How to Fish Rare Variants & Drip Creatures
Every regular catch in the game has a rare alternate version. They are called Drip variants, and you will know one the moment it lands.
The short version
A Drip variant is the same creature with a rainbow-coloured name. Every one of the 38 regular catches has one, they are rare rather than gated, andthey use the same rod and lure as the ordinary version — there is no separate bait to buy and no separate spot to fish.
They also do not add to the creature count. A Drip Mackerel is still a Mackerel as far as the collection is concerned.
What this means in practice
- You cannot farm them with better gear. Since the bait is identical, the only variable is how long you fish a pool.
- There is no checklist to work through. The variant list is just the fish list — see fish and lures for which bait each pool takes.
- They are worth more. Rarity is the point, so hold one rather than reflexively selling it if a quest might want the species.
The achievement
There is an achievement for finding all Drip creatures. It had a bug where it would not unlock until you found the next drip after completing the set;Patch 1.0.5 fixed that. If you completed the set on an older build and it never popped, catching one more should settle it.
Endangered creatures
A different thing from a Drip variant, and easy to confuse. Endangered is aflag on the catch, not a rarity tier and not a skin — three of the regular catches carry it. The game marks one on screen as you reel it in, and killing it pays a small bonus.
One of them is also what the Tourist quest asks for, so it is worth recognising the marker rather than selling on reflex. Which three carry the flag is the part we are still confirming.
Compiled from published guides and patch write-ups, cross-checked between them. Not yet verified in-game by this wiki — corrections welcome.