Bait & Lures Guide

01Find the missing creature’s setup before you sail

Start with the missing name, not the most expensive lure in the shop. Snake’s 1.1.3 guide groups regular catches by bait and reports that they can be caught around the map. An island association helps you find the shop or bait pickup; changing islands while keeping the wrong lure does not change the setup you are using.

1. If you have killed the creature before, open its in-game Fishipedia entry and read the bait hint on 1.1.3 or later.
2. For an undiscovered creature, search the All Fish finder for its name, rod and bait or special trigger.
3. Equip the listed rod and bait, then cast before changing another variable.
4. Kill the catch to record it; return to the same bait when hunting its Drip variant.

02Find Crab Carcass on the three-patch sand islet

Sail between main islands and inspect small radar dots for three low sandy patches with bones. Land and check the Crab Carcass pickup prompt. The official 1.1.2 patch increased new-bait pickups on the islet from two to three; OfficialPapi identifies that bait and the sand-patch landmark.

Keep Crab Carcass selected on the Fishing Rod for Alaska Pollock, Tench, Char, Amberjack, Squid, Mahi-mahi, Starfish and Sponge. Snake also answers the Squid bait question explicitly in an October 15 comment. Kill and collect the catches, then sell euro-valued loot if you are saving for the Bow.

• Bait pickup: three sandy patches with bones, identified by the Crab Carcass interaction label.
• Collection target: keep Crab Carcass selected while working through the eight-name pool.
• Currency target: defeat and collect the catch, then check the merchant’s euro offer.
• Boss exception: Manta uses the bridge islet’s oil barrel, not Crab Carcass.

03Where to get Professional Lure

To obtain Professional Lure, check the fourth-island shop identified by Snake in a reply beneath the 1.1.3 guide. Buy the lure and select it on your Fishing Rod, then use the catch finder for the creature you want from that pool.

Check the item’s full label when choosing a setup: Professional Lure and Professional Boss Lure lead to different pools. The Crab Fishing Rod uses Ham or Hot Dog; the Fishing Rod uses Fry and the later lure pools. Ham and Fry are the rods’ free bait choices in the community guide.

04Keep the older lure when it matches your target

A shop upgrade gives you another catch pool to choose from. It does not replace every earlier lure for collection. For example, Carp uses Beginner Lure, Koi Fish Standard Lure, Dogfish Professional Lure and Tripod Fish Scientific Lure in the newer catch reference. Crab Carcass is a separate Islet pool, so keep the ordinary lure for one of those four targets.

The newer 1.1.3 reference also places Piranha and Salmon under Beginner Lure, correcting the older Hot Dog and Standard Lure recommendations. Pike has both free-Fry and Beginner Lure setups. When an older walkthrough disagrees, compare its version with the in-game bait hint after your first kill.

05Boss bait starts a different kind of test

Bosses are not normal lure-pool catches. Spider Crab, Giant Piranha and Pufferfish use quest-route bait, while several mini-bosses use tiered Boss Lures. Albatross and Mutated Bowhead Whale add another requirement because their bait is a preceding creature. Before selling, cooking or dropping an unusual catch, check whether the active quest has turned it into the next trigger.

Check the active quest and have your weapons ready before using a special trigger. Beginner Boss Lure can bring up both Sunfish and The Old Pike in the community reference, so landing one does not finish that pool. Manta is another exception: go to the bridge-and-oil islet and throw its interactable barrel into the sea rather than fishing with Crab Carcass.

06A short troubleshooting loop for a missing catch

No Fishipedia bait hint: confirm the version includes 1.1.3 and that you killed the creature, rather than only hooking it. Still seeing older catches: recheck the currently selected bait and whether you bought the regular or Boss lure. The item name you own and the bait currently equipped are separate checks.

Correct setup but repeated familiar catches: keep the target’s listed pool while checking the missing name; one repeat does not prove another lure is needed. For a quest boss, reopen the quest and locate the required creature or item before consuming or selling it. In co-op, check who is holding the trigger so the crew follows the same next step.