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This article is about the minigame. For the music track, see Trawler (music track).
Bandages (Fist of Guthix)
This is a safe minigame.
If you die, you will not lose any of your items.
Fishing Trawler
Fishing Trawler
Release date 28 July 2003 (Update)
Members Yes
Location Port Khazard
Participants 1+
Skills involved None
Reward currency None
In spotlight rotation Yes
Next spotlight Now! (wrong?)
Hiscores No
Tutorial No
Custodians Murphy
Music unlocked Trawler, Trawler Minor
Developers Tom W
[view][talk]
Mg fishingtrawler

Fishing Trawler is a Fishing minigame run by Murphy that players can access at Port Khazard. A minimum of level 15 Fishing is required to participate. Players board a trawler boat and try to prevent the boat from sinking as they are sailed for 12 minutes around the sea. Ironman and Hardcore Ironman accounts cannot play Fishing Trawler. The unofficial world for this minigame is world 116.

Getting to the Fishing Trawler[]

The Fishing Trawler is located in Port Khazard. There are several ways to get there:

Playing the game[]

Fishing Trawler Guide

The rules

Fishing trawler swimming

A player swimming after failing in the Fishing Trawler

The main objective of the minigame is to prevent the trawler from filling with water. Holes that cause leaks in the boat can be patched using swamp paste. Water that leaked into the boat can be bailed out using bailing buckets - regular buckets do not work! From time to time the trawler's net can get torn. A chat message "The net has ripped!" appears when this happens. The net must be repaired with rope. To do this, players should climb the ladder on to the aft deck of the boat and inspect the net. A rope will automatically be used to fix the net. While the net is ripped the trawler will not catch any fish.

Players must have swamp paste, bailing buckets and ropes in order to be able to play Fishing Trawler effectively. These items must be purchased before starting the minigame, they are available at the Khazard General Store or from the Grand Exchange. It is recommended that players bring at least 200 swamp paste, 10 bailing buckets and at least 10 ropes.

It is not possible to take a pet or familiar on board the Fishing Trawler, regardless of whether it is in an inventory or dropped on the ground. A message will appear saying, "What if it were to fall in the sea?" if a player attempts to board the Fishing Trawler with a pet or familiar.

During gameplay, a blue "water" bar will show how much water is in the trawler. If this bar becomes full the trawler will sink and the trip will be failed. Players have to climb onto a floating barrel to be able to return to shore. They will arrive on the coast a short distance north of Port Khazard.

Fixing net

A player fixes the net

Successful teams will be returned to the Port Khazard dock where they can inspect the nearby trawler net to receive their rewards. The items awarded typically include raw fish as well as some junk items. Players also receive a small amount of Fishing experience. The type of fish caught depends on the player's Fishing level. Consuming a fishing potion, fish pie, or admiral pie right before checking the rewards net will improve the specific catches you get.

Solo strategy[]

Fishing Trawler status interface

Players may frequently find that they are the only person playing Fishing Trawler. It is possible, although difficult, to successfully complete the minigame alone. With fewer people on board, one may experience fewer leaks and net getting torn less often. Bear in mind however, that it might still be quite overwhelming to players who are new to Fishing Trawler.

When playing Fishing Trawler alone players should bring around 200 swamp paste, 12 bailing buckets and 15 ropes.

Make filling the leaks your priority whenever they appear. Bear in mind that although bailing will be much faster than filling leaks, you are alone. Without fixing leaks, sooner or later they will overwhelm you and bailing will not be able to keep up. Your second priority would be to fix the net after leaks are tackled; you won't want to waste your trip for nothing due to netting. Once leaks and nets are fixed, start bailing.

Since the Evolution of Combat update players can use their action bar to quickly bail with and empty out their bailing buckets. An empty bailing bucket and full bailing bucket can be placed on the action bar and filled/emptied efficiently using key binds. It is possible for a single player to bail out more water than is entering the boat if there are up to 5 holes in the boat.

Team strategy[]

Playing Fishing Trawler with multiple players is similar to playing the minigame alone, although much easier. Larger teams will experience far more leaks and torn nets than smaller teams, however it's very advantageous to have a player stationed at each leak spot and several extra players to bail and fix the net. Players should focus on fixing holes and bailing out water to prevent the trawler from filling up with water.

To work together most effectively players should fill leaks within a particular area of the trawler. For instance, one player may fill holes in the southern end of the boat while another may fill the holes in the northern end of the boat. One player should be responsible for fixing the net as it becomes ripped - this player should be positioned near to the southern ladder so that they can quickly access the deck. When playing Fishing Trawler with multiple people, players may wish to adjust the amount of items they bring. Those not fixing the net may wish to bring more bailing buckets and swamp paste, while those fixing the net may find it helpful to bring additional ropes.

Rewards[]

Fishing Trawler Catch

The Trawler Catch, where players receive their reward

After successfully completing a game of Fishing Trawler players receive rewards by searching the net near Murphy. The trawler will reward players with raw fish, up to and including raw tiger sharks which can only be obtained through the minigame. The type of fish received depends on the player's Fishing level. The Trawler-specific tiger sharks require a Fishing level of 95, which is not boostable.

The amount of fish received is equal to the "Total catch" number (displayed during gameplay) divided by the number of players who were playing the minigame. In solo games a player will usually get between 10 to 20 fish. In team games it is sometimes possible to obtain up to 30 fish per person.

In addition, players may also receive some 'junk' items:

If the ardougne cloak 4 is worn, junk items will be replaced by more valuable items, including oysters, opals, sapphires, buckets of sand, seaweed, silver ore and gold ore.

On occasion, player may also come across rarer, untradeable items:

  • Shimmering shell Shimmering shell, which offers extra Fishing experience upon a successful trawl to 10 people, including yourself, favouring clanmates over strangers.
  • Glistening shell Glistening shell, which also offers extra Fishing experience upon a successful trawl, but just for yourself.
  • Shark's tooth Shark's tooth, a rare item that requires 5 of such to create a shark's tooth necklace.

Rewards can be banked from the rewards interface: drag the items onto the picture of the deposit box in the interface to send them to the bank. Alternatively, fish can be collected to inventory and deposited into the deposit box which is just south of the net.

Upon completion of a successful trawl, players are also awarded Fishing experience. A player with level 99 Fishing will receive approximately 2-3k Fishing experience per trip. It should be noted that the amount of experience a player gains is equal to 40 percent of the experience they would receive from fishing their total catch by regular methods. For example, each swordfish caught in Fishing Trawler will give 40 experience rather than the normal 100.

Achievement[]

Trivia[]

Fishing Trawler rework concept art

Concept art for the trawler's graphical update

  • For a long time, work was not necessary on the trawler. Players received fish as long as they were on a boat that did not sink. These people were known as freeloaders or lords (due to the fact that many called workers "serfs" or "peasants"). On 16 June 2009, an activity bar was placed to battle freeloaders, similar to Soul Wars. This has had mixed reviews. Many players were happy about the ending of freeloading, but many were dissatisfied with how quickly the activity bar depletes. As a result, innocent players on crowded boats were sometimes kicked because they couldn't find any work to do due to the large amount of people.
  • Fishing Trawler was updated to stop people from using High Level Alchemy and Humidify during the game.
  • Prior to the introduction of Deep Sea Fishing on 5 March 2018, sea turtles and manta rays could only be obtained by participating in the minigame. This also meant that they were unobtainable in Ironman Mode as Ironman players could not access the minigame. Tiger sharks remain exclusive to the minigame, however, and still cannot be obtained by Ironmen.
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