How to Fish: How to Complete the Second Island Quest

The Forest, better known as the second island in How to Fish, gates your progress behind one quest that mixes a ground search with a boss fight. The lady sitting by the lake wants three leeches, and only after you turn those in and defeat the Giant Piranha will she give you the coordinates for the next island. The most common mistakes are searching the water for the leeches and selling the boss trophy she actually needs.

Quick answer: Talk to the lady by the lake to start the quest, pick up three leeches from the grass, trade them for the Modified Leech, fish with it to summon and kill the Giant Piranha, then return the Piranha’s skeleton (not its meat) to her to receive the Island 3 coordinates.

What you need before you sail to the second island

The second island only becomes reachable after the Lighthouse is finished. That means beating the Spider Crab, returning its result to the Lighthouse Keeper for the boat keys, and buying the handheld Radar from him for $10. Equip the Radar and a green marker appears northwest of the Lighthouse. Steer toward it until the Forest Island renders, then pull up to the shore.

Requirement	Where it comes from
Boat keys	Hand the Spider Crab result to the Lighthouse Keeper
Radar ($10)	Purchased from the Lighthouse Keeper’s shop
Green marker northwest	Appears once the Radar is equipped

Start the quest with the lady by the lake

Head inland from the shore and find the woman sitting beside the lake, near the wooden cabin and shop board. Speak to her to begin the quest, which asks for three leeches.

First-person view near the wooden cabin with a pistol equipped, facing a seated character on the second island — The cabin area on the second island, where you start the quest and buy gear from the nearby shop board. Image credit: Dazed Games

Make sure the quest is active before you go looking. The leeches are easy to walk past, and they do not appear as targets until the objective is running.

Where to find the three leeches

The leeches are ground pickups, not fish. You do not cast into the water and you do not need a special lure for them. They lie in the grass around the forest, along paths, and near structures, so lower your camera and watch for the interaction prompt as you sweep the area on foot.

Walk slowly through the grass with the camera angled down and grab each leech when the prompt appears. Keep going until the counter reads 3/3.

Return to the woman and hand over the leeches. She takes all three and gives you the Modified Leech, the special bait that summons the boss.

Talk and Inspect prompts on screen while interacting with the lakeside character to trade leeches — Interacting with the lakeside character to trade the leeches for the Modified Leech. Image credit: Dazed Games

Note: The counter is three, not five. If it stops below three after a careful ground search, keep looking on land rather than switching to the water, since the shoreline is not where these spawn.

Gear up before you use the Modified Leech

The Giant Piranha appears the moment you fish with the Modified Leech, so prepare before you cast. The forest shop sells an upgraded Fishing Rod that lets you catch the larger local fish, plus a Shotgun for $150 that makes the fight far easier. If you are short on cash, catch and sell regular fish around the island first.

Fishing screen showing the Pull Back Rod prompt while reeling in a hooked fish near the shore — Catching regular fish to raise cash for the Shotgun before triggering the boss. Image credit: Dazed Games

Before the fight, eat to top up your health, carry a few spare fish you can eat mid-battle, and buy an extra inventory slot if you can afford it. The Beginner Boss Lure and Dynamite are optional and not required to progress, so skip them if you are saving for the Shotgun. Dynamite is also risky, since setting it off at close range can kill you instantly.

Beat the Giant Piranha

The Giant Piranha does not fight alone. It spawns smaller piranhas that are hard to dodge but deal little damage on their own. Your priority is the boss, and you must whittle it down before its white escape bar runs out. If that bar empties, the boss flees and you have to summon it again.

Fish with the Modified Leech to hook and pull out the Giant Piranha, then drop it onto land where you can move freely around it.

Giant Piranha health bar on screen with the Drop Creature prompt active during the boss fight — The Giant Piranha dropped on land, with its health bar showing at the top of the screen. Image credit: Dazed Games

Focus your fire on the Giant Piranha and keep moving. Only clear the small piranhas when they block your movement or when you need a kill to grab food for healing.

Keep the damage steady until the boss dies before its escape bar expires. If you brought fish, eat one whenever your health drops low so you can stay in the fight.

Hand in the right trophy to finish the quest

Killing the boss is only half the quest. The lady needs the Giant Piranha’s distinctive result, its skeleton, not ordinary meat. If you sell or cook the trophy, she will keep asking for three leeches even though the fight is done.

Pick up the Giant Piranha’s skeleton after the fight and carry it back to the woman by the lake.

Player walking across the grassy island toward two characters by the cabin with the inventory hotbar visible — Returning across the island to hand the boss trophy to the quest giver. Image credit: Dazed Games

Give her the skeleton. She accepts it and rewards you with the coordinates for the third island. Go back to your boat, equip or check the Radar, and follow the new marker to continue.

You will know the quest worked when the lady’s dialogue changes from asking for leeches to handing over the coordinates, and the Radar shows a fresh route once you are back on the boat. In co-op, the player holding the skeleton needs to be the one talking to her for the hand-in to register.

If you can’t progress past the second island

When the quest refuses to advance after the boss dies, the cause is almost always the hand-in item rather than the fight itself. Run through these checks before summoning the Piranha again.

Symptom	Fix
Lady still asks for three leeches after the kill	Return the Piranha’s skeleton, not its meat; the trophy is what she wants
Leech counter stuck below three	Keep searching the grass and paths on land, not the water
Boss escaped mid-fight	Its white bar ran out; use the Modified Leech again and deal damage faster
No Radar marker after the hand-in	Equip the Radar, reread the objective, and check the boat once the coordinates are received

Hold onto any unusual catch until you know its purpose, sell only ordinary fish, and the second island opens the way to the desert island without needing a second boss run.