How to Unlock Island 2 in How to Fish
The Forest is the second island in the route. The boss, keys, radar, and green-contact checks reveal exactly where an attempted unlock stopped.
PRIMARY QUERY · how to unlock island 2 in how to fish
To unlock Island 2 in How to Fish, defeat the Spider Crab at the Lighthouse, take the keys it drops, and use that progress to buy the boat radar. Once the radar is available, leave the starting island and follow the green contact northwest. That contact is the Forest, also called the green island or Swamp by some players. There is no separate trophy hand-in for this first crossing.
The first island change is easy to muddle because it is really a short chain of requirements. The Lighthouse is your starting area, but owning a boat or sailing away from it is not the same as opening the intended route. The Spider Crab, its keys, and the radar belong to one sequence. If any part is unfinished, searching open water will not fix it.
For patch 1.0.9, the checked route ends at the Forest and does not drift into later island objectives. The map direction is intentionally broad: the Forest is northwest of the Lighthouse and appears as a green radar contact. You do not need an invented coordinate or a pixel-perfect heading to identify it.
Start from the Lighthouse progression state
The Lighthouse is Island 1 and is available from the beginning. Before treating the Forest as missing, confirm that you are still working on the starting-island milestone. The important objective here is the Spider Crab. Side fishing and general exploration may help you learn the boat, but they do not replace that boss step.
It helps to think in flags rather than distance traveled: Spider Crab defeated, keys collected, radar purchased. The game needs the whole set before the green route makes sense. Players often remember winning the fight but forget to pick up or use the item that advances the next part of the chain.
Defeat the Spider Crab and collect the keys
- Finish the Spider Crab encounter on the Lighthouse island. Do not leave the area the instant the fight ends.
- Look for the keys associated with that victory and collect them. The keys are the bridge between the boss and the next purchase.
- Check that the post-boss state has advanced before taking the boat out. If the keys are still present or the next interaction is unavailable, the route is not ready yet.
Buy the radar before searching the sea
The radar turns the next island into a readable target. After taking the keys, complete the purchase that gives your boat its radar. A long trip in roughly the right direction is a poor substitute because the colored contact is the reliable part of this route.
Once the radar is active, look for green. White refers to the Lighthouse starting position, while green is the Forest contact. If the display has no useful contact, return to the Lighthouse and recheck the boss, keys, and purchase instead of assuming the Forest spawned in the wrong place.
Follow the green contact northwest
Leave the Lighthouse and travel northwest while watching the green contact. The interactive map on this site is schematic and not to scale, so use it to understand the relationship between the islands, not as a promise of an exact steering angle. The color and relative direction are the two dependable identifiers.
You will know you have reached the right place when the route lands at the Forest environment. Guides and players may also call it the green island or Swamp. Those names refer to the same second stop, not three different destinations. Once there, the progression focus changes to the lake quest and the Giant Piranha chain.
If Island 2 still seems locked
- Spider Crab still active: finish the starting-island boss before troubleshooting navigation.
- Keys not collected: return to the encounter area and verify the post-boss item step.
- Radar not purchased: complete that transaction before using colored contacts as directions.
- Wrong contact: the Forest is green and northwest of the Lighthouse; do not chase the later yellow, red, or pink routes.
- Route completed but page state feels stale: compare your current objective with the next-step tool rather than repeating the entire opening sequence.
Questions players ask
Which color leads to Island 2?
Green. After the radar is available, follow the green contact northwest from the Lighthouse to reach the Forest.
Do I hand in a Spider Crab trophy to open the Forest?
No separate trophy hand-in is part of this unlock. Defeat the Spider Crab, collect the keys, and buy the radar.
Is the Forest the same place as the green island or Swamp?
Yes. Those are alternate names used for Island 2. The green radar contact is the useful identifier.
What should I do after reaching the Forest?
Work through the lake quest that leads to the Giant Piranha. Its skeleton is involved in opening the next island, but that is a separate progression step.
Continue with the right tool
Sources and version notes
This page was checked against patch 1.0.9. Community strategies can change; official patch notes take priority when they conflict.
- All islands and how to unlock them Cross-check for the five-location progression chain and radar colors.
- How to Fish Steam News Hub Patch notes for versions 1.0.4 through 1.0.9, including lobby, save, and connection fixes.
- How to Fish on Steam Developer, release date, base game description, system requirements, and the official count of 28 achievements.