🐟 Fish guide
What's that fish?
19 UK coarse fish: how to spot them, where they live, what they eat, how big they get and the setup to catch them.
Silver fish
Shoaling fish that bite all day. Where most anglers start.
Roach
Rutilus rutilus
⚖️ 2 oz – 8 oz
🌱 Good for beginners
Rudd
Scardinius erythrophthalmus
⚖️ 4 oz – 1 lb
🌱 Good for beginners
Silver bream
Blicca bjoerkna
⚖️ 4 oz – 12 oz
Dace
Leuciscus leuciscus
⚖️ 2 oz – 6 oz
🌱 Good for beginners
Gudgeon
Gobio gobio
⚖️ 1 oz – 2 oz
🌱 Good for beginners
Bleak
Alburnus alburnus
⚖️ Under 1 oz – 2 oz
🌱 Good for beginners
Ruffe
Gymnocephalus cernuus
⚖️ 1 oz – 3 oz
🌱 Good for beginners
Ide
Leuciscus idus
⚖️ 1 lb – 3 lb
🌱 Good for beginners
Carp, tench & river giants
Bigger, warier fish that pull hard. Worth the wait.
Carp
Cyprinus carpio
⚖️ 3 lb – 15 lb on commercials
🌱 Good for beginners
Crucian carp
Carassius carassius
⚖️ 4 oz – 1 lb
Tench
Tinca tinca
⚖️ 2 lb – 5 lb
🌱 Good for beginners
Bream
Abramis brama
⚖️ Skimmers 4 oz – 2 lb, bream 2 – 5 lb
🌱 Good for beginners
Chub
Squalius cephalus
⚖️ 1 lb – 3 lb
🌱 Good for beginners
Barbel
Barbus barbus
⚖️ 3 lb – 8 lb
Predators
Fish that hunt other fish. Learn to handle them first.
Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each page. Record weights from the British Record (rod caught) Fish Committee.