Fish Species: Info on Freshwater and Saltwater Gamefish

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Fish Species Feature Image

The Tackle Village crew fish for a wide variety of fish in both saltwater and fresh and have decades of accumulated knowledge about how to target the key gamefish species in both environments.

Freshwater Fish Species

Freshwater fishing is popular throughout the world and some of our favourite fish species live in the lakes, ponds, rivers and streams of the inland United States and other countries throughout the world. We’ve listed some of our favourite articles on freshwater fish below including some of the hardest fighting freshwater fish.

Bass

There are 9 species of bass and pretty much all of them are fun to catch. You’ll find more on fishing for the popular bass species below.

Largemouth Bass

America’s favorite sportsfish is an icon – when you mention fishing to someone chances are it is bass they’ll assume you are targeting. Hunting for a trophy bass and setting a new record is many anglers’ idea of nirvana. Bass fishing is extremely popular and there are now many well known bass fishing tournaments.

When people mention bass fishing, generally it is fishing for largemouth bass that they mean.

We have some keen bass fishermen among our team of writers (including Donny Karr and Jeff Knapp) and have written a lot of great content on bass fishing, which you can access via the button below.

Smallmouth Bass

While smallmouth bass aren’t as large as their largemouth cousins, they are a great fighting fish that will aggressively take lures (see our best smallmouth lures) and flies.

Peacock Bass

Peacock Bass, which are native to the Amazon basin (where record fish are caught), are a relatively newcomer to the US. But in the inland waters of Florida and other warm southern states they’ve become a popular sportfish. Learn more about Peacock bass fishing in Florida and which lures to use.

Crappie

White crappie being gripped by thumb

It’s not hard to see why for many anglers, the humble crappie is their favorite species. They are plentiful, taste great and attack lures and flies with aggression. We have some keen crappie anglers on our writing staff and they have shared a lot of info on catching crappie that you can access via the button below including best times for crappie fishing and barometric pressures.

Trout

Trout fishing is my passion as the founder of Tackle Village. I spend a lot of time chasing trout in both lakes and rivers by fly fishing and lure fishing and love to share insights with fellow anglers. You can find more of our trout fishing content via the button below.

Salmon

Salmon can elusive and tricky to catch given that (other than landlocked salmon) they don’t really feed once they’ve returned to the rivers of their birth. But given their record as a fighting fish and their eating qualities, salmon are a popular fish to target on lures and fly.

Bluegill

Another popular panfish, the humble bluegill is another highly sought after species for many anglers not least because of their great taste. Bluegill aren’t huge – even the record bluegill is only a few pounds – but they are fun fish to catch and very plentiful in many fishing spots.

Perch

Perch are another great bread and butter fish to target for anglers. They are plentiful and common in many waterways and they taste great.

Here are some great tips and advice on catching perch:

Pike

How to hold fish pike
How to hold fish pike

Northern Pike are a great fish to catch – strong, aggressive, striking to look at and not too bad to eat.

The Tackle Village team includes some keen pike fishers who’ve put together a range of great articles.

Other species

Saltwater Fish Species

Snook

Redfish

Spanish Mackerel

Cobia

Other Species

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AUTHOR
Rick Wallace is a passionate angler and fly fisher whose work has appeared in fishing publications including FlyLife. He's appeared in fishing movies, founded a successful fishing site and spends every spare moment on the water.