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There's no dialogue preceding this question, but the context is that a father and his son have just arrived at a river to go fishing. The son asks:

こんなところで魚なんか釣れるわけ？

I believe this means "Can we actually catch fish in a place like this?", but I don't know exactly what purpose わけ serves here.

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The わけ works like an ending particle for question, mostly replaceable by の.

Examples:

  • こんなところで魚なんか釣れるわけ？ = こんなところで魚なんか釣れるの？
  • どこいってたわけ？= どこいってたの？
  • 何してたわけ？ = 何してたの？

Both are mostly the same in meaning, but の generally sounds softer and わけ can sound emphasizing doubt of the speaker, or sometimes can add blaming tone.

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わけ (in kanji 訳) means

① "I heard... But are you sure that... (Is it true that...)? I doubt it"

or

② "How on earth...? I doubt it's possible."

Both of them are used for just emphasizing and the situation when the speaker is little bit angry.

Ex sentences
①type

この辺に来ればお金がもらえると聞いたけど、本当なわけ？
I heard I can get some money when I come to here around. But is it true? (I doubt it)

②type

私たちの家からこんな遠くまで来て、どうやって帰るわけ？
We came to this place far away from our house. But how on earth can we go home? (I doubt it’s possible)

But 「〜わけね、〜わけなのね、〜わけなのか」means "I see" so be careful not to confuse with it.

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  • I don't quite understand this part: "It doesn’t have such a meaning like “I heart” like former one"
    – Eddie Kal
    Jul 12 at 5:46
  • Umm yea…it’s so hard to explain precisely…We can use ② type of grammar before got explained or told about something in advance. But we can’t use ① type of grammar in that case. Because it’s more like “is it true? I doubt it. If it is wrong,I blame you”…I mean it contains like this meaning. So I typed that explanation in case.
    – Zyunko
    Jul 12 at 6:11
  • But it’s actually deceptive…so I’ve just deleted yea
    – Zyunko
    Jul 12 at 6:57

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