Making money in How to Fish is not as simple as catching the biggest fish you can find. The game has several systems that can increase the value of what you catch, and knowing how to use them can make a huge difference to your earnings.
In this guide, I’ll explain how money works, how kill multipliers increase your payouts, why you should cook your catches before selling them, how to reach the Rich! Millionaire achievement, and whether gambling or money glitches are actually worth your time.
If you are still progressing through the islands, don’t worry about trying to become rich immediately. Your earning potential improves naturally as you unlock better rods, weapons, engines, and islands.
How to Fish Game Money Guide – Fastest Ways to Get Rich
The basic money loop is pretty straightforward:
Catch something → kill it → sell it → buy better gear → reach a better island → repeat.
When you are holding an item, press F to inspect it and check its current value. When you are ready to sell something, press Q to throw it into the shopkeeper’s mouth.
The important thing to understand is that your location and gear matter.
As you unlock better islands, you gain access to creatures that are worth much more money. Better equipment also makes it easier to kill creatures efficiently and stack the bonuses that increase their value.
So if you are still on the early islands, I would not spend hours trying to farm the same low-value fish. Keep progressing instead.
Once you unlock the later islands, especially the volcano area, your income increases dramatically.
What Is the Real Money Multiplier?
One of the most important systems to understand is the killscore multiplier.
The game can reward you for how you kill a creature, not just what creature you killed.
Several conditions can contribute to your killscore, including:
- Headshots
- One-shot kills
- Point-blank kills
- No-scopes
- 360 spins
- Quickscopes
- Last-bullet kills
- Overkills
These bonuses can stack together.
For example, if you manage to combine a no-scope, headshot, and one-shot kill on the same target, you can get a much better multiplier than you would from simply shooting the creature normally.
So when you are trying to maximize your money, don’t just rush to kill everything as quickly as possible.
Sometimes taking an extra second to line up a better shot can make the final sale much more valuable.
The sniper rifle is particularly useful if you want to practice things like long-range headshots and no-scopes.
I would avoid trusting websites that give very specific numbers for every individual kill condition, such as claiming that a particular move always adds exactly a certain multiplier. Those numbers have not been reliably verified.
How to Get a 5x Killscore Multiplier
If you want the Impressive achievement, you need to reach a 5x killscore multiplier.
This is much easier once you understand how the bonuses work.
Instead of simply shooting a creature wherever you can, try combining different conditions into one kill. A clean headshot can be combined with other bonuses, and experimenting with weapons is a good way to find combinations that work for you.
If you are having trouble reaching 5x, I recommend practicing with the sniper rifle because it gives you more opportunities to set up accurate shots and no-scope kills.
Once you get comfortable with the system, you will start seeing higher killscore multipliers naturally during your money runs.
Cook Everything Before You Sell It
Once you unlock the grill on Island 3, cooking becomes one of the easiest ways to increase the value of your items.
To unlock the grill, you first need to help the Grillmaster by bringing him the required shark.
After that, you can hold a sellable item over the grill and cook it.
The item’s value increases as it cooks, reaching roughly a 1.5x multiplier if you pull it away at the right time.
The important part is not to leave it there forever.
If you keep cooking an item for too long, it can burn, turn black, and become worthless.
So I recommend watching the item carefully and taking it away before it burns.
You Can Cook More Than Fish
One detail that is easy to miss is that the grill is not limited to fish.
You can also cook other sellable items.
For example, if you have an old weapon that you are planning to sell, you can put it on the grill first and increase its value.
So before selling something, get into the habit of asking yourself:
Can I cook this first?
If the answer is yes, there is usually little reason to sell it at its base value.
Volcano Lava Is Even Better
Once you reach the volcano island, you get access to an even easier cooking method.
Instead of using the normal grill, you can use the lava.
Lava gives items a flat 1.5x value multiplier and does not have the same burn timer as the grill.
This makes the volcano island one of the best places for making money.
The basic endgame loop becomes:
Catch valuable creature → get a good killscore → drop it into lava → sell it.
If you are trying to maximize your earnings, this is the strategy I would focus on once you have unlocked the area.
Small Money Tips You Learn the Hard Way
There are several smaller details that can make a surprising difference to your money.
Weight Changes the Value
Two creatures of the same type do not necessarily have to sell for exactly the same amount.
Their weight can affect their value, so if you are farming money, pay attention to particularly heavy catches.
A larger version of a valuable creature can be much more useful for a big sale.
Piranhas Cannot Be Sold
Some catches are not meant to be sold.
Piranhas cannot be sold, so if you pick one up, you should eat it instead.
This is also useful because eating catches can save you money that you would otherwise spend on food.
Eat Cheap Food
If you catch something worth less than about $10, I would generally eat it instead of worrying about selling it.
Food you catch yourself is food you don’t have to purchase later.
It may not make you rich by itself, but these little savings add up during a long run.
Be Careful When You Die
Death can be particularly painful when you are carrying valuable catches.
You can drop your inventory when you die, and loose items can also be stolen by seagulls.
So if you have just caught something extremely valuable, don’t casually wander into a dangerous area while carrying it.
Get it to the shop and secure the money first.
How to Unlock Rich! Millionaire
The Rich! Millionaire achievement is one of the biggest money-related challenges in the game.
The requirement is simple:
Sell a single item worth $100,000 or more.
The important word here is single.
Selling several items that add up to $100,000 does not count. You need one transaction where the item itself is worth at least $100,000.
That is why this achievement is much harder than it initially sounds.
| Achievement | Requirement | Players Who Have It |
|---|---|---|
| Impressive | Get a 5x killscore multiplier | 63.8% |
| GOLD GOLD GOLD | Get a legendary skin from the slot machine | 53.3% |
| I am speed | Buy the best boat engine | 32.9% |
| All in | Bet on green and win at roulette | 13.9% |
| Rich! Millionaire | Sell something worth $100,000+ | 3.9% |
The biggest mistake I see players make with the money system in How to Fish is focusing only on the fish’s base price.
The game gives you several ways to increase that value.
A valuable creature becomes much more profitable when you combine weight, killscore bonuses, and cooking. Once you reach the volcano island, the process becomes even easier because lava gives you a reliable 1.5x multiplier.
For normal progression, I would simply keep upgrading your gear and moving toward the later islands. For serious money farming, focus on the volcano.
And if your goal is the Rich! Millionaire achievement, remember that you need one item worth $100,000 or more in a single sale. Stack as many value bonuses as possible onto one extremely valuable catch instead of trying to add up lots of smaller sales.