Salty Owlaf!

Owlaf has finally won the Kalu'ak Fishing Tournament!

...at long last!

"ELUNE BE PRAISED!"

I can remember one time I attempted this contest. I had invited a friend of mine and we were in a group together. At one point he said he got it, and I said, "YOU LIAR!"

Next thing I knew, Elder Clearwater announced that my friend Rasput had won the derby. I quit playing for a few days because I was so upset about it. I told Rasput about the contest and what to do to try to win, and in his first attempt, HE WON! I couldn't believe it.

Well, it's been several months since I've tried it. Even during these times, some people still head up to Northrend for this competition. I saw players in the capital city of Dalaran wearing overalls and fishing hats.

On this particular Saturday, July 30th, 2011... I flew out of Dalaran as a storm crow and soared across glaciers till I came to the coast of Howling Fjord. Once there I found two fishing pools next to each other, a stone's throw away from one another really, and I perched on a rock for half an hour. The contest starts at 2pm game time, which to me was 4pm.

Ten minutes before it was due to start, I double checked everything I had. I had the fishing hat from the fishing quests, I had some gloves that were enchanted with the +5 skill. I had the Tuskar fishing pole, plus a heat-treated fishing lure to attach to it. Then I realized I forgot the rum! I had plenty of it sitting there in the bank and I mistook it for something else. The rum is actually called "Captain Rumsey's Lager" and the lager is made by combining a Skin of Dwarven Stout and a Flagon of Mead.... No, but I wish I knew what it tasted like, all of them.

Time was of the essence. I hearth or risk using my kirin tor ring so close to the start of the contest, but there was a keep that belonged to the Alliance Vanguard nearby that I was friendly with... well okay, I'm actually exaulted. So I flew up the cliffs and bought some stout and mead, brewed the lager, then flew back down to my fishing spot.

In guild chat, just before the contest was set to begin, I asked for my friends to wish me luck, and one player decided to switch to his mage to help me. He teleported himself to Dalaran and stood by the Elder who started and ended the contest. Then the competition began, and I gave my party member guildie a message, saying that if I caught it, I'd say NOW and he could summon me to town.

First two fishing pools had none in them. All the while I kept my fingers crossed and prayed. Kidn of silly praying for success in a video game, in an alternate universe, but I guess that level of energy broke through somehow. I flew towards the third pool on my route, and my friend asked, "Now?" I said, "No not yet." landed, and cast a couple of times.

I only saw it for a second since I had the auto loot turned on. Basically that function lets you take all the loot in an instant so you can move on faster, whereas if it was off then the window would remain open and I'd have to click on the items in order to loot them. With auto loot on, the window opens for maybe a second before the loot is automatically placed in your bags (if you have room for it) and then the window closes. For five minutes of fishing maybe it was like that. Cast a line, click on the bobber when I got a bite, then recast as soon as auto loot was done, which was really a blink of an eye.

Naturally, I had about one second to glance at that part of the screen where the loot window appeared. I saw one fish, a mata ray as usual, as well as another with an icon I did not recognize, but the name was clearly seen. "Blacktip Shark".

I GASPED! I typed into chat, "NOW!"
"NOW!"
"OMG! NOW! I GOT IT!"
"NOW!"

Meanwhile a murloc got too close to me and started attacking me, and after a few bursts of moonfire it was dead, and by the time it was, I received the summons from my friend. I clicked as soon as the game deemed me to be out of combat and I appeared right before Elder Clearwater. I turned in the shark and grabbed the boots without delay.

And then... FWOOSH! I got two achievements. One was for winning a fishing contest, the other was for completing certain fishing achievements and getting a title to my name. Now Owlaf can be known as Salty Owlaf. I cheered, I laughed, I hugged my friend (virtually anyway) and we danced in Dalaran. Two players whispered me, one was trying to get the ring which was the other reward that I didn't care for, and the other player wanted to know where I fished and how many I caught. I must have caught 21 fish by the time the contest ended. 11 Mata Rays and 10 Pygmy Suckerfish. I can tell ya now, I was so ecstatic that I won.

Now I have the boots to add to my collection and to my tackle gear. It's taken me quite a while to come this far as far as fishing goes... Maybe next I'll go back to Northrend to fish for that sea turtle mount... ^_^