HOW TO FISH All Bosses
A full no-commentary run through every fight, optional bosses included. The YouTube player lists chapters for each encounter, so you can jump straight to a boss you have not reached yet.
Guide coverage: patches through 1.0.12
How to Fish Bosses: Five Story Fights + Optional Summons
How to Fish has five required story bosses, one per island. Optional summons include The Old Pike, Blue Shark, Goblin Shark, and Bing Bong. The next destination appears on the radar only after you defeat the story boss and complete that island’s hand-in.
Main story bosses
| Order | Boss guide | Island | How to start the fight | Required objective |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spider Crab | Lighthouse | Give beer to the lighthouse keeper, install the empty beer can on the Crab Fishing Rod, and cast into the water. | Keep the Spider Crab shell and give it to the lighthouse keeper to receive the boat keys. Meat chunks do not complete the objective. |
| 2 | Giant Piranha | Forest | Find 3 leeches on the vegetated ground, return them to the woman, install the leech bait she gives you, and cast into the water. | Keep the Giant Piranha skeleton and give it to the woman. Meat chunks do not complete the objective. |
| 3 | Pufferfish | Desert | Exchange a normal endangered seahorse, needlefish, or bowlfish for a carrot, install the carrot on your fishing rod, and cast into the water. | Keep the small Pufferfish fin and give it to the seated tourist. Meat chunks and drip appearance variants do not complete the objective. |
| 4 | Albatross | Rocks | Catch and defeat a Tuna with the Professional Boss Lure, then place the intact Tuna on the grass. | Keep the small Albatross head and give it to the person inside the shop. Use the boat if the head lands offshore. |
| 5 | Bowhead Whale | Volcano | Complete the island NPC request for five creatures, install the Fish Bucket reward on your fishing rod, and cast into the water. | Carry the defeated Bowhead Whale to the crater and throw it in. After defeating the mutated whale, pick up the Whale Fin, give it to the research NPC, and take the military boat keys. |
Watch every boss fight
Two long-form runs that cover the whole game in order. Both use the YouTube chapter list, so you can jump straight to a fight you have not reached yet. Nothing is loaded from YouTube until you press play.
Every Boss Guide - How to Fish Solo
A spoken solo walkthrough of the whole boss order, with the optional tuna money runs at the end. Better than the video above if you want the reasoning behind each fight rather than just the footage.
Each boss guide page below links a few shorter videos for that specific fight. Videos belong to the channels named on each card; the channel link opens them on YouTube.
Boss drop summary
Each of the first four bosses drops one required quest item and a number of meat chunks equal to the player count plus two. This means three meat chunks in solo play and six with four players. The final whale sequence has separate drops for its two fights.
| Boss guide | Drop | Quantity | Base sale price | Use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spider Crab | Spider Crab Shell | 1 | $0 | Required quest item. Give it to the lighthouse keeper to receive the boat keys. |
| Spider Crab | Meat Chunk (crab) | Player count + 2 | $10 | Can be sold or eaten, but it does not complete the island objective. |
| Giant Piranha | Giant Piranha Skeleton | 1 | $0 | Required quest item. Give it to the woman, then take the flash drive with the next island’s coordinates. |
| Giant Piranha | Meat Chunk (piranha) | Player count + 2 | $25 | Can be sold or eaten, but it does not complete the island objective. |
| Pufferfish | Pufferfish Fin | 1 | $0 | Required quest item. Give it to the seated tourist to unlock the route to the rocky island. |
| Pufferfish | Meat Chunk (pufferfish) | Player count + 2 | $200 | Can be sold or eaten, but it does not complete the island objective. |
| Albatross | Albatross Head | 1 | $0 | Required quest item. Give it to the person inside the shop to unlock the volcano island. |
| Albatross | Meat Chunk (albatross) | Player count + 2 | $1000 | Can be sold or eaten, but it does not complete the island objective. |
| Bowhead Whale | First fight Defeated Bowhead Whale body | 1 | $8000 | Do not sell or eat it. Carry the intact body to the crater and throw it in to begin the mutated fight. |
| Bowhead Whale | After the mutated whale Whale Fin | 1 | $0 | Required final quest item. Give it to the research NPC, then take the military boat keys. |
| Bowhead Whale | After the mutated whale Meat Chunk (whale) | Player count + 2 | $5000 | Can be sold or eaten, but it does not replace the Whale Fin required for the final quest. |
Optional bosses and mini-bosses
These fights are not required to unlock the next island. Health and hit damage below are solo Normal-difficulty values. Easy uses 75% health and 50% damage; Hard uses 125% / 125%. Story bosses are omitted from this HP list because those values are not published here.
| Creature | Island | Bait | Base HP | Why fight it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Old Pike | Forest | Beginner Boss Lure | 1000 | Optional. Not the Giant Piranha story bait. |
| Blue Shark | Desert | Standard Boss Lure (rare on Standard Lure) | 2300 | Give the whole shark to the grill NPC for the lighter. |
| Tuna | Rocks | Professional Boss Lure | 6000 | Required to summon the Albatross; extras sell for $2,000. |
| Goblin Shark | Volcano | Scientific Boss Lure | 7500 | Optional high-health fight. |
| Bing Bong | Rocks | Coconut | 2000 | Endangered. Hit damage 75. Can go in the Reel of Fortune. |
A “Boss is leaving in…” timer can appear on the HUD. If it reaches zero, the boss leaves and you have to summon it again.
Creatures that attack the player
This table lists creatures with a direct contact attack. Health and hit damage are base values on Normal difficulty. Easy uses 75% health and 50% damage; Hard uses 125% health and 125% damage. Boss health also increases with the number of players.
| Creature | Base health (HP) | Direct-hit damage | Time limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goblin Shark Boss Quest | 7500 | 25 | 180 seconds |
| Tuna Boss | 6000 | 40 | 180 seconds |
| Blue Shark Boss Quest | 2300 | 36 | 180 seconds |
| Bing Bong Quest | 2000 | 75 | — |
| Blobfish | 1000 | 14 | — |
| The Old Pike Boss | 1000 | 25 | 180 seconds |
| Stonefish | 800 | 30 | — |
| Anglerfish | 650 | 40 | — |
| Parrotfish | 550 | 22 | — |
| Tigerfish | 380 | 24 | — |
| Red Snapper | 280 | 14 | — |
| Eel | 250 | 18 | — |
| Sea Urchin | 100 | 16 | — |
| Gar | 40 | 8 | — |
| Piranha | 5 | 15 | — |
Quick answers
How many bosses are in How to Fish?
Five required story bosses, plus optional summons: Old Pike, Blue Shark, Goblin Shark and Bing Bong.
In what order do I fight the story bosses?
One per island: Spider Crab (Lighthouse), Giant Piranha (Forest), Pufferfish (Desert), Albatross (Rocks) and the Bowhead Whale (Volcano).
Do I have to beat the optional bosses?
No. Optional summons are not required to reach the ending; they are extra fights with their own trophies and sale values.