Jagex has verified an OSRS player’s only-small-net 99 Fishing run, a two-year shrimp and anchovies grind that says a lot about Old School RuneScape culture.
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Jagex verified a deliberately inefficient 99 Fishing run
Jagex’s official Old School RuneScape account has recognized a player who reached level 99 Fishing while using only the small net, congratulating Bosby on X for the “only small net 99 Fishing” and saying its data team had verified the accomplishment. That confirmation is the concrete center of the story: this was not a player simply claiming a strange milestone on Reddit, but a self-imposed Old School RuneScape fishing achievement that the game’s own team checked against account data.
The tension is obvious to anyone who understands MMO progression. Fishing in Old School RuneScape offers better tools, better catches, and faster training paths as players advance. IGN describes the small fishing net as one of the first tools players get, used for small prey such as shrimp and anchovies at specific fishing spots. Most players leave those early catches behind because they are low-value training options. Bosby did the opposite, turning the first step of the skill into the whole ladder.
According to IGN, Kotaku, and PCGamesN, the account was named OnlyShrimp99, began on May 11, 2024, and finished the grind on August 7, 2026. The total time played was 4,304 hours. The fish count, repeated in Bosby’s own replies and cited by multiple outlets, was 275,196 raw shrimp and 257,064 raw anchovies. The result is one of those OSRS stories that sounds like a dare until the numbers make clear how long the dare had to be kept alive.
The numbers explain why shrimp and anchovies made this absurd
The reason the story travelled beyond the OSRS community is not that level 99 Fishing is rare by itself. It is the method. IGN reports that players need 13,034,431 Fishing experience to reach level 99. The same report states that shrimp give 10 Fishing experience each and anchovies give 40. Using the catch totals reported by Bosby and cited across IGN, Kotaku, PCGamesN, and the official Old School RuneScape X post, the shrimp and anchovies together clear the level 99 requirement by a tiny margin.
That is the systems joke at the heart of the run. Old School RuneScape’s level curve turns early-game actions into vanishingly small increments at the top end. A shrimp that matters at level 1 barely moves the bar near 99. Bosby’s own explanation, quoted by IGN and Kotaku from Reddit, puts the average rate at “something like 3,000” experience per hour because the account was played so AFK. PCGamesN also cites that estimate. By efficient skilling standards, that is glacial. By the logic of a second-monitor account, it was apparently sustainable.
PCGamesN reports that Bosby valued the full catch at roughly 9,523,068 in-game gold by his calculation, but the economic value is secondary here. The stronger progression detail is that the account banked the shrimp and anchovies rather than discarding the evidence. IGN notes that Bosby kept them in storage to commemorate the journey. In a game where the skillcape is the visible endpoint, the bank tab becomes a ledger of method.
Bosby framed it as a joke that became a long-term account identity
The achievement began as a private bit, according to Bosby’s Reddit explanation quoted by IGN, Kotaku, and PCGamesN. “This account was a joke idea in my friend group for years before I finally made it,” Bosby wrote. “I started out thinking it would just be something funny to do, and ended up having the dedication to see it through.” That framing matters because it separates the run from an efficiency guide or a hidden strategy. The constraint was the point.
Bosby also described the project as a “fun second monitor” activity, saying that over the life of the account he started a new job, got married, and made friends. Kotaku reports that the fishing took place at the Al Kharid fishing spot near a bank, letting Bosby fill an inventory with shrimp and anchovies, bank the catch, and repeat. Kotaku also notes that the account remained free-to-play for the entire grind.
That combination is pure OSRS pacing: low attention, high duration, and a goal that becomes more interesting because the optimal answer is being ignored. Bosby told commenters, according to Kotaku, that the character would finish fishing in about 20 minutes, after which he might be away for another 10 to 20 minutes while playing something else before clicking a fishing spot or the bank again. The reported method does not make the grind short. It explains how a 4,304-hour project could fit around ordinary life instead of replacing it completely.
Jagex’s recognition turned a community gag into an official milestone
The official response from Old School RuneScape is unusually important because the achievement depends on constraint integrity. Anyone can say they trained only with one method. Jagex’s X post says, “Our data team has verified your accomplishment,” which gives the run a different status from a viral screenshot or anecdote. The company did not announce an in-game reward in the provided sources, and readers should not treat the post as anything beyond a public congratulations and verification. Still, for a self-imposed grind, verification is the valuable part.
This is also why the wording “only small net 99 Fishing” is more precise than simply saying “OSRS shrimp 99 Fishing.” The sources describe the catch list as shrimp and anchovies, both available through the small net route. IGN explains that shrimp cannot be caught any other way in the game, which made the small net necessary for the constraint. The official Old School RuneScape post recognized the tool restriction, not only the species list.
Jagex’s decision to acknowledge it fits the studio’s relationship with a community that treats account restrictions as content. The sources here do not show Jagex creating a formal leaderboard category for this kind of run, so that remains interpretation rather than confirmed policy. What is confirmed is that the official account amplified the accomplishment, attached developer-side data verification, and exposed a niche free-to-play grind to a much larger audience. The X listing included 2.2 million views in the provided source material.
The achievement fits OSRS culture because the system allows stubborn choices
Old School RuneScape is built on many small actions becoming large account milestones. The difference with Bosby’s run is that the usual progression incentive was deliberately refused. IGN notes that players normally upgrade to other fishing equipment and methods to catch larger fish and level faster. Bosby stayed with the starter net’s world, accepting the slowest practical rhythm and letting repetition become the identity of the account.
That is the recognizable culture around OSRS self-imposed grinds. A player invents a rule that the game itself does not require, then treats that rule as seriously as a quest requirement or build restriction. The community’s reaction, as reported by PCGamesN and Kotaku, ranged from jokes to disbelief to dismissal. PCGamesN cited Reddit replies such as “Time to cook them all for 99 cooking” and “Shrimply insane.” Kotaku reported a commenter telling Bosby “congrats on something that does not matter,” to which Bosby replied, “Nothing matters.”
That exchange captures the appeal better than a formal design analysis could. In OSRS, the goal can be practical, cosmetic, social, absurd, or all of those at once. The game supplies the XP table and the tools. The player supplies the rule. Once the rule is visible and verifiable, other players understand the shape of the accomplishment even if they would never choose it themselves.
Can other players copy the OSRS anchovies shrimp grind? Technically, yes
The provided reporting gives enough detail for readers to understand the route, but copying it should be treated as a long-term novelty project rather than a sensible training recommendation. Bosby used the small net, caught only shrimp and anchovies, banked them, and trained at Al Kharid according to Kotaku’s report. The account was free-to-play, so the achievement did not require a membership path in the version described by the sources.
The practical cost is time. The reported 4,304 hours over two years and three months should be read alongside Bosby’s own “something like 3,000” experience per hour estimate. That rate was tied to how AFK the account was, so a player actively clicking with perfect attention might not match the exact experience pattern or the same life schedule. The core limitation remains the same: shrimp give 10 experience, anchovies give 40, and 99 Fishing requires 13,034,431 experience according to IGN.
For most players searching Old School RuneScape 99 Fishing advice, this is a cautionary marvel rather than a guide. It shows how far OSRS allows player choice to stretch, even when that choice is wildly inefficient. For the completionist-minded, it also shows the kind of evidence that makes a strange account build legible: a named account, dated start and finish, item totals, banked proof, public documentation, and, in this rare case, recognition from Jagex’s own data team.