Forest is the first island that behaves like the rest of the game. A real rod replaces the crab stick. French Fries and the Beginner Lure open the main pool. A pistol becomes a shotgun. Dynamite is for schools of fish, not for your co-op partners, and trick-shot scoring starts to inflate sell prices if you can actually land one.
The story gate is three leeches on the ground, not a shop lure. Talk to the woman by the lake, sweep the dirt paths until the counter reads 3/3, and take the Leech Bait. That bait — sometimes listed as a Modified Leech — is the only hook the Giant Piranha respects. The Beginner Boss Lure is for Sunfish and The Old Pike, which you can ignore if you only want the next island.
Kill the Giant Piranha, keep the skeleton, and feed it to the same woman. She paints the yellow radar dot for Desert. Buy the Big Motor before you leave. The wooden starter engine will get you there; it will also make you hate the crossing.
Shop must-buys
- Extra inventory slot first
- Proper Fishing Rod (replace the crab rod)
- Pistol, then shotgun — upgrade the shotgun
- Dynamite for clustered fish, not for teammates
- Beginner Lure / French Fry for the regular pool
- Big Motor before you sail to the desert
Bait, boss, hand-in
- Regular pool: French Fry, Beginner Lure
- Story / boss bait: Leech Bait (Modified Leech)
- Boss: Giant Piranha
- Hand-in: Piranha skeleton to Woman by the lake
- Boat: Buy the Big Motor here. The next island is a longer hop.
Patch-sensitive notes
- Collect three ground leeches. The 0/3 counter means you are not at the boss yet.
- Beginner Boss Lure is for optional Forest minibosses (Sunfish, The Old Pike), not the story piranha.
- Trick-shot scoring starts to matter for cash from this island onward.
Compiled pool on this island
Names below are a public compilation, not an official Fishipedia dump. Drip variants are separate.
- Mackerel — French Fry (normal)
- Gar — French Fry (normal)
- Pike — French Fry / Beginner Lure (normal)
- Cod — Beginner Lure (normal)
- Piranha — Beginner Lure (normal)
- Triggerfish — Beginner Lure (normal)
- Goby — Beginner Lure (normal)
- Salmon — Beginner Lure (normal)
- Goldfish — Beginner Lure (normal)
- Perch — Beginner Lure (normal)
- Sunfish — Beginner Boss Lure (miniboss)
- The Old Pike — Beginner Boss Lure (miniboss)
- Giant Piranha — Leech Bait (boss)
Open the lure helper for this island · See the upgrade path · Tick the tracker