How to Fish Lures and Baits: Full List, Fish Pools, and Boss Catches

How to Fish is the physics-based co-op fishing game from Dazed Games on Steam, and despite the name you spend as much time shooting creatures as reeling them in. What you tie to your rod decides what shows up: the four regular lures each have a set fish pool sorted by price tier, the four boss lures each summon one mini-boss, and a handful of one-off baits are handed to you by quest givers to catch a specific island boss.

Every lure and bait at a glance

Use the table to find the item fast, then read the section below it for the price and where it fits in a run.

Beginner Lure fish pool

The starter lure costs $3 and pulls the lowest tier of fish: Cod, Pike, Piranha, Triggerfish, Goby, Salmon, Goldfish, and Perch. It’s what you fish with on island 1 before you can afford anything better, and every catch in this pool is low-value, so it’s a cash-starter rather than a farming tool.

Standard Lure fish pool

At $15, the Standard Lure steps up to Catfish, Bluegill, Yellow Boxfish, Angelfish, Needlefish, Sea Urchin, Clownfish, and Seahorse. This is also the pool that surfaces the endangered fish the island 3 tourist wants — Needlefish, Yellow Boxfish, and Seahorse among them — so keep the pink Standard Lure on hand when you’re chasing that quest.

Professional Lure fish pool

The $50 Professional Lure is the volcano-island workhorse. It catches Belodontichthys Truncatus, Red Snapper, Tigerfish, Parrotfish, Bass, Halibut, Flying Fish, and Eel. These sell for enough that a single good catch can pay for your next lure, which is why it’s the one most farming loops start on.

Scientific Lure fish pool

The top regular lure runs $500 and lands the game’s rarest ordinary fish: Stonefish, Blobfish, Anglerfish, Oarfish, and Superdwarf Fish. It’s a smaller pool than the cheaper tiers, but every fish in it is high-value, so it becomes the main money engine on island 5 once you can afford to keep two or three in stock.

Beginner Boss Lure mini-bosses

Costing $40 and sold on island 2, the Beginner Boss Lure summons the two beginner mini-bosses: the Sunfish and the Gammelgäddan. It’s the cheapest mini-boss summon in the game and the easiest fight, which is exactly why it’s the one you keep coming back to for the eat-a-mini-boss achievements later on.

Standard Boss Lure catch

For $280, the Standard Boss Lure fishes up the Blue Shark mini-boss. This is the shark the island 3 grill master asks for — buy the lure, hook the shark, kill it, and bring it back to unlock grill access.

Professional Boss Lure and the tuna

The $1,200 Professional Boss Lure summons the Tuna mini-boss. The tuna is more than a trophy, though: once you’ve caught and killed it, it doubles as bait for a second fight — see the tuna-as-bait section below.

Scientific Boss Lure catch

The most expensive lure in the game at $5,800, the Scientific Boss Lure summons island 5’s optional Goblin Shark mini-boss. Nothing in the story points you at it, so budget for it deliberately — it’s the catch you’ll need to close out the Collector achievement.

Beer bait and the spider crab

Bait your rod with a beer (or beer can) to fish up the spider crab on island 1. This is the culprit the lighthouse keeper is after in the “Who stole my beer” quest; the crab drops a shell you hand over for the boat keys that unlock travel.

Leech Bait and the island 2 boss

Leech Bait is the single bait that hooks the Giant Piranha, the island 2 boss. If you’ve hit the common island 2 wall where it feels like only one bait works — that’s by design, and this is the bait. You don’t buy it: the lady in the forest hands it to you after you bring her three leeches gathered from the tall grass. Fish up and kill the piranha boss, and it drops a tail you return to her to finish the quest.

Because it’s quest-produced rather than shop-stocked, you get exactly one per run and it’s spent on the catch, so don’t cast it at anything else.

Carrot bait and the pufferfish boss

The island 3 tourist gives you a carrot once you help him out, and the carrot is the island boss bait for the pufferfish boss. Like the other quest baits, it’s handed to you rather than bought, so it exists only to start that one fight.

Using a caught tuna as bait

This one isn’t a rod-catch pool. After you summon the Tuna with the Professional Boss Lure and kill it, drop the tuna on the ground and it becomes bait — the seagull comes down for it and the terrorizing bird fight begins. The tuna is consumed in the process, so the fight is what you get out of it.

Whale bait and the volcano route

Give the scientist on the volcano island five fish — any fish — and he hands over the whale bait. Use it to fish up the whale, kill it, then throw the whale into the volcano. That’s what spawns the lava whale, the final boss, so this bait is the gateway into the ending sequence.

How lures break and how baits get used up

Regular lures and mini-boss lures both have a durability roll — each cast has a chance to break the lure and vanish it in a puff of smoke, so keep a spare or two of the pricey ones. Island boss baits work differently: they’re always consumed, every single time, with no chance to survive.

One thing that trips people up: drip variants and endangered fish are on-screen labels flagged when you catch a fish, not separate lures with their own catch pools. A fish can even be both at once. So you don’t need a special lure to fish for them — you’re still using the regular lure for that tier, watching for the flag when it lands.

Related How to Fish guides

• How to Fish Lure Costs: Durability, Boss Lures, and Spare Setup
• How to Fish Killscore Multipliers: Full List, Best Method, and Tips
• How to Fish Whale Boss: Requirements, Fight Steps, and Rewards
• How to Fish Pufferfish Boss: Location, Requirements, and Fight Tips