Rhine & Inland Waters, Germany

Northern Pike

Esox lucius

A toothy ambush predator of northern weed beds, famous for explosive strikes and slime. Pike sit motionless in cover and lunge at spoons, spinnerbaits and large flies passing within range.

European Perch

Perca fluviatilis

The European perch — 五道黑 in Xinjiang, named for its five dark bars — is a bold, schooling perch found in China only in the Irtysh and Ulungur waters, and a perfect first lure target.

Zander

Sander lucioperca

The zander is Eurasia's glassy-eyed, fang-toothed perch-pike — in China mainly a fish of Xinjiang's Irtysh and Ulungur waters and stocked reservoirs — that feeds hardest at dusk and after dark.

Wels Catfish

Silurus glanis

Europe's largest freshwater fish, a broad-headed giant catfish native to the Danube and central European rivers and famously introduced to Spain's Ebro, where it grows to record size. Mostly nocturnal and caught on heavy tackle, deadbaits and the traditional clonk. In the UK it is present only in stocked stillwaters.

Asp

Leuciscus aspius

The predator of the carp family: a streamlined hunter that smashes into bleak shoals at the surface with an audible splash. It lives in big central European rivers and is taken on fast-fished lures at dawn. Also spread through the Baltic margins and Dutch rivers.

European Barbel

Barbus barbus

The iconic fast-river fish of the Rhine, Weser, Thames and Trent — a long, four-barbelled bottom feeder that lives in weir pools and gravel runs and fights harder than almost any European river fish. Best at dusk on warm summer evenings.

Chub

Squalius cephalus

A bold, greedy river fish found all over Europe, famous for eating almost anything from cheese paste and bread to crayfish, slugs and small fish. Chub haunt weir pools, bridge shadows and overhanging trees, spook easily in clear water, and give a hard, dogged fight on light coarse tackle.

Ide

Leuciscus idus

The ide is the big silvery shoal fish of Europe's large rivers and, as the winde, the Netherlands' number one river fish. It is NOT the same fish as the guide's amur ide (Leuciscus waleckii) — this is the true European ide, L. idus; its golden form is the ornamental orfe of garden ponds.

Common Bream

Abramis brama

The common bream is the number one stillwater and slow-river fish of German lakes and canals. Its shoals graze silt beds at night for bloodworm, and a well-fed swim can produce for hours. Deep-bodied, slimy and dark bronze, it is the benchmark lowland coarse fish.

Roach

Rutilus rutilus

The roach is Europe's most-caught fish by numbers and the benchmark 'specimen' coarse fish — a 2 lb roach is a fish of a lifetime. Red-eyed and red-finned and always in shoals, it is everywhere from canals to reservoirs and feeds all year, including in mid-winter.