HOW TO FISHWIKISteam
Home/Player guide

Player guide · English

Where to Find Leeches in How to Fish

Find all five second-island leeches with a clean ground-search route and troubleshoot a session where the full set did not appear.

Published 2026-08-22Reviewed 2026-08-23Evidence level: community
Quick answer

The quest needs five leeches. They are small pickups on the ground of the second island near the farmer-type quest area—not fish in the water. Activate the dialogue first, lower the camera and sweep one full perimeter from the NPC outward.

Leeches sit at walking level on the island floor. Look beside vegetation, props, structures and the edges of usable paths. Their small dark models can blend into the low-poly ground, so running through the middle of the island with the camera raised is easy but ineffective.

One player mentioned a leech near blood after striking a fish. Treat that as a possible landmark, not as a required spawn trigger.

Clean five-leech collection route

  1. Finish the farmer-type NPC's dialogue and confirm that the leech objective is active.
  2. Stand at the quest giver and turn the camera down toward the ground.
  3. Walk a slow outer loop around the quest area, checking behind vegetation and props.
  4. Sweep the interior paths only after completing the perimeter.
  5. Check the counter after every pickup; the required total is five.
  6. Return to the farmer immediately. Do not sell or convert the quest items into bait.

Searching in a fixed loop prevents you from checking the same center path repeatedly while missing the edges.

If you only find two

Several launch-period sessions reportedly produced only two visible leeches. Before assuming the quest is broken:

  1. Complete one slow perimeter and interior sweep.
  2. Check whether another co-op player collected one.
  3. Revisit the quest giver and finish any remaining dialogue.
  4. Save or protect current progress.
  5. Reload the session and search the same ground again.

Reloading helped at least one report, while sailing away and returning was inconsistent. If the count remains below five after a clean sweep and reload, stop spending time on random water searches and check current Steam discussions for the latest build behavior.

How to report the spawn problem

Record whether the session is solo or co-op, how many leeches appeared, whether the quest was active before entering the area and whether another player picked one up. Those details are more useful than reporting only that the quest is stuck.

Continue with the second-island progression checklist.

Sources

  1. Where to find leeches — Steam Community — https://steamcommunity.com/app/4001890/discussions/0/582805931178490047/ — ground-pickup location and missing-spawn reports.
  2. Leeches not spawning — Steam Community — https://steamcommunity.com/app/4001890/discussions/0/582805931178510585/ — dialogue, reload and return-trip troubleshooting reports.