Whats Europe's most popular sport fish?

[Luke Barnes]

How bass are to the US and Japan, what is the most popular fish people fish for around Europe? I imagine it differs by country, but all ive ever heard about European fishing is carp. Freshwater fish that is. Just sitting here and curious about this. 

[MN Fisher]

Well, bass are popular with the European members here.

 

@Tim Kelly (London, England) and @JohnFromLisbon (Lisbon, Portugal) are semi-regulars...John's even been online a couple of times for our Zoom meetings that Boomstick arranges.

 

I think we just recently got another Englander as a member too.

[GreenPig]

Wels catfish? Maybe.

[Bluebasser86]

Carp and it's not even close

 

[Finessegenics]

Yup, it’s carp. The amount of detail you can put into carp fishing is incredible. 

[Luke Barnes]

7 hours ago, Finessegenics said:

Yup, it’s carp. The amount of detail you can put into carp fishing is incredible. 

Ive looked into it a little bit and wow is there so many options to fling out pack bait or boilies! Hair rigs, method leads, zig rigs, all this stuff on top of rod and reel I can see how it can be that way. Ive still yet to catch a carp but I havent put a good honest effort into it either. 

12 hours ago, MN Fisher said:

Well, bass are popular with the European members here.

 

@Tim Kelly (London, England) and @JohnFromLisbon (Lisbon, Portugal) are semi-regulars...John's even been online a couple of times for our Zoom meetings that Boomstick arranges.

 

I think we just recently got another Englander as a member too.

I guess I'm ignorant and need to do some reading, but I didnt know there were black bass in Europe. I always think of large and small mouth as solely American fish but I know they got released in Japan and it took off. 

[MN Fisher]

2 minutes ago, Luke Barnes said:

I guess I'm ignorant and need to do some reading, but I didnt know there were black bass in Europe. I always think of large and small mouth as solely American fish but I know they got released in Japan and it took off. 

I think it was an exchange - we got Brown Trout, they got LMBs.

[Finessegenics]

23 minutes ago, Luke Barnes said:

I guess I'm ignorant and need to do some reading, but I didnt know there were black bass in Europe. I always think of large and small mouth as solely American fish but I know they got released in Japan and it took off. 

 

If I'm not mistaken smallmouth are only really established in North America and Hawaii. In most of western europe, largemouth bass are prevalent. Especially in Spain, Italy and Portugal.

 

I could not find any information about smallmouth bass in europe. I found a research paper from the Netherlands written in 2017. They included a table on where and when smallmouth were introduced and the most recent official sightings of them. 

 

 

 

[Bluebasser86]

11 hours ago, Luke Barnes said:

Ive looked into it a little bit and wow is there so many options to fling out pack bait or boilies! Hair rigs, method leads, zig rigs, all this stuff on top of rod and reel I can see how it can be that way. Ive still yet to catch a carp but I havent put a good honest effort into it either. 

I guess I'm ignorant and need to do some reading, but I didnt know there were black bass in Europe. I always think of large and small mouth as solely American fish but I know they got released in Japan and it took off. 

South Africa has a very good largemouth bass population as well. 

[Tim Kelly]

Hi. Carp, depressingly, are far and away the most popular quarry in the UK. I'm not aware of any smallmouth in Europe, I believe they are Japan though? I imagine smallmouth would be very well suited to western Europe, but there is a resistance to stocking non native species.

[PressuredFishing]

It's carp, they also got perch, but alot of people out there that don't want to fish for carp saltwater fish

[basscrusher]

I believe black bass in Spain,  and maybe Portugal,  were introduced by American service members stationed there.  I could be wrong, but I've heard this several times.   Pike are a big deal in Scandinavia it seems.  British perch fishing is something that appeals to me greatly.   They get much bigger over there, but they're still pursued with light tackle.   

[ironbjorn]

Don't they have pike? I'd fish for pike over carp.

[TnRiver46]

30 minutes ago, ironbjorn said:

Don't they have pike? I'd fish for pike over carp.

Amen. I’d rather shovel coal than fish for carp 

[ironbjorn]

Just now, TnRiver46 said:

Amen. I’d rather shovel coal than fish for carp 

A perfect example of one man's trash being another man's treasure. I don't know a single person in the states who fishes for carp on purpose or even likes to catch them.

[TnRiver46]

Just now, ironbjorn said:

A perfect example of one man's trash being another man's treasure. I don't know a single person in the states who fishes for carp on purpose or even likes to catch them.

I know several! To each his own I guess. I like fish that attack 

[Luke Barnes]

23 hours ago, ironbjorn said:

A perfect example of one man's trash being another man's treasure. I don't know a single person in the states who fishes for carp on purpose or even likes to catch them.

I want to catch a carp and plan on fishing for them sometime soon

 Ive never caught one, they get huge, and it's getting colder so will ease off bass fishing until spring. 

[FrankN209]

Informative Fisherman here in CA has a few videos on carp fishing.

[JohnFromLisbon]

If we're talking freshwater, I can say that carp is probably the most fished for species. Bass is fairly popular, especially here in Portugal, in Spain, and Italy (and a bit in France as well I think), but carp fishing is still the most popular form of fishing. These guys have rigs and digital strike indicators and they camp out overnight in camo like they're hunting for boar or deer...

 

If you move further north/northeast you start seeing more folks fishing for northern pike and zander (the walleye's European cousin). I know a guy up north, a German guy who lives in Denmark, who's crazy about them.

 

For the life of me I can't understand why carp is as prized as it is. Sure, they pull like a freight train, but they're some of the ugliest fish around. And what's the point of having all of that gear if you can't even touch it half the time ?

[N Florida Mike]

On 12/16/2021 at 2:06 PM, ironbjorn said:

A perfect example of one man's trash being another man's treasure. I don't know a single person in the states who fishes for carp on purpose or even likes to catch them.

Ive done it some in one pond , and my lake .. On light line , they are sporty. Actually snagged one once with a saltwater rod and he fought just like a big redfish, he peeled off nearly 100 yards of line in no time. 23 pounder.

The problem I have with them is I wouldn’t eat one…

[txchaser]

On 12/16/2021 at 1:06 PM, ironbjorn said:

A perfect example of one man's trash being another man's treasure. I don't know a single person in the states who fishes for carp on purpose or even likes to catch them.

I have a buddy that fishes for them on a fly rod. Pretty epic battle with a big carp and light line. Not for me, but he has a blast.

[casts_by_fly]

I lived in the UK for 12 years, only coming back to the US just over 2 years ago. Carp/bream/tench are the most fished for as they are in every pond and lake in the country. There are two main methods for freshwater pond fishing. 1- how much weight can I bag as quickly as possible and 2) what’s the biggest of a species I can catch. Style 1 is based in competitive match fishing. You sit in one spot (a peg or a swim) and have a fixed amount of time to catch fish. Doesn’t matter if you catch 50 lb of 1lb fish or 10x 5lbers. Top weight total wins. Here is where you try to catch whatever the pond has the most of and where the 1-4 lb carp win. You feed the swim with chum until you have bunches of fish and then catch as many as possible. Here is where looooooong poles (30’ or more) reach you to the far bank and put your bait exactly where you want it in 10 seconds of shipping the pole out. This is MLF style. 
 

Style two would be called specimen hunting. This is specialist territory. Carp rods are 10’+ affairs with 20 lb line and multi component rigs and weights. Guys camp out for days at a time with the hope of catching one of the named fish that is known in the lake. This isn’t competition usually, but more passion to find the biggest there is. It isn’t limited to carp but they are the most popular and known.

 

Both feature carp heavily but not exclusively. Bream (not bluegill like, but a different species), tench, roach, and some others feature depending  on the water. In running water there are a few more. Some places have perch, Zander and pike but that’s getting more specialized. I don’t think they are stocked anywhere. I didn’t get into it heavily but since I had a couple lakes nearby I would do a little. Carp on bread on the surface in summer on ML spinning gear is fun. Mostly 1-3 lb fish but you get the occasional 10 lb.

 

greyling and trout are a ton of fun if you like moving water. I fished both fly and centerpin for them. Access is tougher and more expensive. Nothing like the plethora of free streams here in the US. That said, a nice October day with good flow and clean water is so much fun for chalkstream greyling. 
 

i think there are two ponds in the UK that list largemouth as being present. I never searched them out so can’t verify. 
 

thanks

rick

[IneedAnewScreenName-98161861]

I've watched some perch fishing videos from the Netherlands. They are huge! Like LMB size. I thought that was cool. 

 

Definitely seen lots of pike fishing too.

[Luke Barnes]

11 hours ago, IneedAnewScreenName-98161861 said:

I've watched some perch fishing videos from the Netherlands. They are huge! Like LMB size. I thought that was cool. 

 

Definitely seen lots of pike fishing too.

Now that would be cool. I'm going to look that up later. Yellow perch is a bucket list fish for me. 

On 2/4/2022 at 11:35 PM, casts_by_fly said:

I lived in the UK for 12 years, only coming back to the US just over 2 years ago. Carp/bream/tench are the most fished for as they are in every pond and lake in the country. There are two main methods for freshwater pond fishing. 1- how much weight can I bag as quickly as possible and 2) what’s the biggest of a species I can catch. Style 1 is based in competitive match fishing. You sit in one spot (a peg or a swim) and have a fixed amount of time to catch fish. Doesn’t matter if you catch 50 lb of 1lb fish or 10x 5lbers. Top weight total wins. Here is where you try to catch whatever the pond has the most of and where the 1-4 lb carp win. You feed the swim with chum until you have bunches of fish and then catch as many as possible. Here is where looooooong poles (30’ or more) reach you to the far bank and put your bait exactly where you want it in 10 seconds of shipping the pole out. This is MLF style. 
 

Style two would be called specimen hunting. This is specialist territory. Carp rods are 10’+ affairs with 20 lb line and multi component rigs and weights. Guys camp out for days at a time with the hope of catching one of the named fish that is known in the lake. This isn’t competition usually, but more passion to find the biggest there is. It isn’t limited to carp but they are the most popular and known.

 

Both feature carp heavily but not exclusively. Bream (not bluegill like, but a different species), tench, roach, and some others feature depending  on the water. In running water there are a few more. Some places have perch, Zander and pike but that’s getting more specialized. I don’t think they are stocked anywhere. I didn’t get into it heavily but since I had a couple lakes nearby I would do a little. Carp on bread on the surface in summer on ML spinning gear is fun. Mostly 1-3 lb fish but you get the occasional 10 lb.

 

greyling and trout are a ton of fun if you like moving water. I fished both fly and centerpin for them. Access is tougher and more expensive. Nothing like the plethora of free streams here in the US. That said, a nice October day with good flow and clean water is so much fun for chalkstream greyling. 
 

i think there are two ponds in the UK that list largemouth as being present. I never searched them out so can’t verify. 
 

thanks

rick

What kind of bait or lure do you use for greyling and zander? I would love to fish for all of those species. 

[casts_by_fly]

22 minutes ago, Luke Barnes said:

Now that would be cool. I'm going to look that up later. Yellow perch is a bucket list fish for me. 

What kind of bait or lure do you use for greyling and zander? I would love to fish for all of those species. 

I never fished Zander. They weren’t in my area. Greyling were mostly on a fly rod. Drift small nymphs and other bug like things. Little pink maggot looking nymphs were usually the best. I also fished a centerpin for them with actual maggots. Tons of fun.  I caught a few that touched 20” in the time I was there.