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The Great Anglers Guide to 70+ of the Most Popular Fish Species
The “Great Anglers Guide to Fish Species” is a fantastic resource for new or experienced anglers. Learn about OVER 70 freshwater and sea species most popular with anglers in the UK and Europe. We decided to create this helpful resource for anglers and anyone in education, academia or the sciences interested in teaching or learning about the diverse range of fish species in the UK and European waters.
Our primary goal has always been to deliver a helpful resource accessible on any device and written in language that appeals to a broad spectrum of readers. We have spent a year researching, designing, and creating this species resource. We are proud that this hard work has resulted in us making, what we hope will be, an easy-to-understand, in-depth resource that covers a vast majority of the fish that swim our waters.
What Is In The Species Guide?
We've focused on species that are popular with anglers because, well... it's kind of what we do! You may also come across smaller fish species that anglers rarely intend to catch as a trophy included in our guide. These species are caught by mistake or as baitfish for larger freshwater and saltwater predator fish. For this reason, we feel these smaller fish are just as important in our guide so that if you are ever in the situation of landing one of them, you can identify them.
If you want to find more information on a particular type of fish, we have included filters in our Species Guide to show ALL fish, FRESHWATER or SALTWATER. In addition to these filters, the guide shows brief information cards about the fish, which link to a more detailed page full of information on that particular fish. See the quick view information card design below.
Clicking the card of the species takes you to its dedicated landing page. They include more information about the species, covering baits, catch experience and video content relevant to that species from our ADTV Youtube channel.
Many of our species in the guide will also provide a quote from our expert contributors. They include top anglers, angling media, science and nature experts, and others who are qualified to help you learn even more about each fish.
What about Catch Reports?
One thing we have deliberately omitted from the guide is record catches. Although you may be wondering how the latest or biggest catch compares to your PB, we have left it out for two reasons. Record-breaking catches are a constantly moving goalpost that would require close monitoring and regular updates. Verification of these records is quite a touchy subject! Perhaps more importantly, we wanted this species guide to focus on the fish and their place in the ecosystem. You can read plenty of catch reports from great anglers on the Angling Direct blog.
Species Status & Catch Experience
Our species guide also helps educate anglers, academics and the general public about what fish in our waters are low in numbers and a cause for concern.
This information is from the official International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species (IUCN). For each species with a concerning status, we have provided catch experience information about what to do if you catch or identify this species. We also discourage targeting species with a Vulnerable - Critically Endangered status.
