Good old rng, currently doing master angler so I have filleted thousands of fish.
Like you say, I can go through a stack without one roe, but then get a few from a stack.
I just sell my stacks for 15k on xbox eu now so I know I am getting value
The first and only time I fished and got a stack of 200 fish, many months agos, got ZERO roe, fishing is so bloody boring I dont know how other players can stand it...ugh..
Just like real life; fishing isn't for everybody. Sometimes, I just need a slow pace. Sometimes, I need a bounty cool down. There are also alchemy regents, leathers, woods, etc to farm while jogging between holes. Right now, I'm trying to get that elusive catfish in Grahtwood Perfect Roes are awesome but fishing for me is more than that. In comparison, I would never run the same dungeon a hundred times getting the same piece of armor. Like the guy said, "RNG is a harsh mistress."
Rule #1: RL trumps gaming.
Rule #2: True immersion is RL.
Rule #3: RL lag is wonderful.
Rule #4: People matter. Pixels do not.