There isn’t enough evidence to say that rainbow fish are faster to catch than salmon in Old School RuneScape. Most fishing spots give a chance to catch a fish every five game ticks, but that is an attempt interval—not a guaranteed catch every five ticks. A fair speed comparison would also need success rates measured under comparable conditions, and those figures are not established here.
How many ticks does it take to catch a fish in OSRS?
At most fishing spots, the game gives you a chance to catch a fish every five ticks, according to the OSRS Wiki’s RuneScape clock guide. A tick is a unit of in-game time. The five-tick interval describes when a catch check can happen; it does not guarantee that a fish is caught on every check. A failed check can mean waiting for another chance.
Are rainbow fish faster than salmon to catch?
The available mechanics information does not establish which fish has the higher catch rate. Sharing a five-tick check interval does not mean the expected time per catch is equal: the chance of succeeding on each check matters too. No comparable success probabilities or measured hourly catch rates for rainbow fish and salmon are provided here, so a definitive winner would be speculation.
Stripy feathers let you catch rainbow fish with a fly fishing rod, rather than the usual trout and salmon caught with regular feathers. The OSRS Wiki fly-fishing guide establishes that this changes the fish available; it does not establish that stripy feathers speed up the catch checks or improve the chance of a successful catch.
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What do you need to fish for rainbow fish or salmon?
Rainbow fish
The OSRS Wiki lists raw rainbow fish at Fishing level 38. Fly fishing requires a fly fishing rod and feathers, and stripy feathers select rainbow fish at river fishing spots.
Salmon
Regular fly fishing uses a fly fishing rod and regular feathers to catch trout and salmon at river spots. An official Jagex RuneScape aquarium design document lists salmon at Fishing level 30 and rainbow fish at level 38. That document is for RuneScape, not specifically Old School RuneScape, so its salmon level should not be treated as definitive OSRS confirmation. The OSRS Wiki fly-fishing information independently gives level 38 for rainbow fish.
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Does faster catching mean faster Fishing XP?
No. Catch speed and training speed are different measures. Catch speed concerns how long it takes to land a particular fish; XP per hour also depends on experience per catch, success rate, method, and player actions such as dropping or banking fish.
The OSRS Wiki Fishing training guide describes barbarian fishing as a training option: three-tick barbarian fishing becomes one of the fastest training methods at level 58, while unmanipulated barbarian fishing is a lower-effort alternative. Its leaping salmon progression is not a direct comparison with ordinary salmon or rainbow fish caught by fly fishing.
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How to make a meaningful speed comparison
To compare your own results, keep the conditions as alike as possible and decide what “faster” means before counting:
- Use the same Fishing level and comparable fishing locations.
- Compare ordinary fly fishing methods, without tick manipulation, unless manipulation is the specific subject.
- Record whether you are using regular or stripy feathers and count successful catches over the same amount of active fishing time.
- Choose one metric—such as expected time per catch, fish per hour, or XP per hour—and do not treat those as interchangeable.
- Account for interruptions and handling, including spot movement, dropping fish, banking, and idle time.
Without controlled results or comparable per-check success rates, a short personal session may reflect location or activity differences rather than a true difference between fish.
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