Osmerus eperlanus · England
Where smelt has been recorded
Environment Agency surveys have recorded smelt at 92 sites across 26 waters, between 1986 and 2014. These are monitoring records with dates. They do not establish what is present today, nor that you may fish for it.
Waters
Rivers with the most records
Ordered by how many surveyed sites on each water recorded it. Waters with their own page are linked.
- Relief Channel (East Anglia)12 siteslatest 17 Sept 1993
- Tidal Yare12 siteslatest 2 Sept 1997
- Tidal Waveney9 siteslatest 30 Sept 1999
- Middle Level Main Drain6 siteslatest 2 Oct 1987
- Thurne (Seine)6 siteslatest 7 Oct 1993
- Tidal Bure6 siteslatest 31 Jan 1996
- Heigham Sound5 siteslatest 30 Sept 1993
- Thurne (Trawl)5 siteslatest 22 Sept 1986
- New Cut4 siteslatest 5 Oct 1987
- Hickling Broad3 siteslatest 20 Sept 1993
- Rockland Broad3 siteslatest 21 Aug 1991
- South Walsham Broad3 siteslatest 14 Sept 1990
- Counter Drain2 siteslatest 21 Apr 2011
- Cut-Off Channel2 siteslatest 15 Jul 1997
- Oulton Broad2 siteslatest 9 Aug 1991
- Ranworth Broad2 siteslatest 5 Sept 1991
- DS Cam1 sitelatest 17 Jan 1989
- Ely Ouse1 sitelatest 4 Sept 1990
- Horsey Mere1 sitelatest 22 Oct 1986
- Old West River1 sitelatest 22 Nov 1996
- Pophams Eau1 sitelatest 15 Sept 1987
- River Alde (Main Reaches)1 sitelatest 25 Mar 2003
- Roding1 sitelatest 30 Jul 1993
- Tidal Ant1 sitelatest 30 Jul 1996
- Trader/Maud Foster Drain1 sitelatest 11 Jun 1987
- Wensum (Barbel)1 sitelatest 27 Mar 2014
Distribution
By ecology region
- East Anglia90 sites
- Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire1 sites
- Hertfordshire and North London1 sites
Regions are the Environment Agency’s own ecology areas. Survey effort is not even across them, so a higher count can reflect more monitoring rather than more fish.
Provenance
Source and licence
- SourceEnvironment Agency Ecology & Fish Data
- LicenceOpen Government Licence v3.0
- Source copy retrieved23 Jul 2026
- Not assertedCurrent presence, abundance, access, permission or fishing quality