Side missions are a core part of Borderlands 4, and you’ll encounter plenty of them throughout both the base game and the DLC-specific region of the Whispering Glacier. This frigid wasteland has horrific things lurking beneath and above the surface, and so there’s gonna be plenty of people who need a spot of help.
Borderlands 4: Claptrap Mission Location Guide
Searching for Claptrap? Of course you are.
Sometimes that help isn’t even related to the horrific nightmares and voices driving people insane; it’s just about a young woman looking for her missing grandfather. But you won’t be finding this mission anywhere. Time to grab that dynamite and blast the icy waters of the Whispering Glacier into figurative smithereens.
How To Unlock The Ice Fishing Side Mission
Ice Fishing is a secret Side Mission exclusively part of the Ellie and the Vault of the Damned DLC, and requires some slight puzzle-solving before you can make it available, as well as completing at least the first campaign mission from the DLC, On Icebound Shores Abandoned.
First, looking for fishing spots in the Crooked Teeth region. They’ll always be near shallow water and have at least one chair and a bucket of dynamite with them, and they can be found in a few locations.
- Three are found on the glacier with the Edge of the World fast travel point on it.
- One is sitting along the edge of the glacier south of the Edge of the World fast travel point and across from the small, frozen lake.
When you find any one of these points, look for splashing water with shiny particles out in the ocean within view. Grab the dynamite from the buckets and toss it into the splashing water to cause a small explosion that unearths some loot and a special Echo Log.
If you mess up the dynamite throw, it will respawn in the bucket nearby after a couple of seconds, so you don’t have to worry about being locked out of accessing the mission.
Use Grapple to either grab the Echo Log in midair or from the water’s edge if it falls into the ocean, and it will automatically play a message from someone named Grumpy.
You’ll need to repeat this process at three other sparkling water points nearby. It may take a few tries and non-sparkling splashes to get the ones you need to spawn, but once you’ve found all four Echo Logs, check the Speakeasy to find the new side mission.
Where To Find Ol’ Thrash
At the Speakeasy, go to one of the tables behind the bar to find Marina and speak to her. Head back to the Whispering Glacier via the Ellie’s Garage fast travel point and take your vehicle through the canyon to the west, then to the ocean at the edge of the map.
Go inside the round hut behind a chunk of ice and pick up the Echo Log sitting on a bunch of dead fish and blood. Listen to it, then grab the dynamite from the bucket nearby, and throw it on the cracked ice behind his hut that’s surrounded by Threshers before it detonates on you.
Ol’ Thrash will spawn from the hole, and you’ll have to fight him. He’s a tough Thresher with two health bars, but he acts similarly to other Thresher bosses like Ice Maw, so just watch out for his melee slams, the seismic waves, and the small Threshers that will periodically spawn during the fight, and he won’t be a problem.
Killing Ol’ Thrash will get you some loot and a special quest item, Gumpy’s Hat. Pick it up, and Marina will give you a call, signaling the end of the quest, which will net you some EXP and Cash.
While it doesn’t provide much of a reward, the main thing completing this quest does do is count towards the Looking For Work At The Top Of The World achievement/trophy, which requires you to complete all side missions in the Whispering Glacier region, and is required if you plan to 100% the DLC.
Borderlands 4: Primordial Vault Guardians Location Guide
IOR, in position.
