Bait is the load-bearing system in How to Fish, the physics-based co-op fishing game from Dazed Games on Steam. What you tie to your rod decides both what shows up in the water and whether an island’s boss fight can start at all.
There are three categories of baits:
- Regular lures (4): Beginner, Standard, Professional, Scientific. Each pulls a fixed pool of ordinary fish, sorted by price tier.
- Boss lures (4): Beginner, Standard, Professional, Scientific Boss Lures. Each summons one specific mini-boss.
- Quest and food baits: one-off items, mostly handed to you by NPCs, that hook a story boss or a specific creature.
Match your bait to the island you’re on and the quest you’re working.
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Why bait matters more than it looks like it should
If you went in expecting a chill lakeside sim, the bait system is where that expectation dies fastest. Bait is tied directly to quests, boss fights, and which islands you can unlock. Bring the wrong thing to the wrong spot and you’re not catching fewer fish. You’re stuck.
The other reason it matters is cost. The expensive ones can break on a bad cast. Buying up a tier before you need it is one of the easier ways to stall your own run.
How to Fish Game Bait: Every Category
Beginner Lure: $3
The starter lure and the lowest tier of fish: Cod ($10), Pike ($12), Goby ($12), Salmon ($14), Triggerfish ($18), Perch ($18), Goldfish ($24) and Piranha.
Everything in this pool is low-value, so treat it as a way to get your first cash together rather than a farming tool.
Standard Lure: $15 (pink)
The workhorse of the early-to-mid game. It covers Catfish ($46), Clownfish ($46), Sea Urchin ($52), Yellow Boxfish ($53), Needlefish ($60), Bluegill ($62), Angelfish ($62), and Seahorse ($100). Bowlfish and the Blue Shark also appear in this pool.
This is also the lure that surfaces the endangered fish the Island 3 tourist wants, so keep one on hand while that quest is open.
Professional Lure: $50
The volcano-island workhorse: Bass ($250), Halibut ($290), Tigerfish ($310), Flying Fish ($320), Parrotfish ($350), plus Belodontichthys Truncatus, Red Snapper, Eel, Voxelfish, Dripper, Tuna, and Seahorse.
A single good catch here can pay for your next lure, which is why most farming loops start on this tier.
Scientific Lure: $500
The rarest ordinary fish: Superdwarf Fish ($1,700), Stonefish ($1,500), Anglerfish ($1,500), Oarfish ($1,450), and Blobfish ($1,360). A smaller pool than the cheaper tiers, but every fish in it is high-value. It becomes the main money engine on Island 5.
Boss lures in How to Fish
These How to Fish Game Baits summon mini-bosses:
| Boss Lure | Cost | Summons | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beginner Boss Lure | $40 | Sunfish, Gammelgäddan | Sold on Island 2. Cheapest summon in the game and the one to farm for the eat-a-mini-boss achievements. |
| Standard Boss Lure | $280 | Blue Shark (2,300 HP, sells $300) | This is the shark the Island 3 grill master wants. Kill it and bring it back to unlock grill access. |
| Professional Boss Lure | $1,200 | Tuna (6,000 HP, sells $2,000) | The tuna doubles as bait afterwards. |
| Scientific Boss Lure | $5,800 | Goblin Shark (7,500 HP, sells $6,200) | Optional Island 5 mini-boss. Nothing in the story points you toward it, but you need it for the Collector achievement. |
Leech Bait (Island 2 boss)
Not bought, and the leeches themselves aren’t the bait. Gather three leeches from the ground on the forest island and hand them to the lady in the forest. She converts them into Leech Bait, which is the only thing that hooks the Giant Piranha (2,500 HP, sells $11,000).
The piranha drops a tail you return to her to close the quest. You get one Leech Bait per run and it’s spent on the catch, so don’t cast it at anything else.
Carrot (Island 3 boss)
Earned rather than bought off a shelf. A stranded tourist on Island 3 wants an endangered fish, a flagged catch type, not a rarity tier and not a skin. Watch for the on-screen tag when you reel something in. Needlefish, Bowl Fish, and Sea Horse have all been confirmed to qualify, and the pink Standard Lure is what you want for the hunt.
Hand the fish over and the tourist gives you the Carrot, which summons the Pufferfish (sells $12,000). Return its tail afterwards rather than selling it or the route forward doesn’t open.
The Carrot is not an unlimited attempt token. If you trigger the fight and lose, you need another one before you can retry. Finish your food and weapon prep before you spend it.
A Tuna (Island 4 boss)
There is no purchasable “tuna bait.” Buy the $1,200 Professional Boss Lure, summon and kill the Tuna mini-boss, then drop the corpse on the ground. That’s what brings the seagull down and starts the Terrorizing Bird fight. The tuna is consumed in the process, so the fight is what you get out of it.
Whale bait (volcano island)
Give the scientist on the volcano island five fish and he hands over the whale bait. Use it to hook the Bowhead Whale, kill it, then throw the whale into the volcano. That spawns the lava whale, the final boss.
All How to Fish Game Baits: At a glance
| Island | What You Need | Boss It Unlocks |
|---|---|---|
| Island 1 – Lighthouse (tutorial) | Empty Beer Can ($8) | Spider Crab → boat keys |
| Island 2 – Forest | Leech Bait (3 leeches forest NPC) | Giant Piranha |
| Island 3 | Standard Lure ($15) endangered fish Carrot ($100) | Pufferfish |
| Island 4 | Professional Boss Lure ($1,200) Tuna, dropped as bait | Terrorizing Bird |
| Island 5 – Volcano | Whale bait (5 fish scientist) | Bowhead Whale lava whale |
How to Fish Game Tips
- Lures break. Boss baits are always spent. Regular lures and mini-boss lures each have a durability roll on every cast. A bad one makes the lure vanish. Keep a spare or two of the pricey tiers. Story boss baits work differently: they’re consumed every single time, with no chance of surviving.
- Drip and endangered aren’t lure categories. Both are on-screen labels flagged when a catch lands, and a fish can be both at once. You don’t need a special lure to hunt them. You’re using the regular lure for that tier and watching for the tag. Drip variants respawn. Handing one to the tourist doesn’t cost you the collectible.
- Finish the hand-in, not just the kill. The most common progression mistake is treating a boss kill as the end of a step. Every island wants the trophy returned before the next set of coordinates appears and seagulls will steal a dropped trophy off the ground.
- In co-op, split your testing. With up to four players, it’s faster to have each person work a different bait or spot than to have everyone throw the same lure into the same water.
