What are the most targeted species on your local rivers?

[Silverfisher]

Rudd in the upper Stour are due to the main two local clubs stocking them together with a lot of bream.

Surprised they were allowed to do that tbh

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.

You don’t see that much chub fishing around here anymore for some reason as you still see the fish. At least nowhere near as much as a few miles away on the Ouse.

 

[Neil ofthe nene]

The Nene in Northamptonshire is, I would say, predominantly a roach river. There are spots where other species exist in enough numbers to be worth targeting but roach have 90% of the attention. After that I have to say that I am surprised by the number of pike anglers I see on the river. So for actually targeted fishing I would put pike second.

 

[Barbelcatcher]

Well, the Trent around East Stoke to Sutton on Trent, is dominated by barbel anglers, although I hear the A1 pits are barren, now that Dave and Max no longer visit. Roach are present in numbers in some swims and areas, and pike fishing likewise results in some good catches where these fish are. Decent perch are found in quite a few of the local marina's, especially in flooded river conditions, as the smaller fish are pushed into these and the water clarity is that much better, not being running water. Likewise the Torksey canal entrance near Dunham on Trent provides a similar refuge.

 

[spanky]

Difficult to say. Local river has a small population of good quality barbel, chub and bream. Occasionally you see folks actively targeting the barbel, but mostly if you just fish a pellet or piece of luncheon meat you stand a chance of catching any of them.

Personally I tend to walk the river and float fish maggot for whatever comes along, but you don't see many others doing that.

 

[alsur]

I fish 2 local rivers Wey and Blackwater, both are fished by two types of anglers one like me who fish float for anything that comes along on Wey that is mainly Dace with a few Grayling and odd Chub Trout Gudgeon and Roach two those who fish lead for bigger species mainly Chub with odd Trout, Barbel are present and fished for but hard to catch. The Blackwater which I find better, on float lots of small Chub with a few bigger ones good numbers of Dace, Roach Gudgeon and perch and odd small Barbel lead anglers mainly target Barbel and Chub.

Talking about Lower Thames I fished matches once or twice a week in 1980s and Dace were dominate species I fished Molesey Monday evening match every week in summer and caught mainly Dace hardly any Roach but now Roach are dominate species.

 

[Zerkalo]

An interesting thing for me on the Worcs Stour, when small Silvers are present and tend to smash any bait you put in, it is predominantly small Chublets but Dace and Roach also show too. When the small Chublets aren't there the Roach and Dace seem to disappear too. I think it suggests just how good the head of Chub must be in the river.

 

[Joe C]

Bristol Avon - upper reaches roach, chub and very rarely these days, the occasional barbel. Lower reaches tend to be roach and bream on some pegs. Bristol harbour is known for producing a few very big carp as well.

 

[NoCarpPlease]

from what I see on the upper Warks Avon and Great Ouse it's basically three different styles of fishing:
1. lure anglers roving in multiple swims for perch and pike
2. "specimen hunters" legering with usually larger baits for Barbel and/or chub
3. match type anglers using float/pole/leger for the best weight/most bites they can get in one swim (which may be roach, dace, perch, chub, bream, barbel or bleak)

I see plenty of all three types

 

[R0B]

from what I see on the upper Warks Avon and Great Ouse it's basically three different styles of fishing:
1. lure anglers roving in multiple swims for perch and pike
2. "specimen hunters" legering with usually larger baits for Barbel and/or chub
3. match type anglers using float/pole/leger for the best weight/most bites they can get in one swim (which may be roach, dace, perch, chub, bream, barbel or bleak)

I see plenty of all three types

This is what I see on the Gt ouse too.
I have done and do all of them, except I don't fish for pike any more. I suppose I am between 3 and 2 when coarse fishing and when I lure fish it's to target perch.
What many freshwater anglers don't realise is that modern lure fishing is probably more effective for chub than the traditional ledgered meat/cheese. They are animals for a small crank-bait.

 

[Peter]

According to @Dave the most targeted fish on the River Wharfe around Tadcaster are Flounders, but only the very best, most experienced anglers are able to catch them.

 

[Dave]

...and I'm a Dab hand at it

 

[nejohn]

The 2 rivers I fish most now are the mid to lower Wye and the Monnow
On the Wye you see mainly guys setting up stall for a day Barbel fishing which is a shame really as they are often sat in swims that will produce good nets of Dace Roach and Chub on the float also the Bleak this year are seeming to venture much further down stream than I have seen before.

On the Monnow however I am often lucky if I see another angler and then more often than not they are fluff flinging, my approach to the monnow is fish for anything that swims by and I sometimes get a nice surprise with a nice chub or barbel but more often than not it is dace smaller chub and the odd grayling with a few spotties thrown in for good measure