Multiple threads titled “Leeches not spawning” appeared in the official Steam discussions within hours of How to Fish launching, so this is a real, recurring complaint — not just players missing pickups. Here’s what is and isn’t known.
Rule Out the Non-Bug Causes First
Before treating it as a bug, work through this checklist — most “not spawning” cases turn out to be one of these:
- Quest not active yet. Talk to the young woman NPC on the second island first, so the leech counter is actually showing.
- They’re just hard to see. Do one slow, full perimeter walk with the camera angled down. Leeches are small dark ground objects that blend into the low-poly terrain, especially near vegetation.
- You already used them. Each failed Giant Piranha attempt consumes one leech bait. Running out this way is normal consumption, not the spawn bug — collect more.
- Co-op inventory split. If a teammate grabbed leeches, they’re in that player’s inventory.
For comparison: in the launch-day 100% walkthrough, multiple leeches sat on the ground at once and were collected within seconds of looking. A session with almost no findable leeches is abnormal — not intended difficulty.
Workaround Status
Being honest about what changed in the evidence:
- Official confirmed fix: none. We do not have a patch note that promises a respawn repair.
- Player-reported workaround: an Aug 27 reply in the Steam thread says that reloading the last save made leeches respawn after the player died to the boss. That report is useful enough to try once, but it is not a guarantee for every save or co-op lobby.
- Restarting alone is not the same thing. Another player in the same thread says a restart did not help. Do not present a plain restart as a proven fix.
- Sailing away and returning is still not supported as a reliable respawn method; avoid spending repeated loops on it.
If a full sweep plus one last-save reload still leaves the counter short, consider posting your setup (solo or co-op, how many leeches appeared, whether the quest was active before you searched) in the Steam discussions so the developer can reproduce it.
What Normal Spawning Looks Like
Compare your session against the walkthrough footage — leeches visible and collected off the ground within seconds:
Jump to:
What Happens Next
Once the counter fills, the normal flow continues: bait, Giant Piranha, hand-in, Island 3 coordinates. The full quest is covered in Where to Find Leeches.