GTA 6 is not even out yet and people are already roasting one of the smaller side activities, because Rockstar North co-studio head Rob Nelson told YouTuber TGG that fishing is catch and release only. You can hook a fish, look it over, and tick off a challenge or collectible, but you cannot keep it, cook it, or sell it, and Nelson’s explanation was that keeping fish just did not fit this game. That would have been a quiet detail if fans had not immediately lined it up next to store robberies, where the stuff you grab actually stays yours.
One reply that spread fast put it pretty cleanly: fishing is catch and release, but robbing a store lets you keep everything. In a series built around crime, that contrast was always going to get memed.
Fishing Is More of a Chill Hobby Than a Money Maker
Rockstar is treating fishing like a break from the chaos rather than another hustle. Red Dead Redemption 2 let you keep fish because Arthur Morgan was living off the land in 1899, while GTA 6 is set in modern Leonida, where Jason and Lucia can buy food on every corner and extra calories just feed the gym system. So the studio kept the satisfying part of casting a line, watching the weather and bait change what bites, and fishing from the shore or a boat like the Shitzu Squalo, then made you throw the catch back instead of stuffing another item into your inventory.
Robberies Work in the Opposite Direction
Holdups are a real part of how you get paid. You can hit convenience stores, phone shops, jewelry spots, and even random businesses that are not marked on the map, then dump the cash and goods into a duffel bag and take them to a fence. Physical cash can disappear if you die, bank money is safer, and that whole loop matters because story progress can stall if Jason and Lucia are broke. Hunting can also make money through a character tied to Jason, which only makes the “no, you cannot keep the fish” rule feel stranger.
Some Fans Wonder Why Fishing Is Even There
A lot of the pushback is less about realism and more about payoff. If you cannot sell the catch or cook it, people want to know why they should spend time on it at all, even if the animations and fish variety look detailed. Others are fine with it as a low-stakes activity for challenges and collectibles between heists. GTA 6 is still aiming for November 19, 2026 on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, so nobody has lived with the mechanic yet. Right now the joke is doing more work than the fishing rod.