How to Fish Save File Location (Windows & Linux)

The full Windows path is C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\LocalLow\Dazed Games\How to Fish\Saves. The fastest way to open it is to paste that path straight into the File Explorer address bar and press Enter — Windows expands %USERNAME% to your account name automatically.

Inside the Saves folder you will find one .txt file per save slot, and each file carries the same name you gave the save in game. That makes it easy to tell a fresh starter save apart from a long-running co-op world when you are copying files around.

Two things commonly trip people up here:

• If %USERNAME% does not resolve, open C:\Users manually and enter the folder that matches your actual Windows or Microsoft account name.
• AppData is a hidden folder by default. In File Explorer, enable hidden items from the View menu (or just paste the full path, which works either way).

On Linux, How to Fish runs through Proton, so the save folder sits inside the game's Proton prefix rather than a native Linux directory. The full path is ~/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/4001890/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/AppData/LocalLow/Dazed Games/How to Fish/Saves/.

The 4001890 segment is the game's Steam App ID, and it is worth double-checking: it confirms you are looking at the prefix for How to Fish and not a different title with a similar name. Inside the prefix, the directory structure mirrors a Windows machine, with drive_c standing in for the C drive and steamuser standing in for your Windows username.

On Steam Deck, switch to Desktop Mode and use the same path. Note that .local is also a hidden folder, so enable showing hidden files in Dolphin if you are browsing there manually.

Both locations hold the same thing: .txt save files named after your in-game saves, one file per slot. macOS is not listed because no native or Proton path for it appears in the research.

Backing up is simple once you know the path, and it is worth doing before big patches (the game is on Patch 1.0.9 as of Aug 25, 2026 — see updates) or before moving to a new PC or a Steam Deck. Follow these steps:

1. Quit How to Fish completely. Do not copy or edit saves while the game is running.
2. Open the Saves folder for your platform using the paths above.
3. Copy the entire Saves folder, not just individual files, and paste it somewhere safe — an external drive, another folder, or cloud storage of your choice.
4. To transfer to another machine, install the game there first, then paste your copied Saves folder into the same location, replacing the empty one.

This is the part to treat with caution. The community backup guides this page is based on were written for manual backup and transfer, and at the time they noted that the game did not rely on Steam Cloud.

Because the game updates frequently, check before assuming your saves follow you automatically: open the game's page in your Steam library and look for the Steam Cloud indicator, or check the cloud status in the game's properties. Until you have confirmed it, a manual copy of the Saves folder is the reliable way to move progress between machines.

A player report on the Steam discussions describes a serious save bug in which every slot shows the placeholder Game Name and no new save can be created. In that thread, the problem was tied to the save directory under LocalLow being missing — the game had no folder to write to. This is a community bug report rather than an official fix from Dazed Games.

If your save slots look broken or empty, work through this checklist:

• Confirm the folder C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\LocalLow\Dazed Games\How to Fish actually exists, with a Saves folder inside it.
• Make sure you are checking the correct Windows account folder under C:\Users if you have more than one.
• Turn on hidden items in File Explorer so AppData is visible while you look.
• If the directory is missing entirely, that matches the reported bug — note it for a support report to Dazed Games.

Most "lost save" panics come from looking in the wrong place, not from actual data loss. Keep these in mind:

• Do not confuse How to Fish with the unrelated game Fish Game — its saves live under AppData\Local\FishGame, and that path has nothing to do with this game.
• The How to Fish folder is under AppData\LocalLow, not AppData\Local and not your Documents folder.
• Never copy or edit save files while the game is still running; close it first so the files are not mid-write.
• On Linux, the number in the path must be 4001890. A different App ID means you are inside another game's Proton prefix.

If you are sorting out other technical problems — for example a black screen when joining a multiplayer lobby — those have their own troubleshooting pages. New players may also want the beginner guide once their save is safe.