Popular Coarse Fish Species in Ireland

Species - Pike, Bream, Roach, Tench, Hybrids (roach/bream & rudd/bream) Rudd, Carp, Perch & eels

Pike (Esox lucius)

Dutch: Snoek, German - Hecht, French - Brochet

Features: The pike's body is streamlined, olive green with a white belly. They have a large mouth containing many rows of backward pointing sharp teeth. Spawning: They spawn between February and April when water temperatures are less than 8 C. They attach their adhesive eggs to flooded grass, reeds and other vegetation. Fecundity: Adult pike produce between 9,000 and 20,000 eggs/kg. Longevity (age): Pike rarely live beyond 15 years of age. Diet: Adult pike are pisciverous, feeding on available fish species, but invertebrates (aquatic insects and bottom dwelling life) are an important part of the diet of smaller pike. Male pike rarely exceed 4.5 kg or 10lbs in weight and occasionally become the diet of larger female pike. Best Angling Methods: Spinning, trolling and fly fishing:- float fishing, ledgering and sink and draw a range of deadbaits. Best Baits: A range of plugs, spoons, spinners, jerk baits, pike flies and a range of small deadbaits including mackerel, herring, smelt, sprat and other sea deadbaits. Specimen Weight: 9.1 kg (20lbs) river and 13.6 kg (30lbs) Lake

Bream (Abramis brama)

Dutch - Brasem, German - Brachsen, French - Breme

Features: Adults are easily recognisable by their bronze hue, black fins and protruding upper jaw. Immature bream are termed as 'skimmers' and differ from adults by virtue of their silver coloration. Spawning: Bream reach maturity between 7-10 years of age. Spawning occurs between mid-May and mid-June when water temperatures reach 15 C. Eggs of 1.6-2 mm are laid in weed beds in shallow water. Fecundity: The average adult bream produces 30,000 - 40,000 eggs/kg. Longevity (age): Bream can live for about 25 years. Diet: Diet in adults consists mainly of chironomids and caddis larva, gammarus and benthic (bottom dwelling) invertebrates. Best Angling Methods: Float fishing with wagglers, polaris and other floats; ledgering with arseley bombs and swimfeeders; long pole to hand or short line. Best Baits: Maggots, worms, bread, casters, sweetcorn etc. with brown crumb and a range of continental groundbaits and flavourings. Specimen Weight: 3.4 kg (7.5lbs)

Roach (Rutilus rutilus)

Dutch - Blankvoorn, German - Plotze, French - Gardon

Features: Roach are easily identified by their silver colour, red fins and red eyes. Spawning: Roach generally spawn during May but, unlike bream, are mature after 2 to 3 years and are very prolific breeders. Roach readily hybridise with bream and rudd and these hybrids are common in areas where the species co-exist. Because of the prolific nature of roach, they can over run a mixed fishery in a relatively short time period. Egg sizes is 1-1.5 mm. Fecundity: Adult roach can produce 25,000 - 1,000,000 eggs/kg. Longevity (age): They can live for up to 15 years. Diet: Adult roach feed mainly on insects, crustaceans. Juveniles feed on zooplankton and phytoplanton. Best Angling Methods: Float fishing with wagglers, stick and other floats; ledgering with arseley bombs or swimfeeders, long pole to hand or short line. Best Baits: Maggots, worms, bread, casters, hemp etc. with brown crumb and a range of continental groundbaits and flavourings. Specimen weight: 907 grams (2lbs).

Tench (Tinca tinca)

Dutch - Zeelt, German - Schleie, French - Tanche

Features: Tench are easily recognised by their minute scales, which give them an almost scale-less appearance. They have a dark olive or blackish colour. The fins are rounded and the tail is almost unforked. It is possible to distinguish the sexes based on the shape of the pelvic fins on the underside of the body. Male fish have very large spoon-shaped fins, while those of the female are longer, more pointed and triangular in shape. Spawning: Tench spawn later in the year than most of the other Irish cyprindae species and require temperatures of between 18 - 20 C to spawn. Spawning therefore is normally restricted to late June and July. Egg size is 1.3 - 1.4 mm. Fecundity: Tench produce 125,000 eggs/kg. Longevity (age): They have a maximum life span of 12 to 15 years.. Diet: Tench are a bottom feeding fish and the presence of a large trail of small bubbles on the surface is often an indication of tench feeding below. Food consists of insect larvae and molluscs. Best Angling Methods: Float fishing and waggler floats; ledgering with bomb or swimfeeder. Best Baits: range of continental groundbaits and additives. Specimen weight: 2.7 kg (6lbs)

Hybrid

Dutch - Daarvan, German - Kreuzungen, French - Hybrides

General: Cross fertilisation between different species of fish gives rise to hybrids. In Ireland, the main hybrids are roach/bream and to a lesser extent rudd/roach. All these hybrid forms can develop into fertile adults producing viable eggs. The bream hybrids are a well sought after angling species and are renowned for their good fighting ability when hooked. Diet: Insect larvae and molluscs. Best Angling Methods: Float fishing with waggler, polaris and other floats; ledgering with arseley bombs and swimfeeder; long pole to hand or short line. Best Baits: Maggots, worms, sweetcorn, casters, bread etc. with brown crumb and a range of continental groundbaits and flavourings. Specimen weight for both the rudd/bream hybrid and the roach/bream hybrid is 1.4 kg (3lbs)

Rudd (Scardinius erythrophthalmus)

Dutch: Rietvoorn, German - Rotfeder, French - Rotengle

Features: Rudd are characterised by their golden green hue, scarlet fins and protruding lower jaw. Spawning: They are sexually mature after 3 to 4 years and spawn from mid-May to early-June. Egg size is between 1.4 - 1.7 mm. Fecundity: The average rudd produces 108,000 to 211,000 eggs/kg. Longevity (age): They can live for up to 17 years. Diet: Rudd is a shoaling fish species and feeds at or beneath the water surface. Surface feeding rudd are easily located by looking for the ripples they create as they rise to the surface to feed on floating insects. Best Angling Methods: Float fishing mainly with small waggler floats. Best Baits: Maggots, bread, sweetcorn etc., and a small range of bread based groundbaits. Specimen weight: 1 kg (2lbs 4ozs).

Carp (Cyprinus carpio)

Dutch - Karper, German - Karpfen, French - Carpe

Features: There are three varieties of Carp in Ireland. These are the fully scaled Common Carp, the Mirror Carp, which have relatively few scales and a smooth body surface and the third is the Leather Carp which are totally scaleless and also very rare. Spawning: In Ireland, carp only spawn sporadically and require a water temperature of between 20 - 22 C over a period of three or so weeks to pre-condition their eggs. They are sexually mature at 3 years. Egg size is 1 - 1.5 mm. Fecundity: The average adult carp produces approximately 250,00 eggs/kg. Longevity (age) Carp can live for up to 50 years. Diet: They are mainly benthic feeders, feeding on larval insects , chironomids and other bottom dwelling organisms. Best Angling Methods: Float fishing with small wagglers or float controllers; ledgering with bomb or swimfeeder. Best Baits: Maggots, sweetcorn, bread, pastes, worms and a range of flavoured boillies with an extensive range of groundbaits and additives. Specimen Weight 5.4 kg (12lbs)

Perch (Perca fluvialtilis)

Dutch - Barrs, German - Barsch, French - Perche fluviatile

Features: Perch are easily identified by their olive green colour and the distinctive vertical black stripes on their flanks. The pectoral fin, pelvic and tail fin are reddish in colour. Spawning: Perch can mature at two years of age. Spawning takes place in early April to mid-May on aquatic weeds or submerged bushes or tree branches. Egg size is 2 - 2.5 mm. Fecundity: The number of eggs produced by adults is circa 45,000 eggs/kg. Longevity (age): Perch live for about 12 years. Diet: Perch are fish eaters but they also feed on aquatic insects. Best Angling Methods: Float fishing, ledgering and spinning. Best Baits: Maggots, worms, casters, a selection of small spinners, spoons and plugs and occasionally small dead fish for big specimens. Specimen weight: 1.4 kg (3lbs)

Eel (Anguilla anguilla)

Dutch - Paling, German - Aal, French - Anguille

Features: The long snake like appearance of the eel is its most distinguishing feature. It has small gills and pectoral fins, and a narrow dorsal fin. Spawning: Unlike all other coarse fish species the eel spawns at sea. The location of these spawning grounds are believed to be the Sargasso Sea, although no adult eel has ever been located in the area. The newly hatched transparent larvae migrate across the Atlantic in less than one year, eventually metamorphosing into small pigmented eels called 'elvers'. At this stage the eel migrates into fresh water usually between April and June. The eel remains in freshwater for 7 to 40 years and then prepares for migration back to the spawning grounds. Prior to its migration back to the Sargasso Sea the coloration of the eel changes from golden to silvery hue. Fecundity: Adult female eels produce several million eggs. Longevity (age): Eels have been aged up to 40 years old. Diet: Eels feed mainly on invertebrates, crustaceans, small fish and insect larvae. Best Angling Methods: Float fishing and ledgering. Best Baits: Worms, maggots and small deadbaits for big specimens. Specimen weight: 1.4 kg (3lbs)

What's Covered in this section

All the popular coarse fish species found in Ireland with brief angling notes