Information · Wild water fishing · Fishing permit
What the permit allows
How many rods, how much fish, which baits, where and when -- the general rules of recreational fishing on public waters.
Gear (Law 176/2024, art. 30)
| Water | Allowed gear |
|---|---|
| Mountain waters (running and still) | a single pole with max. 2 hooks or one rod; salmonids only with artificial baits (max. 3 flies) |
| Hill and lowland waters, the Danube and its branches, the Delta | max. 3 poles or 4 rods, with at most 2 hooks each, or one sabiki-type rig with max. 10 hooks; for predators, lures may have up to 3 treble hooks |
| The Black Sea (territorial waters) | max. 2 poles, 2 rods or one sabiki rig, with 10 hooks each |
How much fish you can keep
| Where | Limit per day and angler |
|---|---|
| Hill and lowland waters, the Danube, the Delta, the sea | 5 kg/day or a single fish if it's over 5 kg |
| Mountain waters with salmonids | 10 fish/day in total (brown, rainbow and brook trout); grayling, whitefish and huchen are always released |
| Danube Delta (DDBR) | pike, zander, catfish and carp: catch & release, with a single fish/day of a single species; when leaving max. 10 kg/angler or 15 kg/family, however many days you fished |
| The catch & release zones in the annual order | all fish are released (e.g. upper Râul Târgului, upper Râul Doamnei, Bistrița Aurie, lower Someșul Mare between the Cârțivav-Anieș bridges, Valea Iadului, Sebeșul de Sus, Avrig, Iezerul Mare, Lake Urlea, lower Sadu) |
Where and when you may NOT fish
- During the general closed season (approx. 60 days in spring, dates differ by area) and species closed seasons -- simply having a rigged rod in the water counts as fishing.
- On rivers, within 500 m downstream of dams; in the Delta, in front of the streams and channels feeding the lakes (500 m on each side) between 1 March and 9 April.
- In biological recovery zones, strictly protected reserves and reservoirs where fishing is forbidden (marked in RoFish as “Fishing forbidden”).
- In the Delta, on lakes and channels that aren't in annex 3 of Order 159/1266/2011 -- only the waters in the annex are open to recreational fishing.
- Sturgeons, grayling, huchen and sea trout are never kept.
At night, from a boat, with a tent
- Night fishing on public waters isn't generally forbidden by law; it can be banned by the association's or the park's rules or, on the Prut, by the border regime (daytime only). On the water's page, the “Night fishing” row tells you what we found.
- From a boat: allowed, unless the association/park forbids it; the boat must be registered (with the Harbour Master / town hall, depending on size), with life jackets; in the Delta you also need the boat access permit.
- Tents: allowed on ordinary public waters; forbidden or only in designated places in parks, reserves and the Delta. Fires: never in a forest or less than 100 m from one (Forestry Code), in protected areas and parks only in designated places, and not at all when the fire service (ISU) bans fires during droughts (see the “Accommodation” and “Fire / barbecue” rows on the water's page).