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Discover everything to fish in St Albans

Find the best moment to go fishing in St Albans, the most caught species, the techniques used, go fish with anglers nearby, find a fishing charter or guide, save your spots and discover new ones.

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N°1 | The Rudd fish

The Rudd fish belongs to the Cyprinidae family. The current size of the rudd fish is 15 to 30 cm for a weight of 0.5 to 1 kg. It can reach nearly 51 cm in height and weigh 2 kg. The rudd fish can live about 17 years. Egg laying is split and takes place from April to June. The female lays 100,000 to 200,000 eggs. Fishing for rudd is allowed all year round. It is easily identifiable by the diver: the silvery appearance of its body. A closer look at the position of the dorsal and ventral fins will then make the difference between the two species. If the ventral fins are placed further forward than the dorsal fin, it is the ratchet. The mouth, small, terminal, opens obliquely upwards. The back of the rattlesnake is brownish green, the sides and belly are silvery. The iris of the eyes is yellow with golden reflections. Dorsal, anal and pelvic fins are bright red in color.

Fishing period : All year

Minimum size : 15 cm

Difficulty :

N°2 | The Lesser Spotted Dogfish

The Lesser Spotted Dogfish belongs to the Scyliorhinidae. It has a height of about 80 cm in length and a maximum weight of 5 kg. It can live up to 8 years. It breeds from November to July. The female lays about a hundred eggs. It is fished in winter. The lesser spotted dogfish is a small spotted shark with a rounded snout. The spots are small, numerous, brown to blackish-brown on a light beige to red background, the belly remains light. Five gill slits are located just behind the black and oval eyes. As with all species of the Scyliorhinidae family, the first dorsal fin D1 is located behind the pelvic fins; the second dorsal fin D2 is located just behind the anal fin. The distance between the 2 dorsal fins D1 and D2 is greater than the length of the base of the anal fin. The nasal valves are contiguous.

Fishing period : in Winter

Minimum size : No restriction

Difficulty :

N°3 | The Bullhead fish

The Bullhead fish belongs to the Ictaluridae family. This species generally measures 15 to 20 cm, but can reach a maximum of 45 cm for a weight of 2 kg. It can live up to 6 years. It breeds in May-June and lays up to 5000 eggs. It can be fished all year. It is a scaleless fish with bare, viscous skin. Its naked body is elongated and has thousands of sensory cells (electro-receptor cells) that are a particular feature of the species. He has a large flattened head, a very wide mouth with large lips and 8 barbels, 6 of which hang, and 2 are located behind the nostrils. Its pectoral fins have sharp spines that are dangerous. Similarly, its first dorsal fin has a sharp sting. It also has a short fat fin (between the dorsal and caudal fins). Its brown back is almost black or greenish brown, its sides lighter, its belly yellowish white.

Fishing period : All year

Minimum size : 20 cm

Difficulty :

N°4 | The Eel fish

The Eel fish belongs to the Anguillidae family. The eel can measure up to 1.50 m in length for 4 kg, but the average size is between 40 and 60 cm. They can live up to 50 years old. They reproduce in March. They can be fished from April to September. The eel is a species of snake fish, hence its Latin name "anguis" which means snake. Its anterior part is circular while the caudal section is flattened. Its body is covered with smooth skin and enriched with mucus. The scales only appear late. The eyes of an eel are round. It has a terminal mouth with a prominent jaw. Without pelvic fins, the eel has only small pectoral fins and long dorsal, anal and caudal fins. These meet at the level of the tail.

Fishing period : April to September

Minimum size : 50 cm

Difficulty :

N°5 | The Rainbow trout

The Rainbow trout belongs to the Salmonidae family. On average, it measures 35 to 70 cm and weighs 500 g to 6 kg. In this species, a maximum lifespan of 11 years has been observed. Rainbow trout reproduce naturally from late March to early July. Fertility is about 2000 eggs per kg. Depending on the region, it is fished from March to September. Rainbow trout have a streamlined, laterally compressed and slender body. It has a small head and a slightly split mouth. Its body is arched at the level of the dorsal fin. It should also be noted that there is an adipose fin common to all Salmonids. Its scales are small and thin. Generally, the entire body is punctuated by small black spots, many on the back and sides, as well as on the dorsal and caudal fins. The back is olive green and the sides are silvery. The color of the belly varies from white to yellowish. Nevertheless, the general coloring of the body varies greatly depending on the age, habitat and physiological stage of the fish. The particularity of rainbow trout lies in the presence, all along the body, of an iridescent longitudinal band, predominantly pink. During the breeding season, the female is generally rounder because of the ovarian volume, while the males appear to be more elongated. They become darker and their colors more vivid.

Fishing period : march to September

Minimum size : 20 cm

Difficulty :

N°6 | Bitterling Fish

The Bitterling fish is a freshwater fish and belongs to the Cyprinidae family. Its scientific name is Rhodeus Amarus. The current size of the bitterling fish is 5-6 cm. Some individuals can reach a maximum height of 11 cm and a weight of 10 g. This species is one of the smallest Cyprinid in Europe. It lives on average from 2 to 3 years. The spawning period is between April and June. It lays 40 to 100 oocytes. This fish is easy to catch due to its small size. The bitterling is a small fish whose body is high and laterally compressed. The lateral line is short or incomplete. The scales on the back have a grey-green coloring. The sides are clear with silvery reflections. During the breeding period the silver coloration changes to a pink to bright red color with a dark blue sideband. Sexual dimorphism occurs between the male and female during reproduction. A 5 to 8 mm laying tube (ovipositor) develops in the female, which allows her to lay her eggs in the gill cavity of freshwater mussels. The male has a higher body than the female and its colors become brighter during the breeding season. The bitterling fish's eyes are quite large. Its mouth is small, oblique and the upper jaw protrudes beyond the lower jaw. The anal and dorsal fins have a short base and 8 to 10 branched rays.

Fishing period : prohibited all year

Minimum size : not available

Difficulty :

N°7 | The Gwyniad fish

The Gwyniad fish belongs to the Salmonidae family. It is a fairly large species: 40 to 60 cm. It reaches 70 cm for 10 kg in the large lakes of northern Europe. Life expectancy would be about ten years. Its breeding period extends quite widely between 15 November and 31 January with a maximum activity between 10 December and 1 January. The female lays 30,000 eggs per kg of weight. This fish is on the IUCN Red List. Fishing is therefore prohibited. It has the fat fin characteristic of Salmonidae. It has an elongated body, silvery grey, bluish grey, with a more or less brownish back and fairly large scales. The caudal fin is very indented. The mouth is small. Two details that differentiate it from other salmonids. The number of gillospines (here 15 to 70) confirms that they belong to that species. The male has prominent scales on the lateral line, rough to the touch.

Fishing period :

Minimum size :

Difficulty :

N°8 | The Minnow fish

The Minnow fish belongs to the Cyprinidae family. The minnow is a small fish with a length of 4 to 10 cm (maximum 14 cm) and a weight of 3 to 10 g (rarely more than 13 g). Life expectancy is 4 to 5 years (maximum 11 years). Reproduction takes place from April to July or from one region to another. Depending on size, the female lays between 200 and 1000 eggs. It can be fished all year round. It moves in benches. It is often accompanied by trout of the same size and young salmon. The body is shaped like a spindle. The head has a rounded snout, the mouth is terminal (the upper jaw slightly protrudes from the lower jaw). The back is dark green, the upper part of the flanks is light brown with large black-brown spots (sometimes linked to form stripes), while the lower part is yellowish green with silvery highlights, the belly is creamy whitish (in spawning season, it is copper red in males). The lateral line usually only extends to half of the body. The caudal peduncle is compressed laterally. The fins are rounded and transparent. The caudal fin is clearly indented; the ridge is quite high.

Fishing period : All year

Minimum size : 5 cm

Difficulty :

N°9 | The Vendace fish

The vendace fish belongs to the Salmonidae family. Its average size is 45 cm and its weight is 1 kg. The oldest specimens observed were 10 years old. It breeds from October to December. The female lays 30,000 eggs per kg of weight. It is fished from March to December. The vendace is a small, slender and streamlined fish that is very easy to confuse with a bleak, a small lavaret whitefish or a peled whitefish. Unlike the bleak, the vendace is a member of the Salmonidae family, which is why it has a fat fin. It differs from the lavaret and peled whitefish by its much longer lower jaw. In the lavaret whitefish, the upper jaw is longer and in the peled whitefish the jaws are of the same length. It is silvery on the sides, with a white belly and a brown-green, grey-blue or blue-green back.

Fishing period : from March to December

Minimum size : 30 cm

Difficulty :

N°10 | The Silver Bream

The Silver bream belongs to the Cyprinidae family. The usual size of the Silver bream is 20 to 30 cm and weighs about 200 g. The largest specimens can reach 35 cm. The life span of the Silver bream is about 10 years and it breeds from May to July. The female lays 20,000 to 60,000 eggs. It can be fished all year round. The Silver bream (Blicca bjoerkna) has a high, laterally flattened body, with a bushy back, characteristic of breams and accentuating with age. The head of this bream is small in relation to the size of its body but its eye is quite large, compared to its common cousin. Its snout is short and its mouth is oblique downwards, a characteristic common to fish seeking food on the bottom. The mouth is protractile (it unfolds forward) and free of barbells, surrounded by thick lips. The Silver bream is characterized by a long anal fin with between 22 and 26 rays, although shorter than the fresh water bream (26 to 30 rays). The dorsal fin of the Silver bream is short and high. The caudal fin is strongly indented. The Silver bream has a silvery coloring on the sides and belly, with a dark greyish-green or olive-colored back. The pelvic, pectoral and anal fins have an orange-red color. This last coloring can affect the whole stomach in older Silver breams.

Fishing period : All year

Minimum size : no restriction

Difficulty :

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This is a score of 1 to 10 calculated city by city according to some forty criteria affecting fishing: moon, weather conditions, atmospheric pressure, sunrise / sunset. sun, tides, swell etc .