Lures
Lures (bait) add a temporary skill bonus to your fishing pole, for a limited amount of time (commonly 10 minutes). Lures increase your effective fishing skill, without altering your personal skill. Lures are commonly purchased from vendors such as Fishing Suppliers.
To use a lure: Equip the fishing pole you wish to lure, and then simply use the lure. (Before patch 3.3.3, lures had to applied to poles manually.) The lure will take a few seconds to be applied - wait for the progress bar to complete before starting to fish. An icon will be displayed while the lure is active (by default in the top-right of the screen).
Lures add to your fishing skill at the time you cast the line. If the lure fades between casting and catching, that catch will still benefit from the lure skill bonus. Only one lure can be active at one time. Lures do not "stack" with other lures, however lures do stack with bonuses from Fishing Poles and Fishing Gear.
For the casual fisherman or woman, lures provide a way to fish more effectively in areas where their personal skill is not sufficient to fish without catching junk. At lower levels, consider balancing the cost of the lures against the "value" of the fish gained.
The table below lists all types of lure.
| Lure | Skill Bonus | Duration (minutes) | Minimum Fishing Skill Required | Cost (each) | Availability | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Shiny Bauble | +25 | 10 | 1 | 50c | Fishing, trade, and some general goods suppliers. Also a reward from Alliance-only quests "The Family and the Fishing Pole" and "Red Snapper - Very Tasty!". |
 | Nightcrawlers | +50 | 10 | 50 | 1s | Fishing, trade, and some general goods suppliers. Occasionally found on the corpses of Undead monsters (ghouls, zombies). |
 | Aquadynamic Fish Lens | +50 | 10 | 50 | - | Reward for Alliance-only quest "Electropellers" (Darkshore). |
 | Bright Baubles | +75 | 10 | 100 | 2s 50c | Fishing and trade goods suppliers. |
| Flesh Eating Worm | +75 | 10 | 100 | - | Occasionally found on the corpses of Rotted One monsters in Duskwood. |
 | Aquadynamic Fish Attractor | +100 | 10** | 100 | 2s 50c | Limited supply from fishing suppliers. Manufactured by engineers using a trained 150-skill recipe. |
 | Glow Worm | +100 | 60 | 100 | - | Sometimes found in Bag of Fishing Treasures, the reward from the Northrend Daily Fishing Quests. Bound to the angler, so cannot be traded. |
 | Sharpened Fish Hook | +100 | 10 | 100 | - | 4-6 are commonly found in Bags of Fishing Treasure, the reward for completing the Outland Daily Fishing Quests. |
- ** Formerly 5 minutes, but now ((since patch 2.1.2)) last 10 minutes.
- Costs assume no reputation-related reductions. All lures stack in 20.
- Aquadynamic Fish Attractor may be rare. Vendors have limited supplies. This typically means one or two, and only if someone else hasn't purchased them recently. Engineers can make these, so you may find them sold via the Auction House. You will not always find as many as you need.
The Weather-Beaten Fishing Hat effectively acts as a reusable +75 lure.
Mudskunk Lure (sold by Nat Pagle after completing the quest "Nat's Measuring Tape") are not "lures" at all: They are used only to summon Gahz'ranka in Zul'Gurub.
Learn More
- Northrend Daily Fishing Quests - Guide to daily fishing quests that start in Dalaran.
- Outland Daily Fishing Quests - Walkthrough for all the Outland daily fishing quests, with rewards.
- Also in Equipment: Fishing Poles, Fishing Gear, Other Equipment, Addons and Utilities, and Automation.
Comments about Lures
Below are readers' comments about "Lures":
Maximized Fishing Skill
Noodleguitar, December 2008:
I just got my Eternium Line the last Extravaganza, which was the last thing I needed to max out my fishing skill :D. It's now, with only gear and base skill, 502. I think this is the max that can be achieved with current available gear.
To get it I have equipped:
- Arcanite Fishing Pole (+35)
|
----> Eternium Line (+5)
- Lucky Fishing Hat (+5)
- Nat Pagle's Extreme Anglin' Boots (+5)
- Gloves Enchanted (+2)+ 450 Base Skill.
If you count in buffs, you can get to a max of 662:
- Underbelly Elixer -> Tuskarr (+50)
- Captain Rumsey's Lager (+10)
- One of the best lures (+100)Shreda, January 2010:
Given that it is now impossible to catch junk, i see no point in lures even existing.
Gummo, January 2010:
Arcanite Fishing Pole has been +40 fishing for a while, and there is now a +5 fishing enchant.
Lures are still useful for non-pool fishing, but, yeah...
Tarqq, January 2010:
This Sunday I'm going for the total max @ fishing, I only need to catch the
Dezian Queenfish, to put the Eternium line to my pole.
Since 1st post was outdated bij the Kalu'ak derby (& other changes),
here are the new max stats.Here is what I (almost***) got equipped :
- Arcanite Fishing Pole (+40)
- Eternium line *** (+5)
- Weather beaten fishing hat ( +5)
- Boots of the bay (+15)
- Gloves Enchanted (+5)
- Captain Rumsey's Lager (10min) (+10)
- Glowworm (1hr) (+100)
- Base skill (+450) +
---------------
630Happy fishing,
Tarqq (Terokkar/EU)Ps. With the Tuskarr buff you could gain 680, but I think its a hassle.
Aquadynamic Fish Attractor
chautauqua, March 2010:
This has got me really puzzled. I picked one up some time ago and I think that it has been working fine, although it showed up as two separate images in my action bar. The other day, I noticed the images were shadowed and read "0". They didn't respond to the tool tip at all. So I bought another one and as soon as I clicked on it following the cast, my character's hands glowed as though a spell were being cast. Then the AFA images went dark again. What's going on here? Can anyone help me?
Grank, March 2010:
The Aquadynamic Fish Attractor is a lure that is consumable. When you cast it, it modifies your fishing rod to give it the fishing bonus and disappears from your inventory. When you put a consumable on your action bar, the number in the lower corner represents the number that you have available in your bags. If you have used all of them or moved them elsewhere (like the your bank) the number will be zero.
