Where to Find 5 Leeches in How to Fish

In How to Fish (the Steam game by Dazed Games), leeches are the key quest item on the second island — and the most common mistake is trying to fish for them. You don’t. They’re on the ground.

Where Leeches Spawn

Leeches spawn on the ground of the second island — the island you reach with the fisherman’s boat after beating the Spider Crab on the starting island. The quest NPC says it herself: they’re “crawling around on the ground everywhere.”

They’re small, dark, and easy to miss against the low-poly terrain, especially in grass and around props. Several are up at once in a normal session, so a slow walk around the island is usually all it takes.

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Leeches are small ground objects — keep the camera low while sweeping the island.

One note on the count: the walkthrough footage shows a quest counter of three, while some players talk about five. Don’t worry about the exact number — the counter on screen tells you how many you still need, so just collect until it fills.

Who Needs Them and Why

The quest giver is a young woman near where you land on the second island. She wants to surprise her father with a special dinner, can’t use guns, and asks you to kill the “big yummy fish” swimming around the island — the Giant Piranha boss.

Bring her the leeches and she converts them into leech bait, the only thing that lures the boss out.

Step by Step

1. Sail to the second island (unlocked by giving the Spider Crab’s shell to the fisherman on the starting island).
2. Talk to the young woman NPC first — this activates the quest and makes the leech counter appear.
3. Walk the island at ground level and pick up every leech you spot. Several spawn around the island at once.
4. Hand the leeches in once the counter is full. She turns them into piranha bait.
5. Buy a gun before using the bait. The NPC warns you directly: “Fighting with bare hands is dangerous.” The pistol is the cheapest option that works.
6. Bait your rod with the leech bait to summon the Giant Piranha. If the attempt fails, the bait is consumed — you’ll need to collect more leeches.
7. After the kill, hand the distinctive “big yummy fish” drop (not the generic meat chunks) back to the NPC.

Common Mistakes

• Fishing for leeches with a rod. They’re ground pickups, not a catch.
• Using the bait before buying a gun. A failed boss attempt burns the bait and sends you back to leech collecting.
• Selling the boss’s quest drop. Sell only the generic meat chunks; the distinctive drop is what completes the quest.
• Leeches genuinely not appearing. Some players report far fewer leeches than the quest needs — that’s covered separately in Leeches Not Spawning.

Watch It Done

The full leech quest, boss fight and hand-in are all in the 100% walkthrough:

I'm Playing 100% of How to Fish — leech quest at 35:10

Jump to:31:01 Sailing to the second island35:10 Meeting the NPC, gathering leeches57:20 Giant Piranha fight58:35 Hand-in, Island 3 coordinates

What Happens Next

Handing in the Giant Piranha’s quest drop gets you a flash drive with the coordinates to Island 3, added to your map automatically. Consider the Big Motor engine upgrade before the longer crossing.