Rare Fish Variants in How to Fish
Last verified August 29, 2026 · Game version 1.0.10
One line of the official store listing quietly defines a big chunk of this game’s long-term play: “Try to collect the rare variant of all the different fish.” Every fish species in How to Fish has a rarer, off-palette version of itself, and hunting them down is the closest thing the game has to a completionist endgame outside the achievement list.
The Species table on our fish database covers the six standard rarity tiers; this page is about the per-species variant hunt that sits on top of them.
Rare Variants vs Drip Creatures — Not the Same Thing
These two get conflated constantly because both are “special fish,” but the game treats them as separate systems:
| Rare variant | Drip creature | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | An off-palette version of a specific fish species | A separate color-shifted creature class |
| What it connects to | The store’s stated collection goal — no dedicated achievement | Casino “Reel of Fortune” weapon-skin spins and two achievements |
| Tracked by | Your own log — nothing in Steam’s list | Drip (kill one, 96.4%) and Fishipedia (kill all, 1.4%) |
| More reading | This page | Drip Fish guide and the Casino guide |
The Achievements Nearby
Steam’s achievement list is the authoritative record of what the game tracks, and the collection-adjacent trophies are:
- Collector — “Find and kill all the creatures” (10.8% of players). The kill-everything checklist that variant hunting naturally feeds.
- Drip — “Kill a drip creature” (96.4%). Nearly everyone stumbles into one.
- Fishipedia — “Find and kill all drip creatures” (1.4%). The single rarest achievement in the game, and a warning about how long true completion takes.
Track your own progress with the achievement checklist — it uses real Steam unlock rates and saves your ticks locally.
A Low-Waste Hunting Loop
No official spawn rates, timers, or variant-specific lures have been documented — anyone selling a “guaranteed farm” is guessing. What the community does instead is a simple loop that keeps the grind cheap:
- Learn the baseline first. Catch the normal version of each species until its look is boring — a variant is only recognizable against a known normal.
- Progress islands before grinding variants. New islands add new species pools, and every new species is another variant target — grinding Island 1 variants with starter gear burns hours for a shrinking payoff.
- Hold anything visually odd. Do not sell a strange-looking catch until you have checked your achievements and quest needs — several chains want unusual fish handed in, and a sold quest fish is a re-catch.
- Vary bait and weather. Species tables tie fish to baits and weather windows, so rotating conditions is the only honest way to widen encounters while rates remain undocumented.
- Log your own numbers. Note island, bait, weather, and sell price per variant — with nothing official published, your log is the only real data set you have.
What We Deliberately Do Not Claim
No official variant spawn rates or percentages exist in any developer note so far.
No confirmed sell-price multiplier — the “variants sell for double” claims circulating in comments are not backed by anything we can verify. Check your own sale prices first.
No variant-specific lure, spawn timer, or guaranteed farming method has been proven. Guides claiming one are extrapolating.
The fish database total is not confirmed as the final species count — the Fishipedia achievement’s 1.4% unlock rate suggests even the fastest players have not finished cataloguing.
Rare Variants FAQ
Does every fish in How to Fish have a rare variant?
Yes, per the official store listing: one of the stated things to do in the game is to "Try to collect the rare variant of all the different fish." The variant pool grows as new islands unlock more species, so the collection target expands with progression.
Do rare variants sell for more?
A higher sale price is widely assumed but not officially documented anywhere — no patch note, loading-screen tip, or guide states a multiplier. The honest approach: sell your first variant and compare against the normal price in your own fishing log before building a money plan around them.
Are drip creatures the same as rare variants?
No. Drip creatures are a separate, named creature class — color-shifted, tied to the Casino and the Reel of Fortune weapon-skin spins, and tracked by their own achievements. A rare variant is an off-palette version of a specific fish species. You can absolutely have one without the other.
Is there an achievement for collecting rare variants?
Not directly. The store lists the variant hunt as a goal, but Steam's achievement list has no "collect every rare variant" trophy. The closest are Collector (find and kill all the creatures, 10.8%) and Fishipedia (find and kill all drip creatures, 1.4% — the rarest achievement in the game).
Sources & Verification
- Official Steam store listing: How to Fish (Dazed Games) — source of the “collect the rare variant of all the different fish” goal
- Steam global achievements: How to Fish (app 4001890) — official wording and unlock rates for Collector, Drip, and Fishipedia
- Steam Community guide: All 28 Achievements + Post-Game Route — community achievement route referencing drip creatures and post-game hunting
Data on this page is re-verified against the sources above after each official patch. See our editorial policy for how we source and correct game data.