How to Fish Leeches Not Spawning: Fixes and Locations

Quick fix

Finish the full conversation with the woman on Island 2 and confirm that the objective shows a Leech counter such as 0/3. Search the grass on foot and press E when the pickup prompt appears. If the counter is still below 3 after a complete sweep and no prompts appear, save safely, return to the main menu, and reload the latest save.

The reload is a community-reported workaround, not a fix documented by the developer. Patch 1.0.9 does not list a Leech spawn repair, so keep your current quest items and avoid overwriting a useful save while troubleshooting.

Where the three Leeches are

Check	Correct answer
Area	Island 2 / Forest
Surface	On the ground in the grass
Required count	3 in the current quest
Interaction	Walk close and press E at the prompt
Fishing rod needed	No
Reward	The special Leech-based bait for Giant Piranha

The grass can hide the small models. Look for the interaction prompt rather than trying to identify each Leech visually. Start beside the quest giver, lower the camera, and sweep the usable grass in one direction instead of repeatedly crossing the same central path.

Troubleshooting order

1. Read the objective. If there is no 0/3, 1/3, or 2/3 Leech counter, finish every line of the woman’s dialogue first.
2. Search on land. Leeches are ground pickups, not fish, boss drops, or objects in the lake.
3. Walk the whole grass area. Move slowly enough for the E prompt to appear near vegetation and path edges.
4. Check the counter after every pickup. Stop searching once it reaches 3/3 and return to the woman.
5. Reload the latest save if the spawn is genuinely empty. Return to the main menu, load the most recent save, talk to the woman again, and repeat one systematic sweep.
6. Update the game. Restart Steam if the title screen does not show the current patch before reporting the problem.

Do not keep sailing away and returning, buy a radar, or spend money on ordinary lures. Current player reports do not show that those actions force missing Leeches to respawn.

After you reach 3/3

Return all three Leeches to the same woman and finish the conversation. She converts the quest items into the special bait used to summon Giant Piranha. Community guides use several names for this item, including Leech Bait, Modified Leech, and Father’s Favorite Bait; use the new quest bait that appears in your current inventory rather than relying on an older label.

Equip that special bait, cast on Island 2, defeat Giant Piranha, keep its quest drop, and return it to the woman. The boss kill alone does not unlock the next destination; the final hand-in completes this island’s progression step.

Continue with the boss fish guide for the fight, the island route for the next unlock, or the bait guide if the wrong lure is equipped.

Sources checked on August 26, 2026: the player report and reload workaround, the three-Leech quest route, the Island 2 bait walkthrough, and the official patch 1.0.9 notes. The spawn workaround is community-tested and may not resolve every damaged save.