Leeches are ground pickups on the second island in How to Fish, used to craft the bait that lures out the Giant Piranha. An NPC sitting on a rock by the water asks you for three of them, and the quest counter starts at 0/3. You do not catch leeches with a fishing rod, and you do not need to buy a new lure to make progress.
Quick answer: Travel to the second island, walk the grassy ground near the settlement and pick up three leeches with the E key, then return to the NPC on the rock and hand them over to reach 3/3. She converts them into Modified Leech bait for the Giant Piranha.
Where the leech quest starts on the second island
After you reach the second island, look for the woman sitting on a rock near the settlement and shop, just to the right of the shack in the middle. Talking to her opens the request. She wants help catching a much larger creature in the water, and she explains that it likes leeches. If you bring her three, she will turn them into bait.
Her counter reads 0/3 while you are still collecting. That number is the clearest signal of where you are in the task. As long as it shows 0/3, 1/3, or 2/3, your job is to keep finding leeches on the ground.
How to find and collect three leeches
Leeches sit on the grassy ground of the island, not in the water. The NPC’s hint is literal, so stop looking at the shoreline and scan the ground close to your feet instead. They are small and easy to walk past if you are looking at the horizon.
Leech [E] prompt to appear on the ground.
Note: A radar bought from the island has been suggested as a way to mark leeches, but the red dots it shows can point to other players rather than the pickups, so rely on scanning the ground.
Hand in the leeches and make Modified Leech bait
Once the counter reads 3/3, return to the same woman on the rock. Do not try to attach a raw leech to your rod yourself. She is the conversion step and turns the three leeches into the Modified Leech.
You know the hand-in worked when she gives you a warning about the fight ahead, telling you to make sure you have a gun because fighting the creature with bare hands is dangerous. That warning is your signal that the collection step is over and a boss fight is next.
What the bait does and how to confirm it worked
The Modified Leech is the bait that triggers the Giant Piranha. Equip it, cast into the lake, and watch for the Giant Piranha to appear. Once its health bar is on screen, the leech route is complete and there is no reason to keep changing lures or searching the ground.
| Leech | Detail |
|---|---|
| Category | Bait |
| Where to get | On the ground of the second island (Forest Island) |
| Amount needed | Three, handed to the NPC on the rock |
| Converts into | Modified Leech |
| Fish it catches | Giant Piranha |
Leech quest not progressing
Most stalls come down to the counter, so check it before spending any money or changing gear.
| What the game shows | What to do |
|---|---|
| Counter still 0/3, 1/3, or 2/3 | Keep searching the ground for the missing leeches |
| 3/3 reached but no usable bait | Return to the NPC and finish the dialogue |
| Bait ready and gun warning given | Prepare for the Giant Piranha; stop collecting |
| Giant Piranha health bar on screen | The route worked; focus on the fight |
If leeches genuinely will not appear even after scanning the ground, this has been reported as a creature-spawning bug. Remaking the game in a shared, invite-only server has helped some players get spawns to return.
A weak rod or the wrong boss lure is not what holds up this step. The leeches are ordinary ground pickups, so the fix is almost always collecting all three and completing the hand-in rather than buying anything new.
