How to Fish 3rd Island: Desert Walkthrough

To clear the How to Fish 3rd island, speak to both Desert quest givers, finish the grill-side Shark task, give the Tourist a catch marked Endangered Species, use the Carrot reward to summon Pufferfish, and return the boss trophy for the next coordinates. ^[01]

How to Fish 3rd island route

Activate both objectives before you sell, cook, or eat unfamiliar catches. That one habit prevents most third-island backtracking: the Shark task gives you a dependable recovery option, while the Tourist task owns the route to the next island. ^[01]

Complete the Shark and grill task first

The grill-side objective is useful preparation even when it is not the final travel gate. Read the current task text, use the island's matching lure, and return the requested Shark result to the NPC beside the grill. Once the grill is available, cook ordinary catches for healing before spending the single-use Carrot on a boss attempt. ^[01]

Keep quest items away from the cooking area. A valuable-looking catch is replaceable; a task item that has been cooked, eaten, or sold can force another fishing cycle. ^[01]

Find the Endangered Species for the Tourist

There is no special “endangered bait.” Fish normally on the Desert island, inspect each new catch, and look for the exact Endangered Species label. Species names found in guides are only leads because the status belongs to the catch shown in your current game. A Drip appearance, high price, unusual color, or difficult reel does not prove that the Tourist will accept it. ^[01]

When the label appears, stop using that creature as food or inventory money. Carry it intact to the Tourist. Receiving the Carrot is the clean confirmation that this section of the How to Fish 3rd island route is complete. For a focused troubleshooting checklist, use the Endangered Creature guide. ^[01]

Prepare before using the Carrot

The Carrot is Pufferfish bait, not an ordinary snack. Bring cooked fish, ammunition, and a ranged weapon you can keep on target while moving. If recoil wastes most of a magazine, buy control before raw damage. In co-op, decide who will keep the boss moving and who will shoot from a different angle; a crew stacked behind one tree can be hit by the same charge. ^[01]

Equip the Carrot on the rod, cast, and move toward solid terrain as the fight starts. Pufferfish commits to rolling approaches, so keep a tree or another obstacle between you and the boss, fire while it reroutes, and leave the purple hazard area when the later phase begins. Do not trade health for one extra burst. ^[01]

Return the correct Pufferfish trophy

Zero boss health is not the end of the objective. Search the remains for the distinctive trophy or tail piece, keep it separate from ordinary meat, and hand it to the Tourist. The Pufferfish boss guide covers the fight and hand-in in more detail. ^[01]

If the next marker does not appear, reopen the objective before buying another Radar or repeating the fight. The expected chain is Tourist request → valid endangered catch → Carrot → Pufferfish → trophy hand-in. The wider game map and island route shows where this result fits in the five-stage campaign. ^[01]

Fix a blocked third-island objective

• No Carrot: talk to the Tourist again, inspect the catch, and confirm the exact Endangered Species label.
• Tourist refuses the catch: the task may not be active, the creature may be damaged or cooked, or its status may be different from the guide example.
• Pufferfish does not appear: verify that the Carrot, rather than a Standard Lure, is selected on the rod.
• Boss is dead but the route stays locked: find the unique trophy and complete the Tourist hand-in.
• A guide shows different wording: follow the objective and item labels in your current build; names and balance details are version-sensitive. ^[01]

The task order and encounter details are Reported from release-build guides and playthrough evidence. Steam confirms that quests and bosses unlock progressively more dangerous islands, but it does not publish the Desert quest script or its item names. ^{[01] [02]}