How to Fish Weapons and Gear: Rods, Guns, Attachments, and Boat Upgrades
Updated 2026-08-24
Choose the right gear for each stage of How to Fish: rods, knives, shotguns, attachments, boat engines, radar, and when to buy each upgrade.
Gear progression overview
How to Fish ties almost every upgrade to money earned from selling creatures. You start with nothing and gradually unlock rods, melee weapons, firearms, attachments, boat engines, and quality-of-life tools like the Radar. Buying in the right order keeps your income curve smooth and avoids dead-end purchases.
Rods and lures
The Basic Fishing Rod ($3) is your first purchase. It works with the Free Lure for small creatures and the Hotdog Lure for bigger early catches. Later lures include the Standard Lure for Desert Island species and boss-specific lures like the Empty Beer Can and the modified leech lure. Rods determine what you can hook; lures determine what bites.
Melee and firearms
The Knife is the best early melee weapon. Upgrade it to 20 damage at the Lighthouse anvil as soon as possible. The Shotgun on Forest Island is widely reported as one of the strongest weapons in the game and is worth saving for. Brass Knuckles and Dynamite are available but optional; Dynamite is mainly useful for the 'Everyone's dream' achievement (kill a seagull with dynamite).
Attachments and the 'Fully equipped' achievement
Attachments let you customize a weapon. The 'Fully equipped' achievement requires applying all attachments to a single weapon. Save a weapon you plan to keep and buy every attachment slot for it. Check the attachment bench after each island unlock, because new options appear as you progress.
Boat engines and Radar
The Radar ($10) is sold by the Lighthouse Keeper after the Spider Crab and is essential for finding the next islands. Boat engines improve travel speed; 'Getting an upgrade' requires upgrading the engine once, and 'I am speed' requires buying the best engine. Prioritize the Radar before engine upgrades unless you are chasing a speed achievement.
Recommended buy order
1) Basic Fishing Rod, 2) Knife + sharpen to 20, 3) Hotdog Lures, 4) Beer Can for Spider Crab, 5) Radar after Spider Crab, 6) Shotgun on Forest Island, 7) Standard Lure and cooking gear on Desert Island, 8) boat engine upgrades when convenient, 9) all attachments for one weapon before the endgame.
Sources
Steam store page for How to Fish (Dazed Games / Valve, accessed 2026-08-24) — 'earn money to buy better gear and weapons and stuff'. Destructoid 'Complete How to Fish game walkthrough' (accessed 2026-08-24) — weapon and upgrade recommendations. How to Fish Game Wiki (accessed 2026-08-24) — achievement requirements.
Watch: Video guide
装备/武器升级的全流程参考。