A Cast Above the Rest

The follow-up achievement to this one, Bigger Fish to Fry, is one of the requirements for obtaining the Fishing Artifact Weapon - the [item=133755].

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There are a number of Rare fish in Legion, and items (bait or otherwise) that will help you catch them.
The Rare fish and items to catch them are zone specific (although some are obtainable on any shoreline of the Broken Isles).

Rare Fish

There are 18 rare fish coming in Legion that can be fished up. Each rare fish grants +5 to Fishing skill when used, consuming it in the process.

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• There are 3 Rare fish per zone, and 3 that can be caught on any coastal waters.
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• These can be fished up from a Fishing skill of 1, so this can be an effective way to power level Fishing.
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• Catching one of the rare fish listed below while fishing will grant the achievement A Cast Above the Rest. Catching them all will grant the achievement Bigger Fish to Fry.
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• All Rare fish are Bind on Pickup.
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• If you are fishing with the [item=133755] equipped, you will obtain a DIFFERENT version of each rare fish that grants Artifact Power instead of Fishing skill (e.g. you would fish up [item=139659] instead of [item=133732])
  
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  • Note that this does not retroactively apply to rare fish you obtained before getting the Artifact - the only use for these short of maxing fishing skill is vendoring for a decent chunk of change.
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• The Rare fish in the chart below are marked with a star (*)
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Fishing Bait and Items

Some of the items that help you catch Rare fish will spawn and NPC that grants a fishing buff; others contain bait, or spawn NPCs that drop bait.

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• All fishing bait buffs last for 2 minutes once used (except for [item=133704] and [item=133715], which last 5 minutes each).
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• All buffs last the full duration, except for [spell=201816], which expires as soon as you catch a bait.
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• Almost all baits can be bought/sold on the Auction House. Use this if you are having trouble with a particular fish!
  
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  • The exception to this is the [item=133723], which has a 1 minute duration in your inventory.
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• All baits are Unique, meaning you can only carry one. The further caveat to this is that you WILL NOT catch any bait that is currently in your inventory!
  
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  • This can be used to your advantage if you are looking for a particular bait in a zone - by having certain baits in your bags, you will ensure you do not catch them again.
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  • If you are wanting to obtain multiples of the same bait, you can put baits on the Auction House, mail them to an alt, or put them into a Guild Bank or Guild Bank Tab that only you have access to. This will allow you to catch the same bait again.
    
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    • A portable mailbox like [item=40768] (Engineering) or [item=109574] (from the Draenor garrison Engineering Workshop) is a huge boon when doing this out in the field!
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  • It is worthwhile saving some rare fish bait, in order to level Artifact Power on your [item=133755] if and when you get it.
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Items and Rare Fish by Zone

Highmountain

Val'sharah

Item

Used to Obtain

Item

Used to Obtain

[item=133709] (1)

[item=133710]

[item=133705] (3)

[item=133730]*

[item=133710]

[item=133733]*

[item=133707]

[item=133728]*

[item=133712]

[item=133732]*

[item=133708] (4)

[item=133729]*

[item=133708]

[item=133711] (2)

[item=133731]*

Azsuna

Suramar

Item

Used to Obtain

Item

Used to Obtain

[item=133701] (5)

[item=133702]

[item=133717]

[item=133737]*

[item=133702]

[item=133725]*

[item=133720]

[item=133739]*

[item=133703]

[item=133726]*

[item=133719] (7)

[item=133738]*

[item=133704] (6)

[item=133727]*

Stormheim

All Coastal Legion Waters

Item

Used to Obtain

Item

Used to Obtain

[item=133713] (8)

[item=133714]
[item=133716]

[item=133721] (10)

[item=133722]

[item=133722]

[item=133740]*

[item=133714]

[item=133736]*

[item=133723] (11)

[item=133741]*

[item=133715] (9)

[item=133734]*

[item=133724] (12)

[item=133795]

[item=133716]

[item=133735]*

[item=133795]

[item=133742]*

Notes:
* Indicates a Rare fish
(1) [item=133709] is an item that will summon a [npc=102347] that drops a [item=133710] when killed.
(2) [item=133711] is an item that will spawn a Murloc NPC, [npc=102339], that grants the buff [spell=202056], increasing your chance to fish up [item=133731].
(3) [item=133705] is an item that will attract a Druid NPC ([npc=102349]) that casts the [spell=201809] buff on you, increasing your chance to fish up [item=133730].
(4) [item=133708] is an item that will grant the buff [spell=202067], increasing your chance to fish up [item=133729].
(5) [item=133701] is an item that will summon a [npc=102338] that drops a [item=133702] when killed.
(6) [item=133704] is an item that is required to see [item=133727] pools in Azsuna.
(7) Using [item=133719] will awaken a [npc=102350], who will run around briefly and drop some [item=133738] into the water.
(8) [item=133713] is an item that increases your chances to catch rare bait in Stormheim, rather than fish.
(9) [item=133715] is an item that is required to see [item=133734] pools in Stormheim.
(10) [item=133721] contains [item=133722] when opened.
(11) Using [item=133723] will spawn a [npc=102359], which will yield [item=133741] when killed. Using it on land makes it much less dangerous than in water (hits quite hard).
(12) [item=133724] is an item that attracts flies - [item=133795] can be looted from these.

If this achievement randomly pops for you, or you notice mysterious fish in your inventory, someone probably popped their [item=133719] near you. The more you know!

Personally, I was wondering for so long why strangers were throwing fish at me... :(

So I was walking around Orgrimmar and I randomly got this achievement. Not sure if this has happened to anybody else though.