How to Fish Speedrun Guide: Finishing Under an Hour
Contents
Bean — finishing the game in under an hour — sits at 2.5% of players and is the rarest achievement in How to Fish. For comparison, simply reaching the ending (We are so back) was managed by 40.1%. Roughly one in sixteen of the players who finished at all did it inside the hour.
Why it is hard
The game is linear: five islands, and each one opens only after the previous island’s boss. No stage can be skipped. All the time saving lies in what you do not do.
| Mandatory | Skippable |
|---|---|
| kill the five bosses in order | completing the creature collection |
| obtain each boss lure | upgrading weapons beyond need |
| travel between the islands | crab farm, roulette, skins |
| kill the final whale | most achievements |
The island route
- Lighthouse. Buy the $10 handheld radar — the first thing worth spending money on at all. Starting capital comes from mussels (around $60). The crab boss is summoned with an empty beer can: the beer goes to the old man on the bench.
- Forest. The woman on the rock wants three leeches — after that the giant piranha lure appears.
- Desert. The vacationer wants an endangered species (needlefish, 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.
- Rocks. Catch the tuna mini-boss on the professional lure and place it in the middle of the island to summon the albatross. This is also where the run’s main money comes from: roughly $8,000–9,000.
- Volcano. The hazmat NPC trades a fish bucket for five creatures. That is the bowhead whale lure. Afterwards the carcass has to be carried up the volcano and thrown into the crater — and the mutated form killed.
The two biggest time savers
The engine beats weapons. The $230 upgrade pays for itself by the third crossing. Weapons only need to be good enough to shoot — the game has no damage falloff over distance, so a cheap automatic works where a sniper seems necessary.
Easy difficulty is allowed. Patch 1.0.9 of 24 August 2026 added Easy: −25% creature health and −50% creature damage. It does not block the achievement and it removes the run’s biggest risk — dying on the fourth island.
The side achievement you will get anyway
Easy (“kill a boss within 10 seconds”) sits at 32.5% of players. In a speedrun it falls out naturally on the first crab if you bring enough damage with you.
What we are not claiming
⚠️ We do not quote a record time: there is no verified source for one, and we will not invent a number. Everything above is the structure of the game and the achievement’s threshold condition, not anyone’s specific result.
Next
The lure for each boss is in the bait table and the full boss breakdown. What to upgrade on the boat is here. The full achievement list with percentages is here.
Frequently asked questions
How long does the Bean achievement allow?
Exactly one hour: the condition is finishing the game in under 1 hour. It sits at 2.5% of players, the rarest achievement in the game.
Can I use the easy difficulty?
Yes. Patch 1.0.9 added Easy mode: −25% creature health and −50% creature damage. It does not block the achievement.
What must I buy on the route?
The $10 handheld radar on the first island and the $230 engine upgrade. The rest of the weapon tree is not required to finish.
How many players finish the game at all?
40.1% — the We are so back achievement for the ending. So fewer than half reach the end, and roughly one in sixteen of those does it inside an hour.
Where is the most time lost?
On travel between islands and on hunting down the lure for the next boss. That is exactly why the engine matters more than weapons.