Fish Flingers

Fish Flingers is a members only Distraction and Diversion (D&D) that was released on 23 March 2010 that is based on the Fishing skill. There are no level or quest requirements to play Fish Flingers, and no required items as they are all provided.

In many major fishing spots around RuneScape, there are Fishermen with a Distraction and Diversion icon on the minimap. If you talk to the Fisherman, he offers to send the player to the waiting area, allow the player to claim 2 tickets for Fish Flingers a day, or trade in rewards, This doesn't mean you can only play 2 games a day. You can use as many tickets as you have accumulated.

Fish Flingers takes place on Isla Anglerine, where during a 10 minute competition, players select different baits, tackles and weights to catch a variety of fish. After the competition ends, players are rewarded with a score, fishing experience based on that score, and tokens to buy a variety of rewards from a fisherman.

It is important to note that the player's fishing level has no impact on the competition. All players, regardless of fishing ability compete equally. However, once a score has been awarded, the fishing experience you earn does vary according to your fishing level. The experience awarded is very good - usually significantly exceeding the amount of experience you would have earned fishing normally for the same time period.

Requirements
An entry ticket is required to enter a game of Fish Flingers. The fishermen keep count meaning players do not hold or keep the tickets. Fishermen award the player 2 new tickets each day, and players may find additional tickets at random during a competition, and tickets while fishing "on the surface" at regular fishing spots. Players may claim tickets the following day if the player currently has less than ten tickets; if the player has nine tickets, only one ticket is claimed. It is possible to have more than 10 tickets through fishing.

Other than entry tickets, there are no requirements. There is no fishing level requirement and no required items. Players may bring or wear whatever items they like. Familiars no longer appear on the island and timers are paused while players are playing Fish Flingers.

Aim of the D&D
Depending on the player's fishing level, a maximum of roughly 20,000 fishing experience is awarded. This goal is popular because this amount of fishing experience is often more than what a player can receive by fishing for 10 minutes.

Players can use their earned tokens and medals to pay for the rewards from a fisherman. One of the rewards is the XP boosting Fishing outfit. See the rewards section below for more details.

At the end of the game the top five scoring players stand on a podium. For the really competitive fishermen, there is an official competition world (89) where, if you stand on the podium at the end, you have beaten some of the best Fish Flingers in RuneScape.

Note that strategies for each of the purposes is slightly different. In addition, to play for more experience, medals, and rewards, players are better off in large groups. That way players can help each other and share information. However, it is easier to get on the first place podium in a competition with fewer players.

Competition Times
Competitions start about every 20 minutes, with 10 minutes being competition time and 10 minutes being waiting time. The timer resets as soon as a new game starts. The event starts at approximately the same time on every world, but may differ by a few minutes due to lag. If the start of the game is missed, players must wait the full time for the next start.

To determine the time until the next competition just go to any Fisherman or talk to the Fisherman's wife outside the Fishing guild. Another option is if the player has a Tackle box. There is a right click option that tells the player the time until the next game.

Entering the Competition
In order to enter the competition, players need to talk to one of the fishermen who can teleport you there. Players can be teleported to the waiting area on Isla Anglerine between 5 minutes prior to, and the start of, the next competition, by talking to any of them. The fishermen are located in several specific places near popular fishing spots. If you choose to remain in the waiting area after your previous competition, there is no need to re-teleport, and no 5 minute cutoff. Note: teleports of all kinds are disabled in the waiting area, you must leave via the portal to exit the area. Other magic spells are likewise disabled, as are prayers/curses, and the spellbook and prayer tabs are not visible or selectable.

Fishermen can be found at the following locations:
 * Inside the Fishing Guild
 * Catherby beach
 * Southern part of Living Rock Caverns
 * Shilo Village
 * Piscatoris Fishing Colony
 * Barbarian Village
 * North-west of Lumbridge
 * South-east of Lumbridge Swamp
 * South-west of Draynor Village
 * Burthorpe
 * At the docks south of Burgh de Rott
 * On the shores of the Barbarian Outpost

The gallery at the bottom of the page shows the locations of fisherman in more detail.

Asking for Clues
The Fisherman can give every player one clue per game; each player has their own clue. Players are recommended to ask for one from the fisherman before being teleported to the waiting area or inside the waiting area on Isla Anglerine. Players may only ask for a clue 4 minutes prior to competition beginning. If one asks between 5 and 4 minutes, the fisherman replies "We're still tidying from the last competition. Give me a minute and I'll have that hint for you."

These clues are used to find the 100% rating for a fish. A good strategy is to share clues with a group of people (using a friends chat might be helpful), in order to maximise each player's chances of discovering a perfect combination.

The fisherman gives a clue consisting of three pieces of information: the type of fish, the place to find the fish, and either the bait, hook, or distance of the fish. The type of fish is less important, but it can be used to tell apart two species of fish in the same spot. Examples of how to interpret the clues can be found below.

Gameplay
When the game begins, run from the waiting area to any of the four fishing locations, select a bait, hook, and weight on the control panel and hit "Cast" or click on a barrel. The details are described below.

Places to Fish


When you are transported to the island, you arrive in the waiting area (the square in the map). When the game begins, you run to one of the four locations (lake, beach, river, or dock - there are two docks which are identical) and start fishing.

Relative to the starting area:
 * Lake - north
 * River - north east
 * Beach - far north east
 * Docks - one east, one west

There are six type of fish that can be caught:
 * Bass
 * Cod
 * Herring
 * Pike
 * Salmon
 * Trout

The types of fish rotate to different locations each competition. Two locations have one type of fish, while the other two locations each have two types of fish. Click the "Ratings" button on the Status Panel for the locations of all six species. Players have to fish at each location in order to catch one fish from each type.

As of an update on 24 July 2012, the Ratings Button is also now available prior to the start of the competition, so that players can view in advance which locations have two types of fish (and therefore 2 different tackle combinations), and to plan their strategy.

Player Controls
When the competition begins, a control panel appears in place of your inventory. To compete, you should aim to fish with 100% rating by mixing and matching bait, hooks, and weights for the particular fish you are catching at that location.

You need to find the correct bait out of 8 choices, the correct hook out of 6 choices, and the correct combinations of weight to control the range out of six choices. To do this, players select options from the control panel by clicking on the pictures. Players can only select one hook and bait at a time but any given combination of the three weights.

Status Panel
When the competition begins, a status panel appears at the top of the screen. The status panel shows the history of all the catches from that game including the tackle used for each, and the rating of that catch. Player can choose to hide all but the most recent catch.

There is also a bar showing the depletion of a location. When this bar hits 100%, the location would gain one depletion level (the number is shown next to the bar), and fish would be caught at a slower rate.

The depletion rate depends on the number of players in the game. Solo games' depletion increases the fastest - at around 3.3% per fish caught at depletion level zero. At level one and up, it is 10% per fish caught.

Rating
Each of the choices (bait, hooks, and weights) accounts for one third of the total rating when chosen correctly. An incorrect choice scores 0%, an almost correct choice scores 16%, and a correct choice scores 33%.

The easiest strategy to follow is to start fishing with the first bait, hook, and weight and then work through all options of bait, hooks, and weights until you have reached 100%. When you have the correct bait your rating must be 33%, but the rating is possible to reach higher than 33%, as the hooks and weights used is correct, or close to correct.

After finding the first correct combination, finding the optimum tackle for other fish becomes much easier because each bait, each hook, and each range is used only once. Many players keep note of what baits/hooks/ranges were used in order to better choose the next combination. Players could also click "Ratings" in the Fish Flingers panel to see the tackle(s) discovered.

Tips and strategies for finding the optimum tackles quickly are discussed in greater detail in the tactics section below.

Big Fish
While fishing, the player has a chance to attract and hook a big fish. A notification appears in the chatbox when a player has hooked a big fish. This only occurs if there are other players in the same competition. "Competitions" with a single player do not produce Big Fish opportunities. Big fish also do not spawn if there is already a big fish in the water nearby. This includes fishing at up to 4 or 5 spots on either side of the big fish bubble. This can also become a factor if there is a big fish spot from someone across the lake or river if the distance for the fish is large. A helpful tip is to distance yourself from large crowds to have a better chance at catching your own big fish.

It is not possible to catch and take in this fish alone. When the player has hooked a big fish, nearby players, who have yet to get 6 big fish assists, also get a message in their chatbox and can help to catch the fish. After a player has helped other players with 6 big fish assists that player no longer hears any sound playing when nearby players hook a big fish, nor are they notified by a message in their chatbox.

Players may assist others in catching their big fish as many times as they like, but are only rewarded for the first 6 assists.

You can see when a big fish has appeared by bubbling water somewhere close to you or to another player that has hooked one. Assisting other players catching a big fish can be done by clicking the bubbling water.

A message appears above the bubbling water a big fish is in, stating how many players are assisting in catching the big fish and the percentage they are done in doing so.

When a big fish is caught, all players working on it are credited for its weight, which is generally about 220kg to 250kg. It is beneficial to wait a few moments before joining in helping to catch the big fish, as the player would be able to catch a couple more small fish first and still be fully credited for the big fish.

It should be noted that if the original fisher discards the big fish, all other helping players would still be credited the weight; this could be useful for some smaller teams. If players re-cast to release the big fish, or clear their line when they have hooked a big fish, they have zero chance of catching a big fish for the next minute.

The bait, hook and distance do not matter when catching a big fish. A player is limited in a single game to catching three big fish which they hooked themselves.

Since only one big fish can appear in a particular spot at one time, and they don't appear close to other big fish, you are less likely to catch big fish in crowded areas.

Strategy
Because it is important to get the rating to 100% as fast as possible, there are a few tactics players can use to speed up the search process.

No two species use the same bait, hook, or weight as another in the same match, so if the first species is "standard, worms, 1" none of the other five use those choices. This may speed up your combination finding if you can remember what you have already used.


 * Share your own clue and tackle combination with a group of people (using a friends chat might be helpful), in order to reduce the time for finding a perfect combination.

Hook Tactics
The first part of the tackle players have to find is the hook because they can find the correct one in a maximum of three tries. Players have 3 sets (slim and standard, large and double, wood, and bone), and start with one of the hooks out of these sets. First players are going to change their hook into a hook from another set. For example, if they chose standard they change their hook to anything except slim. Players also get hints and tips to get the right hook.

There are five possible changes each with a different conclusion:

Bait Tactics


Players should find the correct bait after they found the correct hook. If players use the correct tactics, it is possible to determine the correct bait in three tries, although this is a little more difficult than finding the correct hook. Players can represent the eight different bait types as corners of an octagon where bait types on adjacent corners have a similarity (colour or shape). The fastest way to look for the correct bait is to change the first bait type to a bait type three or four corners away.

There are five possible changes:

Weight Tactics
When players have found the correct hook and the correct bait first, their rating should be at 66%, 83%, or 100%. If their rating is not 100%, they still have to find the correct weight. Weights 1 above or below the correct weight add 16% to the rating, and the correct weight adds 33% to the rating.

To find the right weight, players can best start with the medium weight, because it permits varying to different weights most easily. It covers weight 1, 2, and 3 (because if weight 1 or 3 is correct, you see 16% rating and 33% if 2 is correct) and can be changed to 4, 5, or 6 easily. If weight 1, 2, or 3 all aren't right, click the small weight as well so your total weight is 4. Now you can see which of the weights is right by looking at the rating. If it hits 33% weight 4 is correct, if it hits 16% weight 5 is right, and 0% means weight 6 is right.

Or, the player could simply try them one by one to avoid losing track - fish are caught fairly quickly, and players could easily mess up without a simple pattern.

An easy way to find the correct weight is to start on 2. Then on the next fish switch to 5. If your rating goes up, it is either 4, 5, or 6; if it goes down, it is 1, 2, or 3; depending on how much it goes up or down: a change of 33% means it was either 2 or 5, and a change of 16% means it was either 1 or 3 or 4 or 6.

Another method that may work is to start on weight 2. On the next fish, switch to weight 4. This allows you to nail the weight in no more than three tries. There are a 4 scenarios that can play out here (assuming one does not hit 100% either on 2 or 4). The first two assume that completion is at 66% when starting on weight 2. When you switch to 4, completion either stays at 66% or rises to 83%. If it stays at 66%, you know you are neither on the number or adjacent to it. This rules out 1-5, leaving 6. If completion does raise to 83% when switching to 4, you know you are adjacent to the number, but that number cannot be 3, since a weight of 2 would have registered as 83%. In this case, the weight must be 5 (adjacent to 4, not adjacent to 2). In the second set of scenarios, we assume that you have 83% completion. If the completion stays at 83% when you switch to 4, it must mean it is adjacent to both numbers, so the answer is 3. If the completion drops to 66% you know it had to be adjacent to 2 but not to 4, leaving 1. So a summarized view of this is: 2 (66%) -> 4 (66%) = 6; 2 (66%) -> 4 (83%) = 5; 2 (83%) -> 4 (66%) = 1; 2 (83%) -> 4 (83%) = 3

83% Tactics
At any point if players get a rating of 83% they do not have to do the whole procedure described above again. Two of the three are already correct and the last is similar to the correct type.

Change bait and then hook to similar:

After doing this, only the range can be wrong.

Finding more 100% fish
When players have their first fish at 100%, they can then continue to look for other locations to fish. No characteristics you are currently on (bait/hook/weight) are correct for any of the other five fish. This makes the search for more 100%'s faster than the first one. After doing all spots for one fish, players have to look for spots where there are two types of fish. This can be any of the four spots (beach, dock, lake, or river). The easiest way to find which locations have two fish, click on the ratings tab, where the name of the fish and its location is displayed. For the fifth fish there are only four possible bait types, two possible hooks and two possible weight combinations left. This makes it much easier to find the correct bait for that and the last fish.

Heaviest fish
Once players have found the perfect tackle for a fish (100%), the last digit for the weight in the fish they catch is always the same. This is helpful in determining which fish type is the heaviest in the competition.

If a fish's weight ends with a 9, it can be the heaviest (which has a maximum weight of 199) or the lightest (which has a maximum weight of 179).

The way to determine the type of weight of a fish is simple; after getting 100% for the species, click the "Ratings" button on the Status Panel and a table pops up. It displays all of the fish, their locations, and for those you've gotten 100%: the tackle combination used, and type of weight of the fish. Use this chart to determine if the fish whose weight ends in a 9 after reaching 100% is heaviest or lightest.

Note: The heaviest species does not have a chance getting weight 29 or 39 (at 100% rating); while the lightest species does not have a chance getting weight 189 and 199.

Quick casting
Quick casting, also known as fast casting, is to click the cast button as soon as you catch a fish. This can be seen by watching the total fish counter. Quick casting makes it slightly faster to catch a fish, which improves your score. The two disadvantages of quick casting are that it involves more attention and extra clicking, and there is a good chance of accidentally discarding big fish.

Scoring
After 10 minutes of gameplay, each player is given a score based on the number of fish caught, total weight caught and several other factors. Based on this score, players receive fishing experience, reward tokens and medals.The interface at the end of the competition allows players to see the breakdown of their score and see the correct tackle combinations for each of the six fish.

If a player did well enough, they might even finish by standing on one of the five podiums in the game lobby.

Score Formula
To calculate the player's score, a number of criteria are taken into account, including number of fish caught, number of big fish caught and assisted, total weight of fish caught, heaviest caught, and number of perfect tackle combinations. The formula as currently known is:

Y = A + B + C + D + E + F, where:
 * A = Fish caught (70~79 = 1) (80~89 = 2) (90~109 = 3) (110~129 = 4) (130+ = 5) (Max 5 points)
 * B = Big fish catches * 2 (Max 6 points)
 * C = Big fish assisted (Max 6 points)
 * D = Total weight / 500 (Max 20 points)
 * E = Heaviest weight / 60 (Max 3 points)
 * F = Perfect tackles discovered + Perfect tackle medals earned (Max 8 points)
 * Y = Total points (Max 48 points)

Note: All points ranging from A to F are rounded down to nearest integer.

Perfect Tackle
The following table shows the score received by finding perfect tackles.

Tokens
For every four fish caught in the competition, one Fishing Token is awarded. In addition, as of an update on 24 July 2012, 1 token is also awarded for:
 * Each big fish that is caught (up to 3),
 * Every 2 big fish assists (up to 6),
 * Every 2 perfect tackle combos discovered (up to 6).

Players can have a maximum of 2000 tokens at any time.

Medals
Medals are given for the following achievements:
 * Junior Angler: Find the perfect tackle for three species.
 * Master Angler: Find the perfect tackle for all six species.
 * Whopper: Catch 3 big fish.
 * Team Player: Assist in catching at least 6 big fish.

Best Results
Best results are listed for the following achievements:
 * Heaviest fish caught
 * Most fish caught
 * Heaviest catch total

If multiple people achieve the same score for a Best Result (for example, multiple people have a heaviest catch of 199, which is rather common), they are all given the listing of Best Result. The score board shows that you were the winner for that result, even if you tied for it.

Winning Podium
The winner and the four players with the next highest scores are placed on the podium at the end of the game. They can stay until the next game ends. Emotes are commonly used on the podium.

Fishing experience
Players automatically gain Fishing experience after the competition is over, based on the score. Skilled solo players may expect 30~33 points, which translates to around 90% of the maximum experience.

Fishing outfit


In exchange for tokens, players can buy portions of the Fishing outfit from any Fisherman.


 * Multiple fishing outfits may be claimed for no additional cost, outfits may be stored either in the tackle box (below) or the Armour case of a Player Owned House (or both).
 * The fishing outfit does not affect experience from Fish Flingers.
 * The quickest method to obtain a full fishing outfit is to simply remain fishing at one spot and catch as much fish as you can for maximum tokens per game. It is best to start at beach because the beach is usually last to gain a depletion level.

Tackle Boxes
In exchange for tokens and with sufficient medals, players can buy or upgrade a tackle box from any Fisherman.

A tackle box is used to store fishing equipment (Small cast net, Big cast net,Oily fishing rod, Karambwan vessel, Fishing urns (only (r) as of an update on 24 July 2012), Barb-tail harpoon, Sacred clay harpoon (any percent)), fishing bait (fishing bait, feathers, etc.) and other items (Fist of Guthix Fishing gloves, cooking gauntlets), it also stores a full set of the Fishing outfit.

The most useful property of the tackle box is the ability to store raw fish. Although the fish cannot be withdrawn into your inventory, they can be emptied into your bank, and you can even "telebank" a certain amount of fish (up to 500) directly into your bank every day.

There are five tackle boxes, the higher level ones costing more, but having greater storage capacity and daily telebanks. Tackle boxes may be upgraded using medals and tokens to hold more items. Each level of tackle box must be owned before the next higher level becomes available for purchase, and you must have the current tackle box in your inventory to be able to upgrade, or the fisherman tells you to get yours from the bank.

Raw Fish
In exchange for tokens, players can buy noted raw fish from any Fisherman. They offer raw lobsters, swordfish, and sharks as a reward. The type of fish that can be bought is related to the fishing level of the player.

The amount of sharks and swordfish the player may buy can be calculated as follows: Tokens / 2 is the total fish received. And you receive twice the amount of shark compared to swordfish.

For example, if you have 2000 tokens and the required Fishing level, you receive 666 raw sharks and 333 raw swordfish, and 2 tokens are unspent.

Entry tickets
Players may purchase additional Fish Flingers entry tickets for 100 tokens per ticket, if they currently have less than 15 entry tickets.

Extra fish buff
100 tokens may be exchanged for a double fish buff. This effect lasts for 20 minutes, during which players will catch two fish at once each time that a fish is successfully caught. Additional experience is not granted for the extra fish caught, but it will count for challenges.

It will not work for Divine fishing bubbles.

It will stack with the extra fish chance with sufficient Agility levels, allowing up to three fish to be caught at once. It will also double the amount of oysters and seaweed received and would still call them "fish" in the message.

Tacklebox reset
Players can exchange 100 tokens to reset the daily limit on teleports that can be made with a tacklebox.

Losing connection or logging out
If a player loses their connection or logs out while the competition is still running, when their connection is re-established or they log in again, they appear inside the game with the catches window clear, but the tackles, catches, etc. are valid. However, logging out and attempting to change worlds during a competition that has already started results in the player being removed from the competition without the return of their entry ticket.

Fish names
The names of the six fish all have different prefixes in front of their names depending on the locations in which they are found. The prefixes given are as follows in the table. Note the names have no effect on the gameplay.

Music
Some music tracks are unlocked during this D&D, all of which are on the island.
 * Stillwater, in the waiting area.
 * Saltwater, on the docks, west and east of the waiting area.
 * Freshwater, anywhere north of the waiting area, river, lake, and beach.

Trivia

 * Fish Flingers received an improvement update on 6 June 2012 and a patch on 24 July 2012.
 * The name of the D&D is a play on the words "fish fingers", also known as fishsticks. The "Flingers" in Fish Flingers refers to the way the fish in this D&D are "flung" out of the water. There is a way to fling fish forward if the player stands in the right spot on the docks. This is the second time in a fishing activity where players can see the fish come out of the water, preceded by Barbarian Fishing.
 * The crickets and locusts used as bait in Fish Flingers are brown and green respectively; in real life, crickets could be green, brown, or black while locusts are usually yellow. The ravenous locust summoning familiar is also yellow.
 * There was a day in Super September in which the challenge was to catch or to assist another player in catching a big fish. The number of people in the minigame created lag and a normal minute in the game got stretched to about five minutes.
 * It is impossible to level up more than once in one game. Instead, the exp will be capped by being 1 exp away from achieving the second level.

Glitches

 * Previously, there was a glitch that your normal inventory would come up instead of the Tackle Box Menu if you try and withdraw from a familiar. It could be fixed by logging out and back in. This glitch has been eliminated as familiars are no longer allowed in the waiting or game areas.
 * When calling your pet from the podium after a game of Fish Flingers, it used to have the blue flame effect of familiars and would wander around on its own until it is called again. The call button on the Follower Details interface did not work, you had to use the right-click option "Call follower". The wandering glitch did not work with cats. This glitch has been eliminated as familiars are no longer allowed in the waiting or game areas.
 * If a player is wearing a skillcape within the lobby area, you are still able to do the emote even though it says you are unable to perform them.
 * There used to be a glitch where if your character wore only Fishing Waders, your body would separate from your legs when doing an emote. This glitch was later fixed by a patch two weeks after the Fish Flingers improvements update.
 * There was previously a glitch when the game started before the warning timer at the top of the screen counted down to 00:00. You could tell that this was going to occur if the countdown timer read 2:00 and the chatbox gave the 1 minute warning. The chatbox was always the correct warning. This still occurs rarely.
 * There was a glitch where if you didn't call your pet down from the podium, it would stay there even if you exited and then called your pet. It could be fixed by logging out and back in. This glitch has been eliminated as familiars are no longer allowed in the waiting or game areas.
 * There was previously a glitch which often caused the clue given between 5 minutes and 4 minutes prior to competition to usually be incorrect, and changed at the 4 minute mark, so it was recommended to wait until closer to the beginning of the competition before asking for the clue. This has been fixed by only allowing a hint after the 4 minute mark, as of a 24 July 2012 update.
 * There is a current "glitch" where a big fish can't be caught even if there are other players who assist, UNLESS the player who hooked the big fish switches back to the 100% combo. This "glitch" occurs if the player who has the big fish on the line switches to a not 100% combo for that big fish type. If the player switches back to the 100% combo, the big fish CAN actually be caught, but very few people will realize this.
 * There was a glitch which teleported a player to Shilo Village or Catherby after a game of Fish Flingers when the player teleported to Fish Flingers from the Living Rock Caverns.

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