Fishing

Fishing's in. Reporting on the Extended Look describes it as about as detailed as the system in Red Dead Redemption 2, and that's a high bar. Red Dead modelled species, bait, water type and time of day, and a fight on the line could last minutes.

The catch and release rule

The reported detail that makes people stop is that Grand Theft Auto 6 uses catch and release. You can't keep a fish and you can't sell one. You land it, photograph it and put it back, and that's the whole loop.

It sounds like a limitation, but it's probably the opposite. Red Dead's fishing was partly an economy: fish were food, income and crafting material, so a good spot turned into a grind. Take the payout away and there's no reason to farm it. You end up fishing because you're on a boat and the sun's going down.

It suits the setting, too. Catch and release really is how a huge amount of Florida sport fishing works, especially for the species people go out for.

Collectibles, not cash

Reporting ties fishing to collectibles and challenge completion, and not to money. That's the usual Rockstar pattern for an activity it wants you to try once in every region, instead of doing it over and over in the best one.

The geography backs that up. The Keys are built on sport fishing, Grassrivers is fresh water and wetland, Mount Kalaga has rivers, and Lake Leonida is an inland sea. That's four different kinds of water, which is more than any earlier game in the series has had.

Bass fishing

The one thing Rockstar has put its own name to is a place, not a mechanic. Game Informer's issue 382 cover story lists bass fishing among the map features, in the same list as golf, farms and ranches.

The largemouth bass is Florida's state freshwater fish, and bass fishing is the inland, pick-up truck end of the state's fishing culture. The charter boats are the other end, down in the Keys. Tournament bass fishing is also overwhelmingly catch and release, so the reported rule above fits the species Rockstar chose to name.

This next bit is our inference: the bass spots probably sit in the freshwater interior, around Lake Leonida, Grassrivers or the rivers further north. Rockstar hasn't said where they are.

What isn't known

Rockstar hasn't described the system publicly. Bass fishing is named as a feature of the map, but it isn't explained as an activity. We haven't seen any other species or any tackle, it isn't clear whether either character can fish, and nobody's shown a photograph mode or a record book. Catch and release comes from reporting on preview footage, so treat it as reported for now. It isn't confirmed.

Related: scuba diving, kayaking.