How to Fish speedrunning: categories and routes

Choose the category, version and player count before copying a How to Fish speedrun. A fast run on an older patch may use a route your game no longer supports. For the in-game Bean achievement, use the fresh-world route plan; a leaderboard submission has its own rules.

Start with the live board

The How to Fish leaderboard currently lists Any%, No Dynamite, 100%, Crab% and No Gambling. Its visible filters separate v1.0.4, v1.0.5 to v1.0.10 and v1.0.11+, plus Solo, Duo, Trio and Quad. These labels were checked on September 6, 2026 and can change.

A forum request for All Islands is not an established category merely because the thread exists. Check the live category list and its rules before planning a submission around a requested format.

Use the board's guides for community setup instructions. Its resource list includes input overlays and guidance for 100% starting-state preparation. Avoid changing a valued collection save just to practice a route.

Version matters more than an unqualified record time

Patch 1.0.5 fixed travel to islands that had not been unlocked. An older skip-based video is therefore poor evidence for an ordinary 1.0.12 progression route.

Patch 1.0.11 also changed self-damage from explosives. A setup that relied on friendly fire being disabled needs to be reconsidered on the later version.

When comparing times, keep the category, version and player-count filters identical. The headline time from a different filter does not tell you what your own run should achieve. This page deliberately links the live results instead of maintaining a record claim that can become outdated after the next submission.

Prepare your first Any% attempt

Learn a complete run before optimizing a single fight. The five-island progression guide follows the required hand-ins and reward claims. Once that route is familiar, time your own segments to find where shopping, missed rewards or failed fights cost time.

These are suggested practice splits, not the leaderboard's official timing definition. They include reward claims because leaving without one can ruin the next segment even when the boss fight went well.

Use the boss-lure lookup to prepare the correct encounter supplies and the equipment tables to budget purchases. Dynamite mechanics explain why explosive damage and chain reactions can help, without promising a fixed number of seconds per boss.

Bean and 100% are different goals

Bean checks the world's recorded playtime at the final interaction. The Bean route focuses on required progression and leaves optional collection for another run.

Collector and Fishipedia require the journal work listed in the completion checklist. Completing those achievements is useful for understanding the game, but it does not by itself define everything a community 100% category requires.

In co-op, plan who handles catches, shopping and hand-ins, then practice with that team. Additional players increase boss health, so a larger group is not automatically a faster group. Match the player count in any comparison video.

Before submitting a run

Read the selected category's current rules, record the required evidence and use the board's Submit run action. The August 28 moderator notice specifically required an input overlay for top-three Any% v1.0.4 runs. Do not generalize that notice into a rule for every version or assume it is the only recording requirement.

This guide combines source-backed game preparation with dated community-board information. It does not claim a verified competitive route or a timed playthrough. Recheck the rules when you are ready to submit.