How to Fish has 28 achievements, and 26 of them fall to anyone who finishes the game. Only Bean (a sub-one-hour run) and Handyman (a bare-hands final-boss kill) are genuinely hard, so leave the trick-shot and collection ones for the free-roam post-game.
All 28 achievements, ranked by rarity
How to Fish has 28 achievements, and the reassuring news is that most are not hard. A community 100% guide reckons 26 of the 28 are within anyone's reach, and the low unlock percentages you see on Steam reflect players quitting early rather than any real difficulty wall. Only Bean and the final-boss feats demand real effort. This page uses the island location names from our main How to Fish guide so the order never gets confusing.
The table below pairs each achievement with its global unlock rate (Steam global stats, as of 2026-08-28) and the one-line goal. Read it top to bottom as a rough difficulty and rarity ladder.
| Achievement | Unlock % | What it asks |
|---|---|---|
| Getting started | 98.4% | Kill your first creature |
| Drip | 96.4% | Kill a drip (rainbow) creature |
| Who stole my beer | 90.6% | Beat the Lighthouse boss, give the shell to the keeper |
| Getting an upgrade | 84.4% | Upgrade the boat engine |
| Noob | 84.0% | Get a kill with no killscore multiplier |
| Dinnertime | 80.8% | Catch dinner for the lady in the Forest |
| Let me go | 80.1% | Get picked up by a seagull |
| Impressive | 78.3% | Land a 5x killscore multiplier |
| Grillmaster | 76.5% | Start the grill |
| Vacation | 66.2% | Help the tourist on his vacation |
| GOLD GOLD GOLD | 65.3% | Win a legendary skin from the slot machine |
| 360 no scope | 60.6% | Kill a creature with a 360 no scope |
| I am speed | 56.6% | Buy the best boat engine |
| Fully equipped | 53.7% | Fit all attachments to one weapon |
| Terrorizing bird | 48.6% | Defeat the terrorizing bird on Rocks |
| Yummy in my tummy | 44.8% | Eat a burnt creature |
| Deadliest catch | 34.9% | Beat the final boss for the military |
| We are so back | 33.8% | Finish the game |
| All in | 32.9% | Bet on green and win at roulette |
| Easy | 26.7% | Kill a boss within 10 seconds |
| I'm the bird now | 22.2% | Make the boat fly |
| Competitive eating | 19.7% | Eat a mini-boss |
| Rich! Millionaire | 13.5% | Sell something worth 100,000 or more |
| Collector | 13.2% | Find and kill all creatures |
| Everyone's dream | 5.1% | Kill a seagull with dynamite |
| Handyman | 2.4% | Beat the final boss bare-handed |
| Fishipedia | 2.1% | Find and kill all drip creatures |
| Bean | 1.6% | Finish the game within one hour |
Finish the story first, then mop up
The single most useful piece of advice is to leave the fiddly achievements alone until after the credits. Once you beat the lava whale and watch the ending, you wake back on the Lighthouse island with every piece of endgame gear you owned and free access to all five islands. Trick shots, fast boss kills and collection gaps that felt awkward mid-story become trivial with a maxed weapon and no time pressure.
The story-progress achievements simply happen as you play. Getting started, Drip, the boss quests (Who stole my beer, Dinnertime, Grillmaster, Vacation, Terrorizing bird, Deadliest catch and We are so back) and the engine upgrades (Getting an upgrade, I am speed) all pop without any special effort. Remember that each boss drops a distinct trophy rather than plain meat, and the quest giver wants that exact item before progress unlocks.
If you also plan to chase Bean, keep two separate save files: one for your normal run and one dedicated to the timed attempt. Co-op makes almost everything easier since more guns beat bosses faster and teammates can revive each other, but the timed run is better done solo. For the full route, see our speedrun page.
The style system: Noob, Impressive and 360 no scope
Three achievements test the killscore system, the game's style meter that stacks modifiers and multiplies them together while naming each one on screen. Noob is the inverse: mag-dump a fish lying on the floor with a ranged weapon so the game hands you a zero multiplier, the least stylish kill possible. It is one of the earliest to unlock at 84.0%.
Impressive wants a 5x multiplier. Shoot a seagull in the head while it flies, at range, from the hip, with a laser sight fitted so you keep the No Scope bonus while still aiming. An assault rifle is safest because it hits hard enough to add Overkill, which stacked six modifiers to roughly 6.15x in the guide author's run. 360 no scope is easier than it sounds: do a full spin, then hipfire a low-level fish that dies in one shot. Guns are hitscan with no bullet drop, so aiming after the spin is forgiving.
Dynamite and seagull tricks
Two of the more entertaining achievements revolve around dynamite, which costs $25 (as of 2026-08-28). Everyone's dream, at just 5.1%, asks you to kill a seagull with it. The trick is that you can shoot a stick of dynamite to detonate it remotely: drop one on the ground, put a fish beside it as bait, back off, and shoot the stick when a bird swoops in. The bait draws several birds at once, and a botched attempt is only a $25 retry.
I'm the bird now (22.2%) makes the boat fly rather than destroying it. Float the boat, place one bundle of dynamite underneath it, and detonate. Let me go (80.1%) is passive: die, then do not press respawn. Sit still and a seagull eventually carries you off. If it will not happen naturally, blow yourself up with dynamite and wait.
The money achievements: All in and Rich! Millionaire
Do All in (32.9%) and Rich! Millionaire (13.5%) together on the Volcano. The Reel of Fortune roulette pays 35x the value of the item you bet and returns an item you then sell, so a single green landing can clear both. Selling something worth 100,000 means betting a fish worth at least 2,858 (100,000 divided by 35), and since lava cooks everything at exactly 1.5x, that is a raw fish of about 1,906 or more.
The practical loop is to fish the Volcano, lava-cook everything, and check values with the F inspect key. Aim for roughly 3,200 after cooking so an imperfect catch does not leave you just under the line, put anything at or above the threshold on green, and sell everything below to fund more lures. Green is one pocket in 37, so expect around 30 minutes of farming, though a lucky spin can end it far sooner.
Collector, Fishipedia and the two hard ones
Collector (13.2%) and Fishipedia (2.1%) are grinds, not skill checks. Press Tab to open the encyclopedia, which tracks every creature and every drip variant separately and shows exactly what you are still missing. Crucially, what you catch depends on the lure equipped, not the island you stand on, so you can finish both from the Volcano. One trap for Collector is the Volcano's optional mini-boss, summoned only with the Scientific Boss Lure ($5,800, as of 2026-08-28), so budget for it before you spend your endgame cash.
That leaves the genuinely demanding pair. Handyman (2.4%) only needs the killing blow to be a punch, so shoot the lava whale down to a sliver, then swap to fists and finish it, re-running the fight if you overshoot; in co-op, any player's killing punch grants it to the whole lobby. Bean (1.6%) is the rarest of all and asks you to beat the game within one hour. The exploit route most players used was patched in 1.0.5, and the guide that documents these achievements was completed on 1.0.4, so treat any old one-hour route with caution until a current one is confirmed.
Frequently asked questions
How many achievements does How to Fish have?
Twenty-eight. A community 100% guide and Steam's own global stats both list 28, covering all five islands, both endgame bosses and the rare trick-shot and collection feats.
What is the rarest achievement in How to Fish?
Bean, which asks you to finish the game within one hour, sits at 1.6% of players (Steam global stats, as of 2026-08-28). Fishipedia (1.6%), Handyman (2.1%) and Everyone's dream (2.4%) are the next rarest.
Can I still get the Bean achievement after patch 1.0.5?
The specific skip the community route relied on, reaching the final island before unlocking it, was patched in 1.0.5. The guide author earned Bean on 1.0.4 in 57 minutes 22 seconds; you now need a route that works on the current version.
How do I get Handyman if I keep killing the boss with my gun?
Only the killing blow has to be a punch, not the whole fight. Shoot the lava whale down to a sliver of health, then swap to fists. Expect to overshoot a few times. In co-op, if anyone lands the final punch the whole lobby gets it.
Do I have to grind each island for Collector and Fishipedia?
No. What you catch depends on the lure you have equipped, not the island you stand on, so you can complete both from the Volcano. Open the Tab encyclopedia to see which creatures and drip variants you are still missing.