How to Fish Islands

The five locations at a glance

How to Fish is built around five places, not a single open sea. You begin at the Lighthouse and then sail out to four islands, each named for its terrain: Forest, Desert, Rocks and Volcano. Every island adds new fish to catch, better lures and weapons to buy, and one boss that guards the way forward.

The table below is the fastest reference for what opens each location and where it lands on your radar. Colours and directions are consistent between playthroughs, so once you know the pattern you can steer by memory. For a closer look at the radar itself, see the How to Fish map page.

Location	What unlocks it	Radar marker
Lighthouse	Open from the start	Your starting point
Forest	Hand the Spider Crab trophy to the Lighthouse Keeper, then buy the radar	Green dot, northwest of the Lighthouse
Desert	Return the Giant Piranha trophy to the lady by the lake	Yellow dot, west of the Forest
Rocks	Bring the Pufferfish fin to the tourist under the tree	Red dot, west of the Desert
Volcano	Give the Albatross head to the shop NPC	Pink dot, directly north of the Rocks

How island unlocking actually works

Sailing anywhere is gated behind one repeating loop, and it trips up a lot of players. An NPC asks for something, that request produces the bait for a boss, and the boss drops a named item when it dies. That dropped item is the proof of the kill, and until it is in the NPC's hands your radar stays exactly as it was.

So killing the boss is only half the job. If a boss is dead and nothing has changed, open your inventory and look for a part with its own name and description — that is almost always what you are still carrying. Hand it in, and the next island appears on the radar as a fresh coloured dot the moment the exchange registers.

Two things break the loop for new players. First, you must buy the radar from the Lighthouse Keeper for $10 (price as of 2026-08-28) or there is nothing to display coordinates on. Second, watch the white bar under a boss's health pool: if it runs out the boss escapes and you have to bait it again from scratch.

The route in order

Lighthouse. Everyone starts here. Feed a Beer Can to the Lighthouse Keeper and he hands back the empty can, which works as the lure that pulls the Spider Crab out of the water. Beat the crab, give its trophy to the keeper for the boat keys, then buy the $10 radar before you leave.

Forest island (green dot). Find three leeches on the ground and give them to the lady by the lake for the Giant Piranha bait. The piranha spawns smaller minions, so clear those first, then return its trophy to the lady for the Desert coordinates. This island is also where the Shotgun and your first weapons go on sale.

Desert island (yellow dot). Two jobs here. Fish up the Shark to activate the grill for the grill-master, then feed the tourist under the tree an endangered fish such as a Needlefish to get a Carrot. The Carrot baits the Pufferfish, which rolls at you like a wrecking ball and trails a poison cloud at half health; its fin unlocks the Rocks. This is the location most people mean by the How to Fish third island.

Rocks island (red dot). Buy the Professional Boss Lure, fish up a Tuna, and drop it on the ground as bait for the Albatross. Fight the bird from cover with the Uzi or Sniper Rifle rather than the Shotgun, since it attacks from long range. Carry its head back to the shop NPC for the Volcano coordinates.

Volcano (pink dot). Catch five fish native to the Volcano with the Scientific Lure and feed them to the hazmat NPC for the Fish Bucket, which summons the Whale. Kill the Whale, throw its carcass into the volcano, and the final lava-themed boss appears. Its trophy earns you the keys to the military boat and the ride to the mainland.

Lures and boat upgrades between islands

The island bosses each need a lure you cannot simply buy — every island has a quest that produces one (the empty beer can, the leech bait, the carrot, the fish bucket). Shops instead sell the mini-boss lures, and their prices climb steeply as you go. All figures below come from a co-op run on version 1.0.4 and are current as of 2026-08-28; a Steam guide notes weapon upgrades may cost less on a solo save.

Item	Cost (approx.)	Where
Basic Fishing Rod	$3	Lighthouse
Radar	$10	Lighthouse Keeper
Beginner Boss Lure	$40	Forest island
Standard Boss Lure	$280	Desert island
Professional Boss Lure	$1,200	Rocks island
Scientific Boss Lure	$5,800	Volcano (optional mini-boss)
Dynamite	$25	Forest island
Boat engine (mid)	$230	Forest island
Dual Motors (best engine)	$860	Desert island

One boat upgrade is worth planning around: before you sail to the Rocks island, pick up the radar upgrade for your boat. It mounts the radar in a fixed spot on the deck so you no longer have to equip it every time you want to check your heading.

Reading the radar and the map

The radar is your only map, and its confirmation is purely visual. After a successful hand-in the NPC gives you coordinates and a new coloured dot appears somewhere it was not before — green, yellow, red and pink each point to one destination and never overlap. If the dot does not show, you have usually skipped the radar purchase or are still holding an un-delivered trophy.

Distance out on the water can make the boat feel aimless, so line the bow up with the correct colour and hold your course. The dedicated How to Fish map page covers dot colours, directions and the common reasons the radar looks stuck in more detail.

Which one is the "third island"?

Island numbering is genuinely inconsistent between guides, which is why this wiki sticks to names. Counting the Lighthouse as the first stop, the third place you reach is the Desert island. Guides that number only the true islands and ignore the Lighthouse instead call the Rocks the third island, so the phrase points at two different places depending on the source.

Because searches for the term almost always mean the Desert — the Shark, grill and Pufferfish location — that is where our How to Fish third island page focuses, with the numbering caveat spelled out.

Solo versus co-op across the islands

The islands play the same in single-player and co-op, but the difficulty curve shifts. With more guns in the lobby the area bosses fall faster, and teammates can revive each other instead of a wipe forcing a restart, which matters most on the Volcano's two whale fights. A Steam guide flags only the one-hour "Bean" run as genuinely better solo.

Pricing is the other wrinkle. The lure and engine costs listed above were recorded on a multiplayer save, and the same guide notes that weapon upgrades appear cheaper on a solo file, while lures and guns seem to cost the same either way. Treat the numbers as close guidance rather than exact receipts, especially after a patch.

After the credits: free travel

Beating the final boss is not really the end of the islands. The military boat carries you to the mainland and rolls the endgame credits, and then you wake back up at the Lighthouse with every purchase and weapon upgrade intact. From that point all five locations are open with free movement between them.

This is when island-hopping becomes practical for cleanup. Collection gaps, fast boss kills and trick-shot achievements are all far easier with endgame gear, so most players finish the story first and save the fiddly work for the open post-game. Expect anywhere from roughly 5 to 20 hours across a full run, depending on how much you explore.