Catching Feebas in Pokemon Emerald

The Insanely Fast "Normal" Method

If you don't want to use a calculator and want to do this the old fashioned way. Lets get right into it.

Checklist

• A Gulpin with Sticky Hold. (fainted)
• The Old Rod
• 10+ Super Repels
• "Trendy Phrase" from Dewford Town written down.
• A Pokémon that can use Surf in the overworld
• 10+ of some type of Poké Ball

Step By Step

First, if you don't already have one, head to Route 110. Pick up a Gulpin (roughly 15%ish encounter) and make sure it has the ability Sticky Hold. Catch several to ensure you get one with that ability. In Emerald, but not Ruby or Sapphire, this ability has the overworld effect "If the lead Pokémon has this ability, the encounter rate while fishing is increased". Make it faint, put it in the first slot in your party. Have your second party member be the one you want to actually encounter Feebas with. This ensures that you catch a fish every time you use your Rod.

Make sure you have the Old Rod. If you dont, can grab it from the Fisherman in Dewford Town. The Old Rod is much faster to catch fish because you only have to go through the ...... wait period one time..

Super Repels will make sure you don't encounter Pokémon while surfing. Wait to use them until you are on the water.

The Trendy Phrase in Dewford Town is part of what sets which of the 400+ tiles actually has Feebas in them. It is important you write it down. This will let you keep track of your phrase, and reset the tiles once you have gone through all the tiles once.

Use your Super Repels, and begin fishing on one end of Route 119 with your fainted Gulpin leading the party. Fish only ONE encounter on each tile before moving on to the next one. Many many guides and videos have been made on this subject that say to fish each spot 2-3 times. This is unnecessary and wastes time. The reason is the next tile is always more likely to contain a Feebas than the one you just fished. Continue fishing tile by tile until you reach the end of the Route.

If you have fished through the entire route and did not encounter a Feebas, Fly to Dewford town and change your Trendy Phrase. Fly back to Route 119 and begin going through each tile again.

Why Once per Tile?

flipflipshift on reddit has done math explaining why fishing each tile once as you go through the river is fastest. These numbers are taken directly from his post. (link below) These number show the average number of encounters that can be expected from each method before Feebas is encountered. Please see his original post (link at the bottom of this guide)

• Once per tile -128 Encounters/Feebas
• Twice per tile - 170 Encounters/Feebas
• Thrice per tile - 217 Encounters/Feebas

Feebas Tile Calculator

You need the 'bas, and you need it now.

If you don't mind using an external toolYou can use this Feebas Tile Calculator. You can either upload your save file, or find it manually by knowing the Trendy Phrase from Dewford, and your Trainer ID. (you cant use a manually changed phrase)

Full Route Map