The first time I fed a clam to the keeper, the lantern swung and my hands trembled. The dock was a held breath. You realize very quickly that this is not just a fishing game — it is a set of small puzzles wrapped in sea salt and stubborn NPCs.
How to Fish Walkthrough
On my first hour I skipped three islands and still felt like I had barely started.
I play this as a slow expedition, and that’s the tone I recommend if you want the full sense of discovery. How to Fish is a sandbox: there’s no single correct route. You can rush the final boss in an hour if you want the achievement, but you’ll miss characters, locations, and the little mechanical surprises that make the game sing.
I logged this guide from a solo save, but everything here maps cleanly to co-op — Steam community guides and the game’s Discord are full of players sharing bait choices and spawn quirks if you want company.
What should I buy first in How to Fish?
Start small and buy the Basic Fishing Rod for $3 (€3). Use the free lure that comes with it to catch the easiest species; they sell for little, but they’re your seed money. Feed the lighthouse keeper clams you picked up to earn early cash and reputation — that loop funds your first upgrades.
How do I beat the Spider Crab?
The Spider Crab is a big step, but not a roadblock. Bait it with the empty beer can (obtained by buying a Beer Can and feeding it to the keeper), bait its attacks so it commits, then sidestep while it winds down. When it misses a charged hit it becomes stun-time — land two to four hits before backing out. Watch the white bar under the boss health: if it runs out, the boss escapes and you have to start over.
How do I get the boat keys?
Kill the Spider Crab, feed its meat to the lighthouse keeper, and he hands you the boat keys as quest reward. At that point buy the radar for $10 (€10) and you’re set to leave the lighthouse area.
Lighthouse
The lighthouse smells of metal and lemon oil on the first morning.
You start every run here. Talk to the lighthouse keeper, follow the brief tutorials, and make the small trades that open the first mechanical doors. Pick up a clam, eat one to stop hunger drains, then throw another to the keeper to earn coin.
Spend coins on the Basic Fishing Rod ($3 (€3)) first. Use the free lure to take low-risk catches that build cash and give you practice with the throw/catch rhythm. These early fish are not worth much, but they pay for your first weapon.
Next purchase a knife or brass knuckles. I prefer the knife — equip it and sharpen it at the anvil by the lighthouse door until its damage hits 20. That upgrade ladder lets you take larger catches and feed higher-value meat to the keeper.
Buy the Hotdog Lure at $1 (€1) when your knife can handle bigger fish. Higher-value catches speed up money and let you buy the Beer Can. Give the Beer Can to the keeper; he’ll return an empty can that acts as your lure for the Spider Crab boss.
The Spider Crab is a steamroller in a parking lot. Bait, dodge, punish — repeat. Keep fights short: bait to force a charge, roll sideways when it commits, then land quick hits while it recovers. If you overplay offense it jumps and wastes time; if you stall too much the white escape bar ticks down and the crab flees.
After the kill, feed the meat to the keeper to finish the quest and collect the boat keys. Buy the radar for $10 (€10) and set your course for new islands and creatures. At the lighthouse you’ll finish every crustacean type that spawns there; the rest of the map is where the collection and stories live.
If you want precise spawn times, community tools on Steam and shared maps on Discord are your best bet — they surface player-tested lure/spot pairings and boss timers. After the lighthouse, treat each island as a puzzle of bait, weapon strength, and patience.
There’s more to map, more NPCs to read, and more strange little items to trade with — do you push for the hour-long speedrun badge or do you take the scenic route and see what the other islands whisper about?