How to Fish Speedrun Guide (Under 20 Minutes)

How to Fish ends on a motorboat, not on a full tour of the map. A first playthrough can take two or three hours. A speedrun only needs two keys, a short shop ladder, and two whale kills.

Quick answer: On Lighthouse Island, turn clams into $60, bait the Spider Crab with an empty beer can, and trade the Spider Crab Shell for the wooden boat. On Volcano Island, climb to a Scientific Lure, buy an SMG, raise damage to 45, dynamite five fish for a Fish Bucket, kill both whales, hand over the tail, and interact with the motorboat.

The two boat keys that end the run

Every skip in this route exists to grab a key and leave. Lighthouse Island cannot finish the game and has no cash worth farming after the first shop. Volcano Island is the only place the ending can fire.

Key	Hand-in	What it unlocks
Wooden boat keys	Spider Crab Shell to the Lighthouse guard	Exit to Volcano Island
Motorboat keys	Mutated Bowhead Whale tail to the yellow-coat scientist	Interact with the motorboat and end the run

The run is done when you interact with that motorboat. The return prompt reads Get back to the mainland, and the credits roll. If the motorboat never appears, the tail has not been turned in.

Money targets and shop buys

Cash is only useful when it buys the next gate. You sell clams on the first island, then cooked fish on the second. Do not linger on extras once the next item is affordable.

Buy	Cash needed	Where
Crab-Fishing Rod, Knife, and Beer	$60 for the set	Near the tower on Lighthouse Island
Extra Inventory Slot, Fishing Rod, Standard Lure	After the Footsnail trade	Volcano Island camp shop
Professional Lure	At least $50 from cooked fish	Volcano Island
Scientific Lure	$500	Volcano Island
SMG	$650	Volcano Island
Compensator	$600	Volcano Island
Extended Magazine	$320	Volcano Island
Bullet Upgrades	Buy 4–5 ranks, then more until damage is 45	Volcano Island
Red-Dot Sight and more ammo upgrades	After another cooked-fish sale	Volcano Island
Max inventory slots	After later fish sales	Volcano Island
Dynamite	After the gun is built	Volcano Island

Wooden boat key from the Spider Crab

Start a new single-player file and stay on the shore. The guard is your only vendor and your only ticket off the island.

The moment you land on Lighthouse Island, pick up clams and feed them to the Lighthouse guard. Ignore every other pickup. You are only converting clams into the first $60.

Tip: Fill the whole inventory with clams and feed the stack in one go. That dump lands on exactly $60 and cuts the extra trips.

Spend that $60 at the shop near the tower. Buy the Crab-Fishing Rod, the Knife, and the Beer together. Leave the rest of the island unopened.

Give the Beer to the guard. He hands back an empty beer can. Keep the can. It is the bait, not trash.

Equip the empty beer can as bait and draw out the Spider Crab. Reel it onto land and kill it with the Knife. Stay on the crab until it drops the Spider Crab Shell.

Give the Spider Crab Shell to the guard. He returns the keys to his wooden boat. That is the only Lighthouse unlock you need.

Board the wooden boat and drive straight to Volcano Island. Aim left of the burning boat. Do not stop for other landings.

Image credit: Dazed Games / Zhain Gaming

Professional Lure and Scientific Lure loop

Volcano Island is a cook-and-sell loop until the Scientific Lure is in your pocket. The camp NPC on the wooden box pays for cooked fish. Flowing lava is the stove.

Grab a Footsnail on the walk toward camp. Feed that Footsnail and the Crab-Fishing Rod to the NPC sitting on the wooden box. That trade opens the shop path you skipped on the first island.

Buy an extra Inventory Slot, a Fishing Rod, and a Standard Lure. Equip the Standard Lure before you cast. You are done with the Crab-Fishing Rod after the hand-in.

Catch fish with the Standard Lure and cook them in the flowing lava. Early catches can include Yellow Boxfish, Gar, and Mackerel. Carry the cooked fish back to the box NPC.

Feed the cooked fish to that NPC until you hold at least $50. Buy the Professional Lure as soon as you can. Stop the Standard Lure loop the moment that lure is purchased.

Repeat the same catch, lava cook, and feed cycle with the Professional Lure. Larger fights such as Sengarat and Stonefish show up here. Sell until you can pay $500 for the Scientific Lure.

Cast the Scientific Lure once, kill the fish if it fights back, and feed it to the NPC. Bank that payout for the gun counter. Do not start the whale bait yet.

SMG, attachments, and 45 damage

The whales die to gunfire, not to more fishing. Build the SMG first, then push Bullet Upgrades until the damage number is 45.

Buy the SMG for $650, the Compensator for $600, and the Extended Magazine for $320. Add Bullet Upgrades about four or five times in that same visit. Attach everything before you go back to the water.

Cast the Scientific Lure again, cook the catch, and feed it to the box NPC. Spend that money on a Red-Dot Sight and more ammo upgrades. Hooked fish can be shot out of the air with the SMG to speed the loop.

Fish, cook, and feed one more time. Use that cash to max your inventory slots. A full bag matters once dynamite starts dumping fish on the beach.

Check damage on the Bullet Upgrade counter. Keep buying until it reads 45. Skip this step if damage is already 45 or higher.

Fish Bucket, Bowhead Whale, and motorboat

Dynamite replaces the last grind. Five fish buy the bait that pulls the first whale. The volcano crater turns that whale into the boss that drops the last key.

Buy dynamite and throw it into the ocean. Collect the blasted fish instead of casting for them. You need a clean stack of five for the next hand-in.

Give those five fish to the scientist NPC in the yellow coat. He returns a Fish Bucket. That bucket is bait, so do not cook it.

Throw a second stick of dynamite and cook the extra fish. Keep the cooked fish in your inventory. You want bag space and a small cash buffer before the boss fight.

Equip the Fish Bucket as bait and lure the Bowhead Whale. Kill it with the upgraded SMG, including shots while it is in the air. Pick the body up after it dies.

Carry the Bowhead Whale up the rocks and lava to the crater. Throw it into the volcano. That throw summons the Mutated Bowhead Whale at the summit.

Empty magazines into the Mutated Bowhead Whale until it falls. Take its tail to the yellow-coat scientist. He gives you the motorboat keys.

Interact with the motorboat on the shore. The run is complete when Get back to the mainland appears and the credits start. If nothing happens, you are on the wooden boat or the tail is still in your bag.

Players who already know the clam dump, the lava cook, and the two bait items should finish in less than 20 minutes. Recorded Any% solo times have gone as low as 11 minutes 14 seconds. If the shop order still feels new, play the game normally a few times until the NPC trades are automatic, then run the same path again.