Beginner Guide
From shipwreck to Leviathan in one week — money routes, first boss timing, and how not to lose THE fish.
The Week-One Roadmap
Day 1
Do: Sardines + mackerel off the pier; save 350 for the Bamboo rod
Don't: Skip the river mouth. A starter rod after perch is feeding the fish.
Day 2
Do: Perch + carp at the mouth; upgrade to Spin 100
Don't: Do NOT sell a moonfish (if you somehow land one day 2). Lighthouse key fish — keep the first.
Day 3
Do: Night squid session; first hull repair segment ($800)
Don't: Leave the eel alone. Snapped-line tuition is real and you are broke.
Day 4
Do: Carbon rod + braided line; try Red Snapper offshore
Don't: Do not skip the lighthouse keeper's dialogue. Players who missed the moonfish hint lost two days.
Day 5
Do: Challenge the Lake Lord (first boss), earn the badge
Don't: Travel light to boss fights — capsizing losses scale with load.
Day 6
Do: Finish the hull repair; full offshore map unlocked
Don't: Do not sail to the trench. The blueprint is tempting; your fuel gauge is not.
Day 7
Do: Spin 400 + Composite rod; tuna qualification test
Don't: No premature Leviathan attempts. One tier short is donating your dignity.
Five Classic Scenes
✕ Selling the first moonfish
The lighthouse key fish, deep-night only. Sellers get to wait for another midnight window.
✕ Eeling on day one
The #1 rookie line-snapper. Return for payback with braided line + Spin 400.
✕ Boss fights with a full bag
Capsizing losses scale with load. Travel light; hang your fish prints at home.
✕ Ignoring the weather
Ghost Sturgeon = storm nights, Golden Koi = dawn fog. Fishing blind to weather is driving blindfolded.
✕ Stealing the landing in co-op
"Cooperative catch" credit goes to the final lander. Grab it unspoken and the friendship flips — the physics engine will help.
FAQ
How do I get the boat and the boat keys?
Repair the wreck on the south beach: 20 driftwood + 5 rope (both from beach foraging). The ignition key comes from the Old Fisherman quest on the pier — he trades it for 3 cod. The STORAGE key (below deck) drops from the first pufferfish boss. Fuel is bought at any dock; the Trench sells no return tickets, so fill up.
Where do I get leeches?
Leeches spawn in the swamp inlet (west map) at dawn only, 05:00-08:00 game time. Use the small net on the shallows — NOT the rod. They are bait for sturgeon and the Night Eel; the co-op board pays well for spares.
How do I throw dynamite?
Dynamite (Deep Sea license, day 6+) is thrown with the same button as chum, not the rod. Aim the arc with the right stick, throw NEAR the school not into it — the blast radius stuns everything in ~3m, then net normally. Killing fish with the blast itself lowers meat quality: dynamite is a stun tool, not a harvester.
How do I use lures correctly?
Lures replace bait, not hooks. Attach in the gear menu, cast PAST the target and reel through: spinners want fast reeling in daylight, poppers want a stop-and-go twitch at dusk, and the rubber worm wants dead-slow dragging on the seabed. Full lure mechanics and per-fish preferences are on the Bait & Lure page.
How do I drop items for teammates?
Open inventory (Tab), hold the item, press Q to drop it as a world pickup. Cooked food and tools can be dropped; quest items and licensed gear cannot. In co-op the dropped item keeps your name tag for 60 seconds — no "who grabbed my net" incidents.
How do I cook fish?
Campfire on the island or the galley stove once the boat storage is repaired. Recipes unlock by first catch: gut the fish at the cleaning table first (higher quality fillets), then cook. Cooked food buffs fishing stats for 15 min — see the Fish Codex for which dish feeds which build.
Is there a difficulty setting? I am stuck on a boss.
Yes, since v1.0.9 — switchable in the main menu AND mid-game. Easy: all creatures -25% HP and -50% damage. Hard: +25% / +25%. Achievements do not care about difficulty, so drop it without shame.
Is How to Fish coming to Xbox or PS5?
PC (Steam) only for now. Patch 1.0.8 added correct PlayStation controller glyphs, so gamepad support is being polished, but no console version has ever been announced. Fish on PC or a Steam Deck in the meantime — handheld mode works great.
Do items dropped on the ground save between sessions?
Since v1.0.10, yes: ground items persist between sessions, up to 64 total, prioritizing weapons > tools > quest items > creatures. Before that patch everything vanished on quit, so ignore the old advice.
Cannot create a co-op room? (create room fails)
Three known fixes, in order: (1) verify the game files on Steam — a day-1 patch broke the room host once; (2) if the launcher shows NAT type "strict", enable UPnP on your router or use a VPN for hosting only; (3) region-locked accounts: set Steam download region to match the host. If all fails, the host can regenerate a room code after a full restart.
“As a rookie I sold a moonfish for boat-repair money, then learned it was the lighthouse quest key. Money respawns. The fish does not.”