How to Fish: Beginner's Guide

1. Own How to Fish on Steam for Windows (App 4001890). Broadband is listed even for solo.
2. Launch from Steam. There is no console store page today.
3. You start after a drinking-and-boating crash on the lighthouse island. No extra “create character” step is documented in our sources.
4. There is a difficulty choice — Video 1 picks between Easy and Hard before the run starts — and if you are hosting for friends, do not lock the session to single player on the way in; a private invite-only lobby (tip 7 below, Patch 1.0.5) still lets them join. Video-sourced, not first-hand playtest, and we are not publishing a difficulty comparison we have not played.
5. Saves: Patch 1.0.6 saves on Save / Main Menu / Quit and autosaves every minute. Wiki LocalLow path is unverified here — we do not publish a folder how-to.

Source: GrindnStrat. Full keybind list, controller map, and Steam Deck are unverified — playtest.

Video-sourced, not first-hand playtest. Everything in this section was re-checked against the three community videos listed at the end of it. We did not replay the first hour ourselves — no capture, no timings of our own. This is the whole lighthouse first hour in one order, from the crash to the boat — the beats that used to be scattered down the page now live here.

1. Grab free clams near the crash; eat one if you need it, sell extras (GrindnStrat). Video 1 runs this beat end to end: sell the free clams, then buy the Crab-Fishing Rod — no fishing needed first.
2. Get a fishing rod. Cast (RMB), reel (LMB). ShowGamer: the rod pulls or launches a creature — there is no classic tension meter.
3. Drop the catch on land (RMB), kill it (melee or gun), then sell with Q into an NPC mouth (GrindnStrat). Video 1 sells the same way — the mechanic did not change this pass.
4. Buy brass knuckles or a knife, then a pistol when you can. Inventory is limited; extra slots are a shop upgrade (GrindnStrat).
5. Beer / Spider Crab, main path: buy one full beer, hand the full can to the lighthouse keeper, and take back the empty can. The empty can is the bait you put on the rod to pull the Spider Crab. Video 1 and Video 2 both show the full-can hand-off — treat this as the default route.
6. Do not drink the beer yourself. Video 2 calls this out: the keeper needs the full can, so a beer you drink is a beer you buy again.
7. Put the empty can on the rod and cast where the keeper sends you, then fight what comes up — the fight itself is the first Spider Crab fight below.
8. Hand the Spider Crab in to the keeper for the boat keys. It is a story trophy: do not sell it, do not eat it (GrindnStrat / KeenGamer).
9. Buy the radar before you leave the island. Video 2 buys it for $10 and treats it as the last lighthouse errand; our older note (tip 4 below) has it as a free pickup sitting near the keeper. Both are flagged — take the $10 as video-sourced, not a verified price.
10. Buy the first boat engine, then travel to Forest. Price and the rest of the buy order are in the upgrade table below — community numbers, not official.

Unreproduced: ShowGamer describes killing the beer thief and carrying the body back as bait. None of the three videos uses a corpse as bait, so this path stays flagged and is not the default.

Videos checked for this section: Video 1 — How to Fish — Complete Beginner Guide. Difficulty select (Easy / Hard), at least Patch 1.0.9. Runs clams → sell → Crab-Fishing Rod, then the beer hand-off. Video 2 — How to Catch and Beat the Spider Crab — How to Fish Game. Lighthouse-only walkthrough. Same full-can → empty-can bait order. Video 3 — How to Fish: 10 Things the Game DOESN’T Tell You But Should!. Launch-day notes. Background only — not a primary source, so launch-day counts and prices stay flagged. Linked, not embedded. We do not host captions or frames.

Video-sourced, not first-hand playtest. This is the fight the empty can starts, read off Video 1 and Video 2 only. We have no capture of our own, no HP numbers, and no kill time — anything the videos do not show stays off this page.

1. Wait for the stun. Both videos treat the crab as a stun loop rather than a straight damage race: it is only worth swinging at while it is stunned, and hits landed outside that window are what get players knocked around.
2. Do not let the side bar empty first. Video 1 shows a bar on the side of the screen draining while the crab is up, and the fight goes badly if you trade hits until it bottoms out instead of holding off for the stun. The videos never say what that bar measures, so we are not going to invent a name for it.
3. Hit a few times, then back off. Video 2 lands a short burst in the stun window and retreats instead of standing in the crab — the loop is back off, wait for the next stun, burst again.
4. Repeat until it dies, then keep the body. The trophy goes to the keeper for the boat keys, not into an NPC mouth — that is the hand-in step of the route above.

No weapon call here: what you bring is the buy order in How to Earn Money Fast, and neither video gives us an HP table or a damage number we could publish. Summon steps and the rest of the boss list live on the How to Fish Boss Guide.

Videos checked for this fight: Video 1 — How to Fish — Complete Beginner Guide. Video 2 — How to Catch and Beat the Spider Crab — How to Fish Game. Linked, not embedded. Video 3 is not a source for this fight.

Community order through Patch 1.0.10. Patch 1.0.5 fixed traveling to locked islands. Full unlock notes: All Islands in How to Fish.

Official money: catch → kill → sell, trick shots, in-game fish gambling. Community: Killscore (ShowGamer) and Island 3 grill ~1.5x (GrindnStrat). No official price list.

Weapon ladder (GrindnStrat): fists → brass knuckles → knife → pistol → shotgun → SMG → sniper → AR. Dynamite is an area tool, bad for precise bosses. See How to Fish Boss Guide for fight-specific gear.

Difficulty options exist. Video 1 (linked in the first-hour walkthrough) picks Easy or Hard before the run, and Patch 1.0.9 called out Easy/Hard on Steam news. We are not publishing a fake damage, HP, or economy comparison we have not playtested.

If you are hosting for friends, do not lock the lobby to single player on the way in. A private invite-only session (Patch 1.0.5) still lets co-op join — see Play with Friends. Video-sourced / patch-sourced, not first-hand playtest of both difficulties.

Patch 1.0.6 saves on Save / Main Menu / Quit and autosaves about every minute. That is the only save behavior we will ship from Steam news.

Community wiki LocalLow folder paths stay unverified here — we do not publish a save-folder how-to, cloud-sync claim, or backup ritual we have not checked. Prefer quitting through the menu if you just finished a boss hand-in.

Easy Mode vs Hard Mode: Video 1 and Patch 1.0.9 both surface a difficulty choice. We are not publishing a damage, HP, or economy comparison we have not playtested. If you are hosting friends, do not lock the lobby to single player — a private invite-only session still lets co-op join.