How to Fish Dazed Games Secret Items Unlock Guide: Full Walkthrough and Hidden Gear Location
If there is one thing I love about How to Fish, it is that the game constantly makes me think I have already seen everything — and then casually throws another ridiculous secret in my face. What starts as a goofy fishing trip with friends quickly turns into a physics playground full of dangerous islands, strange fish, hidden upgrades, improvised weapons, and discoveries that feel much better when you stumble across them yourself.
Developed by Dazed Games, How to Fish takes the familiar fishing-game formula and throws it into a chaotic co-op sandbox. You and up to three friends are stranded after a boating disaster, and suddenly the only way home is to become surprisingly good at fishing. Of course, fishing is only half the story. You will also be driving boats, fighting creatures, searching wrecks, attempting absurd trick shots, collecting resources, and spending far too much money on increasingly ridiculous equipment.
This How to Fish secret items guide focuses on the hidden progression that sits underneath the normal campaign. Some of these discoveries require exploration, others demand mechanical precision, and a few are simply the sort of secrets I would never have found without the community experimenting with every suspicious-looking corner of the map.
Why Secret Items Matter in How to Fish
The normal progression in How to Fish is pretty straightforward. Catch fish, sell them, upgrade your equipment, reach another island, and repeat. The problem — or rather, the fun — is that the game does not stop there.
Secret gear can completely change how you approach exploration and combat. Some hidden rewards improve fishing, while others give you access to areas or encounters that would otherwise be much harder to handle.
I strongly recommend not rushing through the main progression. If you have a co-op group, spend some time messing around between objectives. In my experience, that is where How to Fish is at its best. A weird cliff, suspicious wreckage, or strangely placed buoy can be more interesting than the quest marker sitting directly in front of you.
Here is a quick overview of the major secrets covered in this guide:
| Secret | Main Requirement | Reward |
|---|---|---|
| Secret Island | Upgraded boat + storm conditions | Mythic Ancient Rod |
| Military Submarine | Deep Diving Helmet | Harpoon Minigun Blueprint |
| Golden Hook | Advanced trick shot | Golden Hook |
| Secret Sushi | Rare crab + seaweed | Temporary Infinite Stamina |
The Secret Island and the Mythic Ancient Rod
The Secret Island is one of the first major discoveries worth chasing once your boat becomes capable of handling rougher ocean conditions.
You will want to upgrade from the basic starting boat before attempting this. The exact reason is simple: the outer waters are considerably less forgiving, and getting halfway to the island only to lose control of your boat is a spectacularly annoying way to spend ten minutes.
From the second major island hub, head north-east during a midnight thunderstorm cycle. The weather is important because the area becomes much easier to recognize once the environmental effects kick in. The water takes on a darker, almost crimson appearance, while fog and reduced visibility make the journey considerably more atmospheric.
Keep an eye out for jagged rocks. The island itself is small and easy to miss, especially when the weather is bad.
Once you arrive, climb toward the highest point. You should eventually find old shipwreck debris surrounding a mysterious chest. This is where the real puzzle begins.
How to Open the Ancient Chest
The chest is not opened with a key or weapon. Instead, you need to obtain a rare Pufferfish variant from the waters around the island.
Pufferfish can be awkward to reel in because their behavior makes them particularly punishing when you get impatient. Wait for the fish to inflate and keep the line tension under control. I recommend treating the yellow section of the tension meter as your safety zone rather than trying to force the catch.
Once you have the required rare Pufferfish, take it to the altar beside the wreckage.
Place it there, and the chest should open.
Your reward is the Mythic Ancient Rod, which provides a major improvement to casting distance and gives you a better chance of attracting unusual deep-water creatures.
For exploration alone, this rod is one of the secrets I would prioritize.
How to Unlock the Harpoon Minigun
At some point, How to Fish stops pretending that fishing equipment is enough.
The outer islands contain tougher enemies and bosses, and this is where the game’s hidden military equipment becomes extremely tempting. The most interesting example is the Harpoon Minigun, a weapon that does not appear in the regular shop progression.
The weapon is connected to a sunken military submarine located in the trench between Island Three and Island Four.
Before heading there, purchase the Deep Diving Helmet from the harbor vendor. Without proper diving equipment, there is little point attempting the submarine section.
Take your upgraded boat toward the trench and dive into the deeper water. Search the submarine hull for a glowing green hatch.
Finding it is only the beginning.
Interacting with the hatch starts an underwater survival encounter. Your group has to survive waves of mutant eels while dealing with limited underwater movement and whatever weapons you brought with you.
This is one of those situations where co-op coordination actually matters. One player trying to do everything alone can turn the encounter into chaos very quickly.
After surviving the event for approximately three minutes, the hatch opens.
Inside the submarine control room, look for the Harpoon Minigun blueprints on the captain’s console.
Take the blueprints back to the blacksmith on the starting island. You will also need 5,000 cash and 10 pieces of rare iron scrap.
The scrap can be collected by salvaging damaged boat parts and wreckage found around shorelines.
Once the blacksmith has everything, the Harpoon Minigun becomes available for your loadout.
And yes, it is every bit as ridiculous as it sounds.
Golden Hook Location and the Trick Shot Challenge
The Golden Hook is one of my favorite secret rewards because it fits the game’s personality perfectly.
Instead of asking you to grind through a long quest chain, How to Fish basically tells you to perform a ridiculous stunt and hope you are good enough to pull it off.
Travel to the highest sea arch on Island Two and climb to the top. From there, look toward the ocean for a floating buoy with a hidden graffiti target.
Your objective is to perform a 360-degree mid-air spin jump from the cliff and land your fishing hook directly in the center of the target.
It sounds simple.
It isn’t.
The first few attempts can feel absolutely terrible, especially when your character launches in a completely unexpected direction because of the physics. That is part of the charm, although I admit I have probably blamed the game more than once when the real problem was my timing.
A lightweight fishing setup and low-density lure can make the attempt easier by giving your hook more useful flight time.
If you land the trick shot successfully, a golden supply crate appears on the shoreline below the arch.
Inside is the Golden Hook.
Why the Golden Hook Is Worth Getting
The Golden Hook improves the quality of items obtained from environmental fishing spots. Instead of constantly pulling up junk, you have a much better chance of getting valuable crafting materials, uncommon bait, and larger cash rewards.
For players who enjoy resource farming, this is arguably one of the most useful hidden items in the game.
Rare Fish Variants and Secret Progression
One mistake I see players make is assuming that rare fish are completely random.
They are not as simple as that.
The game’s ecosystem appears to take several factors into account, including:
- Time of day
- Water depth
- Bait type
- Weather conditions
- Location
This becomes particularly important because some secret encounters and crafting recipes depend on obtaining specific fish variants.
Secret Sushi
One unusual example is the Secret Sushi recipe.
Start by collecting seaweed around shallow, murky shorelines. Look for areas where underwater vegetation is clearly visible. You can then combine the seaweed with rare crab variants at an island campfire.
The resulting sushi grants temporary infinite stamina, making it extremely useful when you need to swim toward distant rock formations or reach areas where bringing a boat is inconvenient.
It is not something I would necessarily build my entire progression around, but having it available can make certain exploration sections dramatically easier.
Pufferfish Hunting Tips
Pufferfish are especially important because of their connection to the Ancient Rod quest.
They are generally associated with deeper, high-salinity waters and are easier to encounter around thermal vent areas during brighter daytime conditions.
Standard bait is not particularly reliable here. Use shiny lures whenever possible, especially ones obtained through temporary harbor sales or found in floating crates.
When you hook one, do not panic-reel.
That is probably the biggest lesson I learned while chasing rare fish. Keep the tension controlled and let the fish make its movements. Constantly holding the reel button is a great way to turn a successful catch into another empty fishing spot.
Hidden Boss Encounters and Rare Materials
There is another secret layer worth exploring if you are hunting for rare crafting components.
Certain outer reef areas can trigger unusual boss encounters when enough fish carcasses accumulate nearby. The resulting predators are considerably more dangerous than ordinary enemies and can reward your group with valuable legendary crafting materials.
This is especially fun with a full co-op party because the encounters naturally turn into chaotic battles where everyone is trying to aim weapons, control boats, dodge attacks, and avoid launching themselves into the ocean.
I would not recommend attempting these encounters with poorly upgraded gear. The physics are funny until a boss sends your entire team flying and you realize you have to swim several hundred meters back to the boat.
Practical Tips for Unlocking Secret Gear
If you are planning to collect everything, a few habits will save you a lot of frustration.
Watch your fishing tension. Rare fish are not worth losing because you held the reel button for too long. Tap the reel and give the line time to recover whenever the fish starts thrashing.
Keep your boat recoverable. Flipping a boat does not necessarily mean the run is ruined. If your character can reach the underside, use the physics kick to push the hull back into position.
Rebind important controls. How to Fish combines boating, fishing, shooting, and movement, so the default controls can become awkward during complicated situations. Putting your cast action on a convenient mouse side button or controller bumper can make a noticeable difference.
Explore between objectives. This is probably my biggest recommendation. Do not treat the game like a straight line from quest marker to quest marker. Secret items are deliberately designed to reward curiosity.
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My Recommended Secret Item Order
If you are wondering which secrets to pursue first, I would approach them roughly like this:
- Mythic Ancient Rod — excellent for exploration and deeper fishing.
- Golden Hook — great for improving your resource income.
- Harpoon Minigun — extremely useful once the outer islands become dangerous.
- Secret Sushi — situational, but very helpful for exploration and stamina-heavy sections.
The order can obviously change depending on how your group plays. A combat-focused squad may want the Harpoon Minigun earlier, while players obsessed with fishing efficiency will probably appreciate the Golden Hook much sooner.
Final Thoughts
The best thing about How to Fish is that its secrets feel like they belong in the game’s world. They are not just boring collectibles hidden behind a menu. You have to sail into storms, search wrecks, catch unusual fish, perform ridiculous trick shots, dive into submarines, and occasionally make decisions that seem completely insane until they actually work.
Personally, I think that is where Dazed Games really gets the formula right. The main progression gives you a reason to keep upgrading, but the hidden gear and secret locations give you a reason to keep experimenting.
If you are playing with friends, resist the temptation to look up every solution immediately. Try suspicious islands. Shoot strange targets. Fish in places that look useless. Dive into wreckage. If something looks deliberately out of place, there is a good chance the developers want you to investigate it.
And when you finally pull the Mythic Ancient Rod from that hidden chest or nail the Golden Hook trick shot after twenty failed attempts, the reward feels much better than simply buying another upgrade from a shop.
That is exactly why I keep coming back to How to Fish. Beneath all the ridiculous physics, screaming teammates, overturned boats, and fish flying through the air, there is a surprisingly satisfying exploration game waiting to be discovered.
