Key Points
- The Pufferfish is a special boss that spawns on the third island.
- You need to complete the Tourist’s quest first to get the special bait.
- Each time you hit the Pufferfish, it will expand. At half health, it will release a poison cloud as it moves around.
Each island in How to Fish comes with a set of unique fish bosses. With each island you discover, the boss fights get tougher to beat. After landing on Island 3, you will come face to face with the Pufferfish.
How to Fish – Pufferfish Overview
| Location | Island 3 |
| Recommended Bait | Carrot |
| Recommended Weapons | SMG, dynamite |
Where to Find the Pufferfish Boss
The Pufferfish is the boss spawn of Island 3, but you can’t find it right away. Like most bosses in the game, you need to fish it out using a particular bait. After getting the coordinates to the new island from the woman NPC in Island 2, you can set sail to a whole new island. Over here, you need to pick up another quest before you can claim the required bait to lure the Pufferfish.
Explore the island to find a person sitting on the ground. Speak to the Tourist to start their quest. They require an endangered creature to show off to their friends, and in return, they will offer some of their extra snacks. I recommend purchasing a Standard Lure and using it to fish. Try to reel in a Seahorse, Bowlfish, or a Needlefish, then kill it before handing it over to the Tourist. In turn, he will give you the Carrot Bait.
Beating the Pufferfish Boss
I recommend using the SMG with the compensator and laser sight with max bullet upgrades. I also recommend purchasing a handful of dynamite for this fight. What I liked to do was place several dynamites in the central area of the island. In particular, I planned to lure the boss into the central rock and tree formations to trap it. Once prepared, you can lure the Pufferfish with your new bait.
After the Pufferfish has caught your bait, toss it aside to give you time to run to the center of the island. Run around the central rock and tree formation while unloading your gun on the Pufferfish. Each time the Pufferfish gets shot, it grows bigger. As it grows, the chances of it getting trapped between the tree and rock are higher. Once the Pufferfish is stuck, quickly shoot at the dynamite to create a large blast.
This should quickly reduce the Pufferfish’s health by half, but now comes the hard part. While the Pufferfish moves around, it will release toxic gas. If you step in it, you will lose some health. This time around, you need to create a larger circle while moving around the center of the island and avoid the toxic gas.
Continue to shoot the Pufferfish to make it bigger until it can’t go through the trees anymore. This is the best way to complete the rest of the fight while it is wedged behind a tree. Shoot it down to kill it, then collect the Pufferfish Fin trophy from the ground and hand it over to the Tourist to get the Island 4 coordinates.
FAQs
Are there other ways to cheese the Pufferfish boss?
The only other way to cheese the boss fight is to fill the island with several dynamites and detonate them all at the same time after luring the boss to the island.
What happens if I hand over any other fish to the Tourist?
The tourist won’t accept any other fish besides the Needlefish, Sea Horse, and Bowlfish. This will leave the quest incomplete, and you won’t get the Carrot bait.
I couldn’t kill the boss and ended up dying. What do I do?
You need to redo the Tourist quest and collect another Carrot bait to lure the Pufferfish back on the island.
