A notorious MMO fisherman just finished a 4,300-hour grind that saw him spend over two years catching shrimp in Old School Runescape, and he says "I'd do it again."
12 years ago, Animal Crossing speedrun pioneer and AGDQ cameo commentator Carter 'Bosby' Larson was trading world records with a player named Forstride on the game's "All Debts" leaderboard. To this day, Forstride ranks highly in many categories.
But for the past two years and change, Bosby has been using one well-worn fishing net to gather shrimp and anchovies in Old School RuneScape on his aptly named "OnlyShrimp99" account. The goal was simple: reach 99 Fishing, the highest level in the skill, catching just shrimp and anchovies, the easiest and lowest-value catches in the game.
OSRS developer Jagex caught onto the hype around Bosby's achievement and even verified his accomplishment.
Bosby tells me he "started the account on May 11, 2024 and finished August 7, 2026, so 2 years and 3 months. In-game was 4,304 hours but I cannot stress enough that I was not actively paying anywhere close to full attention during those logged hours."
In total, he caught 275,196 shrimp and 257,064 anchovies. To the horror and amazement of OSRS players everywhere, he saved and stored every single one, whereas many fishers drop their catch on the ground in order to save time and maximize experience gains. "Those lil water bugs just live in my bank now," he says.
After 2 years and 3 months, I reached level 99 fishing catching only shrimp and anchovies.from r/2007scape
Bosby has "always loved playing gimmick accounts in OSRS," and this is far from his first. In fact, he says, "at one point in 2016 I actually made the progenitor to this account, a shrimp-only account that I showed my friends to make them laugh. I played it for maybe a week or two and lost interest."
The bug returned in 2024, and OnlyShrimp99 was born. "The longer the joke went on, the more invested I got," Bosby continues. "I started meeting and chatting with people while fishing, and slowly became resolute to see it out, just to see if I could."
The social side of MMOs became fuel. Bosby says he met over 50 "interesting, cool, and weird people" while fishing, and has become longtime friends with many of them. "A lot of them would message me and check in throughout the grind, eager to see my progress and when I forecasted the end to be."
And if you're wondering, as I was, yes, Bosby has heard of Webfishing, the game about catching fish with folks online. "It seems like a match made in heaven," says Bosby.
But there was more to the grind. The question with these self-imposed challenges is always, why? Bosby says, "It just kind of became an avenue for me to prove my determination to myself. I've been getting accused of doing it for attention, but I really did not expect to get any nor did I want it."
The online response to his shrimp marathon "has been overwhelming to say the least," but "once Jagex tweeted out the shoutout to me, it was all worth it. That was completely unexpected."
"I've loved this game for so long, it felt amazing to be recognized by the people that made it," Bosby adds. "I'm certainly not the first person to do this and won't be the last, I guess I was just in the right place at the right time."
The next question is obvious: was it worth it? "Absolutely," Bosby responds without hesitation.
"To me it was worth it because of the people I met while standing in the same place for over two years. I became a mainstay for those people, they'd run by doing something else, or make a new account and get early fishing levels, and remark on how I was still there. And it was worth it to prove to myself that I could stick with something and see it through, even if it's ultimately pointless, just because it brought me a bit of joy.
"The sincere congratulations have been nice, but the attention I could do without. But I'd do it again just to see the reactions lol, it's something I've considered."
"I do not recommend anyone follow in my footsteps," he adds, "but I had fun, and ultimately that was the whole point. It may seem boring or stupid, and that's because it absolutely was, but it turned into a cozy little side-project, and I'm thankful for it."
