Help Me Catch
What do you want to catch?
Pick a species. We’ll pull venues, methods, baits and rigs from the graph — then you can plan a session around it. Filters are optional. Nothing here is a guarantee.
Everyday targets
Carp
The fish that built modern UK commercials — and still the one most anglers actually want to hold. Commons, mirrors and leathers, from mid-doubles to the fish of a lifetime.
F1
The engine of UK commercial sport. Fast, fussy, and often happier midwater than on the deck. If you can catch F1s well, you can catch most things on a day-ticket lake.
Tench
The green knight of stillwaters. Tench patrol silt, lily beds and quiet margins — a summer fish with a pin-prick bite and a dogged fight.
Bream
The slab of stillwaters and slow rivers. A feeding shoal of bream can fill a net; a wary pit bream can empty an afternoon.
Roach
The silver that made canal and river fishing. A proper roach — brick-red fins, clean scales, that violet eye — is still one of the most satisfying fish you can catch.
Silvers & small fish
Rudd
A surface-minded silver of stillwaters and canals. Upturned mouth, golden flank, and a habit of taking on the drop.
Crucian carp
The shy gold of estate lakes and a few careful commercials. Tiny bites, light tackle, and a fish that rewards sitting still.
Dace
The small, quick silver of clean rivers. Stick float, maggot, and a strike that has to be faster than the fish.
Gudgeon
The little barbelled fish of canal tracks and river gravel. Maggot, whip, and a reminder that not every session has to be a double-figure carp.
Ide
A stocked silver of some UK commercials and park lakes. Chub-like, willing, and often happier off the bottom than on it.
River fish
England and Wales: rivers, streams and drains are closed 15 March–15 June inclusive.
Barbel
The prize of running water after 16 June. A fish of creases, gravel and a bait put in the right seam — not a stillwater method with a bigger lead.
Chub
The opportunistic river fish. Bread, cheese, maggot, a chubber float or a quiet leger under a bush — and they will still surprise you on a canal.
Dace
The small, quick silver of clean rivers. Stick float, maggot, and a strike that has to be faster than the fish.
Predators
Predator fishing needs wire or heavy fluoro, forceps, and a plan for unhooking. Live fish must not be moved between waters. Rivers stay closed 15 March–15 June.
Perch
The striped hunter of lock mouths, snags and commercial features. Worm, maggot, and a small lure will all catch perch.
Pike
The stillwater and river predator. Deadbait or lure, wire trace, forceps, and a fish that demands proper unhooking — not a casual maggot session.
Zander
A non-native predator of some rivers, drains and stillwaters. Treat the fishing like a careful pike–perch hybrid: wire or heavy fluoro, welfare, and the local rules.
Eel
A declining, legally protected traveller. If you catch one, unhook it quickly and put it back. Do not keep eels.
Catfish
A heat-loving imported cat of some UK stillwaters. Huge, powerful, and a welfare job — only fish waters that actually stock them.