How to Fish Pufferfish boss: carrot, two phases, Vacation
Contents
The third island in How to Fish is the desert, and this is where the trade-then-bait-then-boss loop first rewards planning ahead.
A carrot for a rare fish
A vacationer sits by the water, unable to swim because of the pufferfish. He wants a rare fish: a Needlefish, a Seahorse or the fish in an aquarium. Hand one over and you get a carrot — and the carrot is the pufferfish bait.
The trick is that Needlefish and Seahorse both bite on the standard lure, available long before the desert. Stock them on the second island and the third boss will not send you sailing back.
Two phases
The pufferfish is the first boss that fights in two phases. The switch happens at exactly 50% health, so do not walk in with half a magazine: reloading right at the transition is the single most common way to die here.
Patch 1.0.4, released on 21 August — the day after launch — explicitly listed a pufferfish nerf along with the whale. If you are reading guides written on day one, the numbers there no longer hold.
The Vacation achievement
The Steam condition reads “Help the tourist swim on his vacation”. 70.9% of players have it (global Steam stats read on 31 August 2026), and this is the first real drop-off in the list: 91.7% killed the crab, 83.1% the piranha, and fewer than three quarters made it to the pufferfish.
The shark and the grill on the same island
The shark mini-boss lives on the third island alongside the pufferfish. It needs no trade at all — it takes the ordinary standard boss lure. Its body is what the NPC by the grill is waiting for: that is what lights the fire and unlocks “Grillmaster” (80.3%).
Light the grill as soon as you can, because cooked fish sells for 1.5× the raw price. To avoid frying one at a time, hold F and the character keeps tossing fish onto the fire.
The killscore bonus that fits right here
The rare fish you carry to the vacationer also carries the Endangered ×1.25 multiplier if you kill it instead of handing it over alive. It is one of the easier bonuses for an Impressive stack — details in the killscore guide.
Next up
The fourth boss is the albatross on the rocky island, and its trigger is itself a mini-boss. The full order lives in the all bosses guide, and the baits are here.
Frequently asked questions
What bait does the Pufferfish need?
A carrot. The vacationer on the desert island hands it over in exchange for a rare fish.
Which fish does he accept?
One of the rare ones: a Needlefish, a Seahorse or the fish in an aquarium. Needlefish and Seahorse both come up on the standard lure, so they are easy to stock in advance.
What happens at half health?
At exactly 50% the pufferfish switches to its second phase. It is the first two-phase boss in the game, so do not burn the whole magazine on the first half.
Was the pufferfish nerfed?
Yes. Patch 1.0.4 on 21 August, the day after release, explicitly lists a pufferfish nerf alongside the whale nerf.
How many players unlocked Vacation?
70.9% per the global Steam stats on 31 August 2026. The condition reads “Help the tourist swim on his vacation”.