How to Fish All Islands: Order, Bosses and What to Buy
Contents
How to Fish is linear: five islands in a strictly fixed order, each one opening only after the previous island’s boss. No stage can be skipped — but you can know in advance what each island holds and stop wasting time.
The progression map
| # | Island | Boss | Boss lure | Achievement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lighthouse | Spider crab | empty beer can | Who stole my beer — 91.7% |
| 2 | Forest | Giant piranha | leech bait | Dinnertime — 83.1% |
| 3 | Desert | Pufferfish | carrot | Vacation — 70.9% |
| 4 | Rocks | Albatross | tuna in the middle of the island | Terrorizing bird — 54.9% |
| 5 | Volcano | Bowhead whale | fish bucket | Deadliest catch — 41.4% |
The percentages are Steam’s global achievement statistics as of 31 August 2026. They show clearly where players drop out: the biggest loss is between the third and fourth islands.
1. Lighthouse — white
The starting point. The old man on the bench is here, there is no grill yet, but there is the $10 handheld radar — the cheapest and most useful purchase in the game. The first money comes from mussels, roughly $60.
Beer given to the old man comes back as an empty can — and that is the spider crab lure. The same mechanic later becomes the basis of the farm: buy more beer, get a stack of boss summons.
2. Forest — green
The woman on the rock asks for three leeches. She hands over the giant piranha lure. This is also where the boat upgrade first makes sense: the $230 engine pays for itself across a few crossings.
3. Desert — yellow
The most confusing island. The vacationer wants an endangered species — a needlefish, a seahorse or the fish in an aquarium — in exchange for a carrot, the pufferfish lure. The boss has two phases, the second starting exactly at 50% health.
The grill is also here: lighting it needs the carcass of the shark mini-boss (caught on the standard lure), carried to the NPC by the grill. Cooked fish is worth 1.5× as much.
4. Rocks — red
The island where real money first appears: roughly $8,000–9,000. It is the tier at which SMGs and weapon customisation become reachable.
The boss is summoned unusually: first catch the tuna mini-boss on the professional lure, then place it in the middle of the island. The albatross comes on its own. Because the game has no damage falloff, an SMG works better here than a sniper rifle.
5. Volcano — purple
A military zone. The hazmat NPC trades five creatures for a fish bucket, the bowhead whale lure. Killing the whale is not the end: the carcass has to be carried up the volcano and thrown into the crater, after which the mutated form appears, leaving pools of lava behind it.
What changes from island to island
- The “Reel of Fortune” skin pool grows with each island — the first one has the fewest possible drops.
- The roulette table with green at 35 exists only on the last two islands. That is where the All in achievement (38.0%) is taken.
- Weapon prices and availability scale with the island: shotgun at $150, a full UZI attachment set around $2,500, a fully kitted assault rifle around $85,000.
Two fixes about travel
- 1.0.4 (21 Aug 2026) made the path to the final island clearer — before it, a share of players did not know where to go.
- 1.0.5 (22 Aug 2026) fixed the bug that broke travel to an already unlocked island.
If travel still does not work for you, check the game version rather than hunting for a workaround.
Next
The lure for each boss is in the bait table; the fights themselves are in the boss breakdown. What to upgrade on the boat is here. How to make money faster than the islands unlock is here.
Frequently asked questions
How many islands are there in How to Fish?
Five: lighthouse, forest, desert, rocks and volcano. The order is fixed and no island can be skipped.
How do I unlock the next island?
Kill the current island's boss. Each boss needs its own lure, handed over by an NPC on the same island.
Which island is where the real money starts?
The fourth, the rocks. It is also where you catch the tuna needed to summon the albatross.
Where is the roulette table with green at 35?
The table with a green sector only exists on the last two islands.
Why can I not travel to an island I already unlocked?
That was a bug, fixed in patch 1.0.5 of 22 August 2026. Update the game.