One Old School RuneScape player spent 4,304 hours on shrimp and anchovies to hit Fishing 99

Old School RuneScape player Robert “Bosby” has reached level 99 Fishing using only shrimp and anchovies, turning one deliberately simple account into a 4,304-hour project. The account, named OnlyShrimp99, began on May 11, 2024, stayed focused on the same two low-level fish for 27 months, and completed the goal on August 7.

By the time Bosby reached 99 Fishing, they had caught 275,196 raw shrimp and 257,064 raw anchovies. They estimated the haul was worth 9,523,068 in-game gold, while earning roughly 3,000 Fishing XP per hour. Reaching level 99 requires 13,034,431 XP, which explains how the project consumed so much time.

Bosby kept every fish in the bank rather than dropping the catches. In a GamesRadar+ interview, they also clarified that the game clock did not mean they were actively watching the game for anything close to all 4,304 hours.

A joke account that became a long-term project

Bosby said the OnlyShrimp99 idea had been a joke among friends for years before they finally created the account. They had tried a shrimp-only account in 2016, but abandoned it after a week or two. When the idea returned in 2024, the longer the joke continued, the harder it became to leave unfinished. During the project, Bosby started a new job, got married, and met more than 50 people while fishing. Several became friends, checking in on the progress, running past on other accounts, or commenting that Bosby was still fishing at the Al Kharid spot whenever they returned.

The player summed up the time investment with the line, “Time played: 4,304 hours. Time wasted: 4,304 hours.” Given the patience required to stick with one of OSRS‘s slowest possible routes to 99 Fishing, calling all of it wasted time may be underselling the achievement.

The community responded with the sort of jokes this milestone invites. One Reddit response suggested cooking all the fish next to pursue 99 Cooking.

Jagex gave Bosby an even bigger endorsement in a post on the official Old School RuneScape X account dated August 10, 2026: “Congrats on the only small net 99 Fishing, Bosby! Our data team has verified your accomplishment.” The developer paired the message with an image of a shrimp sitting at a computer, prompting Bosby to reply, “YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME.”

Bosby later admitted on X that the achievement was receiving “entirely too much attention” and that it was tiring. After more than 4,000 hours of clicking for the smallest catches available, a little exhaustion seems understandable.

Whether OnlyShrimp99 moves on to Cooking, Farming, or another deliberately slow skill is still unknown, but the Fishing milestone already stands as one of the more determined ways to reach level 99 in Old School RuneScape.

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