Island Walkthrough — All Five Islands in How to Fish

How do the five islands gate progression?

Every island gates the next tier of lures, guns and graft. Each one has a money target, a local species list, and (from Island 2 on) a boss or swarm check that tests a different crew skill. The four boss fights all live on this route, so the shopping list below is really a boss-prep list.

Island 1 · Starter Haven 🏝️

Shallow tutorial waters. Learn the cast, grill your first sardine and buy the basic rod before the sun sets.

Money target & shopping list

Leave the dock with first rod · first grill · first $100. Resist every other shelf in the shop — the vendors are arranged in exactly the order that ruins new crews, with the shiny guns first and the boring economics last.

Local species (7 catalogued)

• Sardine — Basic hook · $5
• Herring — Basic hook · $7
• Bluegill — Bright spinner · $8
• Crab — Tide pool trap · $9
• Mackerel — Bright spinner · $12
• Flounder — Bottom weight rig · $15
• Old Boot — Anything, honestly · $1

Island 2 · The Swarm 🪱

The leech objective island. Swarms board the boat in waves — bring a friend with a shotgun and split the payout.

The leech objective runs in three boarding waves. Split the crew: gunner on the deck, angler off the port side where the swarm can’t reach the line. After each wave, the bite window shifts — swap to the meat chunk and move two boat-lengths off the wreck, or you’ll fish an empty pool for ten minutes while your crew blames the ocean.

Money target & shopping list

Leave the dock with survive 3 swarm waves · buy the SMG.

Local species (7 catalogued)

• Mudskipper — Worm ball · $14
• Catfish — Meat chunk (night) · $22
• Piranha — Meat chunk · $25
• Snapping Turtle — Steel leader · $30
• Electric Eel — Insulated line · $35
• Flying Fish — Feather rig · $18 (trick-shot target)
• Leech Queen — None — gunfire · hostile

Island 3 · Deep Abyss 🐡

The first true wall. Pufferfish Prime patrols the trench in three escalating phases; dynamite discipline decides the run.

This is the wall. Buy the SMG before you sail here, stock at least three dynamite, and leave one cooked stack in the pantry. The Pufferfish Prime fight is long enough that hunger kills more crews than the boss does — the full phase-by-phase breakdown is in the Pufferfish Prime guide. Night fishing with the glow lure funds everything you just read.

Money target & shopping list

Leave the dock with defeat Pufferfish Prime.

Local species (6 catalogued)

• Jellyfish Bloom — Glow lure · $20
• Barracuda — Feather rig · $38
• Swordfish — Deep troll rig · $40
• Lantern Squid — Glow lure (deep) · $48
• Anglerfish — Glow lure · $55
• Pufferfish Prime — Boss — no lure · $250 (trophy)

Island 4 · Coral Reaches 🦈

High-tier lure country. Predators get faster, payouts get bigger, and the boat upgrade vendor finally stocks engines.

The golden hook unlocks the drippy urchin trade, the engine upgrade finally hits the shelf, and predators start contesting every hook. Run a steel leader by default here — a cut line costs more in time than the leader costs in dollars.

The Reef Tyrant patrols the shelf and drops the harpoon charge refill. Its fight is a gear check for the harpoon gun more than anything — pin, reel, repeat, and keep the gunner on jellyfish patrol. The full armor-pin rotation is in the Reef Tyrant guide.

Money target & shopping list

Leave the dock with engine upgrade · $800 bankroll.

Local species (5 catalogued)

• Lionfish — Barbed rig · $60
• Manta Ray — Deep troll rig · $75
• Reef Shark — Steel leader · $90
• Sunken Chest — Grapple hook · $200
• Drippy Urchin — Golden hook · $150

Island 5 · The Golden Isle 👑

Where the casino takes over the economy. Win big, walk the golden boardwalk, and cash out the ending you earned.

The economy flips: the casino out-earns the dock, the boardwalk shops only take chips, and the Golden Leviathan waits at the end of the golden pier for the crew that can afford to fight it. Bring mythic lures for the comet tuna runs — they fund the charms that fund the fight. The casino side of that economy is in Casino Economics.

Money target & shopping list

Leave the dock with Golden Rod · final payout.

Local species (5 catalogued)

• Comet Tuna — Star spinner · $140
• Abyssal King Crab — Reinforced trap · $180
• Ghost Marlin — Charmed golden rod · $320
• Leviathan Fry — Mythic lure · $260
• Golden Sardine — Luck charm · $777

The route, compressed

Five docks, five purchases, four fights:

1. Island 1: economy first — spinner, grill slot, then shotgun.
2. Island 2: survive the waves, buy the SMG, learn the post-swarm bite shift.
3. Island 3: glow-lure night economy, then Pufferfish Prime with three dynamite.
4. Island 4: golden hook for urchins, steel leader always, engine upgrade.
5. Island 5: mythic lures, charm stack, final payout — and the ending you earned.

That’s the whole gauntlet. If an island is fighting you, the answer is usually one dock purchase behind — check the money targets above before you blame the fish. And if the problem is technical rather than tactical, the Fix-It Desk covers the crash-and-stutter side of the game.