Fishing and hunting are back as full side activities in GTA 6, and Rockstar has been clear about how each one works. The catch, quite literally, is that fishing is strictly recreational. You reel in fish for fun, complete challenges, and collect them, but you cannot store a single one. Hunting takes the opposite route, giving you a genuine way to make money away from the main crime jobs.
Quick answer: Fishing in GTA 6 is catch-and-release only, so no fish enters your inventory. Hunting lets you kill animals and sell what you get for cash, and it unlocks through a character who already knows Jason.
Fishing in GTA 6: Catch-and-release only
Rockstar North boss Rob Nelson has said fishing in GTA 6 is as detailed as it was in Red Dead Redemption 2. The big change is that you throw everything back. When asked why you cannot keep fish, Nelson said the idea simply “didn’t fit this game,” so fishing serves a recreational purpose instead of a survival or crafting one.
That does not make it pointless. Fishing ties into narrative moments, feeds into collectibles, and supports a set of challenges you can work through. You can also inspect the fish you catch, a system carried over from Red Dead Redemption 2. So the depth is there, it just does not turn into an inventory or a money printer.
The reasoning fits the setting. Red Dead Redemption 2 is set in 1899, where catching, cooking, and eating fish made sense for survival. GTA 6 is modern-day Leonida, where Jason and Lucia have easy access to food, so keeping fish would not serve much purpose.
Hunting in GTA 6: A real way to earn money
Hunting is built to be practical. You can kill animals and use what you collect to earn cash, making it one of several ways to make money in the game that sit outside the main criminal economy. That matters because GTA 6 asks you to earn money to progress the main story, so a side activity like this can pay off over time.
Hunting is introduced through a character who already knows Jason, so it does not feel like a disconnected minigame dropped onto the map. That person has not appeared in any footage shown so far. As with fishing, you can inspect the animals you take down, and the game also lets you interact with dogs you can pet, scold, and inspect.
Beyond the money-making element and the character link, the finer details of exactly how the hunting loop plays out have not been laid out yet.
Fishing vs. hunting: The key differences
| Activity | Main purpose | Can you keep the catch? | How it starts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fishing | Recreation, challenges, collectibles, story moments | No, catch-and-release only | Available as a leisure activity |
| Hunting | Earning money outside crime jobs | Yes, you sell what you collect | Unlocked through a character who knows Jason |
How side activities feed the body and lifestyle systems
Fishing and hunting sit inside a wider set of systems that track how Jason and Lucia live. The protagonists are not stuck with fixed stats. Their physical condition shifts based on what they do, so exercise, food, and sleep all leave a mark.
- Eating too much makes a character gain weight, and skipping the gym causes muscle loss.
- Sleep quality is tracked. It affects how quickly certain attributes recover, and going without sleep too long slows regeneration and adds visible bags under the eyes.
- Gyms need a membership signed up at the front desk, and both protagonists can train together, with the inactive one exercising alongside the character you control. Nelson described this as an “emergent date.”
- Coffee and energy drinks give a temporary stamina boost during workouts, and weightlifting uses L2 and R2 to control each rep.
- Swimming swaps the normal stamina bar for a lung-capacity meter.
Other side activities in Leonida
Fishing and hunting are two entries on a long list. You can work out at gyms, play basketball, pool, mini golf, tennis, take part in wrestling and kickboxing, visit shooting ranges, go parachuting, scuba diving, and kayaking. Some of these are built around Jason and Lucia’s relationship, so kayaking can act as a date while staying fit complements the two of them as a couple.
There is also room for car and bike collecting. You can track down vehicles and race them to grow your garage as a hobby on the side.
Release date and platforms
GTA 6 launches on November 19, 2026, for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. That is when you will be able to explore Leonida in full and see how fishing, hunting, and the rest of these systems come together in the open world. Taken as a whole, the approach points to side content that reacts to what you do rather than a stack of throwaway minigames.
