If you want to unlock all 28 achievements in How to Fish, the easiest way is to work through them in the right order instead of trying to clean everything up at the end. This guide covers every achievement, all five islands, both endgame bosses, the rare trick achievements, the roulette math, Handyman, and the Bean speedrun.
There are a few achievements that are much easier once you have finished the main story, so I strongly recommend following the main route first and then using the post-game section to clean up anything you missed.
How to Fish All 28 Achievements Guide and Walkthrough
1. Keep two save files.
Keep one save for your normal playthrough and another specifically for the Bean speedrun. Do not try to combine both on the same save.
2. Play co-op if you can.
Bosses become much easier when you have more guns shooting at them, and players can revive each other instead of immediately losing the fight.
The one exception is Bean, which is better done solo because coordinating with another player can cost valuable time.
The prices in this guide come from a multiplayer run. Weapon upgrades appear to cost less when playing solo, while lures and guns appear to cost the same either way.
3. Finish the game before chasing the fiddly achievements.
Once you finish the story, you return to island 1 with your endgame equipment and all five islands available. This makes achievements involving trick shots, fast kills, collecting and farming considerably easier.
There is no reason to repeatedly attempt difficult achievements during the story when you can return later with a fully upgraded weapon.
Difficulty reality check:
26 of the 28 achievements are comfortably within reach. The two genuinely demanding ones are Bean and the final boss fight.
The low percentages on many of the other achievements are more about players stopping before completing the game than the achievements being especially difficult.
One thing you should do early: press Tab.
Tab opens the encyclopedia containing every creature in the game. Drip variants are tracked separately, and the encyclopedia shows which creatures you are still missing.
It does not tell you exactly where to find them, but it is still extremely useful.
The encyclopedia is essentially the key to completing Collector and Fishipedia, so make a habit of checking it whenever you are unsure what you still need.
Island 1
Getting Started – Kill Your First Creature
This is impossible to miss.
Simply fish something up and punch it to death.
Your first creature kill will unlock the achievement naturally.
Drip – Kill a Drip Creature
Drip creatures are rare versions of normal fish.
They have rainbow-colored name text and deliberately goofy skins, so they are very easy to recognize once one appears.
You can gamble these creatures at the Reel of Fortune in exchange for weapon skins. There is one Reel of Fortune machine on every island.
The important part is that drip creatures respawn, meaning you do not permanently lose access to them after using one.
You will probably unlock this achievement naturally long before leaving the first island.
Who Stole My Beer – Find and Kill the Culprit, and Bring It to the Lighthouse Keeper
For this achievement, put beer on your fishing rod as bait.
Fishing with the beer bait brings up the spider crab.
Before fighting it, upgrade your brass knuckles to maximum sharpness.
The crab charges directly toward you. Dodge its attack, get behind it, and start hitting it. The crab can be stunlocked for several seconds while you attack.
This stun window is unique to the first boss. Later bosses do not behave this way, so do not expect the same strategy to work throughout the game.
Once you kill the crab, it drops a shell.
Take the shell to the lighthouse keeper.
The lighthouse keeper gives you the boat keys, which is what actually unlocks travel to the other islands.
One useful thing to remember throughout the game is that bosses drop specific trophy items rather than ordinary meat chunks.
Quest givers want the trophy item. If a quest refuses to advance, check exactly what you are carrying.
Island 2
Getting an Upgrade – Upgrade the Engine on the Boat
The first boat engine upgrade costs $230.
You can buy it from the shack next to the old man.
There is also a mid-tier engine on island 3 that can satisfy the achievement if you skip the earlier upgrade, but the island 2 engine is cheaper, so buying it here is the sensible choice.
Weapons – Skip the Pistol
The pistol is not worth spending your money on early in the game.
Buy the shotgun instead.
The shotgun is considerably more useful and will carry you through several islands.
Dynamite
Dynamite becomes available on island 2 and costs $25.
It is one of the cheapest problem-solvers in the game.
Throw dynamite into the water and collect whatever floats back up.
Think of dynamite primarily as a food source, rather than a serious money-making method. Farming money this way is slower than simply fishing properly.
Cooked fish in your inventory is especially important because it gives you healing during boss fights.
Do not treat dynamite as a normal combat weapon.
The explosion can easily kill you.
Dinnertime – Catch Dinner for the Lady in the Forest
This achievement has four steps, and the final step is the one players commonly miss.
Step 1: Find 3 leeches on the ground in the forest.
Island 2 is the only island with grass tall enough to hide loot, so search carefully and watch for the pickup prompt instead of relying on the item model being easy to see.
Step 2: Give the three leeches to the lady.
She gives you the bait needed for the island boss.
Step 3: Fish up and kill the piranha boss.
The boss drops a tail.
Step 4: Take the tail back to the lady.
The tail is the dinner she wanted.
Returning the tail to her is what unlocks the achievement.
The Piranha Boss
The piranha boss starts vomiting smaller piranhas as the fight continues.
It does not have the stun behavior of the first boss.
Instead, dodge its attacks and kite it around the area.
The shotgun is a good choice against the main boss.
When the smaller piranhas appear, switch to your brass knuckles and stab or punch them. They can be awkward to hit with a gun.
Do not waste explosives trying to clear the smaller enemies.
The self-damage is not worth the risk.
Keep cooked fish with you and eat whenever you need to heal.
Lures
Island boss lures cannot be purchased.
Every island has a quest that rewards the lure required to summon its main boss.
Mini-boss lures are different and can be purchased from shops.
Island 2 sells the Beginner Boss Lure for $40.
It is not required for story progression, but it is the cheapest mini-boss summon in the game and is useful for two later achievements.
Island 3
Grillmaster – Start the Grill
The grill master wants you to bring him a shark.
Buy the Standard Boss Lure for $280, fish up the shark, kill it, and bring the shark back.
Once you complete this task, the grill becomes available.
The island has a lot of coconut trees. They can interfere with your dodges, so pay attention to your surroundings.
The shark can occasionally get stuck against the trees, giving you free damage, although you should not rely on this happening.
A fully upgraded Uzi is enough for the fight.
How Cooking Works
Once you unlock the grill, cooking becomes your main money multiplier.
Press F to inspect an item.
The inspection screen shows:
- Value
- Cooking multiplier
- Weight
- Killscore
The information updates while an item is over the grill.
You can hold a fish over the flame and watch its value change.
The value rises from 1x to 1.5x.
At that point, pull the fish away from the grill.
If you keep cooking it, it eventually turns completely black and the value collapses to 0.
A burnt fish is essentially worthless and restores very little health or hunger.
The only time you should intentionally burn something is when you are going for the achievement that requires eating a fully burnt item.
The 1.5x cooking multiplier also applies to guns and other items, not just fish.
If you are about to sell a weapon, cooking it first can increase its value.
Lure Durability
Regular and mini-boss lures have a chance to break when used.
When that happens, they disappear in a puff of smoke.
Island boss lures are different.
Island boss lures are consumed every single time you use them.
Vacation – Help the Tourist Swim on His Vacation
Give the tourist an endangered fish.
Endangered fish are a separate system from drip creatures.
Certain species are specifically flagged as endangered when you catch them, and they provide a bonus when killed.
Examples include:
- Needlefish
- Bowl fish
- Sea horse
Use the pink standard lure.
Once you give the tourist the correct fish, he gives you a carrot.
The carrot is the bait required for the island boss.
A fish can be both endangered and drip at the same time. This does not cause any problems, and drip variants will continue to respawn.
The Pufferfish Boss
The pufferfish boss rolls toward you and grows larger as the battle progresses.
The fight has two phases.
At half health, it begins leaving behind a purple poison cloud.
The cloud follows the boss, so do not accidentally run through it while trying to dodge.
Keep moving, shoot when you have an opening, and use your cooked fish to heal.
Inventory Slots
As you progress, you can purchase additional inventory and hotbar slots.
These upgrades are worth buying.
Extra slots mean you can carry more cooked fish, and having enough healing available becomes increasingly important during the later boss fights.
Island 4
I Am Speed – Buy the Best Engine for the Boat
The best engine upgrade at this point is the Dual Motors, which costs $860.
You can purchase it from the shack near the grill.
Terrorizing Bird – Defend the Scared Islanders From the Terrorizing Bird
Buy the Professional Boss Lure for $1,200.
Use it to fish up the tuna.
The tuna is itself a mini-boss.
Drop the tuna on the ground as bait, and the seagull will come down for it.
That starts the fight.
The Professional Boss Lure has a durability roll, so it can potentially survive the use.
The tuna, however, is always consumed.
The Terrorizing Bird Fight
The seagull has two main attacks.
One is a diving attack that directly hits you.
The other is a ranged attack with an audible windup.
The answer to both attacks is the same:
Get inside a building.
The casino is particularly useful because it gives you good visibility while still providing cover.
Every enemy has a red dot that remains visible through walls and terrain.
This makes it possible to track the seagull while hiding inside the building and step outside only when the attack has finished.
A fully upgraded Uzi is enough for the fight.
If you dislike the recoil, you can instead purchase the sniper rifle and upgrade it.
Attachments
Island 4 introduces the sniper scope and suppressor.
A weapon can have four attachment slots:
- Extended Mag
- Laser Sight
- Red Dot or Sniper Scope
- Compensator or Suppressor
These attachments become especially useful when you start working on the trick-shot and high-killscore achievements.
Island 5 – Volcano
Lava Cooking
Lava is one of the best things you can use for cooking.
It cooks items to exactly 1.5x without any timing risk.
There is no need to worry about accidentally burning your fish while using lava.
Once you reach island 5, lava-cook everything you plan to sell.
It is also a good idea to build a large stockpile of cooked fish before attempting either of the final boss fights.
You really cannot over-prepare for the ending.
Fully Equipped – Apply All Attachments to a Single Weapon
You need a fully kitted assault rifle for the final boss anyway, so this achievement should unlock naturally while preparing for the ending.
It is technically possible to complete this from island 3, but fish are much more valuable on island 5, making it cheaper to wait until then.
The Whale
The whale encounter requires a short quest chain.
1. Give the scientist 5 fish.
Any five fish will work.
Using dynamite in the water is the fastest way to collect them.
2. The scientist gives you the whale bait.
3. Fish up and kill the whale.
The whale charges toward you and can also launch itself into the sky before stomping down.
Dodge its attacks, shoot whenever you have an opening, and eat fish to heal.
4. Throw the whale into the volcano.
This causes the final boss encounter to appear.
Deadliest Catch – Help the Military Defeat the Big Creature They Located
The final boss is the lava whale.
This is not the normal whale encounter.
The scientist wearing the hazmat suit is your military contact, so there is no separate military encounter you need to search for.
The Lava Whale
The lava whale is a much harder lava-themed version of the regular whale.
It can:
- Roll toward you
- Stomp the arena
- Fire lava meteorites
- Create dangerous lava pools
- Become much more aggressive during phase 2
During the second phase, it stomps much more frequently and periodically launches into the sky before firing down at you.
This is the one genuinely difficult boss fight in the game.
Go into the battle with a fully upgraded assault rifle and all available attachments.
You should also carry as many lava-cooked fish as your inventory allows.
Do not underestimate the healing requirement.
We Are So Back – Finish the Game
Killing the lava whale is not technically the final step.
The boss drops a tail.
Take the tail to the scientist.
He gives you the RHIB keys.
Start the RHIB and watch the ending.
The first boss and final boss provide a nice bookend:
The first boss drops a shell that gets you the boat keys, while the final boss drops a tail that gets you the RHIB keys.
Post-Game Cleanup
After the credits, you wake up back on island 1 with all of your equipment.
All five islands are also available.
This is the ideal point to complete everything you missed during the story.
Trick shots, collection achievements, fast kills and money-related achievements are much easier with your endgame gear.
Easy – Kill a Boss Within 10 Seconds
Use the beer bait to fish up the island 1 spider crab.
Once the crab appears, use your fully upgraded assault rifle and unload into it.
With endgame equipment, killing the first boss in under 10 seconds is extremely easy.
360 No Scope – Kill a Creature With a 360 No Scope
This achievement requires you to perform a full 360-degree rotation before firing.
The important requirements are:
- Complete a full 360-degree rotation before firing
- Hipfire only
- Do not aim down sights
The rotation can be split across multiple mouse movements.
If you use low sensitivity, two quick swipes work fine.
There is some leniency in the rotation requirement.
Use a low-level fish that dies in one shot.
A sniper rifle works well, although a shotgun should work too.
The guns use hitscan rather than projectile travel, meaning there is no bullet travel time or bullet drop.
Because of this, getting the kill after spinning is more forgiving than it initially sounds.
Noob – Get a Kill With No Kill Score Multiplier
This is basically the opposite of the stylish-kill system.
Find a fish lying on the floor and simply unload into it with a ranged weapon.
The goal is to perform the least stylish kill possible.
A plain kill with no multiplier should give you the achievement.
Impressive – Get a 5x Killscore Multiplier
Killscore is the game’s style system.
The modifiers stack together and multiply each other.
The game displays the individual modifiers as they are applied.
The easiest setup is to shoot a seagull in the head while it is flying, at range, while hipfiring.
Equip a laser sight.
The laser is useful because you need to hipfire, but it still gives you a reliable point of aim.
Use a semi-automatic or automatic weapon and tap fire.
If every shot kills the bird immediately, you can maintain the One Shot One Kill modifier.
The fast follow-up shots also mean that missing does not necessarily ruin the attempt.
The assault rifle is the safer choice.
It hits hard enough to provide the Overkill modifier, which the pistol cannot reliably provide.
Six modifiers can reach approximately 6.15x, which comfortably clears the 5x requirement.
The pistol can technically work, but it is much tighter.
Even when fully upgraded, it does not hit hard enough for Overkill, meaning you need other modifiers such as Triple Kill to push the multiplier over the required amount.
With the pistol, one example reached 5.16x.
Without Triple Kill, that same setup would only have been around 4.69x, which would not unlock the achievement.
Guns are hitscan, so there is no bullet travel or bullet drop to account for.
This is essentially a straight aiming challenge.
Killscore also increases the selling value of what you kill.
A stylish kill is therefore worth more than an ordinary kill.
However, it is not a practical money farm because consistently setting up high multipliers takes more effort than simply farming fish on island 5.
The modifiers stack, so a good kill can go considerably beyond 5x.
Modifiers such as Killsteal, Fly Fishing, Overkill, Last Bullet, Point Blank and Finally can all multiply together.
This same system is also useful for shotgun money farming because trick shots can raise the value of a fish before you sell it.
Let Me Go – Get Picked Up by a Seagull
Die, but do not press respawn.
Simply wait.
Eventually, a seagull will come and pick you up.
If this does not happen naturally, you can use dynamite to kill yourself and then sit still without respawning.
The seagull should eventually come for you.
Yummy in My Tummy + Competitive Eating
These two achievements can be completed with the same action.
Buy the Beginner Boss Lure for $40 from island 2.
This is the cheapest lure and summons one of the easiest mini-bosses.
Kill the mini-boss.
Take its body to the grill.
Cook it until it becomes completely solid black.
Then eat it.
Both achievements should unlock.
The blackened state is important.
Use F while cooking so you can watch the multiplier fall all the way to 0.
GOLD GOLD GOLD – Unlock a Legendary Skin From the Slot Machine
Find a Reel of Fortune machine.
You need to gamble a drip creature.
The machine explicitly tells you to insert a drip creature to play.
The result is pure RNG.
The good news is that drip creatures respawn, so you can continue farming them if you do not get the legendary skin immediately.
Do not worry about permanently wasting your drip creatures.
I’m the Bird Now – Make the Boat Fly
Put the boat in the water.
Place one bundle of dynamite underneath it.
Detonate the dynamite.
The explosion launches the boat into the air.
It does not destroy the boat, so you can safely perform the achievement without losing your boat.
Everyone’s Dream – Kill a Seagull With Dynamite
One of the useful tricks for this achievement is that you can shoot dynamite to detonate it.
That effectively turns dynamite into a remote trigger.
Use the following setup:
- Put one stick of dynamite on the ground.
- Place a fish next to the dynamite as bait.
- Move far enough away that the explosion will not hit you.
- Wait for a seagull to come down for the fish.
- Shoot the dynamite.
The explosion kills the seagull and unlocks the achievement.
The fish is destroyed during the explosion.
If you accidentally position yourself too close and die, it costs $25 for another attempt.
The bait can attract several birds at once, so you may be able to get multiple opportunities from a single setup.
Collector – Find and Kill All the Creatures
Open the encyclopedia with Tab.
Look through the creatures you are missing and start hunting them.
The encyclopedia tracks your completion, although it does not tell you exactly where each missing creature can be found.
The important correction to remember is:
Location does not determine the creature. The lure does.
What you catch depends on the lure equipped rather than simply the island where you are standing.
Because of this, you can complete the entire collection from island 5.
You are effectively hunting creatures according to the lure you have equipped rather than searching for a particular species on a particular island.
This is a much easier way to approach Collector once you understand the system.
One especially annoying final creature can be the optional island 5 mini-boss.
It is summoned using the Scientific Boss Lure for $5,800.
Nothing in the main story strongly points you toward this encounter, and the price means you should plan for it before spending all of your endgame money elsewhere.
Fishipedia – Find and Kill All Drip Creatures
This uses the same general system as Collector, but it takes longer.
Drip creatures are rare variants and are very obvious when they appear.
They also respawn indefinitely.
That means Fishipedia is mostly a patience challenge rather than a one-time opportunity.
Check your encyclopedia with Tab, identify which drip variants you are still missing, and continue fishing until the remaining ones appear.
You do not permanently lose access to a drip creature after finding or using one.
All In + Rich! Millionaire
These two achievements should be completed together on island 5.
The roulette’s green slot pays 35x the value of the item you bet.
The important part is understanding the math before you start gambling.
To receive an item worth at least 100,000, you need to bet an item worth at least:
100,000 ÷ 35 = 2,858
Because lava cooking gives exactly a 1.5x multiplier, you need a raw fish worth approximately:
2,858 ÷ 1.5 = 1,906
In practice, aim for a cooked value of around 3,200 or higher.
That gives you some room in case an imperfect catch leaves you below the 100,000 threshold.
The Farming Process
Fish on island 5.
Lava-cook everything.
Use F to check the final value.
Any fish worth at least the required amount after cooking can be placed on green.
Anything below the threshold should normally be sold to fund more lures.
The loop can eventually pay for itself.
The green slot has approximately a 1-in-37 chance.
One run took around 30 minutes of island 5 farming, which is roughly what you would expect statistically.
However, RNG can be much better or much worse.
You might hit green in five spins, or you might need ninety.
There is no bet cap, so you only need one sufficiently valuable fish when green finally lands.
The safest approach is to keep your valuable fish above the threshold and only gamble the ones that are capable of giving you the required payout.
That way, a successful green result can unlock both achievements at once.
Handyman – Defeat the Final Boss With Your Bare Hands
The good news is that you do not need to fight the entire final boss using your fists.
The achievement only checks how the final killing blow is delivered.
Fight the lava whale normally.
Use your assault rifle to bring its health extremely close to zero.
Once the boss is almost dead, swap to your fists.
Punch the lava whale for the killing blow.
You are essentially trying to judge the final sliver of health.
Because it is easy to misjudge the damage, you may accidentally finish the boss with your rifle.
If that happens, simply run the fight again.
Handyman in Co-op
Co-op makes this achievement considerably easier.
The achievement is awarded to the whole lobby if any player lands the killing punch.
That means one player can switch to fists for the final hit while everyone else continues shooting.
The other players can also keep the boss occupied and revive teammates if something goes wrong.
This makes the achievement much less stressful in multiplayer.
Bean – Finish the Game Within 1 Hour
Important 1.0.5 update: the old Bean route was patched.
The exploit that allowed players to reach the final island without properly unlocking it no longer works.
The route described below was completed on version 1.0.4.
A working replacement route should be used once one is available.
Bean is currently the rarest and most demanding achievement in the game.
There is a dedicated speedrun route for it rather than simply playing through the game normally.
The original run used the speedrun guide created by Kads, which was the route used to earn the achievement.
The run was completed in 57 minutes and 22 seconds, including five attempts at the final boss.
That leaves roughly three minutes of spare time, so the route itself can work, but the final boss is where the run can easily fall apart.
Do the speedrun solo.
While the achievement is technically possible in co-op, the coordination overhead is not worth the time when you have a one-hour limit.
There is also one useful trick from the original route:
While playing solo, sail as close to the final island as possible.
Quit to the main menu.
Check the save file.
If the save file says Island 5, reconnecting can teleport you directly there.
Version 1.0.5 warning: because the exploit used by the original route was patched, do not assume this trick or the old route will still function exactly as described.
Version 1.0.5 Update Notes
The guide was originally written around version 1.0.4 and updated for the 1.0.5 changes.
The important changes are:
- Bean route patched. The previous speedrun exploit no longer works.
- Collector corrected. The lure determines the creature you catch, not the island.
- Impressive rewritten. Weapon recommendations and the killscore setup were updated.
The rest of the guide is based on the tested version and should remain useful unless another patch changes prices, mechanics, lure behavior, or achievement requirements.
If something stops matching after a future update, check the game’s current mechanics before repeating an old strategy.