UK Coarse Fish Species description habitat baits and methods of catching freshwater fish

Fish Species found in the waters of the UK and Ireland

Guide to UK Coarse Fish Species

British freshwater fish that anglers might catch when fishing the waters of the UK and Ireland

Fish descriptions and details of fishing for them are for general guidance and advice only but will hopefully help you catch fish.

Details of habitat and identification of fish you might catch and fishing methods and baits used by anglers for catching the different species

In this section about UK Freshwater fish species I will be describing the fish that inhabit the rivers and lakes in the UK that you will be fishing for.

Information about different species of fish and how to catch them.

To View Descriptions and Details of British Coarse Fish click on the links below

CHUB

Guide to Identifying Coarse Fish Species that Live in Rivers and Lakes of the UK?

BARBEL Barbus barbus
UK Rod Caught Coarse Fish Record
21lb 1oz 2006 Grahame King, Adams Mill Fishery, Bedford
The barbel is light brown to greenish brown with yellowish sides. The fins are darker except for the pectoral, pelvic and anal fins which are yellowish orange. The body of the barbel is elongated with very small scales and appears scale less.

read more about Barbel

UK Coarse Fish Records correct 2016 see list

BLEAK Alburnus alburnas
UK Rod Caught Coarse Fish Record
4oz 9dr 1998 D Flack from the River Lark in Cambridgeshire
The Bleak is a member of the cyprinid family. It is a slender fish with an elongated and flat sided body. It has a pointed head with large eyes and a small mouth that is turned upwards. Colouration of the bleak is generally a shiny silvery colour.

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BREAM Common or Bronze Abramis brama
Rod Caught Coarse Fish Record
19lb 10oz - 2005 - James Rust, Cambridge Water
Adult bream are deep bodied and bronze in colour with darker, sometimes black fins. The bream has a deep laterally compressed body with a prominent covering of protective slime. It has a long anal fin compared with the dorsal fin, a forked tail and a relatively small head and mouth with a protruding upper jaw.

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WELS CATFISH Silurus glanis
UK Rod Caught Coarse Fish Record
62lb 1997 R Garner from Withy Pool, Bedfordshire
The Catfish, so named for their prominent barbules that look like a cat's whiskers is the longest and heaviest species of fish in the UK. It looks similar to an eel and has a long scale less body, an enormous head with six 'whiskers' protruding from it and an equally enormous mouth. The large head tapers back to the large tail. The fish has a small dorsal fin and an anal fin that stretches backwards until it almost reaches the tail.

read more about Wels Catfish

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Information provided for each and all fish species on this website is for general advice only.
No part of this website may be reproduced in any form or by any means

The pages linked from this fish species section contains information on the habitat and identification of fish, basic methods of fishing for a species of fish and various fishing baits often used for catching the different fish species.

ZANDER Pikeperch Sander lucioperca
UK Rod Caught Coarse Fish Record
21lb 5oz 2007 James Benfield
The Zander has a long body with a small and narrow head with large dark glassy eyes. The eyes look glassy because they incorporate a reflective plate or tapetum which increases their sensitivity at night and in poor light. The mouth is large with prominent backward pointing teeth. Pairs of fang like teeth found on the front of the lower and upper jaws that fit into hollows in the opposite side of the jaws.

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TENCH Tinca tinca
UK Rod Caught Coarse Fish Record
15lb 3oz 6dr - 2001 - D Ward
Tench are easily identified by their thick set, well rounded, dark olive green coloured body. The scales are very tiny which give them the appearance of being scale-less. The fins are rounded and the caudal fin is large almost unforked. The sexes can be distinguish by the shape of the pelvic fins on the underside of the body.

read more about Tench

SILVER BREAM Blicca bjoerkna
UK Rod Caught Coarse Fish Record
3lbs 4oz - 8th May 2012 - Gareth Evans, Mill Farm Fishery, Sussex
Silver bream are smaller but similar to a young common bream and difficult to tell apart. The silver bream is a fairly deep bodied fish with a dark olive-green back, silvery sides and white under belly. The fins are pale and may be tinged pinkish. As young bream and silver bream are very similar a fin ray and scale count may be the only way to distinguish one from the other.

read more about Silver Bream

PERCH Perca fluviatilis
UK Rod Caught Coarse Fish Record
5lb 15oz 2006 Les Brown, Stillwater at Crowborough, Sussex
Nickname 'Stripey'. The perch has a flat sided greenish body graduating down to a white belly. It has bright red/orange pelvic fins, two dorsal fins with five or more broad black vertical stripes down the sides of its body. It has a row of sharp pointed spines along the dorsal fin so be careful when handling the perch

read more about Perch

PIKE Esox lucius
UK Rod Caught Coarse Fish Record
46lb 13oz 1992 R Lewis, Llandegfedd, Wales
Pike are unmistakable with its distinguished striped or spotted pattern body, large broad head, flattened snout and huge mouth full of sharp, backward facing teeth. In 1980 a 62 million year old fossilised skeleton of Esox was discovered in Canada. There was also half a million years old fossilised remains of Esox lucius found in the Cromer Forest beds in Norfolk, Britain.

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ROACH Rutilus rutilus
UK Rod Caught Coarse Fish Record
4lb 4oz - 2006 - Keith Berry, Northern Ireland Stillwater
Roach are a moderately deep bodied fish with silvery white sides, dark brown or grey back with a bluish or greenish tint, red/orange eyes, large silvery scales and red lower fins, hence the nickname, 'Redfin'.

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RUDD Scardinius erythrophthalmus
Current UK Rod Caught Coarse Fish Record
4lb 10oz 2001 Simon Parry, Co Armagh, Northern Ireland
The body of the rudd is flattened at the sides, the back is blue-green and the belly a silvery white. the dorsal fin and pectoral fins are reddish-grey and all other fins are a deep red. Rudd are often confused with Roach but can be identified by the dorsal fin which is set further back and starts behind imaginary vertical line projected upwards from the pelvic fins.

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RUFFE Gymnocephalus cernuus
UK Rod Caught Coarse Fish Record
5oz 4dr - 1980 - R J Jenkins, West View Farm, Cumbria
The Ruffe, also known as Pope or Tommy Ruffe, is a relative of the Perch - Perca fluviatilis and sometimes mistaken by beginners to angling as a young perch due to the similar spiny dorsal fin.

read more about Ruffe

GUDGEON

GUDGEON Gobio gobio
UK Rod Caught Coarse Fish Record
5oz 1990 D H Hull, River Nadder, Sutton Mandeville, Wilts
Gudgeon are sometimes mistaken for small baby barbel but can very easily be identified. The gudgeon has two barbules one barbule either side of its mouth as opposed to the barbel which has four and the stone loach which has six barbules

read more about Gudgeon

GRAYLING Thymallus thymallus
UK Rod Caught Coarse Fish Record
4lb 3oz 1989 S R Lanigan, River Frome, Dorset
Grayling, affectionately known as, 'the Lady of the Stream', are members of the salmon family and are considered by some anglers as coarse fish and by others as game fish. Grayling with their huge dorsal fin are unmistakable from other fish. The Grayling is a streamlined fish with a small pointed head, silvery blue body with violet stripes and irregular dark spots on the flanks

read more about Grayling

EEL Anguilla anguilla
UK Rod Caught Coarse Fish Record
11lb 2oz 1978 Master S Terry, Kingfisher Lake, Nr Ringwood, Hants
The eel has an elongated body similar to that of a snake. Longish head with rounded eyes. The eyes are small in young eels and large in older and silver eels. The eel has a protruding lower jaw longer than the upper jaw. The teeth are small and set in bands in both jaws and in a patch on vomer. Small and vertical gill openings restricted to the sides.

read more about Eels

DACE Leuciscus leuciscus
UK Rod Caught Coarse Fish Record
1lb 5oz 2dr 2002 Simon Ashton, River Weir
The Dace is a fast, lively, active fish, nicknamed 'the Dart', because of the way it darts through the fast flowing waters. Closely related to the Chub, the Dace is a more streamlined fish and distinguished from the Chub by its anal and dorsal fins which are both concave, whereas the Chub's are convex and red in colour.

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CHUB Leuciscus cephalus
UK Rod Caught Coarse Fish Record
9lb 5oz 2007 Andy Maker, Southern Stillwater
Nicknames include old rubber lips, loggerhead, chavender and chevin.
The chub is a thick set fish with a large blunt head and long and cylindrical body. Scales are large greenish/brown with a slight black edging across the back, working down to a lighter golden flank and a light belly with a dark brown or black tail. The dorsal fin of the chub is a greyish/green colour with other fins being orange/red. The chub has a large mouth with thick rubbery lips and a voracious appetite and will eat almost anything.

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CARP Crucian Carassius carassius
UK Rod Caught Coarse Fish Record
4lb 9oz 9 dr M Bowler, RMC Fishery, Yateley Lake
The Crucian Carp Carassius carassius is amongst the smallest members of the family Cyprinidae, which includes other fish such as the Common Carp, although the Crucian Carp is different in that it doesn't have barbules and rarely reaches a weight above 3.3lb, 1.5 kg

read more about Crucian Carp

CARP Mirror Cyprinus carpio
There are different variants of carp:-
Common carp, Mirror carp, Linear carp, Leather carp, Grass carp, Ghost carp and Koi carp

read more about fishing for Carp