epic items later. Kinda nice as fishing is so meh. Good Luck all.

Comment by HazelNutty

I have a sneaking suspicion that the drop rate of this and the other Nat Pagle rep fish has been quietly increased once again sometime around 6.0.2. For about five days now I've caught all three fish every day in less than 15 casts (from pools, for reference) compared to 30-70 casts it used to average. I'm either extremely lucky or something (good!) is up.

Comment by scr00chy

I didn't see anyone mention the fact that you can fish these even with 0 reputation with The Anglers.

Comment by wutru

I just got it on my 2nd cast in Firebough Nook, in open water, not the pools. I had the tentacled hat and ephemeral pole from draenor, so not sure if that helped or not.

Comment by Pegea

About 24 casts from Spinefish Schools around the rim of Binan Village.

Kind of annoying, but not impossible.

Comment by Maizey

Just caught this in seven casts into a school at Lake of Stars.
Some aggro from hostiles, but not really a problem.
I'm LVL 90, 443 fishing skill, caught with no fancy pole because I kept my weapon armed to deal with attacks.
Coordinates approx: 73:48

Comment by 1049954

Just tried this for the first time. 6 casts and I got the fish with the quest.
Fishing level 700- using the Seth's Graphite Fishing pole with a shiny bauble attached.
coor = 71.66 - 84.48

Comment by Navigatr

Sitting at Inkgill Mere (74/80) using Nat's Lucky Fishing Pole at level 700+25, no lures.

57 casts:
28 x Spinefish (49.1%)
13 x Golden Carp (22.8%)
13 x Scoured Fishbones (22.8%)
3 x Desecrated Carcass (5.3%)
1 x Spinefish Alpha

Comment by Brunhill

3rd cast in Firebough Nook Lake with Draenor fishing 700, Dragon Fishing Pole, Weather Beaten Hat, Bright Baubles lure. You need best friend status with Nat Pagle if you are going for the Crimson Water Strider, so visit Pandaria and get your three special fish caught for Nat Pagle daily which nets you around 600 rep each, then fish for Lunkers back in Draenor. You will get Pagle rep with them as well. Should get your rep up pretty quickly while gathering those lunkers. Fishing for lunkers with Ephemeral Fishing Pole if you get one (or your highest fishing pole), Worm Supreme, Hightfish Cap if you have or at least the Weather Beaten Fishing Hat, Bladebone Hook for filleting the flesh.

Comment by Goth237

I just fished the Spinefish Alpha from Inkgill Mere in a pool of Spinefish.

Comment by Daedralia

Note that these fish are UNIQUE, meaning you can have only one in your inventory/bank. You can, however, catch one, turn in the quest to Nat Pagle and then catch one more to turn in the next day.

CATCH THEM IN OPEN WATERS NOT IN THE POOLS

Comment by johnnykook

These may have gotten a buffed drop rate. I fished 2/3 of the fish on the first cast within each area.

Comment by TripleXL

Fished one up right off the shore at Inkgill Mere in about 10 casts with Underlight Angler ,Worm Supreme and 800 Max Fishing

Comment by forever1267

I've managed to find this twice now at Waterspeaker's Sanctuary, near Inkgill Mere in Kun-Lai Summit.

I did have an advanced Fishing Rod, instead of generic Fishing Rod, and I did not catch them in a pool, but merely over the water that you can stand on, but still right near the shore.

Both times I caught it were within 10 minutes of standing there.

Hope that helps. This one is much more difficult to catch than the other two. it should give more rep. It's only fair.

Comment by Rekkoning

I may be wrong but it seems like the higher your fishing skill, the easier it is to catch these suckers. When I was in the 300's it seemed to take all day to get even one of the 3 of the Nat Pagle fish. Now that I'm over 500, they seem to take only 10 to 20 casts each.

Comment by jfoobar

I have routinely been able to catch the Octopus off the Anglers doc with open water casts and the Gourami in the inland waterways just north of the Anglers (also open water). Just tried to catch the Alpha for the first time today in pools around Inkgill Mere and went through a whole lure with no luck (730 fishing +130). Tried again later with the same setup and caught it on the third cast into my first spinefish pool.

Edit: Kind of annoying droprate on these, by far the most annoying of the three Nat Pagle fish. Just fished spinefish pools exclusively at 800 +130 fishing and my 10min lure was 40 seconds away from being exhausted before I finally caught the fish (32 casts total, all in pools). I know its RNG but that's a bit much for 930 effective fishing.

Comment by 1875492

Can confirm a decently high drop rate in Kun Lai Summit as of 7.3.5. This is my second time around grinding this rep, I did it on my monk back when it was current. Same spot as always.

took maybe 20 casts into the spinefish pools to acquire the rare for Nat. While the drop rate does appear to be nerfed when you have any of the other two fish in your inventory, I was able to catch all 3 fish and turn them in at once. The following night I attempted turn ins for each fish as i got it, and it SEEMED to go faster,though i have no data to support that theory, as I don't use addons.... too lazy.... xD

That being said. I was rocking the angler, sharp hook, and had 800 fishing. caught the Alpha around 5 minutes into my trip to kun lai at the lake by Binan Village, in the bottom right corner of the zone. . I noticed a couple of tiger gourami pools on the south side of the bridge by the flight master there.... gonna test my luck tonight and see if i can get the Flying Tiger Gourami there as well.

As for the theory of catching these by Nat down by the wharf, I did manage to catch the Mimic Octopus down there in 2 casts with no other rares in my inventory. I held the rare for a while trying to catch all 3 for a single turn in, and had no luck with the Gourami or Alpha, even after roughly 45 minutes of fishing. Perhaps affected by having the Mimic quest? Not sure, I will do more testing tonight.

*EDIT!*

Been meaning to get back to this one. After a few days of rep grinding and thousands of fish, Ive come to the conclusion that having the fish in your inventory doesn't effect the drop rate at all. Neither does having the active quests. I caught all 3 within a few casts of each other on two different days since the original post. Having the other fish in my inventory, or having their respective quests active did not seem to change the drop rate after 5 days of testing. I must have just had a bad night the night I posted.

On the subject of the Tiger Gourami schools to the south of Binan Village, basically 50 feet from the flight path, those schools can and will drop the Flying Tiger Gourami. In fact, if you head back into the cave, theres usually a ton of pools, this has become my new go-to spot for this fish, since its super close to the flight path and the Spinefish Alpha pool location.

Long story short, sometimes fishing sucks..... but Ive been using a route thats pretty consistent for the Nat Pagal Rep:

Mimic: fish it up by Nat, if youre having bad luck, the octopus schools spawn pretty heavy on the western side of the Zone.

Fly from your nearest fp, or if you have flying out here, head to Binan Village in the southeastern corner of Kun Lai,

Spinefish Alpha: Fish the nasty lake north of Binan. tons of pools for the alpha to drop in

Flying Tiger Gourami: head south through the cave by the flight master in Binan Village. Farm the pools in there.

Comment by 1830940

I can confirm that as of patch 8.0 these do still drop, ~~take about 20 casts~~ compared to the pre 8.0 days of about 2 - 8 casts with fishing skill at 119/100

for me and other guildies has been taking about 35-50 casts

Comment by njdss4

The drop rate for the 3 Anglers rep rare fish has definitely been nerfed. It used to take me less than 10 casts per fish, but now I'm spending ~50 casts sometimes to get a single fish. It's making this rep grind feel pretty awful.

Comment by Florack

Anyone still farming/doing this drop in 8.2?

I am up to at least 118 casts and have not looted the Spinefish Alpha yet.

Comment by Slimydoom

I catch that fish everyday for the Anglers dailies (it litterally pops in my fishing prompt window), but for unknown reason, and it happened many times, sometimes, it won't register in my inventory.

I tried clearing quests, thinking it had something to do with max number of quest and fish being counted as quest generator. So last time it happened, I cleared 3 quests right after missing a catch and after managed to catch another, it didn't register in my inventory, again.

I always turn them in, then go fish them all again once, daily, then wait for next day to repeat process, so I never have more than one in my inv./bank (I always put them in inventory, next to each other, so I always know.).

I have no idea what the problem is, but I catched it three times today, after very bad procs (1hr30 for two) and it still didn't register in inventory... I opened a ticket, will update this post once I get what the issue is.

Comment by Kahafer812

If you're having trouble catching this in Binan Village, try the western area shown above. Thought mine was bugged, fished for days in Binana Village with no luck, got it in the western lake first cast. Not sure if a recent patch messed with the spawn or this is just specific to my character.

Comment by Averistin

Ok so this most likely won't be that helpful for most but I'm doing this during patch 8.3 and I don't know if I just have terrible luck (which I do) or you're straight up not able to catch this slippery S.O.B. from that spot in Kun-Lai Summit (cords 72.87). I fished that spot for almost 4 hours with no fish. I got suspicious when I wasn't seeing grey items and kept catching the octopus, so I went to Widow's Wail and caught it in less that 10 casts.
So either it's me or .... something fishy is going on up there :D

Comment by Foxpaw0

As of Sept 2020, I've been doing these every day for a few weeks and these comments were incredibly unhelpful.

The drop rate isn't consistent with abandoning any other rare fish daily. I could abandon 2/3 and the third could still take forever or be instant.

The BEST way to go about getting all 3 in the shortest time is just buckle down and fish.

~~~~~HOWEVER~~~~~

The Flying Tiger Gourami has always been fished up FASTER from Tiger Gourami schools which are right next to Spinefish schools in Kun-Lai (it seems obvious, but for some reason isn't mentioned anywhere). You knock out 2 fish in the same fishing pond, saving tons of time. After weeks of trying to get it from Emperor Salmon schools like another comment said, please don't waste your time doing that.

Comment by day2daydreamer

I've been fishing these up daily for the past week.

Co-ords at the point of today's catch 70.47, 80.45

My go to spot has been the island above Binan Village in Kun-Lai Summit.

Never had to get through more than 5 pools before I get an alpha. My main "trick" is always being on the small island not on the outside of the lake. Maybe just had some really good luck this week but seems to work reliably for me.

Comment by xLunacyx

I fished up 46 spinefish in Kunlai before I got mine. Managed to get it in an extra cast after depleting a pool.

Every other fish you get naturally on the way, especially when doing cooking, except for spinefish, since they're mainly used for some niche Alchemy cosmetic consumable.

Comment by FixManTx

After reading comments I went to the little lake at Firebough Nook next to the big wall in western Kun Lai Summit and fished from a spot at 44.2,82.6 two days in a row so far and have caught this within about 20 casts both times.

Comment by Goregroth

Please upvote so other can see.

I haven't seen anyone mention this but if you're fishing for a specific fish to complete the "Pandaria Angler Achievement" you can destroy the unwanted Unique fish/drop quest and fish from a different pool to have another chance at the unique fish you need.

Comment by Solsken1418

Confirmed catch at Binan Village, Kun-Lai Summit 73.38, 78.84 from a pool of Spinefish. Level 67 fishing.

Comment by SamashNZ

Hello all,

I tested this 4 days in a row and if you can use the co-ordinates of 73.85, 89.27 in Kun-Kai Summit: Inkgill Mere, and fish there in open water, you're getting this fishy.

It could be extremely lucky but fishing here, in this little spot, the last 4 days I have reeled in the Spinefish Alpha within 6 casts. I hope I don;t cause grief to anyone here and they get super unlucky but like I said, 4 days in a row I got in in 2-6 casts.
Hope this helps.

Comment by Spilledstars

I found that even with very low Pandarian Fishing, I got this in very few casts when I stood at
/way 70.51 80.79 On the Sha scorched Island near Binan Village

The area is called Waterspeaker's Sanctuary, and the local bugs etc are level 35.

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Spinefish Alpha

Item Level 1
Binds when picked up
Unique
This Item Begins a Quest

Requires Fishing (1)
"Careful of the spines, they look like they could do some damage."

Dropped by: Krakkanon

Drop Chance: 3.15%

Fishing Locations

This item can be fished in Kun-Lai Summit (95), Dread Wastes (32), Townlong Steppes (11), and The Jade Forest (3).

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Angler's Collection Guide Breke's Bait Shack: Your One Stop Shop for Fishing Achievements! UPDATED for Battle for Azeroth! MoP Fishing and Anglers The Exalted: An Overview of all Reputations

Spinefish Alpha

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