Roach

By Alex Clayton · Updated 23 October 2026

The roach fish is the most abundant species in Canal & River Trust canals, yet most roach you catch will weigh well under a pound. Even the British record is only 4lb 3oz (1.90kg).

A roach is a silver-bodied member of the carp family (Cyprinidae) with a red eye and orange-red fins, found in lowland rivers, canals and lakes. UK roach can be caught all year on small baits such as maggot, caster, bread and hemp, which makes them a common first fish for newcomers.

This guide covers identification and lookalikes, how big roach grow, where and when to find them, baits and rigs, the rules by nation and how to return them safely.

How to Identify a Roach (and Tell It From Rudd, Silver Bream and Hybrids)

Look at the mouth, then the eye, then the fins. Those three checks settle most roach identification questions in a few seconds, with the fish still in the landing net.

A roach has:

Silver flanks below a darker back
A terminal mouth, with the lips meeting level at the front of the head rather than angled upwards
An eye that turns deep red in adults (small fish often have a more yellowish iris)
Orange to red fins
Roughly 40 to 45 scales along the lateral line, though published counts vary slightly
No dark stripe along the flank

The fish most often mistaken for a roach is the rudd.

Feature	Roach	Rudd
Mouth	Terminal, lips level	Upturned, lower jaw protrudes
Body tone	Silver	Brassy, golden
Fin colour	Orange-red	Brighter red
Red eye	Typical of adult fish	Less reliable as a check

For a fuller side-by-side, see our roach vs rudd identification guide.

Some guides call counting the throat (pharyngeal) teeth the definitive test. It cannot be done on a live fish, so it is no use on the bank.

Hybrids muddy things further. The Canal & River Trust notes that roach breed with bream, producing infertile hybrids, and roach also cross with rudd. A hybrid shows a mix of features from both parents. If the mouth says one species and the body shape another, record it as a possible hybrid rather than forcing a label.

Silver bream and small common bream (skimmers) are deeper and flatter-sided than a roach. Our fish identification guide covers them and the other silver fish in detail.

If you only check one thing, check the mouth.

How Big Do Roach Grow? Size, Age and the British Record

A 30cm roach may be around ten years old. The Westcountry Rivers Trust gives growth of about 5cm in the first year, 12 to 15cm by three years and roughly 30cm at ten years.

Size figures online vary for a simple reason. The Canal & River Trust says most canal roach weigh 15 to 250g (up to about 9oz) and reach around 25cm. The Wildlife Trusts give 10 to 40cm and up to 1.9kg. One describes canal fish, the other the species as a whole. Lifespan is roughly 7 to 14 years depending on the source.

Most roach you catch will be well under 1lb (454g). Anglers widely treat a 2lb roach as a specimen, which is convention rather than a rule but a fair yardstick. On canals with zander, roach tend to be fewer but larger.

The British record roach

The record stands at 4lb 3oz (1.90kg), shared by Keith Berry and Dai Gribble. The British Record (rod-caught) Fish Committee confirmed it at its 14 June 2024 meeting, as reported by Angling Times. Berry’s fish was once listed at 4lb 4oz but now stands at 4lb 3oz, because the committee’s scales protocol rounds down to the next whole scale division.

Records change, so check the current list the BRFC publishes through the Angling Trust. On most waters, a pound roach is a fish to be proud of.

Where Roach Live in the UK

The roach fish turns up in every Canal & River Trust canal and river except the Swansea Canal, yet it is far patchier further north and west. The Wildlife Trusts describe roach as widespread in lowland England and rarer in Wales and Scotland.

Look for them in slow and moderate rivers, canals, lakes, ponds, reservoirs and drains. They eat insect larvae, snails, crustaceans, plants and fish eggs, which is why small natural baits work so well. Pike, zander, cormorants and herons prey on them.

Part of the Scottish picture is human. NatureScot indicates that roach there were at least partly spread by people, and stocking freshwater fish in Scotland is regulated. Wherever you fish, never move live fish between waters.

Roach share most of these waters with the other UK coarse species, from bream to tench, so knowing where they sit within a venue is the next step.

Where and When to Find Roach: Seasons, Spawning and Swims

It is January, you are fishing the near-side shelf of a canal, and nothing is happening. The roach have not gone anywhere. They are simply somewhere else in the water, and where they sit changes through the year.

Spring. Roach spawn from April to June in shallow water over weed or stones, laying up to 100,000 eggs and often returning to the same places each year, according to the Canal & River Trust. On canals, far-bank vegetation is important spawning cover. This overlaps the river close season, covered in the rules section below.

Summer. Roach tend to feed higher in the water, picking off insects. Fishing shallower, or letting a bait fall slowly through the top few feet, often brings more bites than fishing hard on the bottom.

Autumn. As the water cools, shoals tend to drift towards deeper water, so start a little deeper than you did in summer.

Winter. Shoals tend to pack into deeper water and a handful of hotspots. Finding the shoal matters far more than the bait on the hook.

On canals, the Canal & River Trust’s fisheries and angling manager advises that the boat channel or the far bank usually produces more than the towpath edge. That is where the January angler above should have been fishing.

On rivers, steady glides are a sound starting point. When levels rise, look for slacks and eddies where roach can sit out of the main flow.

If you are not getting bites in winter, move rather than add more feed.

Best Roach Baits, Hook Sizes and Rigs

A pint of maggots or casters, a pole or float rod and a small fine-wire hook will catch roach on almost any UK water. Everything else is refinement.

The main roach baits, and when each one earns its place:

Maggots and pinkies: reliable all year, with pinkies the better choice in cold water
Squatts: tiny, slow-sinking feed for shy canal fish
Casters: many anglers find they pick out better roach
Bread: flake for bigger fish, punch for clear-water canal roach
Hemp: a classic river and canal feed, and a hookbait over a bed of it
Sweetcorn and worm: useful on stillwaters and in coloured water

For canals, the Canal & River Trust recommends fine line, a size 20 or 22 hook and baits such as pinkies, squatts, casters, bread punch and hemp, fed little and often. Our guide to maggots and casters covers buying and keeping them.

Situation	Bait	Hook (guide)	Hooklength (guide)	Method
Canal, winter	Pinkie, squatt or bread punch	20 to 22	About 0.08 to 0.10mm	Pole
Canal or lake, summer	Caster or maggot	18 to 20	About 0.10mm	Pole or waggler
River	Hemp or caster	16 to 18	About 0.10 to 0.12mm	Stick float
Bigger roach or coloured water	Bread flake	14 to 16	About 0.12mm	Float or light feeder

Only the canal hook size comes from the Canal & River Trust. Treat the other sizes and hooklengths as starting points, not rules.

A light pole rig shotted right down suits canals and close-in stillwater swims. A waggler covers wider canals and lakes, and a stick float is the standard river choice. For bigger roach at range, use a small cage or open-end feeder rig.

Feed little and often to hold the shoal. Go easy on groundbait in cold water, when roach eat far less.

On a clear winter canal, start on bread punch for shy fish and switch to maggot once the roach feed harder.

Roach Fishing Rules: Close Season and Rod Licence by Nation

You can legally fish for roach on most English lakes and canals in April, yet not on a river ten minutes away. The water and the nation decide, not the species.

In England, the coarse close season runs from 15 March to 15 June inclusive on all rivers, streams and drains, most SSSI stillwaters, some canals and most of the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads (GOV.UK local fishing byelaws). It was retained after the 2019 Environment Agency consultation. Most lakes, ponds, reservoirs and canals have none, though fishery owners can set their own.

In Wales, Natural Resources Wales sets no coarse close season on stillwaters and canals, except certain SSSIs.

Nation	Close season for roach	Licence
England	Rivers 15 March to 15 June; most stillwaters none	From age 13
Wales	Stillwaters and canals none (some SSSIs excepted); rivers check NRW	From age 13
Scotland	Check Fisheries Management Scotland	Different rules
Northern Ireland	Check DAERA	Different rules

The rod licence applies on private waters too. Under 13s need none, and 13 to 16 year olds get a free junior licence. Check GOV.UK for the current price. Local byelaws and fishery rules can also set size or bag limits.

See our guides to fishing seasons and the fishing licence. If in doubt, check with the fishery before you travel.

Handling and Returning Roach

Dry hands strip scales and split fins on a small fish. Wet your hands first, unhook over the water or a mat, and use a disgorger with small hooks. Barbless or micro-barbed hooks help where the fishery allows them.

Use a keepnet only where permitted, never overfill it, and stake it out in water deep enough for the fish. The Canal & River Trust lists pollution, poor water quality and predation as the main threats to roach. Careful handling is the part you control.

Frequently asked questions

Is a roach a type of carp?

A roach belongs to the carp family, Cyprinidae, but it is not a carp species. The roach fish is closely related to bream and rudd, and it shares slow rivers, canals and lakes with other traditional coarse species such as tench. That family link is why hybrids between roach, rudd and bream turn up.

How long do roach live?

Roach live roughly 7 to 14 years depending on the source: the Canal & River Trust says 7 to 12 years, the Wildlife Trusts 8 to 14. They grow slowly, so a 30cm roach can be about ten years old. Any roach over a pound has been in the water for several seasons.

What is the British record roach?

The British record roach is 4lb 3oz (1.90kg), shared by Keith Berry and Dai Gribble. The British Record (rod-caught) Fish Committee confirmed the shared record in June 2024. Berry's fish was once listed at 4lb 4oz, but the committee's scales protocol rounds down to the next whole scale division, so it now stands at 4lb 3oz.

Can you eat roach?

Most UK anglers return the roach they catch. Whether you may take any fish depends on local byelaws and the fishery's own rules, and many fisheries are catch and release only. Check both before taking any fish, and if in doubt, return the roach quickly and carefully.