How many pokemon did Ash catch?

Question

Ash is fairly well known for his catch phrase "Gotta catch em all".

But recalling the series, it feels as if he did not even manage to catch a quarter of them.

So how many did he manage to catch?

Answer 1

Lets count? I am including pokemon such as Charmander, Chimchar etc, which joined ash of their own will without battle as CAUGHT. List of Ash's Pokemon.

Kanto and Orange Islands

• Pikachu - Given. Not caught.
• Caterpie - Caught. Released as a Butterfree.
• Pidgeotto - Caught. Left in the wild as a Pidgeot
• Bulbasaur - Caught.
• Charmander - Caught. Joined Ash of his own will. Left to train. Rejoined and with Oak now.
• Squirtle - Caught. Released back to the Squirtle Squad.
• Krabby- Caught. With Prof. Oak as a Kingler
• Raticate - Traded for Butterfree. Got back
• Haunter - Joined Ash for fun. Left for Sabrina.
• Primeape - Caught. Left for Fighting trainer.
• Muk - Caught in power plant.
• Tauros - Caught in Safari Zone.
• Lapras - Caught. Released with family.
• Snorlax - Caught on Orange Island.

Johto

• Heracross - Caught.
• Chikorita - Caught. With Oak as a Bayleef
• Cyndaquil - Caught. With Oak as a Quilava
• Totodile - Caught
• Shiny Noctowl - Caught
• Beedrill - Caught in Bug Catching contest. Released to Casey.
• Phanpy - Hatched.. With Oak as a Donphan
• Larvitar - Hatched. Released

Hoenn and Battle Frontier

• Tailow - Caught. With Oak as a Swellow
• Treecko - Caught. With Oak as Sceptile
• Corphish - Caught
• Torkoal - Caught
• Snorunt - Caught. With Oak as a Glailie
• Aipom - Caught. Traded to Dawn

Sinnoh

• Starly - Caught. With Oak as a Staraptor
• Turtwig - Caught. With Oak as a Torterra
• Chimchar - Caught. With Oak as a Infernape. Left Paul to join Ash like Charmander
• Buizel - Traded. From Dawn
• Gligar - Caught. With Oak as a Gliscor
• Gible - Caught

Unova

• Pidove - Caught. With Oak as a Unfezant
• Sewaddle - Caught. With Oak as a Leavanny
• Roggenrola - Caught. With Oak as a Boldore
• Palpitoad - Caught. With Oak
• Scraggy- hatched. With Oak
• Oshawott - Given by Juniper. With Oak
• Tepig - Another fire starter left by trainer. Caught. With Oak as a Pignite.
• Snivy - Caught! With Oak
• Krokorok - Caught. With Oak as a Krookodile

Kalos

• Froakie - Caught. Released. With Squishy and Z2
• Fletchling - Caught. With Oak as a Talonflame
• Goomy - Caught. Left in the Wetlands
• Noibat - Hatched. With Oak as a Noivern
• Hawlucha - Caught. With Oak

Update:Alola

• Rowlet - Caught! Ash has caught his first pokemon in Alola.
• Rockruff - Caught! With Ash as Lycanroc
• Litten - Caught! With Ash.
• Poipole - Caught! With Ash.

Tl;Dr Ash has got 52 unique pokemon species. He got 2 (pikachu, Oshawott), Traded for 2 (Raticate, Buizel), hatched 4 (Larvitar, Phanpy, Scraggy and Noibat). Also Haunter just travelled with him so not counted as catching. Thus Ash has CAUGHT [52-(2+2+4+1) = ]43 unique species.

Edit: As requested by OP removed a quote referencing the number of pokemon dexed by Ash. Dexed pokemon are a larger set of pokemon, which include hatched, evolved and owned in any other way (Gift/Trade etc.).

Also, couldn't resist.

Answer 2

According to Bulbapedia, Ash has owned a total of 80 different species of Pokemon, although he currently owns 68 (including 30 Tauros) thanks to evolution, trading, and other changes of ownership.

Answer 3

You forgot about Snivy in the count for the Unova region. This article on Bulbapedia gives a brief description of the circumstances around it's capture.