What are the most targeted species on your local rivers?

[Silverfisher]

As the titles suggests what species are the most targeted on peoples various rivers around the country? I got thinking about it when wandering the banks of the Thames yesterday just watching the various anglers go about their sessions.

On the Oxfordshire Thames I'd say 90% of the pleasure fishing is split pretty equally between float fishing for predominantly roach, feeder fishing for predominantly bream and lure fishing for pike and perch. When you throw in match fishing though that definitely tips the scales massively in favour of the roach mostly on the float as they dominate way more matches than the bream.

I suspect the answers will be fairly obvious in favour of barbel on some rivers like it's fairly obvious with roach on the Thames but will be interesting to hear about the less obvious rivers

 

[smiffy]

On my nearest river I can go any day during the winter and have a days Roach fishing. Even on the coldest of days. That’s what most others do. I fish for Chub mainly but often get Roached out in the process.
I do see quite a few lure anglers wandering the bank.

 

[Zerkalo]

Middle Severn - definitely Barbel. 99% of rods you will see on any given day are Barbel rods. With the exception of matches.

Worcs Stour - I would say Chub but you do get a lot of Barbel anglers too, which surprised me until recently when Barbel turned up for the first time in two years. I should have listened to local knowledge before questioning why people always say they're after Barbel there.

I am pretty much the only person to target Silvers on the Stour Weir I fish when they turn up and I think it's safe to say along with the Severn, compared to the Chub and Barbel, these fish have never seen a hook before, whereas you can catch Barbel on the Severn with hooks still in their mouths.

 

[OldTaff]

Free stretch of the Medway I use seems to be a fair few pike & perch chasers, float fishers looking for roach or chublets.

The town section reports I read are more feeder orientated for bream plus the pike & perch guys again.

 

[IanG1]

Trents now full of bivvies and barbel and carp brigade. Shame some of them hog some of the best silvers pegs for days on end and complain they ain't had a bite except from poxy bream.

 

[derwentboy]

Ribble seems to be a lot of Barbel anglers but others going for Pike and Carp

 

[bettsfan]

I live in the proximity of only 2 tiny rivers, so would normally target anything that swims in them. Sadly they have both been somewhat savaged and neglected but am sure they could throw up a surprise or two.

I would generally say Roach on either with a chance of a Chub or two although Pike are often a target by others in one of them.

I just find it fascinating just to explore the two rivers, unlikely you will ever bag up on either but can still have some cracking days.

 

[melvyn]

On my local river. It's car tyres, Old boots. shopping trolleys. It happens to be the Medlock in central Manchester.

 

[Silverfisher]

Trents now full of bivvies and barbel and carp brigade. Shame some of them hog some of the best silvers pegs for days on end and complain they ain't had a bite except from poxy bream.

That’s sad to hear. I get the impression that parts of the Trent are some of a few places that can rival the Thames around here for Roach fishing.

 

[IanG1]

I think our stamp up here on the Trent are probably better than the Thames.

 

[BoldBear]

On my local stream/river it’s definately Barbel although it does go through the occasional stretches where the Chub start to take over and where the bottom starts to get silty; but the stretches that I fish have relatively clean gravelly bottoms most of the year and have a good stock of beards.

Keith

 

[david white]

River Rye, dace and grayling and odd chub
River Derwent roach dace and chub ( mind you the really local bit it’s gudgeon gudgeon and tommy Ruffe ( not all stretches are as prolific as the odd better known ‘ hot spots ‘ ) with the odd bonus roach and rare bream
River Seven odd pocket of small wild fish with the odd decent chub virtually any species could turn up though
River Dove wild trout, odd escapee rainbow trout odd dace very tiny brook really but it will be getting a bit of attention what with this lockdown

IanG1, never fished the Trent ( yet ! ) but there’s stretches of the Thames that on the occasions that the river is in proper condition ( which are rare during winter months over recent years ) where with the right angler on will give most venues a run for their money

 

[Silverfisher]

I think our stamp up here on the Trent are probably better than the Thames.

Here the maggot stamp tends to be 2-6oz and hemp 2-8oz but you don't see than many much over 10oz. It's more the numbers that are impressive.

Provided the rivers in reasonable condition double figure nets are a formality for fairly decent anglers then it's just a matter of how good they are as to how high they can go. I'm probably only average at best really but for roach I'd say I've caught the river right maybe 15 times this season and done 10-20lb on 10 of those occasions. The better anglers in my club don't drop below 10lb until the winter save for the worst conditions and are usually a fair bit higher.

 

[TimFB]

No rivers here, but I’m lucky to have a caravan in France, altho we haven’t been this year due to COVID. The nearest rivers are the Blavet and the Aulne (Nantes/Brest Canal). The locals mostly fish for Salmon and Shad on the tidal stretches in the spring then Pike, Zander and Perch in the winter in the canalised sections, but ignore the absolutely fantastic roach and bream fishing ...there also some decent carp and shoals of silvers you could walk on at times...the locals aren’t interested apart from the local club that has matches on the Nantes Brest Canal.

 

[Fugley-fisher]

Dorset stour middle upper stretch, roach, bream, chub and pike n perch are for the most part fished for but it will turn up a tench a rubbish but not many will target them. I think like most roach are the staple .

 

[Silverfisher]

Dorset stour middle upper stretch, roach, bream, chub and pike n perch are for the most part fished for but it will turn up a tench a rubbish but not many will target them. I think like most roach are the staple .

My few dabbles on the lower stour over the years suggest roach are the main target down there as well along with the barbel, seems to be more dace about than anything else though!

 

[Fugley-fisher]

@Silverfisher the lower stretch barble chub roach n dace, no barble up my end, the dace in good number are very localised, the rud have gotten into the river and are doing verry well in places to.

 

[Silverfisher]

Think dace are like that most places. There’s no real stretches for them on the Thames here more just the odd swim on a few stretches that can produce quite a few, they’re certainly nowhere near as widespread as the roach.

Interesting that rudd have got established where you are wouldn’t have thought that. I caught a couple out of the Thames once but that was it. Only time I’ve found rudd in numbers on a river was the Waveney.

 

[MarkW]

Not that long ago the main target on stretches of the Stour like Throop was chub and barbel with few float fishing in summer for roach, in winter the main method was float fishing for chub with maggots. In winter on the tidal Stour and elsewhere such as Wimborne and Blandford we used to get, before the cormorants all but wiped them out, prodigious catches of dace. Rudd in the upper Stour are due to the main two local clubs stocking them together with a lot of bream.

40 and 50 years ago most anglers around Oxford targeted chub on the Thames, both pleasure fishing (legering) and in matches (on the waggler). There were bream and roach catches of course.

 

[Arry]

My local smaller rivers are chub and perch... on the Chelmer, roach are the target and the Lea is chub and barbel