Protected and invasive species
Which fish are never kept and which fish you're not allowed to put back in the water.
Never kept (forbidden all year in natural waters)
- Sturgeons (sterlet, beluga, Russian sturgeon, starry sturgeon): fishing for them is forbidden; fish caught by accident are released immediately, alive. Keeping, transporting or selling them is a criminal offence.
- The huchen -- the largest salmonid in our waters, a strictly protected species.
- Grayling, whitefish and sea trout.
- The crucian carp (careful, it looks like the Prussian carp -- see “Fish that get confused”).
- Zingel zingel, Zingel streber, burbot and the other rare species listed in the closed-season order.
Don't put them back in the water (invasive species)
- Pumpkinseed and topmouth gudgeon: they're on the European Union's list of invasive species (EU Regulation 1143/2014) -- releasing them into the environment is forbidden.
- The brown bullhead (American catfish): an invasive North American species; its almost identical relative, the black bullhead, is on the EU list. Don't release it and don't move it.
- Don't use them as live bait and don't take them to another water: that's how they reach new lakes and rivers.
Closed season only part of the year
- Pike, zander, perch, trout, tench and noble crayfish have their own closed seasons, in addition to the general spring closed season.
- The exact periods and minimum sizes are under “Closed seasons” and “Legal minimum sizes”; for a specific water and day, use “Am I allowed to fish?”.
The rules above apply to natural waters. On a private lake the lake's rules decide -- but invasive species are never released into the environment anywhere.