Early on, the quickest XP is donating fish to Coral, then fishing the Backwater Bayou. The wiki guide says the Bayou is the main early XP source, and a current forum guide says to fish it with hotspots. Fishing 5 unlocks the ship that takes you to the Bayou.
summary of 3 sourcesnewest 26 Oct 2026
What you need
- Level
- Fishing 0-17
Steps
- Donate fish to Coral for a big early XP boost.
- Reach Fishing 5, bring Captain Baha a Rusty Ship Engine, and sail to the Backwater Bayou.
- Fish the Bayou, inside hotspots when you can.
- Upgrade from Angler Armor to Backwater Armor, then Salmon Armor.
- Rods: Challenging Rod, then Rod of Champions at Fishing 15.
- Use Fish Bait. Pet: Dolphin early, then Ammonite.
In its favour
- Cheap to start
- Coral gives a lot of XP for little effort
Against it
- Coral donations get expensive, which the wiki guide calls out
Tips from the sources
- The wiki guide says 20 Coral donations reach about Fishing 19, and 27 reach about Fishing 20, if you can afford them.
- Lily Pad Minions give more passive Fishing XP than Fishing Minions; Fishing Minions are better for drops.
Sources
Each date is the one recorded for that source. Open them and check: they say more than this page does.