Comparison
Roach vs rudd: how to tell them apart
How to tell Roach from rudd, with features, size, habitat and baits side by side.
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The quick difference
Roach: Looks very much like the rudd: the rudd has an upturned mouth and a pelvic fin set slightly further forward.
Rudd: Often confused with the roach: the rudd has an upturned mouth, its dorsal fin starts behind the pelvic fins, the belly edge is keeled and the eye is golden yellow instead of red. The ide has much smaller scales. As rudd often spawn together with other carp-like fish, hybrids occur.
Side by side
How to recognise it
Roach
- Bright red iris
- Silvery flanks, reddish pelvic and anal fins
- Terminal mouth, pelvic and dorsal fins at the same level
rudd
- Upturned mouth, the mouth opening points obliquely upwards
- Dorsal fin starts clearly behind the base of the pelvic fins
- Pelvic, anal and dorsal fins orange to blood red, golden-yellow iris
Size and age
Roachup to 50.2 cm · 1.8 kg · 14 years
ruddup to 61.7 cm · 19 years
Habitat
RoachAlmost everywhere: lakes, ponds, rivers, canals and harbours into brackish water. Only avoids cold, fast trout streams and clear mountain lakes.
ruddLakes, ponds and slow-flowing waters with a soft, muddy bed. It lives in shallow, weedy areas, in summer often along reed edges and in overgrown stretches; in winter it moves into deeper zones.
Spawning
RoachApril to May (general guide, later in some regions)
ruddApril to July at water temperatures around 18 °C, on water plants in shallow, densely overgrown shore areas (general guide, varies by region)
Methods
RoachFloat fishing, Pole fishing, Feeder fishing
ruddFloat fishing just below the surface, Pole fishing, Fly fishing with a small dry fly
Baits
RoachMaggots, Sweetcorn, Bread flake, Redworm
ruddMaggots, Bread flake, Sweetcorn, Small dry fly
On the table
RoachFine flavour, but many small bones.
ruddEdible but very bony and therefore rarely sought.
Conservation status
RoachGerman Red List (freshwater fish 2023): not threatened. IUCN: not threatened (Least Concern, 2024).
ruddGerman Red List (freshwater fish 2023): not threatened. IUCN: not threatened (Least Concern, 2022).
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